Spider-Man's PS4 'Advanced Suit' Is Now in Marvel Comics Continuity

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #305 by Chip Zdarsky, Adam Kubert, Jason Keith, Andrew Crossley and Travis Lanham, on sale now.

As iconic as Spider-Man’s traditional red-and-blue costume is, it’s always great to see him switch it up to something a bit different. When he came home from Marvel Super-Hero Secret Wars with the black costume — which would later turn out to be the Venom symbiote — it started a long tradition of Spider-Man changing his gear depending on what the situation called for. Whether it’s the silver Spider-Armor of the nineties, the Iron Spider outfit he used during Civil War, or his white and black Future Foundation costume, Spider-Man can pull just about any look off.

Later this year, Insomniac Games is releasing a brand new Spider-Man video game on PS4. In said game's universe, a more experienced and worldly Spider-Man has a slightly different costume, referred to as the “Advanced Costume.” This costume, with its trademark giant white spider adorning the chest, is said to have a number of special features which have yet to be fully revealed in the lead-up to the game’s release.

While Spider-Man on PS4 is still months away, this week’s issue of Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man introduces a comics version of the advanced suit as part of its alternate timeline escapades.

Back To The Future, Too

How we got to where we are is a bit of a journey, so if you’ve not been following Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, let’s catch you up real quick.

The Terrible Tinkerer had been working in concert with an alien race of robots called the Vedomi, who arrived on Earth to wipe everyone out. In order to stop them, Spider-Man went back in time along with his sister Theresa Parker and newfound ally J. Jonah Jameson, in order to get to The Tinkerer early and stop the alliance.

Things didn’t go quite as planned and a number of events happened that shouldn’t have, mostly because Peter decided to team up with his younger self and use his knowledge of the past combined with his adult experience to defeat his most dangerous enemies before they knew what hit them. This led to the Green Goblin killing the past-incarnation of J. Jonah Jameson and discovering Spider-Man’s true identity, with which he kidnapped Aunt May and nearly killed her.

Thinking their job done and the day saved, the heroes from the future travelled back to their time, unaware that the whole experience had caused the young Peter to reconsider being Spider-Man. When they arrived in the present, they found a Peter Parker who had retired as Spider-Man fifteen years prior, living in a world where Harry Osborn was President of the United States but operating at the behest of his father.

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Avengers Resistance

While the United States of this alternate timeline was complacent under a fascist rule which presented itself as democracy, there were still heroes fighting back against the corrupt government, led by Captain America — sporting an Infinity War-esque beard — Doctor Strange and Ironheart. In order to get our heroes back to their own time and fix their mistakes, the ragtag group of rebels free the one-and-only Doctor Doom from Osborn’s custody, to gain access to his Time Platform and set things right. However, when they arrive at the warehouse which houses it, the resistance is surprised by Norman Osborn and his cronies, which include militarised version of Kraven The Hunter, Doctor Octopus, The Vulture and Scorpion.

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Dons a New Costume in Spectacular Spider-Man Preview

Using his knowledge of Spider-Man’s identity, Osborn kidnapped Gwen Stay — still alive in this reality, married to Peter Parker and a member of Captain America’s resistance — unaware that this reality’s Peter had had enough of sitting back and letting the Osborns walk all over him. Arriving on the scene to confront his greatest enemy, the alternate timeline Peter Parker wears a costume which bears a striking resemblance to the Advanced Costume from the upcoming PlayStation 4 Spider-Man game. Just as the Advanced Costume has its own nifty tricks and surprises, this costume comes with trademark red webbing which just looks real cool. Unfortunately, this is still a Spider-Man who has been inactive for fifteen years, so he’s not the most effective against Osborn’s army of villains who gang up on him pretty mercilessly.

Show Me The Way Home

Thankfully, when our Peter hears Norman Osborn is holding Gwen Stacy hostage, he can’t help himself from breaking away from the efforts to fix the timeline in order to make sure what happened to him and his Gwen never happens again, in any other time. The two Spider-Men work together to fight Osborn’s army, aided by Captain America’s resistance. Unfortunately, Cap gets shot by Kraven, partly due to his Peter’s lack of practice with his webshooters causing him to miss the target. Picking up Cap’s shield, Peter saves his counterpart from the villains and tells him it’s time to go home and put things right.

Thankfully, the heroes learn that Captain America will likely survive his gunshot wound thanks to the intervention of Doctor Strange and Spider-Man, Theresa and Jameson head back to their own time to face the Vedomi, leaving this Spider-Man to find his place once again in his world as our Peter takes one last look at a world where he got to grow up and marry Gwen Stacy. Thanks to the nature of Marvel time, it’s unlikely that this reality will get erased once the timeline is changed back to normal. New realities branch off like tributaries on a river, so there’s every chance we’ll see this world again sometime soon — possibly in the upcoming Spider-Geddon event? — and we’ll see how this world’s Spider-Man rises up against a corrupt president who is also his former best friend.

Honesty, those red webs are just too cool to not come back anytime soon. Who’d have thought that a small change to the color of Spider-Man’s webs would make such a drastic change to how he’s presented?