Highlights

  • Insomniac's depiction of New York City in Marvel's Spider-Man franchise is realistic and grounded, creating an authentic atmosphere without overwhelming Easter eggs and references.
  • The use of mural artwork in the game helps develop the open world and adds character, with both decorative and poignant murals representing real-world events and subtly connecting them to the game's canon.
  • The mural artwork in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 explicitly teases the appearance of Green Goblin, hinting at the ongoing development of the city and its perception of certain characters.

The New York City players have become familiar with in Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise definitely has its distinct Marvel signatures, but it’s still relatively realistic and basic in its adaptation of the nonfictional locations it depicts. This is almost always in Insomniac’s favor, giving New York City an authentic atmosphere without too many explicit Easter eggs and references thrown in players’ faces too often. The universe is undoubtedly designed so that other superheroes could be living in that New York City believably, but its storytelling thankfully never strays too far from the world built around its titular Spider-Men.

It’s arguable that Insomniac’s New York City design was already exceptional in Marvel’s Spider-Man before it added Queens and Brooklyn in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and because all three Marvel’s Spider-Man games have taken place in New York City the setting could risk becoming stale without another huge iteration on fast travel or traversal in general. Rather, while Marvel’s Spider-Man hasn’t often expanded on the stretch of available land players could navigate or diversified its settings away from New York ever, its open world has continued to develop with one key piece of environmental storytelling: mural artwork.

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Marvel’s Spider-Man’s New York City Evolves Through Mural Artwork

Marvel’s Spider-Man’s Mural Artwork is All About Environmental Storytelling and Representation

Because sequels can’t tack on entire boroughs or islands anymore beyond what is authentically part of New York City—and huge spans of time would be required to justify such sudden land developments anyhow—the one element that can evolve is mural artwork spread throughout the city. It’s true that Insomniac could add more bits of Marvel lore to extend the city, but how it’s decorated alleyways, buildings, and landmarks with special artwork has helped give it a substantial amount of character.

Murals in Marvel’s Spider-Man can be purely decorative and character-related , such as neat art of Vulture or Rhino among others, and a particularly large and humorous mural of an infant J. Jonah Jameson.

But there are also many more poignant murals around that have a real-world emphasis, such as the murals Insomniac added for Black Lives Matter, Pride, and in heartwarming memory of Insomniac Craig Goodman. These are remarkably phenomenal because they share a touch of real-world events and bleed them subtly into the canon of the Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, representing them as touchstones of Insomniac’s New York City.

Marvel’s Spider-Man’s Mural Art Explicitly Teases Green Goblin

One piece of mural artwork from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has been especially fascinating in terms of how New York City now perceives Norman Osborn and how his villainous alter ego is being teased in the series. The mural in question depicts Norman with what looks like a ventriloquist doll’s lower jaw, expelling what is inferred to be Devil’s Breath from his mouth, and with green horns sprouting from his head.

It’s been made perfectly clear since Marvel’s Spider-Man that Insomniac intends to debut a Green Goblin at some point, but this artwork ensures that New York City citizens already see him as one following Oscorp’s involvement in Devil’s Breath’s manufacturing being publicly exposed. Marvel’s Spider-Man 3 isn’t expected to expand the open world further, and if it does it’ll be a welcome surprise depending on what is added onto it.

However, mural artwork that some players may never skip web-swinging to observe will hopefully continue to be a staple of Insomniac’s New York City and perhaps even create more revelations about what the city’s thoughts are regarding certain characters. Like any open world with established lore worth its salt, Insomniac’s open-world New York City is its own character and it’ll be as interesting to see it develop as the protagonists who inhabit it.