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Cindy Moon, or Silk, is a major Spider-man character and thanks to a post credit tease appears to be confirmed for the next Marvel Spider-Man game. But who is she and what does that mean for Pete and Miles?
Obviously, there's going to be MASSIVE SPOILERS in this guide about what happens in the Spider-Man 2 ending, and the implications that has for the future. Whether that means new characters or spin offs remains to be seen, but before we get that far, we'll explain everything you need to know about Cindy Moon, aka Silk, and what her appearance could mean for the future.
Who is Cindy Moon and Silk in Spider-Man 2?
In a final post credits scene Spider-Man 2 introduces a character called Cindy Moon. In the comics she's a wall-crawling superhero called Silk and a big part of the expanded spider-family. However, the way she's introduced here already suggests big changes to how the character is traditionally portrayed.
In normal comic canon, Cindy Moon was bitten by the same spider as Peter Parker. However, when she develops spider-powers it includes the ability to create organic webbing, which she's initially unable to control. A man called Ezekiel Sims offers to train her but reveals she's at risk of being attacked by Morlun and the Inheritors – a group of vampiric, multiverse-hopping villains that feed on heroes to draw from the powers of animal totems.
To recap that last point, in the wider spider-verse all the Spider-People from all the various universes draw their power from a Spider Totem, cosmic supernatural entities that exist across multiple universes. There are various animal totems across various realities and the powers they grant occur in various ways – Ezekiel Sims also has spider-totem powers for example, granted via a ritual rather than a bite.
In classic Marvel comics Cindy Moon spends ten years locked away in secret to hide from Morlun, training and honing her powers. When Peter Parker finds and sets her free she's initially furious, claiming he's killed them both by enabling Morlun to find them. She is briefly pleased to find out Peter killed Morlun, but then furious again once she finds out he's actually killed Morlun twice, making it clear he can come back.
There's a lot more we could go over here that I'm going to skip because, A) there's just so much to deal with if you want to start explaining multiversal spider totems and, B) Cindy's appearance at Miles' apartment as a normal teenager suggests none of the comics canon applies - in the game she turns up with her single father, whereas in the comics she leaves married parents to go into hiding.
However, her comic history with Morlun could lead the next game in a more multiversal direction, something that might explain all of the variant Spider-Man 2 Spider Bots you can collect to reveal a Spider-Verse movie Easter egg.
The fact that the game universe hasn't included even a hint of a third Spider-Person yet suggests this version of Cindy has yet to gain her powers. That could mean we get an actual origin story in Spider-Man 3, something both the first and second game, and the Miles Morales spin off, avoided.
In terms of powers, traditionally Cindy was born with a photographic memory and, having been bitten by the same spider as Peter, has all his spider-powers. The one exception is that she has the ability to organically make webbing from her fingertips that functions in the same way as Peter and Miles' web fluid. It also lets her create things like costumes and claws. One of the popular reasons for this difference is that in nature female spiders are the web spinners, not the males, hence Peter or Miles not gaining the ability.
Assuming Silk gets her powers in the third game, the 'how' will be interesting. We know Peter got his powers from a radioactive spider bite some ten years ago by the end of the second game, while Miles gained his from a spider genetically-modified by Oscop. Which doesn't leave a huge amount of options for Cindy if Insomniac doesn't want to repeat itself. I guess we'll find out when Spider-Man 3 eventually arrives.
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