That Time Spider-Man Was Surprisingly Edgy And Violent In A Marvel Video Game

Daredevil, Storm, and Iron Man also give off big edgelord energy in 2005's Marvel Nemesis


If there were a video game that perfectly encapsulated the edgy, sexually charged machismo of Marvel Comics’ Ultimates era, it would be the forgotten 2005 Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects.


Marvel Nemesis, made by former StarCraft: Ghost developers Nihilistic Software, is a grim Mortal Kombat style beat-em up fighting game inspired by the Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects comic. Marvel Nemesis released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Nintendo DS, and Sony’s forgotten son, the PSP in September 2005.

 

The story follows an overly ambitious scientist named Doctor Niles Van Roekel, who dabbles in human experimentation with a mysterious green alien serum in hopes of creating the ultimate lifeform. Naturally, titular Marvel heroes like The Thing, Elektra, and Spider-Man are compelled to fight their infected teammates, aliens, and Van Roekel’s elemental cybernetic freakazoids The Imperfects.


Because of Van Roekel’s alien virus, every infected Marvel character has a smug haughtiness that runs in contrast to their comic book characteristics. While I don’t remember a lick of the game’s plot, its character introductions and taunts have free real estate in my mind as some of the most ridiculous and occasionally iconic line deliveries I’ve ever heard in a fighting game, including Spider-Man telling a defeated foe they just got a “web-slinging ass kicking” and Magneto negging his opponents in a bored and posh manner.



Read the full article on Kotaku