Spider-Man 2's Biggest Fight Features A My Hero Academia Reference
27.10.2023 - 01:43
/ thegamer.com
/ Peter Parker
/ My Hero Academia
It seems like you can't swing down a single street in Spider-Man 2 without bumping into a reference or two. Even taking away the many, many suits you can unlock that are direct nods to other Marvel properties, you still have locations like the Wakandan Embassy and Sanctum Sanctorum that you can find while thwipping across New York. You don't find many nods to properties outside of Marvel though, but it seems like there is one during one of the game's biggest moments. Be warned, we're heading spoiler territory.
Quite a way into the game, you'll play as Miles as you attempt to take down a now completely out of control Peter Parker and remove the symbiote from him permanently. It's an emotional fight, as Miles is forced to fight with his friend and tutor, and features a whole bunch of cool cutscenes to drive home the importance of the moment. It's during one of these cutscenes that Insomniac seems to reference popular anime series My Hero Academia, as Miles hits Peter with an eerily similar move used during one of the show's biggest fights.
TikTok user With.The.Crew shared the pretty definitive evidence earlier this week, with a video that has both the scene from My Hero Academia and Spider-Man 2 playing side by side. In particular, the moment in which the game focuses on Miles Morales' hand covered in electricity looks to be a shot for shot reference to the anime, as well as the following strike that slams Peter into the ground.
It shouldn't be too surprising that Spider-Man 2 has a My Hero Academia reference, especially since manga creator Kōhei Horikoshi has stated in the past that the web slinger was actually one of his biggest inspirations.
If you've watched the show and don't quite recognise the scene, the move references the culmination of the fight between main character Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugou in Season 3. It's one of the shows best moments, and an episode packed with enough action to inspire dozens of fights.
However, before you accuse Insomniac of anything untoward, creatives use existing scenes from other media as references and inspiration all the time, whether it's just for artwork or full-on animation.
This one is just a little more obvious if you're a fan of My Hero Academia, and the idea of a number of animators being fans of the series isn't all that ridiculous when superhero movies and games share a lot of the same DNA as shonen animes. It also makes sense for Miles to be a bit of a weeb.
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