Beenox and Activision’sThe Amazing Spider-Manfollowed the events of Marc Webb’s movie counterpart, but spun its own original narrative after the fact. Making a marginal departure from thestandard open-worldSpider-Mangamesthat players had grown accustomed to,The Amazing Spider-Manwas a more cinematic and intimate experience with first-person mechanics and a lot of indoor environments.
Its sequel,The Amazing Spider-Man 2, did more of the same. However,The Amazing Spider-Man 2followed its movie counterpart’s events directly while weaving in new narratives and character iterations for side activities, as well as other primary antagonists such as Cletus Kasady’s Carnage.The Amazing Spider-Man’s continuity has been canned since 2014, but it is nonetheless possible that it could continue in future video game installments.
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The Amazing Spider-Man Could Be Kept Alive in Games Rather Than Movies
Marvel Cinematic Universe fans who seeSpider-Man: No Way Homewill find some familiar faces among its cast of characters. Because of mystical spells, certain characters from Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s films appear, including villains like Doc Ock, harkoning back to nostalgicSpider-Manmovies and Sony’s umbrella outside of Marvel proper. It’s unlikely that Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man will return in another standalone movie, but video games offer another means.
Sony could keep this continuity alive and well through subsequent game installments, whether it is handed back to Beenox and Activison for more sequels or given to another developer and publisher.The Amazing Spider-Man’s original game adaptationis not so much retelling the movie as it is an epilogue narrative that takes liberties with particular characters and how they interact after Curt Connors is cured. With this as a blueprint, more stories could be told for Garfield’s Spider-Man.
MainstreamSpider-Manantagonists such as Scorpion, Alistair Smythe, and Rhino are in the games introduced, but the movie’s official sequel showed that they were not canon. Despite this, there is still room for these titles to improve so long as more attention to detail is afforded to connect them to their source material. Garfield did not provide the voice talent or likeness for eitherThe Amazing Spider-ManorThe Amazing Spider-Man 2, which disrupts the immersion that a licensed movie adaptation could otherwise offer.
Regardless, athird installment inThe Amazing Spider-Man’s franchisecould offer closure on the movie franchise’s events and supply players with more of its story moving forward. Many fans believe that the wall-crawler’s arc was cut short after only its second movie, and would love to see Garfield and his iconic villains return.Spider-Man: No Way Home’s reprisal of Electro and the Lizard has generated a lot of discourse online from people who wish to see these characters, and Garfield’s Spider-Man, flourish in another entry ofThe Amazing Spider-Man.
This reaction toSpider-Man: No Way Homeaddresses the admiration that fans have for previous Spider-Man movie continuities. Marvel’s introduction of a multiverse does present many opportunities for characters in the future, but while Sony and Marvel have a strange relationship it is uncertain which franchises will be pursued, especially if it is a continuity that has seemingly been ceased.
WhetherThe Amazing Spider-Man’s villains appearing inSpider-Man: No Way Homeis a one-off or the start of a larger connection is yet to be confirmed.Tom Holland’s MCU Spider-Manwill receive another trilogy of movies that follow the impactful events ofSpider-Man: No Way Home. However, while Garfield’s Spider-Man may not be taken in that direction, a video game revival of the franchise could be the key to its successful second wind.
The Amazing Spider-Manis available now for 3DS, DS, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360.
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