Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ending Explained: Phin's Fate and the Post-Credits Tease for Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2 eventually came to PlayStation 5, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales did an excellent job of teasing what could happen in it. Before getting into what that post-credits scene set up, it is worth going through the full story and who the main players actually are.

Miles Morales Steps Into Peter Parker's Shoes as New York's Spider-Man

After the events of the first Spider-Man game, Miles has really started to come into his own, and thanks to the guidance Peter provided him, he pretty much ends up switching places with him as the city's Spider-Man. The game opens with the pair taking down Rhino after a botched convoy to the Raft unleashes him in the city. That mission also introduces Miles's bioelectricity Venom powers and the Roxxon Corporation, who become integral to the entry.

Peter travels overseas with MJ to be her photographer, which leaves Miles to keep an eye on everything going on in Manhattan.

Roxxon's Nuform Program and the Underground's War Against the Company

Throughout the game we discover that Roxxon's head of R&D, Simon Krieger, is in possession of an experimental piece of technology known as Nuform. If you are familiar with the comics, you will know that this was actually a form of vibranium developed by the corporation. Nuform pretty much becomes the MacGuffin of the entry and what the main plot revolves around, and it is what the ending of the game ends up being tied to.

On one side is Roxxon, and on the other is the Tinkerer, who we discover is Miles's close friend Phin. Phin is the leader of a group known as the Underground, and after setting up base inside Kingpin's tower, they have started carrying out attacks. Everything ties back to her brother, Rick Mason, a scientist who worked at the corporation. After he learned that Nuform was poisoning people, he decided he had to sabotage the company, and together with Phin they set out to destroy the corporation's core. Rick was killed during this, and Phin has made it her mission to put an end to Nuform and the company's experiments.

Rick Mason is the character known as the Agent, who appeared in Marvel's Black Widow movie. Although it does seem like he died during the course of that explosion, I said you can never say never when it comes to the Marvel universe, and I come back to why later.

Uncle Aaron's Betrayal as the Prowler

Miles gets caught up in the middle of it all, and he also has to contend with the fact that his uncle Aaron is revealed to be the Prowler. If you have seen Into the Spider-Verse you will instantly be up to speed with that reveal, but this game does a great job of developing their relationship beyond what we saw in that film.

It is revealed that Aaron has been in league with Roxxon the entire time, and he betrays Miles after learning where he plans to meet Phin. Aaron tells them not to harm Miles, however Roxxon goes against this. Krieger interrogates Miles and then has his forces beat him badly. Miles manages to escape with Phin after unleashing a massive venom blast, and Aaron is given an ultimatum by Krieger, who tells him they can do what they want with Miles, and if Aaron goes to the police he will go to jail along with them. Phin also decides that Miles is too much of a liability, beats him up badly and heads out to fulfill her mission.

Phin's Apparent Death and the Ambiguity Around the Core Explosion

It all comes to a head when Phin returns to Roxxon to overload the core. It is revealed that Krieger actually changed the specs of the machine, and if it detonates the core will destroy the entirety of Harlem along with itself. Miles and Phin go head to head, and Miles eventually manages to convince her that destroying it will cost countless lives. It is too late though, and the core goes critical, forcing the pair to enact a plan to save the city.

Miles absorbs the energy from the core, and Phin realizes that this is history repeating itself, that Miles could end up sharing the same fate as her brother. She uses her Tinkerer gadgets to propel them both into the sky, far away from where the blast can do any damage. Because Miles cannot hold the energy in much longer, he must detonate while she holds him there, and unfortunately it appears that she dies as he unleashes the blast.

I am not one hundred percent convinced that Phin died during this, and I do believe that both she and her brother will be back at some point, since both are big characters integral to the Marvel universe and we never actually see the pair's bodies. Phin and Rick both disappear as the core explodes, and though they are nowhere to be seen, that does not mean they are gone. I really liked the relationship built up throughout the game between Miles and Phin, and I can see her returning at some point in the future. It is possible both are in an alternate dimension, and that could open the door for characters like Gwen Stacy and Spider-Man 2099.

Krieger's Arrest, Aaron's Reduced Sentence and Miles's Tributes to the City

As for Krieger, he is arrested and sent to jail. It is revealed that Aaron actually went to the police, and though he was put in prison as well, he is now facing a reduced sentence because he handed over information on Krieger. That shows how far he has come from the beginning, when we discovered he had ruined the relationship he had with his family because of his nighttime activities. Here he is willing to do the right thing, so we know he will be accepted back with them in the future, and it is possible Aaron could return down the line.

Miles's mother also gets elected as a councilwoman, and Miles places a memorial to his fallen friends at Trinity Church, though this comes slightly later. The game ends with Miles walking past the mural we saw at the start of it, and though the artists had not painted his face into it at the beginning, we can now see it up there alongside Peter's, showing that the city has embraced him as their savior. Miles meets up with Peter, and the pair swing off together as a team, which ends the main story of the spin-off.

Harry Osborn's Transformation Is Revealed in the Post-Credits Scene

You may remember that the original game ended with the discovery that Harry Osborn was not away on vacation and was actually in a tank at Oscorp. We learned that Harry had been suffering from an illness and that Norman had placed a symbiotic lifeform on him to try to cure him. In the post-credits cutscene we see this black substance bonded with the character, and I do not feel like anyone should get any prizes for guessing that this is in fact Venom. Norman orders that his son be released from the tank, and clearly this is setting up a lot of things.

The green laced throughout the scene is definitely a color associated with the Green Goblin, who is synonymous with the Osbornes. With Harry pretty much confirmed as Venom, I actually think his father will be the one taking up the Green Goblin mantle. My prediction is that Harry being prematurely set free will cause him to transform into Venom, Norman will try to stop him from destroying the city, and he will don the Green Goblin costume to bring him in. That would allow both villains to be major antagonists in the next entry.

I love how this repeats the motif from the first Spider-Man game, where Peter's mentor Doc Ock turned to the dark side. Once again we get Spider-Man's enemies also being his allies, and that opens the door for complications with Mary Jane. I really feel like the game's creators can throw a lot more at Peter and Miles going forward, and I do think we will see far more villains in the next PS5 release.

There is also another important character in that scene that is easy to miss: working on Harry is Dr. Curt Connors, who fans of the franchise will know as the Lizard. I think having these three characters in the same place at the same time for the post-credits scene also signals that they will be the three main villains of the next game. Connors could tie into the storyline in a number of ways. If Osborn is trying to track down his son, it makes sense he would have Connors involved, since Connors was part of the experiments being carried out, which could lead to the Lizard becoming something of a henchman for the Goblin, or to Connors's own attempt to help Norman catch his son turning him into a monster.

I also found it interesting that the post-credits scene was shown from Harry's perspective, and he may even be a playable character in the next game. If he is Venom, he would have powers similar to Peter's and Miles's, meaning the developers could go that route without changing too much of the gameplay. There are a wealth of possibilities they could travel down. I am just so happy we got another stellar entry in the Spider-Man universe. Miles was a blast from start to finish, and it was a great way to kick start the next generation of gaming.

What did you make of Phin's fate and the Harry Osborn reveal, and what do you want to see happen with these villains in the sequel?