Let's be honest Cindy Moon aka Silk was NOT good at first. She was unlikable, Overpowered, a needless retcon to Peter's backstory that even the characters questioned either derailed other characters and relationships that fans Did care about and got other characters killed in a major crossover event and her "Relationship" to Peter was HORRIBLE and one those WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! WERE YOU THINKING?!?! in comics that has hunted the character ever since.
Long story short, and hence the Trigger Warning so stop reading now if this is to much for you: Originally Cindy could produce Pheromones that would drive Peter to want to have sex with her. This was so stupid and creepy that the series just straight up retconned it. It was stupid, creepy and just gross as it was implied that Cindy was doing it on purpose meaning she was basically raping Peter since he did not want to have sex with her.
She had a terrible first impression and was a character fans wanted gone or straight up killed off because of all those things I just mentioned. Thankfully later writers reworked her character to make her likeable, toned down her powers retconned her relationship with Peter to be more akin to a sibling relationship and as I said just straight up got rid of the whole Pheromone thing.
Cid went from one the worst characters Marvel had ever made to something of a fan favorite and that's best shown by her costume change. Originally Silk's outfit was just her using her webbing to, (sigh) look-
She looks like a Mummy, and not a cool or creepy one but one that you'd expect to see in a porno film. This outfit is terrible and should have shot dead.
Now here's the outfit she was given later on.
Great, awesome, unique, brilliant color balance and iconic. Sure it's odd that the upper half of her face is shown unlike other Spider-People who have their whole face covered but even in Marvel we've had character have their whole face shown and no one knows who they are so it's not that weird.
So, yeah Cindy did not have a good first impression but she's a great example of a character that people go out of their way to improve and can not only be liked but become loved by fans.
So with that all in mind I was surprised when it was revealed that the person that Miles mom was going to be dating was Cindy's dad and Cindy was revealed at very end of the game. At first I was a bit disappointed as I was hoping that if there was a third Spider-Person that it would be Gwen as she's my favorite character from the Spider-Verse but the more I thought about it the more I realized that Cindy was the better choice for this series.
When people think of Peter, Miles and Gwen together their minds go to the Spider-Verse films and Insomniac has been trying to make their series stand apart from other Spider-Verse series, hence the White Spider Suit and Miles' new Evolved Suit at the end of the second game. So while they could have it be Gwen with a new and unique outfit if everyone saw Peter, Miles and Gwen most may think that this is a Spider-Verse Spin-Off or Tie-In Game. So by having Cindy instead would help to distinguish it from the films. You see these three on the cover of a game you know you're getting a different series that is largely unrelated to the Spider-Verse films.
I also gotta give credit to Insomniac as this series has already avoided several issues with Silk in her first scene alone, the first of which being she's NOT the same age a Peter. As said before including Cindy as the second person who got bitten by the same Spider that bit Peter and was in Peter's class was so stupid that even the characters questioned it. Here Cindy is the same as Miles and, as far as I know, doesn't have any powers yet. This means she will not be a love interest for Peter as he will likely take on the role of mentor to Cindy like he is with Miles and be more of an uncle or second father to her like he is with Miles.
This also means she can get her powers from a different spider so we don't have the oddity of her having different powers from Peter. This does raise the question as to what her powers will be as she has to be distinct from Peter and Miles to make her standout in gameplay but that's a problem for Insomniac to solve later.
However I will say the way Cid is introduced here is kinda odd. In the first game Miles was introduced and established in the first game where is also where he got his powers after getting bitten by his own spider late in the game. Here Cindy is introduced at literally the last second of the game and we don't even get a good look at her. I get it, a lot happened in this game and she might have been a bit to much to add in with her own small journey but this will lead to a problem as I think I know where this is all going.
As Cindy needs to be established and her arc setup she'll likely get a proper introduction in the upcoming DLC/Expansion Pack where we'll get to know her more and her relationship with Miles and Peter will done and where she'll get her powers. After this I wouldn't be surprised if she got her own standalone game with her own supporting cast and to help establish her as a skill Superhero in her own right so when she works alongside Peter and Miles we know she can hold her own. None of this is bad except that her introduction will not be the base game.
Not everyone is going to buy the DLC for this game and some just can't buy it and it will be jarring to from SM2 over to SM3 and suddenly there's this new Spider-Woman in the mix who we learned next to nothing about because I didn't buy the DLC so who is this?
With Miles, because he was introduced and given his powers and showed those powers to Peter who in turn revealed he was Spider-Man we don't NEED to play Miles spin-off game to figure out what happened between 1 and 2 we can put it together. Cindy being introduced outside the base game means that we'll have to get the DLC and her possible spin-off game to full in the gaps.
This is a problem that could hurt the final game because all the information we need is locked away in spin-offs for a character most people outside the comics don't know about. And yeah that's a problem most people don't know who Silk is. Most people know who Gwen Stacy is, Most people know who Black Cat is and most know who Carnage is. They have all been included in several projects outside the comics but that's not the case for Cindy who, at most, might have had a cameo in the Spider-Verse films but I don't think she's appeared in any shows and she sure as hell has yet to appear in the games.
The scene at the end of SM2 might very well be the first time people have ever heard of her let alone met her.
I do think this could work as even if some people don't buy a DLC they at least know what happen in them. Most people know about Aloy and Seyka's kiss, most knew that Liara became the new Shadow Broker and most know who Gaunter O'Dimm is. So this isn't a huge problem but it is a problem because, again, this character is going to be behind a series of paywalls.
Time will tell and personally I am looking forward to the possible Insomniac Spider-Trio and their own dynamic and if done well Cindy could be a great edition to the story.
