Think of your favorite movie. There’s a good chance it was based on a piece of fiction. Think of your favorite show, game or book. It might have been based on something too. Adaptations are common, but significant to our culture as well. Nowadays, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a Hollywood movie that isn’t an adaptation of something. Take a look at Disney’s latest movies, many of which are remakes of original films. Originality is a commodity that is unfortunately sparse lately. A common trend I’m invested in is when video games or movies adapt comic book storylines. When writers adapt these iconic stories, they should keep the good writing and change only the parts that weren’t as compelling.

I’m trying to be as broad as I could. Yes, I’m writing about a Spider-Man story — at this point, down the whole bottle. Last semester, I wrote an article about the pitfalls of Marvel’s “Spider-Man 2” (SM2). This was a game that came out in October of last year. It had a ton to live up to. The game is a sequel to Marvel’s Spider-Man, which was released on the PlayStation Four in 2018, and Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Miles Morales” in 2020. Both these games were received very well by fans, so the sequel obviously had some massive expectations webbed on it.

These games are doing a lot narratively. They’re brand new interpretations of Spider-Man and his universe of characters, so there are a ton of moving parts. In both games, specifically the first one, the writers did a great job of keeping the spirit and soul of the character while also adding in new things. Although Spider-Man is many things to many different people, his character’s spirit is consistent as a down on his luck underdog who always gets dealt a bad hand, but overcomes his adversity through sheer willpower. One of Spider-Man’s official “abilities” is his indomitable spirit. Yeah, look it up.

Insomniac Games, the developers of these games, certainly loved the character. You can really tell how much they do with all heart and passion in these games. For all the criticism I have, let me say that it all comes from a place of love and respect for the character. I adore the character of Spider-Man and what he stands for. He has impacted my life in a way that no other character has. So, of course, I’m going to be HELLA BIASED in this piece.

There are various characters in this game’s story that are new to the game. Most of them are iconic comic characters that have been adapted countless times. It just so happens that these characters are also villains. Funny, because Spidey is known for having a really great cast of bad guys. Some of his villains are incredibly iconic and popular in their own right. There are three main villains in SM2. In order of appearance, it goes Kraven, Lizard and Venom. Kraven is a big game hunter meathead, who dresses how he sounds. The Lizard was originally a scientist who transformed into a scaly monster in an attempt to regrow a lost limb. Both these villains are A-list Spidey characters in terms of popularity and fans adored Insomniac’s version of these characters.

Notice how I didn’t mention Venom. It’s because he is quite different in this game than how he normally is in the comics. His comic counterpart is Eddie Brock, a man who had beef with Spidey and uses a black symbiote, a gooey space alien that Spidey once used as a suit and has since turned evil, to become a supervillain powerhouse, Venom. Venom is a complex character. In the comics, Eddie is a character who hates Spidey, fights and torments him, but doesn’t wish to hurt innocent people. It’s the symbiote, the alien who gives him power to do that, but it also feeds off of his negative emotions to do so. Venom’s essentially being gaslighted by a space monster, which informs his journey of going from a bad guy to an anti-hero.

Venom in SM2 is completely different. He’s not Eddie Brock, a complex character with a backstory. He is instead Harry Osborn, Peter’s childhood friend. This is an odd choice since in the comics, Harry was once the Green Goblin, a completely unrelated villain to Venom. Why the change? Well, the writers love Venom as a concept, but they wanted the drama of having Peter fight his best friend. Makes sense as some of Spidey’s best villains have been previous mentors to him, like Otto Octavius or Norman Osborn. It doesn’t take an academic scholar to see the issue with this way of thinking though. Looking up videos on the story of SM2, it’s interesting to see the discourse change.

Back in October, everyone was in love with the game. In the months since, many people have criticized the game’s story and it seems the fans view it in a negative light. For a character that half the story revolves around, writers missed the point. Let me put it simply. The symbiote is the crutch of Venom. The symbiote gaslights and subtly manipulates Eddie into thinking Spidey is a terrible person, but it does not completely control him. Harry? Yeah, homeboy is completely out of it. The symbiote takes over and there is no internal struggle or manipulation, pretty much puppeteering Harry into a full-scale alien take over.

This change is important because it takes away the nuance of the character. Eddie grows in the comics from a villain to a hero — one that looks like a monster, but still a hero. There is no room for Harry to grow here. Once the symbiote gets antagonistic, it just completely uses Harry as a meat puppet. What’s the point? It makes Venom feel like a different entity altogether. The story suffers because of this and so do dedicated fans. This version of Venom sucks. He looks cool, but other than that, this is a different character. Everyone hates this version of the character too — go to YouTube and look at video essays of the character.

What I’m saying here is that when adaptation is done, it needs to be done delicately. Why change what worked with Venom? Maybe developers wanted to tell a unique story this time, but there was no reason to. When writers adapt famous characters, changing facets of them for no reason will negatively affect the story and the characters. Stick to the source material.

Nicolas Scagnelli is a senior majoring in English.

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece which represents the views of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.