Why Spider-Man‘s Face Changed: An In-Depth Investigation

As a hardcore PlayStation fan, I was as shocked as anyone when I booted up Marvel‘s Spider-Man Remastered and saw a totally different face staring back at me from under Spidey‘s mask. Peter Parker looked nothing like his original PlayStation 4 model! What gives?

The Faces Behind the Masks

Let‘s break down the key players involved:

• John Bubniak – The original face model for Peter Parker in 2018‘s Marvel‘s Spider-Man on PS4
• Yuri Lowenthal – Acclaimed voice actor bringing Spidey to life since the PS4 game
• Ben Jordan – The new face model for Peter Parker as of Marvel‘s Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the PS5 remaster

So why‘d they ditch John for Ben? According to developer Insomniac Games, it came down to syncing facial performances better with Yuri‘s acting:

"In order to bring the best performances to players with our next-generation Marvel’s Spider-Man games, we have recast the face of Peter Parker. We loved working with John Bubniak on the original game; however, to get a better match to Peter Parker/Spider-Man actor Yuri Lowenthal’s facial capture, we have cast Ben Jordan to be the face model for Peter Parker on the PS5 console."

But what specifically was the issue with matching Yuri and John? Let‘s analyze their faces side-by-side:

John Bubniak	Yuri Lowenthal

• John has a wider jaw and larger mouth compared to Yuri
• Their eyebrows and noses have quite different shapes
• John‘s eyes appear more deep-set while Yuri‘s face is more rounded out

With these structural differences, I can see why it might have been tricky syncing John‘s expressions to Yuri‘s voiceover and mo-cap acting.

Enter Ben Jordan, Peter Parker V2.0:

With a slimmer facial profile closer matching Yuri Lowenthal‘s, it‘s easy to see why Insomniac chose Ben as their new Peter. But were hardcore fans willing to accept this new face?

Fandom Reactions: Outrage & Eventual Acceptance

When the first trailers revealed this recast Peter Parker, some fans, including myself, were admittedly outraged. After spending 40-50 hours with John Bubniak‘s face across the original PS4 game and DLC, this new guy looked straight up wrong!

[Image credit: pushsquare.com]

Here‘s a sample of early fan reactions across social media:

"He just doesn‘t have that ‘Peter Parker‘ look to him. Bubniak was perfect!" (@SpideyFan123)

"Uhhh why though? New Peter is ugly." (@MJWatsonSIMP)

"This is straight up criminal. My boi Pete got done dirty." (@NYCWallCrawler)

Many hardcore fans were extremely attached to John Bubniak‘s original PS4 Peter Parker. This new guy looked jarringly different and felt nothing like "our" Peter.

However, once fans got their hands on the remastered game themselves, most eventually came around on Ben Jordan‘s new take:

[Image credit: Reddit user spidey-info]

Critics and influencers also acknowledged that while initially jarring, the recasting made sense:

"Peter Parker’s new face takes some serious getting used to, but it’s hard to argue he doesn’t better emulate the facial movements of actor Yuri Lowenthal." – IGN

"Is it weird? Absolutely. Does this Peter Parker still look a little too baby-faced for a 23-year-old? I think so. But it’s not enough to ruin the experience." – GameSpot

"While Peter Parker’s new look is distracting at first, his facial animations help portray a wider range of emotions that better match actor Yuri Lowenthal’s dynamism." – Washington Post

So in the end, while jarring, the vast majority of fans understood why the change happened. And Insomniac‘s priority of matching facial acting to voice performance shows an admirable commitment to their cinematic storytelling vision.

The Future Faces of Spider-Man

This likely won‘t be the last Spidey face change we ever see. One advantage of games over movies is the ability to update character models over time. I, for one, fully expect both Peter and Miles to receive visual touch-ups as next-gen hardware evolves.

Heck, modders have already taken a crack at "fixing" Peter Parker‘s face to look more youthful and better match people‘s memory of the PS4 original:

[Image credit: Nexus Mods userUniqueNickname]

Unfortunately, console players can‘t take advantage of mods. So we‘re stuck with Insomniac‘s default face models… for now!

Here‘s hoping the studio continues iteratively improving their Spider-Men over time. And hey, at bare minimum, can we get Peter Parker the ability to grow facial hair over the course of future games? What kind of 23 year old never has to shave??

In the end, the community furor over Peter‘s new look shows how much we‘ve come to care about gaming‘s flagship heroes. These characters truly matter to people across generations. And that passion is what keeps pushing the medium to new, uncharted heights.

Excelsior! 🕷