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Spider-Man (Insomniac) - TV Tropes

  • ️Sun Oct 15 2023

Spider-Man (Insomniac) (Video Game)

Marvel's Spider-Man (or Spider-Man) is a series of Wide-Open Sandbox Superhero Action-Adventure video games based on Marvel's famous web-slinging hero, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

The games star Peter Parker (Yuri Lowenthal), a college graduate in his mid-twenties who has been Spider-Mannote  for nearly a decade, and his young protege, Miles Morales (Nadji Jeter), as they defend New York and their allies from a plethora of villains who threaten the city, facing their share of personal struggles and journeys along the way.

In other words, your typical Spider-Man narrative but with some unique twists provided by Insomniac.

The narrative incorporates a wide array of characters from the Spider-Man mythos, both old and new; with Martin Li (Stephen Oyoung) serving as the first game's lead antagonist, and the likes of Norman Osborn (Mark Rolston), Otto Octavius (William Salyers), Mary Jane Watson (Laura Bailey), Yuri Watanabe (Tara Platt) and Black Cat (Erica Lindbeck) all having supporting roles in the narrative. Miles' spin-off game brings in characters like Ganke Lee (Griffin Puatu) and the Prowler (Ike Amadi), while the second game introduces the Venom symbiote (Tony Todd) and Kraven the Hunter (Jim Pirri) as major villains.

The series is often viewed as the Spider-Man equivalent to the Batman: Arkham Series, and like that series, incorporates a ton of Adaptation Distillation, as while they are based on the comics, they incorporate various elements from iconic Spider-Man stories and media to create a truly unique version of the web-slinger that also stays true to the character.

Games:

Other media:

  • Marvel's Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover (2018): Prequel novel to the first game.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man: City At War (2019): Comic adaptation of the first game.
    • Marvel's Spider-Man: The Black Cat Strikes (2020): Comic adaptation of "The City That Never Sleeps". It also features original stories chronicling Peter and Felica's on-off relationship before the events of the game.
    • Marvel's Spider-Man: Velocity (2020): Sequel to City At War.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Wings of Fury (2020): Prequel novel to Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
  • Gamerverse Spider-Man 2 #1 (2023): One-shot prequel comic to Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Released on Free Comic Book Day 2023.

Related

Insomniac's Spider-Man has also appeared in other media set in the shared Marvel Universe, including the following:

The Marvel's Spider-Man series contains examples of:

  • Adaptational Goal Change:
    • Spider-Man (PS4):
      • Whereas the comic book version of Mr. Negative was a malevolent personality driven by profit, power and revenge on Spider-Man, this version is apologetically using crime as a means to get revenge on Norman Osborn for the latter's role in the deaths of his parents, and he has no interest in spiting Spider-Man.
      • Most comic-book versions of the Rhino, after getting permanently fused into their rhino suit, have no intention of changing that — this version works with the Sinister Six because he wants to be un-fused from his suit for his services.
      • The general explanation in the comics is brain damage from the lab accident which fused Otto Octavius' four mechanical tentacles to his central nervous system, which might or might not have actually been his brain mutating, altered his personality to cause his turn to evil. In this version, Dr. Octavius turns to crime out of a desire for revenge on his former business partner turned bitter rival Norman Osborn, for ruining his and many others' lives and for being far more successful than Otto despite the latter's lifetime of more altruistic work. The game makes a point that Otto's rage is being exacerbated by the mechanical tentacles' interface scrambling his brain and causing potentially permanent alterations, but ultimately, it's only bringing out Otto's worst impulses rather than forcing him to be someone he truly isn't. The tentacles themselves aren't fused to Otto's spine in this version, and instead of building them as lab apparatus as in most previous versions, Otto developed them as a means to bypass a neuro-degenerative disease that threatens to render his entire organic body immobile – as a result, Otto is highly possessive of the tentacles and terrified of losing them.
    • Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Whereas the comic book version of Simon Krieger had a rivalry with Stark Industries and was hell-bent on taking them over using criminal means, this game's Simon Krieger instead seeks to sell his Nuform energy to run Harlem at all costs, not caring about and suppressing the evidence that Nuform has deadly side-effects on human life.
    • Marvel's Spider-Man 2: Most iterations of Venom that act villainously have personal villainous goals, specifically antagonizing Spider-Man/Peter Parker and his loved ones and ruining his life out of revenge for him rejecting the Venom Symbiote. This version of Venom, being a Composite Character with the comic books' Knull, seeks to assimilate the entire Earth and all life on it, and after Parker rejects it, it still wants to rejoin with him and repeatedly tries to convince him We Can Rule Together instead of seeking to spite him.
  • Adaptational Late Appearance: In the comics, Doc Ock, Venom, and Green Goblin are among Peter's arch-enemies from the very beginning of his superhero career. Here, Doc Ock surfaces eight years into Peter's tenure as Spider-Man with Venom showing up two years later, and Norman Osborn isn't even the Green Goblin yet.
  • And Your Reward Is Clothes: Throughout the games, the Spider-Men can obtain various suits across their various adventures:
    • Marvel's Spider-Man has 47 suits (45 in the original PS4 version) available: 28 in the base game, 9 in The City That Never Sleeps DLC (3 per campaign), 8 added via free updates to the PS4 version (present from the get-go in the remaster), and 2 added to the remaster via a free update.
    • Miles Morales has 20: 18 are available via a fresh new game, one exclusive to New Game Plus, and one added via a free update.
    • 2 boasts the most suits, at 90 (45 per Spider-Man): 68 in the base game, 10 exclusive to the Digital Deluxe Edition, 10 added via free updates, and two purchasable from the Fly 'N Fresh Suit Pack. Most base-game suits, as well as six of the free update suits, boast three Palette Swaps called Suit Styles; three suits didn't receive their Suit Styles until a free update, and even then, they're exclusive to New Game Plus.
  • Central Theme: As usual for Spider-Man, "With great power comes great responsibility." This series explores the true meaning of living up to this motto and how Peter learns to adjust his mindset to abide by it in a healthier way.
  • Clothing Damage: In the first game, Peter's suits are mostly only battle-damaged for cutscenes, though they remain intact in gameplay for the most part (interestingly, his Classic Suit even has two variants: one repaired, one battle-damaged). Starting from Miles Morales, in gameplay the Spider-Men's suits getting gradually battle-damaged the more damaged they get in combat (except for symbiote suits in 2 owing to their Healing Factor).
  • Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
    • While unmasked, Peter resembles a cross of Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland, all of whom have played him in live-action. The original PS4 release of the first game gives him a stronger resemblance to Garfield, while from the remaster onwards, he looks more like Holland.
    • Mary Jane bears a strong resemblance to Kirsten Dunst, complete with having blue eyes instead of the traditional green.
    • Norman Osborn resembles Chris Cooper, who played him in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, with the eyes of Willem Dafoe.
  • Darker and Edgier:
    • The events in this series are high-stakes and carry serious consequences. Unlike other Spider-Man game series where massive destruction occurs without significant deaths or where dark content is reserved for alternate timelines, this series presents realistic terrorist attacks, bioweapons, and the permanent death of important characters, all of which happen in the first game alone.
    • The Miles Morales spinoff portrays the early stages of his journey as the second Spider-Man, marked by turbulence. His battles are not only against the high-tech criminal army called The Underground, but also the ruthless MegaCorp Roxxon. The conflict escalates into a deadly war between evil forces, with Harlem serving as the battleground. Amidst all the chaos, elements of energy sickness, mass destruction, police brutality, and death further intensify the challenges that Miles faces.
    • The first game had its bleak moments, but both heroes find themselves in a much darker emotional place in 2. Peter struggles with the Black Suit's corruption while Miles deals with his vengeful anger towards Martin Li. The villains are more dangerous, with Kraven killing off four of Spidey's long-time foes and fatally stabbing Peter in their first fight (with only the symbiote saving Peter). Meanwhile, Venom is a one-man Assimilation Plot that threatens the entire world and brutally kills many people in his rampage. The ending is also much more downbeat than the first game's bittersweet conclusion.
  • Evil Power Vacuum: Wilson Fisk's downfall causes a power vacuum and subsequent competition among various factions, leading to violent confrontations and retaliations that escalate the ensuring situations. As a result, the initial takedown of Fisk has significant and lasting consequences for the entire community.
  • Experienced Protagonist: The first game begins with Peter eight years into his career as Spider-Man. His origin story is skipped out, though it is acknowledged.
  • Expressive Mask: Taking a cue from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Spider-Men's masks have mechanical eye lenses that squint and widen like camera shutters. Most of their alternate suits use this kind of eye lenses, while others (like the Spider-Man: Spider-Verse suits and Peter's Vintage Classic Suit) work more like how the eye lenses work in the comics. Some suits also don't bother with the expressive masks, like the Spider-Man Trilogy and The Amazing Spider-Man Series suits.
  • Fighting Your Friend: A recurring trope in this series, as some of the toughest bosses are people who had a close friendship with the Spider-Men and they both try to reason with them since they did bad things. Otto Octavius in the first game, Phin Mason in Miles Morales, Symbiote Peter and Harry as Venom respectively in 2. Out of the four, only Otto didn't make a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Foil:
    • Peter and Miles, the two Spider-Men tasked to protect New York from various criminals, lose their close loved ones (Ben, May and Jeff) and struggle to balance between superheroics and a normal life. Miles has an extra power that he can use while Peter does not (until he obtains the Symbiote), and he still has some family to look out for him unlike Peter, who is basically an orphan at this point.
    • A three way foil between Otto Octavious, Harry Osborn and Rick Mason; Aspiring scientists who want to make the world a better place using their own science skills, and all have suffered from an Illness that is slowly deteriorating their health. Otto has a neuro-degenerative disease, Harry got infected by the same sickness that killed his mother and Rick got sick due to his invention going wrong.
    • Mary Jane and Felicia are the two girlfriends of Peter and both went into a relationship with him at one point. Felicia doesn't care about his identity and her continuous thriving ways prevented her from having a more genuine relationship with Peter. Mary Jane is a Secret-Keeper, learned to let go of her stubbornness which made her relationship with Peter much more loving.
  • The Ghost: Other superheroes are mentioned to exist in this reality, such as the Avengers and Black Panther. However, they're only ever alluded to, not directly seen.
  • Idiosyncratic Difficulty Levels: The games' difficulty levels are named after The Adjectival Superhero. From easiest to hardest:
  • Improbable Aiming Skills: In true Arkham Series fashion, enemies wielding firearms (whether they are trained professionals or bog-standard thugs and gangbangers) possess ridiculously precise aim, being capable of hitting the Spider-Men from even far away (contrasting their A-Team Firing performance when engaging police officers [and vice-versa] or rival factions). This is to encourage the use of dodge mechanics, which will cause gun-toting enemies to miss their shots, and a perfect dodge will allow the Spider-Men to follow it up with a web-shot to their face (or an opportunity to instantly take them down with a Web Strike).
  • Malevolent Masked Men: In contrast to the other factions (bar the Inner Demons and Underground), the non-aligned street criminals all wear balaclavas that conceal their faces. The sequel also gives them bandannas that cover the lower part of their face.
  • The Mentor: Peter gradually becomes one to Miles throughout the first game and solidifies into this by Miles Morales.
  • New Game Plus: A common feature in the series, allowing you to replay the games with all unlocked suits, gadgets, and powers after beating the story once. The first game and 2 got it added in free patches, whereas Miles Morales has it from the get-go.
  • No Cutscene Inventory Inertia: Averted, for the most part. Whatever suits the Spider-Men have equipped in gameplay, they're wearing said suits in cutscenes. Miles Morales and 2 even go as far as to introduce unmasked models for each suit. There are a few exceptions, though:
    • In the first game:
      • At the start, when Peter suits up in his apartment, he's in his Classic Suit. The developers didn't take New Game Plus into account, so he's always in his Classic Suit no matter what in his apartment, but when he leaps out, he's in whatever suit the player has equipped in the file they based their New Game Plus file on.
      • At the start of the final mission, Peter always has his Advanced Suit on no matter suit what the player has equipped beforehand.
    • In Miles Morales:
      • After the Braithwaite Bridge incident, no matter what suit Miles is wearing at the moment, his Great Responsibility Suit is seen damaged in his apartment.
      • At the end of "We've Got a Lead!", Miles is always in his Classic Suit so Hailey can add her scarf and legwarmers to turn it into the Winter Suit.
  • Once an Episode: The first game begins with Peter suiting up as Spider-Man and heading his way to a big action set-piece, with the very first thing you're asked to do being hold R2 to Swing. This was so lauded that Miles Morales and 2 follow suit.
  • Previously on…: Each game following the first has an optional cutscene that retells the story up until that point.
    • Miles Morales: The recap retells the story of the first game, and is narrated by Miles.
    • 2: The recap is narrated by Peter and Miles, framed as Miles asking Peter for advice on writing his college essay.
  • Shared Universe: Implied. In the VR version of Iron Man, Tony Stark remarks that Oscorp's reputation in America has been tarnished after an "incident in New York" (referring to the Devil's Breath outbreak), which hints that both this and the VR game is set in the same verse. This is one of the likely reasons as to why he isn't present by the Avengers Tower.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat: Not only are Peter and Miles are both fairly chatty as is expected, but more than a few of their rogues gallery are able to keep up with the two. Some of the villains even seem to love that aspect of fighting the Spider-Men.
  • Student–Master Team: The relationship between Peter Parker and Miles Morales is central to the Spider-Man Insomniac series. Peter, who has been Spider-Man for almost a decade in the series, is a mentor to the younger Miles, who has recently taken up the mantle of Spider-Man. Together, they fight against the villains who threaten New York and their allies, while learning from each other and going through personal struggles and growth along the way.
  • White Gangbangers: In 2, some of the non-aligned thugs are dressed like this (such as sleeveless hoodies and vests), combined with a bandanna that gives them a gangster vibe.
  • Wide-Open Sandbox: As per the norm for Spider-Man games, the games take place in a wide-open version of New York, or at least, sections of New York. The first two games are set only in Manhattan, but Spider-Man 2 would add Brooklyn and Queens.
  • Writing Around Trademarks: Certain elements from the real-life New York are altered in the Insomniac universe. For instance, MoMA is the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the bull statue at the Financial District is replaced with Lockjaw.