How the PS4 Spider-Man Became Marvel's Next Major Hero

Marvel has plenty of Spider-Men. Even after the publisher killed a few dozen Spider-Men off in the 2014 crossover Spider-Verse, it still had enough Spider-Men, Spider-Women and other Spider-People for Spider-Geddon, another crossover that's about killing even more Spider-Men.

But over the last few months, the Peter Parker from Marvel's Spider-Man has swung above the fray to become the biggest new Marvel hero in any dimension.

While the first trailers for Insomniac Games' Spider-Man were impressive, expectations were generally that the PlayStation 4-exclusive title game might just be another better-than-average Spider-Man game. But as the open-world action game's release date grew closer, it became clear that it was something special. In the weeks leading up to its release, the hype around the game grew to a fever pitch, with more previews and tie-in merchandise like toys and a prequel prose novel. In a massive vote of confidence, Marvel Comics even gave this video game Spider-Man a role in Spider-Geddon, one of the publisher's biggest comic book stories of the year.

When Spider-Man was released in September, it was an unmitigated success, earning widespread critical acclaim and breaking all kinds of sales records. In the first three days it was available, the PS4 sold 3.3 million copies and grossed over $198 million. That's way more than the measly $117 million that Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spidey's last solo movie, grossed during its opening weekend in 2017.

With the possible exception of Tom Holland's adventures as Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the game is almost certainly the most widely consumed Spider-Man story in years. According to Game Informer, the game has a 10% "Platinum Trophy" rate, which means an abnormally high number of people are finishing the storyline. And that number doesn’t factor in the millions of people who watched a stream of someone else playing through the game on YouTube or Twitch. Since the main story of the game takes around 20 hours to complete, players have spent way more time with this Spider-Man than they have with any cinematic version of the web-head.

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While Spider-Man's vast selection of Spider-Man costumes and action-packed gameplay are a big part of its success, the game hinges on a compelling narrative that offers a unique, well-designed take on Spider-Man's world. With a pitch-perfect vocal performance from Yuri Lowenthal, Spider-Man takes on a mix of newer and classic villains like Mr. Negative, Electro and the Scorpion with just the right amount of humor. With Peter more focused on his scientific pursuits, Mary Jane Watson fills his traditional role at The Daily Bugle, and a teenage Miles Morales finds his way into their lives too. Without spoiling the game's shocking ending, the end of the game leaves Spider-Man in a shocking position that the regular Peter Parker has managed to avoid dealing with in comics.

To go along with this unique world, the game's Spider-Man received a highly-publicized redesign that included a giant white spider logo on his chest and several other smaller tweaks. This costume clearly still looks like Spider-Man, but it doesn't look quite like anything that's come before. By giving this Spidey such a distinct visual identity, this Spider-Man was designed to stand out, even in a crowd of Spider-People.

By all accounts, this Spider-Man seems set to be a major player in Spider-Geddon. In Christos Gage and Clayton Crain's Spider-Geddon #0, the storyline kicked off by giving this Spider-Man his comic book debut. While this storyline will ultimately be about Miles Morales, the first issue of the crossover was almost exclusively dedicated to introducing the game's Spidey to the wider Spider-Verse. Going by some of the solicited covers for upcoming issues of Spider-Geddon, it looks like he'll continue to play a role as the event goes on.

Outside of comics, this video game Spider-Man will still make a few more appearances before the end of the year. In a trailer for the upcoming animated movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, this Spider-Man could be partially glimpsed on a monitor behind a group of Spider-Men. Even if he only has that little cameo, he'll still appear in a Marvel movie less than six months after he debuted. Spider-Man: The City That Never Sleeps, the first chapter of Spider-Man's three-part DLC content, will drop on October 23, with the next two parts scheduled to come out before the end of the year.

In the meantime, even more people will meet this Spider-Man as they pick up Spider-Man through the holiday season. If this Spider-Man's popular streak continues, it won't be long before his webs cast a shadow over the entire Spider-Verse.