I Love Those Sweet, Non-Violent Side-Missions In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

In Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, there’s a story beat where one of Miles’s teachers is kidnapped, and you have to ‘do a Spider-Man’ and get her back. Very basic video game stuff. Seen it before, will play it again at least four million times before I die.

But it was what happened next that caught my eye.

Finishing this mission unlocks a bunch of side missions called “Brooklyn Visions,” which involve Miles helping out his fellow students. As in, just helping them out without beating up a bunch of goons. As I went about these perfectly ordinary tasks, it occurred to me that superhero games need this kind of stuff way more often.

Missing Mascots And Homecoming Dates

The first one I accepted was helping Vijay ask someone out to homecoming. The plan involves running a generator through a bunch of screens telling the date where to go, before the final screens that say “home” and then “coming”. Admittedly, there is violence at the beginning as you beat up some thugs who tried to steal the original generator, but after it’s broken, the rest of the mission is just Spidey knowhow to rejigger the thing.

The funny thing was that after I brought the electricity back to the generators and Vijay’s crush came out to find the instructions on where to go, he started speaking about how great a guy Vijay is and all the dates they’ve been on. I won’t lie, it was only then it dawned on me these two were already an established couple and that this boy wasn’t just some boy Vijay was crushing on.

So many stories really focus on the ‘meet cute’ and the ‘will they, won’t they?’ that I genuinely assumed Spider-Man was trying to help set them up, not just making a sweet moment for an established couple. The build-up to the start of a relationship is often juicier than an existing couple, and especially in an interactive medium you can understand the desire to “be the one who brought these two together”. But no, they were already an item, Vijay just wanted to make the moment special, nothing more than that.

But I do like that better, as that’s the kind of thing only a superhero would do. A superhero understands it’s worth the time to make two people’s day all the better, even in situations that technically would go fine without the extra help, just not as good if no one came to make it better.

You know as much as I like video games, there’s a fumbling of the ball I only just noticed they’ve been doing with superheroes. What makes a great superhero is not how cool and flashy their powers are, or if they could beat Goku in a fight, it’s about their heart and their intentions in doing good.

Our own Marcus Jones spoke recently about how My Adventures With Superman embraced the more heartfelt moments of Superman, and that’s how I felt playing these missions. Ass-kicking was down by a lot, you don’t throw a single hand while retrieving the stolen school mascot Lance the Lion, for example, no matter how smug the rival school was about stealing him. You just solve their puzzle, and go on your way with a smile on your face for helping out those in need.

I Lost My Balloooooooooooon!

Funnily enough, the other Spider-Man 2 from all the way back in 2004 also has a moment that also brings this to mind. Brace yourself for an old memory:

Occasionally while swinging through New York in Spider-Man 2, you’d hear a child scream that their beloved balloon floated away. It’s a random encounter that makes the city feel alive, and sees you slinging up skyscrapers and doing some tricky platforming to retrieve the balloons for the hapless kids. But no matter the deceptive level of difficulty, I always went after the balloons as I just idea the touch of Spider-Man doing something as wholesome as chasing runaway balloons. It’s the same quality that I love about the Brooklyn Visions missions in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, a moment that only exists to remind you Spider-Man is a good guy, more than just someone who can punch very hard.

When we look at tackling supervillains, yeah, only superheroes have the powers and arsenal to take them down. But what about the things average Joes can do? Like helping some kid ask his boyfriend to the prom, or helping some kid try to get their lost balloons back. Your average person isn’t going to step in and help, and it’s a perfect task for a superhero who’s always been recognised as ‘Your friendly neighborhood one.’ Spidey’s always been a bit of a local, an everyman, and this is exactly the kind of stuff he should be doing.

Spider-Man has done these things in games now, and it just makes me realize it’s so overdue for the rest of them. Now, who’s for a Batman game where you play as Bruce Wayne buying Christmas presents for the orphans?