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Is Spider-Man: Miles Morales still gonna work with NYPD cops?

Messofanego

Messofanego

Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,221
UK
Considering recent events with the murder of George Floyd and just decades of police brutality and racism with NYPD, I wonder if they'll have Miles work with the police like Peter did in the base PS4 game. It's not clear if Miles Morales is entirely an expansion so new story, or he's a new skin for a remaster. Maybe he doesn't work with the cops in this expansion? Either way, releasing a Spider-Man game this year where he's working with NYPD might seem...tone-deaf? But then this was brought up as criticism with the original game, making him into a "spider-cop" and putting up surveillance towers for the authorities, "thug crimes", drug busting, and more which makes it copaganda.

theconcourse.deadspin.com

They Turned Spider-Man Into A Damn Cop And It Sucks

The new Spider-Man video game came out for PlayStation 4 last week, and I was eager to spend a chunk of my weekend playing it. Some things I immensely enjoyed during my few hours of play time: web swinging, jumping off buildings, web swinging, whispering “whoa, that looks just like the real...
theconcourse.deadspin.com theconcourse.deadspin.com

www.theringer.com

The Spider-Cop Problem

‘Spider-Man’ on PlayStation 4 is a thrilling game and a naive, dismal representation of the character’s—and New York City’s—relationship with law enforcement
www.theringer.com www.theringer.com

Considering how NYPD has responded to the George Floyd protests with more blue wall nonsense, racism, ramming their cars into the public (aka terrorism), discussing about protesters ("shoot those motherfuckers") not a good look for Sony/Insomniac Games.



Last time we talked about this here in a 28 page thread, there were a lot of dismissive comments like it's fiction, why shouldn't Spider-Man be a narc, and much more.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,923
He probably will. I can't see them pivoting super-hard into an anti-cop narrative when the game is out in four months.
 
Yasamuu

Yasamuu

Member
Oct 28, 2017
299
Evan Narcisse was a consultant on the game, so we might see some adjustment in line with having a black American voice advising on the narrative elements.
 
McScroggz

McScroggz

The Fallen
Jan 11, 2018
5,974
What's better: a huge game starring a person of color as the hero or a game that has cops shown in a positive light?

Personally I'm happy to see Miles be the protagonist of a game that will probably sell 10+ million copies.
 
Glasfrut

Glasfrut

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,538
Probably too late to change that, and his father was a cop.

It's a question better posed for Spider-Man 2 whenever that comes around.
 
VaporSnake

VaporSnake

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,603
I can't imagine Miles letting the supervillains free to go home after beating the crap out of them.
 
MaitreWakou

MaitreWakou

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
May 15, 2018
13,180
Toulouse, France
His father is a cop. Of course he's gonna work with cops. Spider-Man as a comic book is totally pro cop. They are portrayed as good dudes fighting for the people.
 
WhovianGamer

WhovianGamer

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,033
I'd assume he will based on what we know of his backstory.

They might, as has been the case in many forms of media, show that there good cops and bad cops, and they may show corruption in the police force. That has been a well-mined narrative pool too. His father was a decorated officer but there will be those who don't meet the expected standard.

I don't like the thought of not playing as the police/working with the police as narrative options in video games sometimes. Yes current events are extremely important and I doubt you'd find many people at all who'd say the police doesn't need restricting, restructuring, refocusing or having a portion of its funding spent on community initiatives to prevent crime, but I don't think we should throw the baby out with the bathwater.
 
Fat4all

Fat4all

Woke up, got a money tag, swears a lot
Member
Oct 25, 2017
93,110
here
he's gonna face discrimination for sure id bet

from both 'good' and bad people
 
ivan.k

ivan.k

Banned
Dec 30, 2017
1,304
Moscow
It's fictional world where police is good
All the villains have to go somewhere. If Miles won't hand them to the cops then what? He'll kill them instead of sending them to prison? That doesn't make any sense
 
Greywaren

Greywaren

Member
Jul 16, 2019
9,951
Spain
Marvel cops are fictional and mostly good. So, good heroes work with them.

I agree it's a bit weird to have that kind of representation with the current situation going on, though.
 
Fisty

Fisty

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,250
His dad was a good cop, no reason why Spider-Man has to try to comment on the current situation
 
Tokikko

Tokikko

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
125
There are other countries besides the US where most of the cops are normal people. And besides this is a fantasy game, it does not have to do with anything connected to the real world.
 
EagleClaw

EagleClaw

Member
Dec 31, 2018
10,708
Tokikko said:
There are other countries besides the US where most of the cops are normal people. And besides this is a fantasy game, it does not have to do with anything connected to the real world.
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Yes, that is it.
I'm always kinda shocked how people from the US feel about cops.

Well, really thin ice during summer time for such comments.
 
dunkzilla

dunkzilla

alt account
Banned
Dec 13, 2018
4,762
Greywaren said:
Well, that's why I said mostly. There are a lot of comics with corrupt cops, too. But, for the most part, cops in the Marvel Universe are good. Or, at the very least, neutral.
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haha I know, I'm just in the middle of reading that and it came to mind. Its influenced by who is the Mayor of New York at the moment as well.
 
LRN

LRN

Member
Oct 25, 2017
85
His dad was a cop. Plus it's the Marvel universe. A fictional universe where cops can be good guys.
 

Deleted member 543

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,065
Sable International basically played the part of a bad police force in the first game, while the cops were generally good. I imagine the closest we'll get to criticism of police will simply be transposing it onto a fictional PMC again.
 
HStallion

HStallion

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
62,262
I joked in the main thread that Miles should dismantle Peter's city wide surveillance network.
 
JusDoIt

JusDoIt

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,858
South Central Los Angeles
MaitreWakou said:
Spider-Man as a comic book is totally pro cop.
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This is not true, at least not categorically. There might be Spider-Man runs where he's pro-cop, but there are Spider-Man runs where all kinds of dumb shit happens like demons breaking up his marriage. Spider-Man has traditionally been treated like a nuisance by the police and they often get in his way.
 
Akira86

Akira86

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,596
Patitoloco said:
I mean, every superhero has been labeled as vigilante at some point, but Spider-Man helps the cops every time he can.
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In the comics it's made very clear his awareness of police treating black people differently. He helps police NOW because he's been vouched for by Regular Spidey a number of times, but there have been a few scenes with shakey cops and quick triggers for no reason.

Also just because people want to depower the police for a fundamental change doesn't mean the end of policing, for anyone making those "let criminals go" references.

The cops don't need to play a big role in the game though. He leaves crooks webbed up for the cops, or follows the sirens to big crime events. But they don't need any focus.
 
Hayeya

Hayeya

Member
Oct 29, 2017
3,811
Canada
Cops by definition and concept are good, most ones are good.
The problem is with the racist ones and higher ups.

Edit: Talking about cops in my country, dont have any experience with US cops and what is currently happening.
 
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LewieP

LewieP

Member
Oct 26, 2017
18,109
Even if they don't go full ACAB, I just hope they ease up on Spider Man being such a Narc. In the first game, his views on drug dealers was pretty Reagan inspired. I didn't particularly like that aspect, and the reverence for the cops did borderline on copaganda.
 
Never the Lesser

Never the Lesser

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,047
Dismissing it as a work of fiction is privilege because you're effectively hand-waving the cognitive dissonance that others, particularly black and brown players, may experience when playing the game. If others feel that the game is too simplistic in it's interpretation of the NYPD, especially in light of the fact that the base game went great lengths to accurately depict the city, it is very tone-deaf and close-minded to basically tell others, "Get over it, it's a work of fiction."

Having said that, I don't have all the answers in terms of what to do for Spider-Man: Miles Morales. As a post in an earlier thread noticed, this stuff is the product of sixty-year-old source material (which itself has a literary tradition going back decades), so it's not terribly surprising that the end product would have a relatively positive view of police's role in society, with some modern-day caveats, of course.

Nonetheless, the bare minimum for Insomniac, and other studios in similar situations, would be to embrace the discourse we're having today and reflect that in future titles.
 
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