Kurokuya Kouzai. Born with a traumatizing power and being convicted of a crime he didn't commit, he is sent to Shujin Academy under probation. Little do the people of Tokyo know, he masquerades as the masked vigilante, The Pale Spider. Unfortunately for him, Kurokuya is soon to learn that being a hero in a corrupt city is not as simple as it first seemed.
The Indomitable Pale Spider is an ongoing Persona 5 and Marvel Comics crossover written by Enkidu25. Replacing the Persona 5 protagonist with an original character, the story completely foregoes the concept of the Metaverse and instead focuses on Kurokuya's struggle with his vigilante actions and how it intersects with his personal life and the impact it has, if any, on a corrupt society that despises change of any kind.
It can be read on Spacebattles.com here
, Fanfiction.net here, and Archive of Our Own here.
The Indomitable Pale Spider provides examples of:
- Adaptational Badass: Zig-Zagged with Adaptational Wimp. In canon, Joker possessed the power of the Wild Card, allowing him to face the various challenges of the Metaverse with an army of Personas at his beck and call. In this story, Kurokuya Kouzai is a mutant with Daredevil like abilities on top of his abilities as the newest member of the Spider-Family.
- Adaptational Curves: Kurokuya is noted in narration and by several people to be very muscular for his age. Given his spider-powers and workout routine, it's no surprise.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- Played with in regards to Makoto. She cameos as a nameless NPC during the Kamoshida arc and doesn't receive an official introduction until the second story arc. She meets with Kurokuya on his first day at Shujin due to Kawakami trying to get her to act as his tutor.
- Played with again concerning Goro. While he first appears fully in a cutscene with Sae, here he appears in the fifth chapter as a POV character.
- Played straight with Takemi. While she does show up in Leblanc as an NPC early in the game, here Kurokuya goes to her clinic to help with his migraine from a flashbang.
- Adaptational Heroism: Goro Akechi. With the lack of a Metaverse, he never went down the road that turned him into the Black Mask. He's still a bitter, condescending prick when he wants to be, but at the moment, he's firmly on the side of good.
- Adaptational Intelligence: While the protagonist's intelligence was a matter of player input in the original game, here Kurokuya is shown to have created a set of web-shooters usually associated with Spider-characters as well as two sets of masks to cover his face. One is used to disguise his voice akin to BatFleck, while the other has lenses that react to the amount of light in a given area to protect his eyes due to his Super-Senses. He's also shown to be more perceptive than Ren/Akira with regards to people in no small part due to his powers, but also at just Cold Reading in general. Shown when he was able to recognize what kind of person Kamoshida was by just looking at him.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed in each case.
- Sojiro, due to having a hard time getting a read on Kurokuya's personality and being upset with him leaving the cafe without locking up, unknowingly hits one of his Berserk Button's trying to reprimand him. It backfires, but he does apologize for it later on.
- Ann is far more cold to Kurokuya than she was with Ren/Akira. This is a consequence of his lack of social graces making her uncomfortable, causing her at one point to outright slap him. They reconcile.
- After accidentally skipping out on meeting Makoto, she tries to force a conversation concerning her tutoring him. Kurokuya, in a foul mood from last night's Curb-Stomp Battle, lashes out. He instantly regrets it.
- A very, very downplayed example with Kamoshida, but given how Kurokuya starts off antagonizing him from day one, Kamoshida takes pleasure in trying to put him in his place. During the volleyball game, he makes sure to hit him in the face right after doing the same with Mishima. Given his Super-Senses, it hurts like hell.
- Adaptational Name Change: Akira Kurusu/Ren Amamiya to Kurokuya Kouzai.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed. At the start of the game, Sojiro acts like he couldn't care less about the protagonist. Here, given Kurokuya's No Social Skills and own Nice Guy tendencies, he's acts kinder to him as a result. Then he hits one of his Berserk Button's....
- Adaptation Origin Connection: Makoto and Kurokuya are implied to have a past with each other in earlier chapters. While nothing has been revealed, both have flashes of being younger and in the hospital together.
- Adaptational Personality Change: The differences between Kurokuya and Ren/Akira are stark. While voiceless like all Persona protagonists, Ren/Akira is written in game to have a rebellious spirit, a Deadpan Snarker depending on dialog choices, and charismatic enough to lead a group of rebellious teens and form friendships with several people, many of who are older than him that can potentially veer into the romantic. Kurokuya on the other hand suffers from a lack of social skills, is noted by several others for his expressionless face, hollow eyes, and struggles with maintaining personal relationships of any kind. About the only thing the two of them have in common is their kindness and heroic spirit.
- Adaptational Superpower Change: Rather than being granted the powers of the Wild Card, Kurokuya Kouzai has the same powers as Spider-Man in conjunction with Super-Senses akin to Daredevil's replacing the Spider-Sense usually associated with the character.
- Adaptational Wimp: Goro Akechi is no longer the Black Mask as in canon, but he does still retain his reputation as the 'Ace Detective' the city of Tokyo treats him as. This is a result of him instead having a mutant power that allows him to make connections between any two items and people he wants, allowing him to skip over the deductive process. As a result of House of M, he has since lost this ability. He's rather touchy about it.
- Adapted Out: The Metaverse has been completely taken out of story in favor of more traditional superhero powers and storytelling.
- Berserk Button: So far, Kurokuya is shown to have a few. They include:
- Harming innocent people, particularly children.
- The idea that he was paid for, which ties into hints about his Dark and Troubled Past.
- A more minor one, but due to his Super-Senses, he Hates Being Touched, because being touched is physically painful for him.
- Bloodier and Gorier: The violence portrayed in the story is a far cry from the stylistic Metaverse action in the original game. Whenever Kurokuya gets in a fight, he typically leaves his targets an absolute wreck, going for the most brutally effective attacks he can, and his encounter with Hadogenes leaves him a punctured mess.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: In his first encounter with the supervillain Hadogenes, a Scorpion expy, Kurokuya gets thrashed around with what can only be described as contemptuous ease, barely getting any good hits in. What hits he does land barely phase the villain either way.
- Darker and Edgier: Since the Metaverse doesn't exist in this story, the way Kurokuya usually solves his problems so far is by brutally beating them into submission. The first chapters end with him stopping a group of human traffickers, which is a crime not even touched upon in the original game. And the way he deals with Kamoshida? Describing it as a Curb-Stomp Battle doesn't do it justice.
- Death Glare: Both in and out of his mask, Kurokuya is noted to have a terrifying glare that shuts up anyone who is subjected to it.
- Establishing Character Moment: The entire first chapter is essentially this. It showcases Kurokuya's powers, the effect it's had on him, and his status as an already established and experienced vigilante, with two years already under his belt.
- For Want Of A Nail: The lack of a Metaverse being the major one, but there are several others that appear through the fic:
- Due to the lack of a Metaverse, Kurokuya actually gets to school on time by agreeing to Kamoshida's offer of a car ride due to noticing how uncomfortable he was making Ann. The short time spent with the man on the drive over is enough to set his sights on the man.
- As a consequence of the above, Kurokuya meets Ryuji much later than canon. He tries to get Kurokuya on the roof by putting a note in his locker, but
since he forgot to put his name, Kurokuya decides not to listen to it.
- As a consequence of the above, Kurokuya meets Ryuji much later than canon. He tries to get Kurokuya on the roof by putting a note in his locker, but
- Kawakami tries to get Makoto to tutor Kurokuya in an attempt to help get him accustomed to Shujin, allowing the two to meet eariler than in canon.
- A highly cathartic one for many a player of the original game: Kurokuya beating the tar out of Kamoshida after getting sidetracked from doing so one too many times.
- Probably the biggest nail yet: Kurokuya SAVES Shiho from committing suicide. It lands him in the hospital, but it is currently the largest change from canon by far.
- Due to the lack of a Metaverse, Kurokuya actually gets to school on time by agreeing to Kamoshida's offer of a car ride due to noticing how uncomfortable he was making Ann. The short time spent with the man on the drive over is enough to set his sights on the man.
- No Social Skills: Kurokuya tends to make a terrible first impression with people due to his perpetual uncanny poker face and tendency to be incredibly blunt.
