20 Years Later, I Now Realize How Badly 1 Marvel Game Failed Comic Readers

When the Final Spider-Guy online game got here out in 2005, it used to be touted as a canon a part of the continued comedian collection of the similar identify. Sadly, the comedian due to this fact contradicted, after which absolutely overwrote the occasions of the sport, negating Wonder’s alternative to construct a completely cohesive multimedia continuity out of its up to date, millennial tackle Spider-Guy lore.
Evolved by means of Treyarch, and revealed by means of Activision, Final Spider-Guy is held in top regard by means of players to nowadays, however for comedian ebook fanatics, what made it specifically interesting used to be its canonicity, which Wonder didn’t persist with.
On reflection, this seems like a ignored alternative; 20 years later, Wonder fanatics are nonetheless looking ahead to a really “in-continuity” online game.
2005’s “Final Spider-Guy” Recreation Was once Supposed To Be Absolutely Canon; What Came about?
Wonder’s Final Giant Swing, Defined
By way of definition, Final Spider-Guy used to be supposed to be an cutting edge new generation for the vintage franchise. The comedian debuted in 2000, and it gave Wonder Comics what they’d lengthy craved: a do-over for Spidey’s beginning tale. By way of all metrics, the collection used to be a large luck, one who helped release a complete line of Final books, which lasted fifteen years.

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Along with being successful with fanatics, creator Brian Michael Bendis’ take at the subject material used to be significantly well-received, and additionally, the early problems with the collection bought an outrageous quantity of copies. A online game model of the comedian used to be a no brainer extension of this luck, and it used to be quickly in building, for an eventual 2005 unencumber.
Treyarch’s Final Spider-Guy got here out in September 2005, simply over 5 years after the comedian first hit cabinets. For fanatics on the time, it used to be a large deal that the sport used to be canon, becoming exactly into the tale of the collection, and for some time, it gave the look of Wonder used to be dedicated to this. Sadly, this dedication didn’t closing.
In spite of Shut Ties With The Comedian’s Inventive Staff, “Final Spider-Guy” Were given Misplaced In The Shuffle
The Recreation/Comedian Connection Raised Speedy Timeline Questions
A minimum of to fanatics, it made best possible sense. Final Spider-Guy gave the impression to provide the very best alternative for this experiment, a coordinated canon that crossed the boundary between mediums. The mainstream Wonder Universe’s Spider-Guy lore used to be cluttered by means of a long time upon a long time of serialized storytelling, however this new model used to be other. It used to be tabula rasa. A blank slate.
Something that possibly suggests the hassle used to be doomed from the beginning is that the Final Spider-Guy comedian collection didn’t have a discernible hole in its tale into which the sport may well be positioned.
It used to be now additionally the made of a unmarried creator, Brian Michael Bendis. You will need to observe that Bendis wrote the Final Spider-Guy sport, and used to be closely considering manufacturing. What this makes transparent is that Wonder wasn’t simply paying lip carrier to the theory of the sport being in-continuity on the time. That used to be the plan.
So, what went incorrect? It’s laborious to mention, however this can be a query value exploring in a little extra element. Something that possibly suggests the hassle used to be doomed from the beginning is that the Final Spider-Guy comedian collection didn’t have a discernible hole in its tale into which the sport may well be positioned, growing continuity confusion nearly straight away.
The sport used to be set following the occasions of Final Spider-Guy #39, within the aftermath of the Final “Venom” arc, and successfully serves as its sequel. Alternatively, that factor got here out over a year-and-a-half previous to the sport’s unencumber; by the point of the sport’s arrival, Final Spider-Guy used to be already as much as factor #82, leaving the sport’s timeline placement unclear.
Final Spider-Guy’s Intense Tempo Left Little Room For The Recreation’s Storyline
Why Wonder Made up our minds To Nix The Shared Continuity Plan
Two years into its run, Final Spider-Guy started to be revealed two times a month, continuing at a breakneck tempo, and this indubitably contributed to the eventual downgrade within the online game tie-in’s canon standing. Remarkably, a complete six tale arcs had come and long past within the comics earlier than the sport used to be launched.
As Final Spider-Guy went on, it advanced its personal narrative propulsion, so that you can discuss, and it couldn’t accommodate the sidebar, or detour, of the sport’s storyline.
For fanatics, it wasn’t inconceivable to reconcile the sport’s tale with what used to be going down within the comics, to permit for sufficient flexibility within the timeline for the tales to coexist. Finally, even though, it used to be no longer comedian readers, or players, who have been chargeable for keeping up the canonicity of the sport. That got here right down to Wonder, and Brian Michael Bendis.
It’s to the credit score of Bendis and the corporate that they made the try, after all, however probably, the logistical nuisance of creating all of it cohere most likely wasn’t value it. As Final Spider-Guy went on, it advanced its personal narrative propulsion, so that you can discuss, and it couldn’t accommodate the sidebar, or detour, of the sport’s storyline.
On reflection, whilst it’s not value dinging Wonder, and particularly no longer Brian Michael Bendis, for no longer protecting the Final Spider-Guy sport in canon, this can be a noteworthy reminder that that is one thing comedian ebook fanatics have sought after for years, however that hasn’t ever been totally pulled off to a lovely extent.
Enthusiasts Have been Keen To Iron Out The Recreation And Comedian’s Discrepancies, However Wonder Wasn’t
How The Final Spider-Guy Recreation Fell Out Of Continuity
Canon video video games had been a part of many multimedia franchises earlier than, after all, with a stand-out instance being Superstar Wars, wherein video games are only one a part of the densely woven tapestry of in-continuity tales unfold throughout each and every imaginable medium. Alternatively, that canonicity is most often contingent, matter to being overwritten by means of different, extra precedence assets.
The overall fan consesus on the time positioned the Final Spider-Guy sport storyline between Final Spider-Guy #71 and #72.
That used to be the destiny of Final Spider-Guy, however the distinctive level in Wonder historical past at which that sport got here out in point of fact lent a degree of credence to the likelihood that it may well be carried out with a Wonder franchise. And the chance stays very tantalizing for fanatics who need this kind of cohesive, transmedia storytelling.
Some Sides Of The “Final Spider-Guy” Recreation Did Make It Into The Comedian Sequence
A Later Final Spider-Guy Arc Quasi-Tailored The Recreation
As Final Spider-Guy readers know, components of the Final Spider-Guy sport’s tale have been later included into the comedian collection, beginning with Final Spider-Guy #123, suggesting it used to be by means of that time that Wonder known it had already given up at the canonicity of the sport, whilst nonetheless believing that facets of it have compatibility the whole route of the collection.
The sport used to be neither the primary, nor the closing Wonder sport to have canon aspirations, however to nowadays, it stands proud to many fanatics as the most efficient shot the writer had at making this a truth, and sticking to it. This didn’t end up possible in spite of everything, however the results of its promise linger.

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5 Causes Why Spider-Guy Is Wonder’s Best possible (and 5 Flaws We All Attempt to Forget about)
Spider-Guy might be the most efficient superhero that Wonder has to provide, however that does not imply that he does not have flaws that move overlooked or disregarded.
It’s by no means inconceivable for a Wonder sport and comedian to succeed in this synergy one day, however it obviously stretches the limits of what canon even approach; as creator Jonathan Hickman as soon as stated, what fanatics name “canon” is in reality “60 years of contradictions,” which might be continuously being remixed and recycled, retconned and repudiated.
That is the legacy that Final Spider-Guy suits into very best; a type of gladiatorial serialized storytelling, wherein no longer the whole thing can continue to exist. The Final Spider-Guy sport, and its “canon” storyline, have been cutting edge for his or her generation, even though it didn’t stick in spite of everything, thru no fault of the sport’s.