It’s funny to think that, outside of comics, we&✅rsquo;ve barely scratched the surface on Spider-Man lore. There’s now 13 major Spider-Man movies, which includes two full reboots, villain spin-offs, and the animated Spider-Verse series. There was also a new Spider-Man game nearly every year between 1982 and 2🍸020. There’s been dozens of different takes on Spider-Man over the years and tons of exploration into the characters and mythos of the spider world, and yet, large swathes of what makes Spider-Man the hero he is haven’t ever been touched. Considering what Insomniac has already accomplished with its Spider-Man series, it feels like the right time to let the web-head take a swing on the wild side.
I have a lot of respect for the way Insomniac has elevated Spider-Man games above the churn of licensed-game chaff they o𒉰nce were (not that they were all bad, Ultimate Spider-Man exists), but it’s also fair to say that the studio’s approach to Spider-Man has been extraordinarily safe. It’s made its mark on the lore with some unexpected twists and surprising takes on familiar characters here and there, like giving Harry Osborne the symbiote, but all in all, Insomniac’s spider stories have been straightlaced and boilerplate - the platonic ideal of what a Spider-Man story should be.
Spider-Man 2's First DLC Is A Weird Footballer Spider-Suit Crossover
Spider-Man 2's first DLC has been reveale𒁃d, and weirdly enough, it's in collaboration with Vinicius Jnr., Lando Norris, and Rina Sawayama.
When ဣI talk about the weird side of Spider-Man, I’m not talking about the Spider-Verse. That relatively recent invention to the spider mythos may feature an anthropomorphic spider that was bitten by a radioactive pig, called Spider-Ham (look it up) but calling multiverse stuff ‘weird’ is like saying superhero movies are for nerds. The overton window of weirdness has shifted such that multiverse stories are just mainstream pop culture now. In fact, the Spider-Verse may be more closely associated with Spider-Man these days than symbiotes or dead girlfriends.
When I say weird,ꦬ I’m talking about the kind of weird that no one has been brave enough to adapt out of the comic books yet. I’m talking about the divisive stuff that some people wish was never even part of Spider-Man’s lore. I’m talking♛, first and foremost, about clones.
I’m sure thꦇere’s people out there that grew up on Spider-Man, have seen all the movies, have played all the games, would consider themselves to be big Spider-Man fans, and yet have no idea how important clones are to Spider-Man’s story. We’ve never seen a single clone on screen despite the fact that they’ve been major players in every odd numbered comic book arc for the last 20 years. Peter Parker has ten clones. Ten! A couple years back, even Miles got a clone. And other than a cameo in Across the Spider-Verse, we’ve never seen any of them outside of the comics. Despite his origins, Scarlet Spider is a beloved character. There’s got to be a way to do a clone saga in a way that🅠 reimagines and redeems that storyline.
While Spider-Man stories keep going back to the same symbiote well, Spider-Island is right there. Yes, people hate the story about millions of New Yorkers transforming into giant spider monsters, but how cool would that game be? Where’s Man-Spider? Wouldn’t you love to play as a freakish, six-armed Spider-Man? And what about the long tradition of other people taking up the Spider-Man mantle, including Deadpool, Nightcrawler, and Doc Ock. How is it that in all of these interpretations of Spider-Man he’s never once made a deal with the de✃vil?
Even though Insomniac is moving on to Wolverine next, I expect this won’t be its last Spider-Man game. With its background in VR, I anticipate it’s working on something for the new PSVR2, which could very well be a Spider-Man game. Why not break the mold and explore a side of Spider-Man we’ve never seen before outside of the comics? Spider lore go♛es deep, and we’ve been pa𓄧ddling in the shallow end for far too long.