The developer of Marvel's Spider-Man recently took to Twitter to explain a reference to the Rocky franchise. The PS4 game is an extremely well-regarded title from the last console generation, largely because it nails so many important aspects of the iconic character. One of the few signature elements of Spider-Man is his humor, which is both hilarious, and also often awkward.
Insomniac's Spider-Man series has been a massive hit for Sony thanks to its broad appeal. Spider-Man: Miles Morales outsold some of 2020's biggest titles, including Ghost of Tsushima and the prestigious Naughty Dog sequel, The Last of Us Part II. Not only has Insomniac done an excellent job of portraying the tried and true Peter Parker, but it's helped introduce Miles Morales to mainstream audiences via a PlayStation 5 launch title. The attach rate between PS5 owners and the latest game has been incredible, likely cementing a number of loyal fans for future entries, and ensuring a sizable audience for Spidey's dad jokes.
Insomniac Games animator Jeff Weidner took to Twitter to elaborate on how a Rocky reference ended up in Marvel's Spider-Man, noting that it was a spur of the moment thing. During a fight above the streets of New York City between Electro, Vulture, and Spidey, the web-head shouts out "Yo Adrian, it's me, Spider-Man!", in a Sly Stallone accent. Vulture's response is one of considerable confusion, due to his age. Weidner noted that he was bouncing ideas back and forth with writer Ben Arfmann on what the characters would say during transitional cutscenes before they settled on the comedic line. “What if we had Spider-Man reference that famous movie and say something like ‘Yo Adrian, it’s me, Spider-Man!’ & that was all it took. Ideas started flowing fast and furious after that. Between the two of us, we quickly filled in the rest," said Weidner.
Later, Electro tells Spider-Man "I must break you!" A quote of Ivan Drago's, the antagonist in Rocky IV. Spider-Man then giddily jumps into battle, exclaiming how happy he is that someone understood his joke. It's delivered in a way that only Spider-Man actor Yuri Lowenthal could've done, giving the line a humorous child-like innocence.. Weidner went on to outline how satisfying it was to have a collaborative eureka moment with one of his co-workers. "The really fun bit was realizing the opportunity for a callback when Electro rejoined the fight - 'Spider-Man, I must break you.' & Peter’s unrestrained joy that SOMEONE finally understood and appreciated his jokes enough to actually reciprocate," said Weidner.
Weidner's thread indicates that in many ways, video games are largely made up as they go along. Of course there are plans for stories, mechanics, and various other things, but the ever-evolving nature of game development allows developers to change things or add new elements at any given time. Even great moments that one might assume were just written into the script without a second thought turned out to be spur of the moment idea that was born out of collaboration.
It's likely that the inevitable Marvel's Spider-Man 2 will feature many more of these kinds of behind the scenes moments as the team attempts to raise the bar in quality, storytelling, and much more. Whether or not the wall-crawler will find a way to slip his love for the Italian Stallion into the next Spider-Man game remains to be seen.
Source: Jeff Weidner
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