Spider-Man 2's director, Bryan Intihar, has explained why Insomniac Games had MJ take up the mantle of Scream, who is usually just a separate symbiote.
Ever since the first Spider-Man, it's been made clear that Insomniac Games isn't too worried about keeping the same canon as the mainline Spider-Man universe in the comics, from killing off Aunt May (with no deal with Mephisto to save her) and the retooled origins of characters like Doc Ock. The same is even more true of the sequel, which has changed Venom's history significantly by making it Harry Osborn under the mask instead of Eddie Brock.
The choice to make Harry Osborn Venom this time around instead of Eddie was explained by the developers as a way of heightening the drama between its versions of Peter and Harry, since the story mostly revolves around them.
Harry Osborn as Venom isn't the only significant swing away from the comics in Spider-Man 2, however, as another symbiote also sees a big change to their origin - Scream. In the comics, Scream is one of five different symbiotes created by Venom, and has had multiple different hosts over the years, including Donna Diego, Patricia Robertson, and Andi Benton (also known as Mania).
Despite having a clear-cut origin in the comics that has previously been positively received, Insomniac Games decided to once again go in its own direction for the character and have the mantle taken by Mary Jane Watson, who forcibly receives the symbiote from Venom and transforms into Scream for a fight against Peter.
Although Scream isn't quite as popular and well-known as Venom as, it's still a pretty big change from the canon, one that the game's director, Bryan Intihar, has explained during an interview with IGN. While talking about changes made to Spider-Man canon, Intihar notes that people think that Marvel is rigid and unwilling to let changes be made, but that they just want "awesome games with great stories".
Intihar is then asked about turning MJ into Scream, and he explains that MJ was always going to be symbiotised, but wasn't always Scream, saying, "She originally wasn't Scream. She did get Symbiotised and the first concept image that we did she has more of a black-and-white costume. But we've kind of seen that already, why don't we just make her Scream? I mean, she had red hair. The character is still Scram and everything you still love about Scream, but the host is someone different. That's our spin on it."
After Peter defeats MJ, we see the Scream symbiote disintegrate as the pair reunite, but her end isn't quite as definitive as it for the Venom symbiote, which means that we could possibly see her return in future games. And hey, it's clear that Insomniac is fine with making anyone Scream, so who knows who it could take over next?
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