#spy gang [mary-jane watson]

[juniaships]

Kaysha Wallace Bio (General)

This is a generic bio of my TMNT OC which applies to the continuities she's in. Which I rushed in time for her b-day! 💖💖💖

Full Name: Kaysha Cheyenne Wallace

Age: Depends on continuity, usually between ages of 16 ~ 21 years

Birthday: Feb. 14

Species: Human

Fandom: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (multimedia)

Voice Claims: Depends, but head-canon Amber Riley for Rise, Cree Summers for 1987, Kimberly Brooks for 2007 version, and Aisha/Layla's 4kids dub actor for 2003 version

Character: Friend and ally to the Hamato clan; love interest to Leo.

Powers/Abilities: Martial Artist, stealth and spying; mastery at tessen fighting and close range

Items: War Fans, tanto, kunai, kimono (courting gift from Leo)

Relationships

Family: Mr. & Mrs. Wallace (parents, alive), Rashean and Devon (younger brothers, 7 to 12 years range)

Friends: The Turtles, April O'Neill, Casey Jones

Acquaintances: Usagi Yojimbo, Mona Lisa, Tenet, varies by continuity

Enemies: Purple Dragons, Foot Clan, The Shredder, Kraang, most enemies of the Hamato

Love Interest: Leo is considered her primary love interest as he's the turtle I tend to ship her with. Originally was going to be with Raph but I felt like Leo needed someone that could connect with him on a personal intimate level and it all spiraled from there. Their ship name is Cotton Candy Ninjas!

Appearance

- Body type and height varies by actress/art style, but she is typically portrayed as a African American female

- Brown skin (medium-dark tones); curly-kinky hair worn in protective styles.

- Pink is the dominant color in her wardrobe; tends to wear trendy fashions

- Her ninja suits tend to be dark shades of red/maroon-pink with lighter pink accents and a belt for equipment

- Exception: In Rottmnt her main outfit is a pink kimono-styled suit with light blue and pink accents

- Pink sash/belt and domino mask

- Blue and jade colored kimono

Personality

Most iterations of Kaysha depicts her as a bubbly and passionate young woman. Her biggest flaws can be her hidden insecurities and tendencies to be a drama queen. She can also get frustrated easily if things don't go her way. Later on, she becomes more patient and brave, learning to keep herself levelheaded on missions and real world. A true romanticist at heart, Kaysha always tries her best to see the positive side of things. She has a thing for "shipping" people and encourages folks to find their true love. Not much can bring her down.

Abilities

In every continuity she's in, Kaysha does not develop superpowers. This leaves her with normal human weaknesses and limitations.

Her preferred weapons are bladed war fans and tanto, and she is adept at close range. She lacks long range and is not a fast agile fighter, so she relies on quick thinking, stealth and evasion tactics.

Another skill she possesses is using her knowledge of fashion to create intricate disguises. This is especially helpful in undercover missions. Her friendly demeanor allows her to communicate with allies easily.

Backstory: Her backstory involves her being a vocal opponent of the Purple Dragons, unwilling to see her brothers fall victim to gang violence. Due to the nature of the franchise the exact story of how she met the turtles changes. Typically, she would meet them either completely on accident or they save her from a bad guy and her curiosity gets the better of her and she goes to look for her mysterious rescuers.

Trivia

- She doesn't trust hair salons

- Kaysha is a fan of baseball, even thought of giving her a bat as a mean weapon but I didn't want to copy Casey's schtick

- Kaysha never turns into a mutant, I don't want to change a fundamental part of her character

- In Bayverse Kaysha is a blogger who highlights urban legends and cryptids

- 2003!Kaysha appears in s1 but does not know about the turtles yet. She does find out in season 2, which later kicks off her arc of becoming a kunoichi

- 2007!Kaysha knew about Raph being the Nightwatcher; while fearing for his safety she also knew the city needed protectors and kept this secret from Leo.

- 2012!Kaysha is by far the youngest at around 14 years old; most others are 17/18 depending on the Turtles's age range

- She is said to be a great singer

- Character Inspo: Belle (Beauty in the Beast), Elle Woods (Legally Blonde), Mai Shiranui (Fatal Fury), Mulan (Disney version), Stella (Winx Club), Stella Monroe (Rainbow High), Mercedes(Glee) and Mary Jane Watson (Spider-Man series)

- Originally she was going to wield a katana to match up with Leo before I decided to give her a personal weapon

- She was also going to be the long range fighter but a found a lot of girl characters have long range/arrows so Kaysha has a melee weapon

- The Tessen idea came from the 2012 meaning; the significance for Kaysha's tessens is her confidence and comfort in her battle style

- Rise!Kaysha uses hearts in her design (shoulders, face shape, earrings)

- 87!Kaysha is a roommate of Mona Lisa and not paired with Leo

- Kaysha was written to be a love interest for Raph before I switched him with Leo

- Her original color was cyan/light green because she was something of a replacement to Venus de Milo

Quotes: NA/TBD

Pictures:

[triscribe]

THERE IS NOW A PART 2

Because my brain refuses to let go of this crossover idea just yet. Enjoy!

-Spiders-

The next time Miles visits, his watch is repaired, and Peter is back in Queens. They swing around together for a while (which is awesome), stop a gang fight (which is even better), and then (best of all), hang out on a rooftop eating take-out pizza. That’s also when Peter finally gets to talk about his own universe in depth, several details of which apparently keep throwing Miles for a loop.

(“Wait, hold on, are you seriously telling me your Iron Man isn’t James Rhodes?”)

It’s a fun night.

To make it even better, before Miles has to go, he and Peter pose together for a selfie taken on the latter’s phone. Said photo is then passed along to Ned, who - after suitably spazzing out - uploads it to the ‘official’ Spider-man twitter account. The caption attached reads: Turns out the multiverse is a Thing, and Other Spidey has much better fashion sense than me!

“You sure you aren’t gonna get in trouble for this?” Miles asks, pressing the right sequence of buttons on his watch to get home.

“Are you kidding? It’s not like anyone pays attention to our stuff - everybody thinks it’s just another cosplay account.”

Well... Peter turned out to be wrong about that, but it didn’t come up until the next day.

-Spiders-

“So it turns out the ‘multiverse is a thing’, huh?”

Wincing, Peter can’t do more than offer his mentor a sheepish grin. “Uhh... I can explain?”

Tony gives him a thoroughly unimpressed look. “Yeah, I think you’d better.”

-Spiders-

Miles visits twice more by himself before Gwen shows up again too. She seems, if not completely at ease, then at least better than when she’d first met Peter. He picks up on how Miles keeps shooting her worried glances, and tries to avoid talking about himself too much.

Which, is pretty easy, because once she starts sharing details he really wants to hear more about Gwen’s universe.

(“Let me get this straight-” he says. “Potts Industries is owned by Pepper, who is Iron Woman, and run by Rhodey, her CEO, and it’s Tony Stark who’s War Machine? What. The Heck.”

“You think that’s cool, I can’t wait to tell you about Jennifer Walters and Peggy Carter.”)

They briefly swing by Peter’s apartment to grab hoodies and sweatpants, in order to enter a grocery store to get a tub of Neapolitan ice cream and a package of plastic spoons. Then it’s back to the rooftops, hurrying to find a good spot to settle and eat before their frozen dessert melts.

“So dude,” Miles says at one point, leaning past Gwen to get another spoonful of chocolate and strawberry. “You have an MJ yet?”

Peter just about chokes. “Do I- gah- what?”

Gwen arches an eyebrow at the other boy. “Did you tell him he was married in other universes?”

“Yeah.”

“Just not to who.”

“Well, I wanted to find out if she was around here yet or not.”

By that point, Peter’s recovered enough to wave his hands in a hold the heck up gesture. “Whoa, wait, does that- are you saying what I think you’re saying?!”

“~MJ and Peter, sittin’ in a tree, K-I-” Whack. “Ow! Gwen!”

“That’s enough outta you, ya dork.”

Apparently, not only were most adult versions of Peter married to MJ, but in some of the universes Gwen had been to, they even had kids.

“May and Ben, of course,” she tells him when Peter starts to ask about their names. “And I’m not saying any more than that, because the details about them really vary from one place to another.”

“That’s... still. Thanks.”

“No prob. So, you wanna come visit one of us next time?”

“Can I?!”

(He can, and he does.)

-Spiders-

After about a month of back and forth visits, Peter is of a mind to think he’s learned all there is to know about his new, alternate-universe friends. Then he meets Officer Jefferson Davis by accident when hanging out with Miles (and boy, listening to his friend put on the ‘deeper so it has to be older, obviously’ voice is flat out hilarious), which leads to talking more about his deceased uncle Aaron.

And of course, that particular name drop is way too big of a coincidence, so Peter does some snooping back home.

The next time his friends drop in, summoned by an semi-emergency beep from the blue button on Peter’s fob, he all but tackles them with his news. “There is a six year old version of Miles in this universe.”

They both stare at him. Then Gwen rips off her mask, revealing the most evil grin Peter has ever seen on anyone. And she aims it right at Miles. “Dude.”

He immediately brings up a hand, index finger pointed directly at her nose. “No.”

“Dude-!”

“Absolutely not-”

“-Miles, we have to-”

“-have to my butt! We so are not-”

(Spoiler alert. They so are.)

“He’s adorable,” Gwen cries, leaning halfway over the fire escape railing to get a better look.

“I don’t care if he’s the cutest to ever cute,” Miles grumbles, “I am not comfortable with spying on my own family.” Nevertheless, he too keeps glancing in through the window, watching younger versions of his parents have dinner with itty-bitty six year old Miles, all three of them chatting and laughing together.

Peter, in the meantime, is pretty proud of himself. “Aw, c’mon, dude, there’s no harm in one peek. And hey! Just think, in another eight to ten years, there could be a second Spider-man in this universe too!” Both the others shoot him wide-eyed looks, and Peter mentally rewinds his words before paling. “That. Um. I could’ve said that better.”

“Yeah, ya could’ve,” Gwen tries to chuckle. “How about, let’s just say, a decade from now you could be mentoring a second Spider-kid. Better?”

“Much, much better.”

-Spiders-

Inevitably, Miles and Gwen have to meet Ned and MJ. And of course, it goes nothing like what Peter anticipated.

To start, the first thirty seconds are just the pair of multiverse travelers starting at Peter’s sort-of girlfriend. “Uhhh, guys?”

Gwen is the first to blink, and she immediately slants her gaze to their fellow Spider. “Um, are you sure this is Mary Jane Watson?”

Then it’s Peter and Ned’s turns to stare, whereas the third member of their trio just raises her eyebrow. “My name’s Michelle Jones.”

Miles frowns. “But, you’re still MJ?”

“I’m still MJ. Around here, I’m the only MJ.”

“...huh.”

Apparently, something Peter had not picked up on during his visits to Miles and Gwen’s respective universes, was the difference in name and appearance between his MJ and those of other Earths.

“I’ve thought about dying my hair red,” she remarks, once the others finish explaining. “But pure caucasian? Overrated.”

Gwen cracks a smile at that. Miles isn’t far behind her, and soon enough the five teens are relaxed and chatting happily.

(“Peter, we have got to get you a Spider-cave. As your Guy in the Chair, I insist.”

“Well, kinda need a backyard, first...”)

“We’re gonna do this again sometime, right.” MJ phrases her question as a statement when Gwen and Miles are getting ready to go, something which causes absolutely none of them to bat an eye.

“Of course we are,” the other girl answers, turning on her watch, before pausing. “Hey, Michelle? You play guitar by any chance?”

Both Peter and Ned’s eyebrows shoot up when their friend shrugs. “I’ve fooled around a bit on my mom’s old one, but not too seriously. Why?”

“Well, if you ever find and have a chance to befriend this world’s Gwen Stacy, you might ask if she plays the drums or not...”

“What happened to ‘every universe is different’, Gwanda?” Miles asks. Gwen then puts a hand to his face and shoves the boy through their portal. “Ack!”

“See ya later, guys.”

The trio call their own goodbyes, and when the portal fades, Peter casts a nervous glance at his friends. “So? What’d you think of them?”

“I meant what I said, Parker,” MJ replies. “We’re doing this again sometime.”

-Spiders-

Meeting his own other, older self is... odd.

“Geez, I do not remember ever being this short,” Mister Parker mutters, looking Peter up and down. “Or well-geared - seriously, is this circuitry-?”

“Um, yeah. My first suit was, well, definitely homemade, and not all that good - but then I met Mister Stark and he made this one for me-”

“Stark? As in Tony Stark?” The man looks surprised. “Is he still alive in your universe?”

And just like that, a wave of cold fear washes over Peter so fast he’s left dizzy and practically shaking. “W-what do you mean?”

“That man drank himself to death years ago; no ‘Iron Man’ where I’m from, unfortunately. Stark Industries didn’t stop making weapons until afterward, when his daughter took over with her clean energy initiatives.” Mister Parker seems to finally notice how pale Peter’s gone. “Hey, kid, do you need to sit down? You don’t look so good...”

He does, in fact, sort of just collapse right there on the rooftop, and his older counterpart winds up needing to call Miles over to take Peter home. Cutting their first meeting short is a shame, because Peter had come with a bunch of questions pre-prepared, but hearing about Tony just kinda... empties all the wind from his sails.

Back in his own universe, he shakily sends Miles away, promising to call for a ride rather than attempt to swing home. And there is something to be said for how clearly out of sorts he sounds right now, because one phone call is all it takes to summon Tony to come get him. A few minutes of waiting later, Iron Man zooms into sight and touches down.

His mentor steps out of the suit, and Peter immediately jumps up to grab him in a hug.

Thankfully, Tony realizes this isn’t the time for questions, and just holds him back for a while, until the trembling stops. “C’mon, kid, let’s get you home.”

-Fin!-

(There is also a Part 3 in the works, which will introduce more Spider fam members from various sources because I feel like it.)

[comic-movieheroesranked]

Cinematic Comic Characters Ranked! (Year 2002) Final Part

2002 was the Attack of the Sequels with three franchises coming back: Blade II, Men in Black II, and Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones. This is year was also the debut for Spider-Man and the lesser known (but just as good) Road to Perdition. This is also the first list that had some many candidates that it had to be divided into three separate parts. The final part on my list reveals the TOP 20 comic characters of 2002!

*SPOILERS FOR ALL THE HIGHLIGHTED MOVIES ABOVE*

20. Mace Windu (Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones)

"This party's over."

The dude's got a purple lightsaber!!! Like that's just so cool to me when all these other Jedi have a bunch of green and blue ones. He's usually seen hanging out with Yoda as the little green dude spills some knowledge tea on everyone else but has his shining moment when he leads a group of Jedi to save Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan. Unfortunately there's too many of Count Dooku's forces to take on, but that doesn't alter Mace's decision to give up. When the battle returns to their favor, he's seen leading units of clone soldiers to victory like the Jedi master he is.

19. John Rooney (Road to Perdition)

"There are only murderers in this room!"

I really liked this man! He's the ideal crime boss that just happened to be in a tough situation when his bitch of a son killed his favorite assassin's family. I do not blame John for protecting his son, even if he despises him because at the end of the day, that's his son. If the tables were turned Mike would definitely not give up Michael or Peter if he was in a similar situation. It was sad to see him go but I can tell that he didn't blame Mike at all even though he was the one who pulled the trigger. It's the name of the game and he just happened to be a major player.

18. Ben Parker (Spider-Man)

"With great power comes great responsibility."

Uncle Ben, possibly the greatest uncles in cinematic universe. I feel like he also starts the Marvel movie trend of a loved one dying at the beginning of the movie. He's such an understanding guy and it sucks that Peter's last conversation with him is an argument. Him dying from his gun shot wound is one of the saddest scenes in comic book history but his words are carried on through Peter as he grows into the hero we all know and love.

17. Nyssa Damaskinos (Blade II)

"The great day-walker. I have to say I'm a little disappointed."

Nyssa is the princess of a very royal vampire family and leader of the team of vampires trained to kill Blade. She and her team are forced to work with him, though, when Nomak appears and starts killing other vampires. She ends up proving to be a good ally of Blade's and might be one of the few he actually trusts in the movie. They earn each other's respect to the point that Blade lets her feed on him when she almost dies in the sewers. When she finds out she's been lied to by her father, she seals his fate along with hers and lets Nomak feed on them but Blade interrupts. Instead of turning into one of the creatures that killed everyone she knew, she asks Blade to take her to the sunlight and dies in his arms.

16. Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones)

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to be the death of me?"

Ok I get that Obi-Wan had to constantly keep Anakin in check because him and Yoda could sense that his ego could potentially be his downfall, but damn he was really condescending sometimes. Like I'd probably joing the dark side too if I had to learn from him. Honestly my problem with him is he would criticize Anakin for being reckless and then literally jump out of a window that was several hundred feet in the air! Besides that I can tell he takes being a Jedi very seriously, if only he lasted just a bit longer when he went against Count Dooku.

15. Harlon Maguire (Road to Perdition)

"I'm something of a rarity."

This dude was so creepy. I mean it can't get any creepier than an assassin who's hobby/profession is to take photos of the dead/dying. I just knew it deep in my heart of hearts he was going to kill Mike at the end. The last time we saw him he survived a bullet to the eye so I knew he was going to come back and since everything got resolved before he did, I knew he was going to be the twist. He ends up dying shortly after by Mike himself, but it sucks that he robbed little Michael a life with his father.

14. Mary Jane Watson (Spider-Man)

"I think I have a superhero stalker."

The girl next door who dreams of becoming an actress. Mary Jane comes from an abusive home which probably explains her choice in men at first. Still I just could not understand what took her so long to realize she's in love with Peter, but maybe it's because the movie is through his point of view. She's very much interested in his alter ego though and even initiates one of the most iconic kiss scenes in cinematic history!

13. Scud (Blade II)

"No. I'm a lover, not a fighter."

I was so bummed when Scud was revealed to be working against Blade the entire time. What's not to like about him? He makes great gadgets, eats Krispy Kremes, and also watches the Powerpuff Girls. He's not too much of a pushover when he's surrounded by vampires but that's probably because he's their familiar the whole time. When he gets ballsy and starts beating on Whistler, who was just starting to like him, Blade triggers the explosive in Scud's hand and Scud blows up into a million pieces.

12. May Parker (Spider-Man)

"You do to much-you're not Superman you know!"

Aunt May is one of those people you'd go to war for. Seriously, every scene where she was upset or crying I was ready to gear up and take down everyone responsible. She's Peter's last parental figure who just wants him to be happy. Even when she's in the hospital from Green Goblin's attack she's focused on spying on Peter's conversation with Mary Jane. She's also loyal and set in her ways. She wasn't going to let Norman get away with calling Peter a slob and she definitely wasn't going to let him dip his fingers in the food before saying grace.

11. Agent Jay (Men in Black II)

"I'm about to lay the smackdown on your candy-ass!"

Agent Jay is all grown up. No longer a rookie Jay has saved the world countless times after going solo (his temporary partners don't count seeing as none of them last). He joins forces with Kay to help save a girl we're supposed to believe he's fallen for from Serleena, someone we're supposed to believe is a threat. Most of the action and hilarity is brought on by Jay which honestly saved this movie (if you can really consider it saved).

10. Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones)

"Someday I will be the most powerful Jedi ever."

Yo it was damn near overwhelming with how emotional Anakin was throughout this movie. Like he was one some Romeo and Juliet shit and it was just a lot to handle sometimes to be honest. Granted he does go through a lot. He loses his mother and then goes on a rampage killing everyone in sight, he ends up being in a giant romantic quarrel with Padme before they eventually get married, and he's constantly at odds with his master. He's the epitome of angsty teenager and it'll be interesting to see what exactly tips him over to the Dark Side to become Darth Vader.

9. Jared Nomak (Blade II)

"Is the enemy of my enemy my friend? Or my enemy?"

An experiment gone wrong, Jared Nomak was the son of royal vampire, Eli Damaskinos. He ends mutating horribly and finds that he can infect every vampire he feeds on. And so begins his quest to end all vampires. Since he's basically impossible to kill he ends up being an unstoppable force of nature as he takes down Blade's men one by one. After killing his father and infecting Nyssa, Nomak has one final brawl with a newly charged Blade. After they both deal some heavy blows, Blade comes out of the fight the winner, killing Nomak once and for all.

8. Padme (Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones)

"I truly, deeply, love you and before we die I want you to know."

Padme is going through a huge dilemma. She's a senator who's in love with a Jedi whom she meet when he was only ten years old and she was a young queen seven years his senor. Now the boy's all grown up and confessing his undying love to her and she can't help but feel the same. She thinks it's wrong though and tries to fight it but when she thinks they're about to die she ends up returning his affections. She doesn't give up though and helps fight against Count Dooku with the rest of the Jedi and clone soldiers. When the battles over, Padme and Anakin run off and get married.

7. Whistler (Blade II)

"I love it when you talk dirty."

The only father figure in Blade's life, Whistler is also his only weakness. Blade rescues him and he turns into a vampire and held hostage by a vampire gang for years. He grumpily disapproves of all the new changes, mainly Scud and his gadgets, but he still down to help Blade in any way he can. He's the one to figure out where the mutated vampires are hiding and also talks to Nomak to find out that Blade's been played since the very beginning. He rescues Blade and even makes sure the other man has his signature glasses after Blade recovers in the pool of blood. Him and Blade are the only two to survive at the end of the movie.

6. Michael Sullivan Jr. (Road to Perdition)

"And that was the last time I ever held a gun."

Little Michael's entire world is turned upside down in just a matter of a few weeks. One night he finds out his father is a hitman after he watches him kill a man and the next he finds the bodies of his mother and his little brother before running off with his father. He has a lot of insecurities with his father but they slowly dissolve the more time he spends with him. My favorite part of the movie is easily Mike teaching him how to drive and Michael being absolutely horrible at it. After his father dies, Michael decides to leave the world of crime forever, taking his new dog and going off to live with an old couple with a farm.

5. Yoda (Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones)

"Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is."

Even though he seems like the nicest creature in the world and probably the young Jedi's #1 teacher, it was taking me so long to get used to Yoda's speaking patterns. Little dude spends his time giving confusing advice until he literally saves everyone at the end of the movie when he arrives with the clone soldiers. If that weren't epic enough, the dude can fight! He's ends up taking on Count Dooku and is flipping circles around the guy until he eventually pulls a cheap trick and gets away. Yoda ain't even phased by it though, he just saves Anakin and Obi-Wan's life and then heads back to base camp to plan for the future, like a true master Jedi.

4. Norman Osborn/Green Goblin (Spider-Man)

"The only thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail."

Norman Osborn is a wealthy scientist who becomes Green Goblin in a last ditch effort to prove his project works. At first he only becomes his psycho personality for personal reasons like killing the people on his board committee after they fire him, but decides to go after Spider-Man after the hero tries to stop him. The Green Goblin is a great villain. With a few gadgets and a hovercraft, he's able to cause some serious terror to Spider-Man, terrorizing Aunt May and kidnapping Mary Jane. He brings up some good points about how some people just want Spider-Man to lose but in the end him and his conniving ways are what bring his demise.

3. Michael Sullivan (Road to Perdition)

"This has nothing to do with business."

Mike is a man who started with nothing yet had a wife and two kids to support. He ends up working for John Rooney and becomes his best hitman, even earning John's love over his son, Connor. However, said son is a bitch and decides to ruin everything when he kills Mike's wife and youngest son, Peter, leaving Mike with no choice but to go on the run with his older son, Michael. Throughout the movie, as Mike plots his revenge against the Rooney's, we learn that his biggest fear is that Michael will end up just like him. Just before he dies, however, he's able to see that his son is not like him and he dies knowing he never will be.

2. Blade (Blade II)

"You obviously don't know who you are fucking with!"

Blade is the ultimate badass. Like everything he does is just so freaking cool! He kicks ass, taunts his enemies, even when he's hurting he manages to make it look cool. He's one step ahead of all his enemies and on the slight chance they manage to get the jump on him, he's able to recover fast-with the help of Whistler-and take them all down. His return to film was much needed as he was easily the greatest thing about the movie.

1. Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Spider-Man)

"Just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man!"

Spider-Man was just another game changer when it came to superhero films. My dad took my brother and I out of school early to watch the movie when it first came out and we were so grateful! It's just so easy to like Peter Parker, the nerdy kid who gains amazing abilities after getting bit by a radioactive spider. From him hilariously learning how to shoot out his webs to him getting smoother and smoother talking to Mary Jane, we see him go from this puny kid to this lovable hero. He's everything we could have asked for. He made us laugh, cry, and cheered as he saved the day again and again.

And that’s the list for 2002! Spider-Man came out on top but I’m a little bummed there wasn’t that many fleshed out female characters, especially when they practically dominated 2001. Well let me know who y’all would’ve had on the top of the list. Here’s to 2003!

[ges-sa]

New Post has been published on https://ges-sa.com/marvels-spider-man-review/

Marvel's Spider-Man Review

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A big thank you to Sony South Africa for providing an early review code of this game.

“Living on the edge; fighting crime, spinning webs; swinging from the highest ledge he can leap above our heads. Villains on the rise and the city’s victimized, looking up with no surprise, arriving in the speed of time. Making villains fall, webbing rivals to a halt, racing up and down the walls, bringing justice to us all.”

These lyrics to the ‘Spectacular Spider-Man’ nicely encapsulate a day of the life of everyone’s favourite wall crawler, and also nicely sums up some of the thrill that players can experience from controlling Spider-Man in the character’s newest video game offering.  There have been no shortage of Spider-Man games over the decades, but it always felt as though there were some areas lacking from a complete overall experience in capturing some aspect of the character and his world. Insomniac Games, as published exclusively by Sony Interactive Entertainment, set out to write the ultimate love letter to Spider-Man fans (gamers and non-gamers alike) and they’re love and attention to detail have shone through here in the most robust and satisfying video game portrayal of Spidey to date.

Without a doubt, one of the major highlights is the game’s most advertised feature, the ability to web swing around a faithfully recreated Manhattan, New York, with some Marvel flavour here and there. Now while web swinging has been in every game since ‘Spider-Man’ on PS1, with mixed results each time and arguably reaching its peak in ‘Spider-Man  2’ in 2004, the team at Insomniac Games I think have outdone themselves here on their first attempt at the character and deliver and amazing and engrossing web swinging experience. Its relatively quick to get the feel of and swing around with confidence, using the R2 button to shoot out a web to a nearby building or object and from there jump out at the right moment with the X button to further increase your momentum and speed, and the same R2 button allows you to run up the side of building and parkour your way around the island. Before long you will be swinging around with the greatest of ease, running along buildings, sling around the edge of buildings like a boss, and using the L2 and R2 triggers to zipline into a nearby rooftop of object, or through water towers, etc, and bounce off for further momentum. You will likely find yourself spending considerable time, just swinging around, taking in the breathtaking New York skyline from the highest perches and even running around on street level to read Daily Bugle headlines or just randomly interact with random citizens. The level of detail found throughout the city is mind boggling and more impressive still is that it feels alive and not a desolate empty open world sandbox for you to play around in. The street are always backed with vehicles and the sidewalks with people going about their day which gives you greater satisfaction saving the day and taking it all in, and feeling like you are a part of this living city. As time goes on you’ll be able to navigate by New York subway as well if one want to cut down on some time getting from one end of Manhattan to the other. How often you use this though will depend on how much one enjoys swinging around as Spider-Man or listening to the dramatic hero that starts playing in the background as you swing off into action and past iconic New York as well as Marvel landmarks.

Combat is another area of focus, taking cues from the Arkham series combat system, mostly requiring a single button to chain a series of moves together allowing you to hit button combos and drop enemies with slow-motion finishers from a variety of positions. Unlike combat found in the Arkham games though is the further ability to mix things up with Spider-Man’s innate agility and webs, taking combat to the air if one feels like and using web attacks in a variety of ways from simply trapping enemies, sticking them to walls, swinging them, their weapons or nearby objects around as projectiles to take out multiple enemies and give you a chance to go for the kill. And while Spider-Man in the comics does not kill, the video game version is a little more liberal, sending enemies flying off rooftops, intentionally and by accident sometimes to their certain doom. While this would be a major no-no in a movie or cutscene, during the flow of combat, it does make for some satisfying action or unintentional comedy sometimes so can’t get too upset about it. There are certain sections of gameplay that will require a stealthier touch and allow you to perch on girders and objects above, picking off enemies silently to whittle down the numbers or prevent hostages from suffering. IT is very satisfying to web up unsuspecting enemies and deliver knock out blows from out of nowhere. Some sections can be completed either through stealth or straight up combat so players have plenty of choice on how you wish to play much of the time.

Another major strength of this game without a doubt is the cinematic cutscenes throughout the main missions of the game. The level of detail going the appearance (some classic and some newly tweaked) of the different characters and settings is remarkable as so many little details go a long way to selling the immersion, the world and as things develop throughout, the stakes as well. Subtle facial animations and mannerisms, to seeing individual textures in some clothing and fabrics, to the pores on character’s faces and even design of the interior and exterior locations and set pieces these characters appear in; this game is gorgeous to look at no matter if you have a regular PS4 or PS4 Pro. Spanning over 20 hours easily, you’ll want to advance to the next main story missions quickly to be treated to an epic narrative beginning with a 23 year old Peter Parker waking up and quickly rushing off to stop Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin, as him and his thugs have stepped out of line one time too many for police captain Yuri Watanabe and Spider-Man to let slide. However, they’ll soon realise that the power vacuum created will result in threats far more dangerous than Fisk ever was, as a new menacing gang of criminals known as the Inner demons rise up, lead by the mysterious Mister Negative. Through it all, you’ll feel the pull on Peter as he has to balance his time between saving the city as Spidey, as well as his work and personal commitments as Peter Parker. With a story taking bits and pieces from many decades and other media of Spider-Man’s history; writing duties have been handled by veteran TV and Spider-Man comic writer Christos Gage, along with consultation from Dan Slott who’s written the character in the pages of ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ for a decade, and we it’s clear to see why the story aspects of the game are in solid hands and they manage to strike and maintain the right tone.

To emphasis a feeling of partnership, some story related missions allow you play as Peter’s on-again off-again girlfriend Mary Jane Watson. A Daily Bugle reporter in this version of the character, you will be able to sneak around certain areas and take photographs, collecting some crucial evidence and later on, having a few other abilities as well. These missions do help add some further elements of diversity to the gameplay and can be very effective in increasing tensions and suspense, especially as MJ starts going around places she shouldn’t be. Not to be left out, players can take control of Peter Parker as well at certain points and make use of Peter’s other strengths, his scientific genius (a major area of focus during the Dan Slott run of comics) and good heart; whether completing scientific project mini-games like researching compounds or fixing complex circuits or walking around the F.E.A.S.T. shelter and talking to Aunt May or the New York homeless, this game makes good use of integrating many of the defining characteristics and elements of both of Peter Parker’s regular and superhero life.

Not to sound like a boring game, this is anything but with an engrossing story that quickly picks up steam and very entertaining boss battles with some longtime and fairly recent Spider-Man villains. Many of these make use of the standard game mechanics, but are presented in such a way that make each one feel fresh, along with certain quicktime button events thrown in for good measure. The only gripe about boss battles is that there appears to be no option to replay them once you have advanced, aside from maybe replaying the story all over again.

In addition to the main story mission, there are numerous side missions that become available throughout the game that range from tracking down a copy-cat Spider-Man, spying on thugs in Central Park and following leads on the live-streaming Screwball.  Things don’t stop there as there are additional side quests that continue to appear as you progress such as collecting backpacks around the city with different Spidey easter egg’s that flesh out some of the character’s past prior to the events of the game, racing and catching pigeons, looking out for the Manhattan environment at different research centres around town, taking photos of different Marvel New York landmarks, stopping petty crimes and much more. While some of these, most notably the different varieties of street crimes have been done in past Spider-Man videogames, there’s an extra level of polish here; although as fun as these can be, some at times can start to feel a little monotonous and repetitive after a few dozen crimes, especially if you’re a completist who wants to finish everything the game has to offer. The scope of the creativity of the ideas for some of the side quests was rather refreshing and made me feel more like Spider-Man tackling some of the mundane goings on around the friendly neighbourhood in addition to the bigger stakes of the main story.

The game builds in opportunities throughout to stop and swing around the boroughs and seek out some these activities. Not only as brief palette cleansers between the story chapters but also by completing the different side missions, quests (as well as main story missions) you will earn a variety of tokens that can be used to craft and unlock around 25 new suits for Spider-Man to wear (easily accessible from the map menu) and switch at any point in your gameplay. Even better is that these suits come with their own powers and abilities that can later be mixed and matched as you prefer between any of the available suits, some of these suit powers will prove invaluable at different points, especially when surrounded by waves of armed enemies at once. The earned tokens also help to craft gadgets like impact webbing, electrical webbing, web bombs, a spider drone and more that once can easily integrate into combat and stealth situations.

From the care taken with the story (which may one of the best and most impactful ever outside of the comics, and some of the movies) the pacing, characters, most of the voice acting, gameplay mechanics, presentation, shout-outs and easter eggs, it’s very obvious to see the love that Insomniac Games has for Spider-Man and his history and delivering a game that justice to a character with such a long history and legacy. What the Arkham series of games did for Batman, this game has clearly done for Spider-Man and delivers the overall best gameplay experience of being both Spider-Man and Peter Parker to date. The hype was clearly real and will not disappoint fans of any interest level of the character and even regular gamers as well. With a story good enough to play through many times over and an added photo mode on the day of release, as well as many collectibles and side goals to complete, one could very easily spend upwards of 40 hours and more with this game and still be satisfied, which I’m sure will only further continue with the release of future DLC. This is definitely not one to be missed.[/vc_column_text][vc_gallery type=”image_grid” images=”31487,31494,31488,31489,31490,31491,31492,31493,31495″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Additional Information

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Reviewed on: PS4 Available on:  PS4 Genre: Superhero, Action Age Rating: Pegi 16 Publisher/Developer: Sony Interactive Entertainment / Insomniac Games Estimated RRP: R889 Release Date: 7 September 2018[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]

Likes

Gameplay makes you feel agile and powerful as Spider-Man

Great story with the right tone and mix of humour, drama and stakes

Dislikes

Repetitive nature of certain street crimes.

No apparent way to replay certain missions or boss battles once completed.

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