Marvel’s Avengers is out now, which means you can finally take control of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Zip through the skies as Iron Man, wield the mighty hammer of Thor, shoot your way through the bad guys as Black Widow, go on a rampage with the Hulk, and discover the secrets of the Marvel universe as Ms. Marvel. Developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix have done an excellent job of making each core member of the Avengers feel like a unique character, right down to the way they play and the kind of gear you can acquire for them on the field. They even have their own hero-specific quest lines that tell personal stories that also tie into the larger plot of the game.
Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and The Avengers movies in particular, will be elated to know that the roster of heroes in the new game is pretty much the same as the one in the films. The only big-screen Avenger missing at the moment is Hawkeye, who will actually be added to the game in the coming weeks as post-launch DLC. Joining him will be the fan-favorite Kate Bishop, who is working for SHIELD in the game’s story.
And then there’s Spider-Man, the most high-profile of the post-launch Marvel heroes. With the announcement that Spidey will bring new stories, gear, and abilities to the game, it’s no surprise that many fans are already anxious to play as the friendly neighborhood webslinger when he arrives sometime in early 2021. There’s just one catch: not every one with a copy of Marvel’s Avengers will get the chance to play as Spider-Man.
As revealed in August, Square Enix is releasing Spider-Man as an exclusive character for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game. This means that Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PC, and Stadia players won’t be able to play as Spider-Man at all when he finally launches. The good news is that PlayStation users will get the Spider-Man Marvel’s Avengers DLC at no additional cost to them.
Naturally, the Spider-Man news has left Xbox, Stadia, and PC gamers wondering whether Spidey will be a timed exclusive or a permanent bonus for PlayStation owners. During a Q&A with Crystal Dynamics last month, we were able to ask just that.
“It’s what we’ve announced so far is that it is exclusive to PlayStation. So it has no other limits on it at the moment. It is just exclusive to PlayStation players,” Crystal Dynamics head Scot Amos told Den of Geek on a Zoom call, declining to answer whether the fan-favorite hero would ever appear on other versions of the game.
Amos later confirmed to IGN that Spider-Man is the only character in Marvel’s Avengers that will be exclusive to a platform, saying, “That is the only character that we are doing that way.”
“Because of the relationship Sony and PlayStation have with Marvel, there was a unique opportunity for PlayStation fans to be able to have that hero brought to them,” Amos told us of the decision to make Spidey exclusive Sony’s consoles. It makes sense. PlayStation, after all, published Marvel’s Spider-Man, which was also exclusive to the PS4.
Basically, if you want to play as Spider-Man in Marvel’s Avengers, you’re going to have to get the PS4 copy of the game. Players who upgrade to the PS5 this holiday will also be able to upgrade to the next-gen version of the game and bring Spider-Man with them free of charge.