Mary Jane, who is the girlfriend of Peter Parker, plays a major supporting role in this game. Her character was re-imagined with the first Spider-Man PS4 game, giving her a more important role in the game’s storyline, rather than just making her Peter’s love interest. She even has her own stealth missions in both the Spider-Man 1 and 2. The character of MJ in these games is voiced by video game actress Laura Bailey, while her face model is based on Stephanie Tyler Jones.
When Insomniac Games first released MJ’s images before the release of Spider-Man 2, fans were immediately caught by surprise as they did not expect to see such a major change for the character and even expressed their disapproval of it. It appears that since then, this negativity has escalated so much that it has turned into harassment for the face model.
Stephanie Tyler Jones, who is the face model for Mary Jane in the new Spider-Man 2, recently revealed on her social media that she has been harassed by fans on different platforms and even her place of work. She posted on her Instagram that she has been receiving numerous messages from fans who have now “crossed boundaries” in harassing her. One fan even left disturbing voicemails at her place of work. This has led to her not auditioning for any more acting or modeling roles.
Although she mentioned that she is thankful for the support she has received from fans, we aren’t sure if she will be returning for future Spider-Man projects. MJ’s appearance in Spider-Man games has been much different compared to the usual love interest of Peter Parker in movies and games, and it’s unfortunate that it has led to the face model receiving this much negativity.
When will New Game+ come out for Spider-Man 2?
Although Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is a great game, it has been missing a lot of crucial features, such as New Game+, from the time of its release. New Game+ is a feature that allows players to replay the game’s story mode while keeping all their abilities and unlocked items. This means that if you want to replay the game’s story, you will have to start over from the beginning. Fortunately, Insomniac Games has plans to change this in the near future.
The community and marketing director for Insomniac Games, James Stevenson, revealed in a Q&A on X, that New Game+ is indeed coming to Spider-Man 2. Furthermore, the studio released an update on the topic sometime later, which stated that this feature, along with others, will be added to the game in a major update in early 2024. They said that Insomniac Games is working hard behind the scenes to add these features as soon as possible.
