Credit: ITMMarvel was not always the entertainment juggernaut it is today. The titan of comic book publishing at one point even filed for bankruptcy in 1996. This would force the company to sell the film rights to almost six decades’ worth of their most iconic characters to whichever studio would buy them to stay afloat. While popular characters like X-Men and the Fantastic Four would notably go to 20th Century Studios, the biggest victory was when Sony Pictures acquired Marvel’s best-selling and most recognizable hero — Spider-Man.
Spider-Man was a pop culture-defining character who became the champion for Marvel Comics and prevented co-creator, Stan Lee from an early retirement. The character captivated audiences not only due to his unique superpowers but he was a normal working-class kid. He was not a brooding billionaire, a super soldier thrust into greatness due to a World War, or a god of thunder. Peter Parker was a brilliant yet socially awkward teenager from Queens who was doing his best to get by in bustling New York.
The character would become the face of the superhero genre with Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, then again with the two-movie reboot featuring Andrew Garfield. Since Sony could only maintain ownership of the Web-Head if they continue to make Spidey movies every few years, the franchise was reimagined again. Tom Holland would become the new Peter Parker and his legacy became forever intertwined with the other Spider-Men with the smash hit, Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).
This resurgence in popularity prompted Sony Pictures to create another franchise within the Spiderverse centering around the fan-favorite villain, Venom, starring Tom Hardy. The success of his reintroduction had the fanbase clamoring to have Hardy’s Venom finally faceoff against Holland’s Spider-Man. While that has yet to be seen, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will be the closest thing to that legendary clash.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is expected to be one of if not the top-selling video game of 2023. Pre-orders for the game sold out instantly. The first game, Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018), sold over 33 million copies, which equated to almost $2 billion.
The critically-acclaimed video game had become so impactful to pop culture that it influenced one of No Way Home’s biggest twists. Their connection must be symbiotic because Marvel’s Spider-Man would give Peter Parker a complete face swap to make the character suspiciously look more like the current Spidey, Tom Holland.
Insomniac Games has been teasing the fanbase more and more as they have released more information on the highly-anticipated sequel. Even though they have revealed cinematic and gameplay trailers to showcase the latest updates and advancements, they never clearly depicted the inevitable savage brawl between Spider-Man and Venom. Luckily, this new promo trailer provides a compelling taste of the much-awaited brutality between these two iconic characters.
Are you excited for the sequel? Do you think the video game franchise is better than the movie franchise?