Just after several hours of enthusiastic playing my test report on the open-world blockbuster “Spider-Man 2” on Gamestar (available for PS5 from October 20) went online… and now that I have some time to catch my breath after spectacularly swinging through the urban canyons of Manhattan, I noticed that there are a lot of things in the game that I definitely very well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) or in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU)…
But first a short event note from the editors: This Thursday evening, FILMSTARTS YouTuber Sebastian Gerdzhikow will be a guest in Gamestar’s Spider-Man stream on Twitch from 10 p.m. to play the first hour of the game again and also talk about the Talking about references to the MCU films – this is where all of Spidey’s expertise comes together in what is sure to be a very entertaining hour!
…and so back to my top 5 suggestions, which Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal & Co. will definitely take it to heart immediately 😉
1. Spidey in the symbiote suit!
After three Spider-Man appearances in the MCU, there’s still no sign of the symbiotes! This of course mainly has to do with rights issues, because Sony is also working on its own Spider universe and is building Venom, among other things, as a possible opponent for Tom Holland. In “Spider-Man: No Way Home” the beams of the MCU and SSU universes have already briefly crossed – and yet we still miss Spider-Man in the black suit!
“Spider-Man 2” for the PS5 now shows what a modern version of the Venom Spidey could look like and presents a particularly brutal variant: Here Peter Parker isn’t just wearing black and in a bit of a bad mood. He can actually use the symbiote to his advantage. The result is that fights are no longer just dodged acrobatically or, at most, a bad guy is caught in the net. No, this is where the symbiote itself comes into play and Peter unleashes slimy special attacks that really pack a punch.
So if there should ever be a symbiote Holland in the MCU, please do! The suit has to be more than just a color change of the costume – and that’s exactly what “Spider-Man 2” did very well…
2. More time for quiet moments!
The story of “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” is one of the strongest points of the game series and impresses with its refined characters and a harmonious mix of bombastic and personal moments. We think this mix works much better than in many of the more recent MCU entries.
Certainly, the Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland in particular have great moments where things are calmer and more emotional. Just think of the iconic car scene from ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ or the moment when Maguire-Peter and Garfield-Peter rebuild the distraught MCU Peter in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’.
Overall, the MCU often leaves a little too little room for the emotional aspects, or undermines such moments with a slightly misplaced joke (yes, we’re looking in your direction, “Thor 4”). However, in the game “Spider-Man 2” we constantly experience intense moments between characters that talk about their lives and their feelings. Great cinema, even without (constant) action!
3. Peter Parker’s personal team of villains
Hardly any superhero has so much bad luck when it comes to his opponents: Friends, family members and acquaintances close to Spider-Man are constantly turning into super villains! However, it is precisely this personal connection that is largely missing from the MCU Spider-Man. Looking at his previous lineup of opponents, the direct connection to Peter Parker is rather tenuous.
Although the Vulture turns out to be the father of Peter’s girlfriend Liz in the first film, the two don’t really have much to do with each other until shortly before the end. Even the Green Goblin has no connection to Peter in Spider-Man: No Way Home, as Norman Osborn comes from another dimension in this version.
Insomniac is clearly leading the way here and the MCU should follow suit! In the first part of the game series, the conflict with Martin Li and Doctor Octopus became a very personal fight. In “Spider-Man 2” Peter now also faces off against Venom, who, as usual in the comics, also has contact with Peter before the transformation.
4. Play multiple villains against each other
Speaking of villains, the MCU films don’t always rely on a single antagonist, but the additional villains usually serve the main villains instead of better henchmen. For example, the Shocker in Spider-Man: Homecoming is just a foot soldier of Vulture. ‘Spider-Man 2’, on the other hand, does an excellent job of giving a variety of villains plenty of room to breathe.
Particularly cool: there is anything but peace between the villains in “Spider-Man 2”! On the contrary: Kraven is about to make enemies of every supervillain in New York. Insomniac combines Spider-Man’s various adversaries so cleverly that everything feels like it was poured from a single source and a series of conflicts arise very naturally.
This even occasionally results in supervillains bullying each other. In this form and with this finesse, we would also like to see MCU enemies attack each other!
5. With (even more!) momentum through New York
Finally, one more point that we simply cannot ignore when it comes to the games: Because ‘Spider-Man 2’ is so incredibly fun because we get to swing through New York as Spider-Man and let off steam in the urban canyons of Manhattan. This kind of locomotion is just part of Spider-Man! He is a hero who fits in no other city as well as New York.
It’s all the more surprising that Spider-Man almost never swings through Manhattan in the MCU. The first two films are even set in places where such high-rise buildings do not exist. In ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’, Peter spends most of his time in Queens, while in ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ he tours Europe. Only at the very end of ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’ and in the epilogue of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ does Spidey swing through Manhattan.
There is definitely more to it! How about a classic chase through the city center – after all, we were already amazed by that in the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films and now there should be even more tricks available!