Homophobic Spider-Man Mod Erases LGBTQ+ Themes
Modders are here, and like with any good port, the arrival of Marvel's Spider-Man on PC has come with a plethora of mods in just the few days it's been out. From giving us the iconic Black Symbiote Suit to putting the legendary Stan Lee in-game, the Spider-Man community has already shown its creativity. Unfortunately, one modder has shown their homophobia.
After its original release in 2018, Insomniac's Spider-Man has been heralded as one of the best superhero games of all time - sitting up there with Rocksteady's Arkham trilogy. There were DLCs, the Miles Morales game in 2020, and an upcoming sequel next year. For now, it's back to the first game to see what made it so great.
What Is The Homophobic Spider-Man Mod?
Click to enlargeJust days after Spider-Man Remastered came to PC, players noticed "Non-Newtonian New York" that replaced all of the game's Pride flags with the classic American flag. Although the mod has now been removed, its banner was a rainbow with a red cross over it. The author was called "Mike Hawk" and said they were "tired of Sir Isaac shoving his fancy light show in your face everywhere."
Speaking to We Got This Covered, a Nexus Mods representative claims the OP has been banned. More than this, any alt accounts have also been banned, with a statement saying the person who created the mod "is no longer welcome on Nexus." Pride flags in Spider-Man aren't exactly shoved down your throat, and with them adorning a handful of town hall buildings around the city, was it really that much of a big deal?
The problem is, in the time it was up, the mod had around 300 downloads. More than this, the comments section was reportedly filled with homophobic comments proving that Mike Hawk wasn't alone in their views. It's a sad state of affairs that in 2022, this kind of behaviour is still going on in the gaming community.
Spider-Man Embraces The LGBTQ+ Mods
Arguably the worst bit about all of the above is the fact this mod masqueraded as any other mod while burying its homophobia out of site. Thankfully, there are a slew of LGBTQ+-friendly mods out there. An altogether more wholesome one changes the classic Pride flag for the more accepted Progressive Pride flag.
The Spider-Man homophobia reminds us of when someone modded same-sex relationships out of Skyrim, which prompted someone else to go in and mod it so that everyone was gay. Back with Spider-Man, the modding community is getting more creative by the day. Other highlights include the ability to play as Black Cat, Peter-Man letting you strut around as Peter Parker, and even flying rats. Sadly, no one has modded Thomas the Tank Engine in... yet!
