Spider-Man, whether Peter Parker, an alternate alias, or another character donning the moniker, is ubiquitously beloved and a popular Marvel mantelpiece. The character’s popularity has been consistent due to Spider-Man’s saturation throughout every kind of media available, such as film, animation, and games, where any and all fan bases are exposed to the character. Marvel’s Spider-Man arriving soon to PC only further demonstrates how broad the character's fan base is and how influential he is in games as well.
Spider-Man’s inclusion in other Marvel games should not be forgotten, however, as the character’s addition to the playable rosters of many single-player and multiplayer games has been a treat for fans nonetheless. Not every Marvel IP needs to reference or feature Spider-Man in order to engage players, especially if said IP does not commonly associate itself with him, but the addition of Spider-Man as a playable character is often more of a benefit than it is a hindrance to any Marvel roster.
Spider-Man Has Been Welcomed Into Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is loosely inspired by the comic book run Midnight Sons, as well as a few others, and features at least a couple of characters that make an appearance in it, including the main antagonist in Lilith, the Mother of Demons. Marvel’s Midnight Suns itself features other magic- and occult-themed Marvel characters and is, therefore, a much more non-canon and unique interpretation than a direct comic adaptation.
Tacking onto this unique take, Thursday's Summer Game Fest confirmed that Spider-Man will be joining Marvel’s Midnight Suns alongside Scarlet Witch to round out its full, playable character roster. Now, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is already packed with characters who are unrelated to the game’s inspired source material, but Spider-Man would otherwise seem like an indiscreet character addition who is not tied to occult themes or has any logical explanations for joining the team.
The argument could easily be made that Spider-Man is taking the spot of another character who could more appropriately fill out the roster. Rather, one secret character is being reserved until players first beat Marvel's Midnight Suns, so that's not likely the case. Regardless, it seems as if Spider-Man is being welcomed into Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ tolerable continuity change. This is almost assuredly because of how popular the character is, and the implication made that fans are likely more willing to engage with Marvel media if it includes the wall-crawler. In games, Spider-Man makes for an easy character to plop into a roster if the developer believes that it needs a more instantly identifiable or beloved character.
Spider-Man Is Popular and an Easy Character to Adapt
Before Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Spider-Man had been added as a PlayStation-exclusive character in Marvel’s Avengers. The same complaint about Spider-Man not being a core member of the traditional Midnight Sons could also be made here about Spider-Man’s affiliation to the Avengers, and his spot on the roster could have easily been fulfilled by Janet van Dyne’s Wasp, Carol Danvers’ Captain Marvel, or Wanda Maximoff’s Scarlet Witch.
That said, Marvel’s Avengers players are admittedly unsatisfied with Spider-Man’s traversal, with reception to it calling Spider-Man’s web-swinging sluggish and poorly animated. Still, the character’s name being attached to an exclusive platform for Marvel’s Avengers was enough to sell many fans on that console edition of the game. Because Spider-Man is so seminal to Marvel, it makes sense why it would want to include the character in as many IPs as possible, even if these games themselves could functionally operate without the character ever making an appearance. Spider-Man has loose connections to other Marvel affiliations while being wholly independent as his own character in the meantime, which is fortunate when developers and publishers want him to be a part of their game.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance, for instance, incorporates a multitude of Marvel characters from different affiliations and teams, meaning that Spider-Man does not stand out as much. Spider-Man does not officially or permanently belong to the X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, or other such groups, but he has featured in many of these in different capacities and does not feel out of place as a result when he does make an appearance.
The only issue that may arise from seeing Spider-Man in so many games is that fans might start to think there is too much saturation of the character, and that it may be second nature for developers to throw him into their games for the sake of his popularity alone. Rather, it does not seem as if fans have grown exhausted with Spider-Man in games lately, and it may be a trend that continues well into the future of Marvel games as a result.
Marvel Games Having Likable Rosters Is Preferable to Comic Accuracy
Marvel’s Midnight Suns already had incredibly notable characters in its roster before Spider-Man’s announcement, such as Iron Man, Captain America, and Doctor Strange. But with lesser-known characters such as Nico Minoru, Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider, and Illyana Rasputina’s Magik, Marvel’s Midnight Suns also has some deep-cut characters players will become familiar with whom they may not have heard much about beforehand.
This can sometimes be a detriment, as fans who are unfamiliar with certain characters may not feel an inclination to play a game that does not have their favorite characters in it. Marvel vs. Capcom, Marvel: Future Fight, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, and X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 are only a handful of games that feature Spider-Man, where his inclusion makes the game more interesting if not better in general. Spider-Man helps to further bridge that chasm as his inclusion almost always ensures that fans will have a favorable character on the roster. Spider-Man’s addition to Marvel’s Midnight Suns as a playable character may have even been what swung players over to wanting to purchase it, when they previously may not have before his announcement.
It will be interesting to see how much his addition to the game helps or hinders it, but with a track record of popular guest appearances behind him, it seems as if fans will be perfectly satisfied that Spider-Man is playable in yet another Marvel game that otherwise would not need him to appear.