Spider-Man has always been one of Marvel's most popular superheroes. Since the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has brought even more obscure Marvel properties like the Guardians of the Galaxy to the height of mainstream popularity, the well-known Spider-Man franchise has only gotten bigger. However, between the multitude of comic books, films, and video games the character has starred in over the past decade, none have had quite the impact that Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse has had.
Many have donned the webbed mask in the decades since Spider-Man's creation, but Into The Spider-Verse was the first mainstream Spider-Man movie to show that there's more to the character than just Peter Parker. It demonstrated that Spider-Man isn't just limited to being one person with one set of powers. With a new Spider-Verse film on the way, it seems likely Sony is ready to double down on the core message that "anyone can wear the mask." Maybe it's high time that the Spider-Man video games do, too.
New Spider-Men And Spider-Women
Into The Spider-Verse's success brought protagonist Miles Morales a newfound level of popularity. For the first time in film, the notion of Peter Parker being the Spider-Man was challenged, and the challenger has seemingly come out on top. Miles even headlined the follow-up to Insomniac's 2018 hit Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Miles Morales. If there's one lesson to be learned from the aftermath of Into The Spider-Verse, it's that people want more than just stories about Peter Parker as Spider-Man.
A game featuring the Spider-Verse would certainly fill this desire. With each new incarnation of Spider-Man comes a different personality, a different suit, and perhaps even some different powers. It's easy to imagine how well this would complement gameplay; multiple Spider-Men affords multiple gameplay styles. An example of how this could work can be observed when comparing Peter and Miles' respective Spider-Man games. In Spider-Man, once Peter is spotted in a stealth segment, it can be difficult for him to get away, but in Miles' game, Miles has the luxury of being able to dip in-and-out of combat and stealth gameplay thanks to his cloaking ability.
On top of mixing up gameplay, a game starring multiple versions of the friendly neighborhood hero would also serve another important purpose: allowing fans to see themselves in this iconic character. A reason why characters like Spider-Gwen and Miles Morales resonated so much with audiences following Into The Spider-Verse was that for many movie-goers, it was the first time that they had seen someone who wasn't a white male be Spidey. Into The Spider-Verse offered not only a refreshing take on Spider-Man but also an opportunity for groups of people to see some long-overdue representation via one of pop culture's biggest icons; the games should be afforded that same opportunity.
Spider-Verse: A Successor To Shattered Dimensions And Edge Of Time
If a video game starring multiple Spider-Men sounds familiar, there's a good reason for that. Released in 2011, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions featured a four-way crossover between the Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Man 2099, and Ultimate Spider-Man, each of whom played differently. Fittingly enough, the game's story was written by Dan Slott, who would later pen the 2014 comic event Spider-Verse, which in turn inspired the film Into The Spider-Verse.
Shattered Dimensions did later receive a sequel in Spider-Man: Edge of Time, but the latter only featured the Amazing Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2099. Suffice to say, Edge of Time didn't quite have the same Spider-Offering that its predecessor did, but still delivered some solid interdimensional fun.
However, the tragedy of these games is that they're rather difficult to play nowadays. They aren't playable on modern hardware, and both have been delisted from every digital marketplace, meaning that if PC players wish to check them out, they'll have to hunt down some overpriced physical copies. They aren't even playable via Xbox's backwards compatibility feature. In the absence of any indication this duology will make a comeback, a new Spider-Verse game could be the perfect way to pay tribute to two Spider-Man games that very well may be lost to time.
A Spider-Verse game makes a little too much sense. It opens the door to many different types of gameplay, enables representation on a massive scale via one of Marvel's most popular characters, and as Shattered Dimensions has shown, it can be done pretty well. Hopefully, the remarkable success of Into The Spider-Verse can find its way into a spectacular video game sometime soon.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is available now on PS4 and PS5.