Spider-Man 2 devs mixed up the Puerto Rican flag with the Cuban one
23.10.2023 - 20:13
/ polygon.com
/ Peter Parker
/ James Stevenson
Either Miles Morales has taken a secret Cuban lover for whom he harbors a sense a national pride for, or the developers of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 made a pretty big mistake in the recent game.
Developer Insomniac Games and publishers Sony Interactive Entertainment released Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 to PlayStation 5 on Friday. This time, the story follows both Peter Parker and Miles Morales as they take to New York City once again. By and large, it’s shaping up to be a stunning Spider-Man game that plays with the Marvel canon and showcases the capabilities of the PS5. However, fans noticed an issue with Miles’ apartment over the weekend: His wall was decorated with the Cuban flag, and not the Puerto Rican one representative of Miles’ heritage. You can see it documented on Reddit below.
It’s looking like the flag was added mistakenly, because James Stevenson, director of community and marketing at Insomniac Games replied to a tweet saying the the team would fix the issue “soon.” So it’s likely an upcoming patch will change the flag to the Puerto Rican one.
The flags do look similar, and have the same design with a different arrangement of colors. The Cuban flag has a red triangle positioned on the left-hand side with blue stripes. The Puerto Rican one has a blue triangle with red stripes. As a Cuban-American myself, I remember practicing the difference as a child, and still sometimes look them up to make sure I get it right.
Still, as seemingly minor as it is, it’s important to get these details right. Cuba and Puerto Rico are two different places with varied cultural practices and people. To mistake one flag for the other is disrespectful and untrue to Miles’ overall character. Miles Morales is a Brooklyn-born son of a Black father and Puerto Rican mom. He’s a proud Boricua and still speaks Spanish in the household with his mother. His apartment is one important way the developers help teach him about us and who he is.
It’s clear that at least some of the team knows the difference between the two, because Miles has a Boricua costume in this game that depicts the Puerto Rican flag correctly. It’s just a letdown this particular mistake snuck into the final version of the game.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is out to PlayStation 5 now.