Marvel’s Spider-Man has been out for a few days now on PS4, with Insomniac’s take on the friendly neighbourhood wallcrawler garnering much critical and commercial praise. Even our own Leon wasn’t impervious to the runaway hype train, giving Marvel’s favourite arachnid a coveted 10/10 score. High praise, sure, but Spider-Man is certainly worthy of it.
Whether it’s the fantastic web-swinging mechanics, the incredible combat or the incredible graphics, most players have found something they can latch onto that makes Spider-Man so special to them. Mine is a little bit more “out there”: they’ve absolutely nailed the J. Jonah Jameson character.
Spider-Man fans will know Jameson as the editor of the Daily Bugle, a man with the biggest axe to grind against the webhead. Seriously, Jonah seemingly hates the our hero more than most of his villains, and there’s nothing we respect more in this world than a man literally powered by hate. Just look at Doomguy.
In the recent PS4 version, J. Jonah Jameson has left his role at the Daily Bugle, becoming the host of a podcast called “Just The Facts”. Players can listen to episodes throughout the game, hearing JJJ’s take on the different events that happened, along with how it’s inevitably the fault of Spider-Man. It doesn’t matter if he saved the day, Spider-Man is a menace and he must be stopped.
After the first one or two episodes, the game tells you that there’s an option to turn them off in the options menu, but I’m glad I didn’t. On their own, they’re humourous little tidbits designed to make you laugh as you swing from skyscraper to skyscraper, but they’re so much more than that.
One thing that Spider-Man truly excels at is world-building. The landmarks themselves contain many references to the wider Marvel lore, including the likes of Doctor Strange, Black Panther and a certain towering monolith with a giant A on the side of it. No idea what that could mean, though. We’re guessing it means that Alpha Flight are confirmed, so be ready for that in the next game.
Jonah’s podcast builds the world in a different way. One of the more interesting facets of the Spider-Man character has always been his battles with public perception. No matter how many times he saves the city from some kind of massive threat, there’s always a section of the populace that believes he does more harm than good. Just look at the films for classic examples of that.
In this game, Spidey has been doing the friendly neighbourhood thing for 8 years now, and almost everyone in New York City seems okay for Parker to just let it rock. He’s even established links to the NYPD, allowing him to work much closer with law enforcement than usual. He’s an established hero, adored by the general public, but not Jonah.
Jonah attempts to tell a distorted version of events with a view of making Spider-Man look like a dick, but his ability to spin them in a way that benefits his own narrative is absolutely incredible and a testament to the game’s writing overall. After completing a side quest involving pigeons and avian flu, Jonah takes to the airwaves to insinuate that Spidey might actually eat birds, because that’s what a maniacal crackpot would say. It’s little details like that which complete the game.
We even get an insight into his character, and how willing he is to change his opinion, court controversy and chase trends in order to maintain relevance. After lead villain Martin Li commits certain acts under his Mister Negative guise, Jonah condemns his actions, believing there’s no real truth to the idea that Martin had split personas, until he realised he could make money off the Mister Negative name. It’s funny, but it’s also smart and makes JJ a stronger character as a result.
In truth, he sounds quite similar to a certain podcast host who made a name for himself with his controversial rants and frankly insane conspiracy theories that recently got banned off Twitter. While Jonah doesn’t necessarily suggest that Spider-Man is turning the frickin’ frogs gay, he does rant about Nazis made of bees, a reference to perennial Marvel Z-Lister Swarm. Just wait until he finds out about the Iron Man armour leaving behind chemtrails.
The similarities are quite obvious and it’s a pitch perfect use of the J. Jonah Jameson character. Instead of just being a one-note background player famed mainly for demanding pictures of Spider-Man, he’s now being used to parody real life idiocy. It gives Jameson a new lease on life, refreshing his character while staying true to his core values: hating Spider-Man with impunity.
J. Jonah Jameson isn’t the only example of how Insomniac have redefined a beloved character with this version of Spider-Man, but it’s certainly one of the best. Just remember, if you get the option to turn off Just The Facts: don’t. Tune in. You won’t regret it.
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