By the time we reach the timeline of Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Rio Morales has been through a lot. As a loving wife, she lost her husband who was killed at the hands of Martin Li – aka Mister Negative – in Insomniac's first Spider-Man outing of 2018. As a proud New Yorker, she put the fate of Harlem on her shoulders when she helped evacuate the entire borough of Harlem in the face of The Tinkerer's bomb threat. As an advocate of the people, she showed unwavering resilience to claim a city council seat and push back against job losses and gentrification in the local area. And as a mother, she now carries the eternal burden of worry, knowing that her superhero son is putting his life at risk every time he leaves home.
For Jacqui Pinol, the actor who plays Miles Morales' mother Rio in the Marvel's Spider-Man series, that last part is especially important. "It was very nice to jump into this knowing that your character adds positivity, and hope and inspiration to a community," says Pinol. "And then being a mom, it's almost like a dual role in life and in character. I want to inspire that in my son, I want to support him and make sure he's okay and protect him. And I want my house just like Rio does: to be the welcoming place where everybody meets and has a meal."
A mother's love
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Pinol credits Rio's most positive traits to Insomniac's writers – and while I'm sure this is true, there's also an infectious, tangible warmth about Pinol herself even as we chat over video call. To this end, authenticity and representation are also important shared qualities between how Rio's character was written, and what Pinol always strived to bring to the studio. Rio Morales hails from New York with a Puerto Rican lineage; Jacqui Pinol was likewise born in Queens, NYC and comes from a Latin American background.
"I think this is what really woke me up to how much players care about what they're shown and what they get to play," Pinol explains. "Everyone cares. Gamers, players, their families – I have messages, beautiful messages, that I received from fans that say things like: hey, you remind me of my mom or my aunt back in Puerto Rico. Who doesn't love that, when we have a connection to home and to our culture, or to our upbringing, anything that brings that out in us in the entertainment world. Whether it's a movie, a TV show, a character or a video game, it doesn't matter."
"For me, that's such a big positive in my working life. And for me as a person and as a mom, as a person in the United States who grew up from a Latin American background, that's wonderful. English was my second language, my parents' too. Being able to play a role like Rio is wonderful. It's wonderful to feel a part of something American and iconic."
"But, listen, if I was invited back I'd be ecstatic! If they want me back as Rio, I'll be right there."
Away from video games, Pinol's acting career spans everything from American Horror Story to Bosch: Legacy, Criminal Minds, and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania – but Pinol's professional approach to each job remains the same. When working on Marvel's Spider-Man 2, from recording voicework to mo-cap and everything else required in between, Pinol says an underlying sense of togetherness helped carry each day on set across the game's full portfolio of talent.
Just like TV and film, says Pinol, games of this stature are often pieced together out of sequence, which makes maintaining that sense of continuity between roles, actors and scenes all the more important. Staying emotionally attached to your character can be challenging, but when you're able to relate so closely to the role – in the same ways Pinol can relate to Rio – that process becomes a whole lot easier.
Rio's increasingly prominent place in the overarching Marvel's Spider-Man series narrative, of course, has allowed Pinol to grow into the role – giving more of herself to the character in tandem with her increased screen time. Back in November, Insomniac confirmed that Miles Morales is now its lead Spider-Man, in a move that was planned "pretty early on". Nothing is ever guaranteed, but against Marvel's Spider-Man 2's narrative conclusion, not to mention the game's commercial success, a third Spidey game under the stewardship of Insomniac now seems all but certain.
And if Miles is the main man next time around, then it's surely fair to say we'll see even more of Rio. And if this is the case, would Pinol happily fill the shoes of the hero's mother once more? "It's interesting, because you just never know how it's going to go," says Pinol. "I know that Insomniac always have something up their sleeve, and that's the beauty of how they work. But, listen, if I was invited back I'd be ecstatic! If they want me back as Rio, I'll be right there."
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