Controversial Spider-Man Opinions

[Kaitou D. Kid]

Yet they used Doc Ock as the main villain and tried to present it as a surprise.

Another controversial opinion: It is weird that Insomniac's Spider-Man hasn't fought Green Goblin or Doc Ock for the first 8 years of his career.

Maybe not bad, just weird.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Another controversial opinion: It is weird that Insomniac's Spider-Man hasn't fought Green Goblin or Doc Ock for the first 8 years of his career.

Maybe not bad, just weird.

For some reason Green Goblin, i.e. 616 Green Goblin, hardly shows up in Spider-Man games as a boss fight. There's only one AAA game with Green Goblin as a boss, and that Spider-Man the Movie (2002). That was the movie tie-in game by Activision with Maguire and Dafoe voicing the characters. And I always loved that game because the Spider-Man and Goblin have multiple boss fights and they all take place aerially, i.e. Spider-Man swings in the skyscrapers and chases Goblin on the glider and if you time it right you can land on the glider mid-flight and score punches on Norman before he kicks you off. Those boss fights are still in my view among the best in any Spider-Man game. (As a bonus, if you complete the game on Hard, you get to play as the Goblin, now Harry, but with all of the arsenal and gadgets of Green Goblin).

I honestly don't know why Goblin is neglected in games so much. Because Goblin as a boss would test Spider-Man in flight, and bring out the aerial nature of combat in a way you can't with the more grounded villains Spider-Man faces.

[TheCape]

For some reason Green Goblin, i.e. 616 Green Goblin, hardly shows up in Spider-Man games as a boss fight. There's only one AAA game with Green Goblin as a boss, and that Spider-Man the Movie (2002). That was the movie tie-in game by Activision with Maguire and Dafoe voicing the characters. And I always loved that game because the Spider-Man and Goblin have multiple boss fights and they all take place aerially, i.e. Spider-Man swings in the skyscrapers and chases Goblin on the glider and if you time it right you can land on the glider mid-flight and score punches on Norman before he kicks you off. Those boss fights are still in my view among the best in any Spider-Man game. (As a bonus, if you complete the game on Hard, you get to play as the Goblin, now Harry, but with all of the arsenal and gadgets of Green Goblin).

I honestly don't know why Goblin is neglected in games so much. Because Goblin as a boss would test Spider-Man in flight, and bring out the aerial nature of combat in a way you can't with the more grounded villains Spider-Man faces.

Maybe programing aerial combat is a pain?

[TheCape]

Another controversial opinion: It is weird that Insomniac's Spider-Man hasn't fought Green Goblin or Doc Ock for the first 8 years of his career.

Maybe not bad, just weird.

Yeah, that was weird for me too. I was also gonna include Venom on that one, but then i remembered that he didn't show up until he was married lol.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Maybe programing aerial combat is a pain?

Especially with an Open World Sandbox where everything has to be rigid and defined in terms of flight patterns and so on.

The 2002 Game wasn't open-world it was linear level based so that meant every level could be what it needed to be for the story and moment to have maximum impact. Sure it looked weird because Spider-Man seemed like he was swinging from the sky but in the aerial boss fights with Vulture and Goblin it worked well.

It would be cool if we get a Spider-Man fighting Goblin on his glider and it takes place across a huge chunk of the open world map.

In the PS4 game you had Vulture but that took place in a single industrial plant when this is a dude who can fly across the entire map and area. It felt a little silly.

I personally prefer the Immersive Sim "every level is a mini-open world" approach you get with DISHONORED, that way you get the curated level design but it's open with multiple pathways to accomplish so the open world rigidity doesn't get in the way of scale and emotional impact.

[Lukmendes]

For some reason Green Goblin, i.e. 616 Green Goblin, hardly shows up in Spider-Man games as a boss fight. There's only one AAA game with Green Goblin as a boss, and that Spider-Man the Movie (2002). That was the movie tie-in game by Activision with Maguire and Dafoe voicing the characters. And I always loved that game because the Spider-Man and Goblin have multiple boss fights and they all take place aerially, i.e. Spider-Man swings in the skyscrapers and chases Goblin on the glider and if you time it right you can land on the glider mid-flight and score punches on Norman before he kicks you off. Those boss fights are still in my view among the best in any Spider-Man game. (As a bonus, if you complete the game on Hard, you get to play as the Goblin, now Harry, but with all of the arsenal and gadgets of Green Goblin).

I honestly don't know why Goblin is neglected in games so much. Because Goblin as a boss would test Spider-Man in flight, and bring out the aerial nature of combat in a way you can't with the more grounded villains Spider-Man faces.

While not Triple A, Norman did show up in Ultimate Spider-Man, although he was just a random boss and had little relevance to the plot, think maybe he was just a distraction? Then again, that one is Hulk-Goblin.

Either way, maybe it's because of his nature as a flight boss that makes him more complicated to be used? 'cause honestly, air combat in Spidey games tends to be hot garbage, best one at that might be Web of Shadows, which has its own issues of repetitive gameplay, 'cause the game overly relies on Web Strike, which is bad enough on the ground, and even worse in the air.

I also want to say over exposure, but Venom tends to show in cartoons and video games just fine, so I doubt Norman, or any Goblin, would have an issue like this, so maybe it's for gameplay reasons, or maybe the companies just agreed with "No, we're not using Goblin" lol.

[TheCape]

Especially with an Open World Sandbox where everything has to be rigid and defined in terms of flight patterns and so on.

The 2002 Game wasn't open-world it was linear level based so that meant every level could be what it needed to be for the story and moment to have maximum impact. Sure it looked weird because Spider-Man seemed like he was swinging from the sky but in the aerial boss fights with Vulture and Goblin it worked well.

It would be cool if we get a Spider-Man fighting Goblin on his glider and it takes place across a huge chunk of the open world map.

In the PS4 game you had Vulture but that took place in a single industrial plant when this is a dude who can fly across the entire map and area. It felt a little silly.

I personally prefer the Immersive Sim "every level is a mini-open world" approach you get with DISHONORED, that way you get the curated level design but it's open with multiple pathways to accomplish so the open world rigidity doesn't get in the way of scale and emotional impact.

This just reminds me that my Spider-Man (2002) was lost before i could finish that boss fight

But yeah, there is also the fact that the aerial combat in the PS4 is also pretty meh if we get down to it.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

While not Triple A, Norman did show up in Ultimate Spider-Man, although he was just a random boss and had little relevance to the plot, think maybe he was just a distraction? Then again, that one is Hulk-Goblin.

Ultimate Spider-Man is AAA. AAA games (nobody knows what those three A's stand for btw) are any game put out by big publishers with high budget, graphics, on major ports. So USM, an open-world title on PC, PS2, XBox counts as AAA. As opposed to an "indie game" (think Limbo) or a mobile game.

That's why I specified 616-Goblin because USM used the Ultimate Norman who just sucks, both in comics and the game.

Either way, maybe it's because of his nature as a flight boss that makes him more complicated to be used?

Probably.

I also want to say over exposure, but Venom tends to show in cartoons and video games just fine, so I doubt Norman, or any Goblin, would have an issue like this, so maybe it's for gameplay reasons, or maybe the companies just agreed with "No, we're not using Goblin" lol.

Remember that Green Goblin was a fairly obscure character until the Sam Raimi movie in the popular culture. His death in the 1970s kept him off the table for a long time in terms of licensing and adaptation appearances. Norman's obscurity was the reason the Fox Cartoon introduced Hobgoblin first, against showrunner Semper's intentions because Avi Arad said that merchandising told him that kids recognized the Hobgoblin toy more than the Green Goblin one.

The other reason is also the mentality behind what Arad said. Marvel saw licensed properties like cartoons and games as marketing gimmicks and not creative enterprises. They saw games and cartoons back then (and arguably still do today) not as creative mediums but a way to sell and hock their products. So it wasn't about giving an accurate take on the iconic classic villain or doing justice to a great Spider-Man character, it was about selling toys and merch. So that also explains the reluctance to feature Green Goblin in the 90s and 2000s in gaming. The major Green Goblin appearance owes itself to a movie licensed game as it is.

Greg Weissman's Spectacular Spider-Man that was absolutely a labor of love devoted to getting the characters of the comics right and giving Green Goblin of the Lee-Ditko era his due but he was an exception, and after Disney bought Marvel you have these Disney-pap cartoons run by...none other than Steve Wacker, Quesada and Jeph Loeb....(yay?!), not exactly the individuals with the best creative taste or inclinations.

[Frontier]

Another controversial opinion: It is weird that Insomniac's Spider-Man hasn't fought Green Goblin or Doc Ock for the first 8 years of his career.

Maybe not bad, just weird.

90's Spidey didn't fight most of his main Rogues Gallery until he was deep into his college years.

Maybe programing aerial combat is a pain?

That reminds me of the Vulture fight in Web of Shadows.

[Toonstrack]

Here's one: its super annoying how no one ever shuts up about OMD. I get it, I wasn't following when it first happened and it was a big deal and it was a poorly thought out storywith bad execution . But its just like everything that happens with Spidey HAS to be tied back to "...yeah but keep in mind OMD sucked though!!" sometimes and it gets so tiresome. Like it's been what 13 years? I'm really hoping we can move on after Spencer's marries them again

[PCN24454]

Here's one: its super annoying how no one ever shuts up about OMD. I get it, I wasn't following when it first happened and it was a big deal and it was a poorly thought out storywith bad execution . But its just like everything that happens with Spidey HAS to be tied back to "...yeah but keep in mind OMD sucked though!!" sometimes and it gets so tiresome. Like it's been what 13 years? I'm really hoping we can move on after Spencer's marries them again

Nope, they’ll still harass Marvel about it. It’s all a fan can really do: mull on about past stuff.

[Jman27]

Here's one: its super annoying how no one ever shuts up about OMD. I get it, I wasn't following when it first happened and it was a big deal and it was a poorly thought out storywith bad execution . But its just like everything that happens with Spidey HAS to be tied back to "...yeah but keep in mind OMD sucked though!!" sometimes and it gets so tiresome. Like it's been what 13 years? I'm really hoping we can move on after Spencer's marries them again

agreed and you know whats funny if it they get re-married fans will still bring back OMD and for good reason cause they will be sacred to be relax or cant believe that they are back to together. OMD is apart of Spider-man and will never go away

[PCN24454]

Another controversial opinion: It is weird that Insomniac's Spider-Man hasn't fought Green Goblin or Doc Ock for the first 8 years of his career.

Maybe not bad, just weird.

Overall, it felt like the number of supervillains he faced was too low for eight years. It kinda defeated the purpose of making him an "experienced" Spider-Man, IMO.

I feel like the game would've been better off if they handled their villains episodically or like a MOTW. You would have villains like Scorpion and Vulture acting independantly while the main villains are preparing for the endgame.

You could've cut out a third of the game and not lost anything.

[Toonstrack]

agreed and you know whats funny if it they get re-married fans will still bring back OMD and for good reason cause they will be sacred to be relax or cant believe that they are back to together. OMD is apart of Spider-man and will never go away

Sometimes I wonder to myself if Spider-Man is a better character for it or not. Like hindsight wise, the things that have been done with him since, a lot of it I dont think would be possible if Pete and MJ stayed married.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

Here's one: its super annoying how no one ever shuts up about OMD.

That's not controversial. Bashing OMD-Discourse is quite common in Spider-Man fan circles. Even people who like the marriage and want it back don't like it.

But its just like everything that happens with Spidey HAS to be tied back to "...yeah but keep in mind OMD sucked though!!" sometimes and it gets so tiresome.

It being tiresome and so on, is a form of protest by fandom. It makes sure that there's a dark cloud in terms of discussing Spider-Man post BND and makes its defenders and others squirm and feel uncomfortable, so in that sense it gets the job done. Even Mark Waid has to clear his throat now and again.

Remember when Spider-Man got married, the people who hated the marriage didn't accept it or take it lying down, they frothed on the mouth, they fulminated, they spat venom on people who liked the married Spider-Man, ran screeds in Wizard magazine and other places and did that for 20 years. It's disingenuous to now ask the other side to grin and bear it.