Entries with their own YMMV pages
- Base-Breaking Character: Mary Jane, especially in the first game. While there is some criticism of her characterization and decisions, the main point of contention are the stealth sequences, which many find boring and unnecessary. The sequel is widely considered to have handled it better, with her plot feeling more relevant to the story and the stealth sequences being more effectively integrated. Despite this, some fans still hate that the sequel kept them at all and would rather have them be gone entirely.
- Complete Monster: See here.
- Fandom Rivalry: With the Batman: Arkham Series, which is also part of the overall meta DC v. Marvel rivalry. Several Arkham fans dismiss the Spider-Man for borrowing too much from their game and being too light-hearted. Conversely, several Spider-Man fans argue that their game has better combat and traversal while also having a sense of lightness that contrasted against the bleakness of the Rocksteady games. This escalated when Spider-Man PS4 outsold Arkham City to become the best-selling superhero game despite being a platform exclusive as opposed to Rocksteady's multi-platform release.
- Franchise Original Sin: A frequent complaint is that the suit selection for the second game has too many MCU and other movie tie-ins costumes at the expense of other suits. However most of them were already present in the original game. The difference is that the suit roster at launch only included three MCU suits(the Stark Suit, Iron Spider Suit, and Homemade Suit) with the others being added in across gradual updates, leaving room for plenty of other costumes.
- Magnificent Bastard:
- Mister Negative was once a young sickly boy named Martin Li who was experimented on by Norman Osborn, which gave Li negative emotion powers at the cost of Li killing his parents. Swearing revenge upon the defeat of Wilson Fisk, Li built a criminal empire for himself upon the defeat of Wilson Fisk in preparation for ruining Osborn. Li expertly orchestrates a bombing campaign against Osborn and later avoids detection by Spider-Man (Peter Parker) by transforming a group of people to keep him busy. Li is also an expert at playing with people's emotions, which he uses to corrupt them into being his pawns. Li also intelligently rediscovers a way to create the biological agent Devil's Breath and later forces Dr. Morgan Michaels into creating a variant to help Doc Ock release it on the city as part of his revenge. Returning in the sequel after his imprisonment, Li proves that he is still a brilliant foe by nearly breaking Miles Morales psychologically through his illusions. Upon his defeat, Li is filled with remorse at what's he's done and later sacrifices his powers to help the heroes stop Venom from assimilating the planet. Affable, brilliant and conniving, Li proved to be one of Spider-Man's greatest enemies and allies.
- Original game:
- Felicia Hardy, the current Black Cat, is a brilliant master thief that steals for the thrill of it – but only choosing to rob those who can afford it or those that "deserve" it. In the main game proper, Cat leads Spidey on a hunt for her Cat Dolls challenging him to stop her from stealing $50 million dollars worth of loot. This was all a ruse, with the loot being a lure to distract Spidey while her Dolls shut down the police department’s security systems, allowing Cat to recover her confiscated equipment. In The Heist DLC, Black Cat is working to steal Maggia drives that contain financial information for Hammerhead, telling Spidey that he has her son hostage and letting Spidey believe he might be the father. This was a lie so that she could recruit Spidey’s help in stealing the drives for herself and she promptly fakes her own death, only resurfacing one last time to save Spidey from Hammerhead and give him information on how to take down the Mob boss for good. A thief at heart, Felicia nonetheless has a strong conscience while still loving Spider-Man, while fully using this to her ruthless advantage.
- Taskmaster has been hired by a mysterious organization to evaluate Spider-Man, choosing if he's worthy of being recruited. He does this by setting up challenges all over Manhattan to be completed, even in places where he didn't start a conflict. After Spider-Man completes some of these challenges, Taskmaster ambushes him for a surprise fight, attempting to kill him with the techniques he's memorized. Upon realizing his opponent still has some tricks left, he quits early to gain more data for a second fight. After being defeated again, he tells Spider-Man that his client pays six figures, taking his refusal to join in stride. In the end, Taskmaster departs with a smoke bomb, escaping without facing justice.
- Lonnie Lincoln, known to all as "Tombstone", is a soft-spoken, ruthless chop shop operator and mobster. Tombstone has plagued New York for years as one of Spider-Man's most persistent foes, and despite their long history as enemies, Tombstone holds a mutual respect for the wallcrawler no matter how many times the hero foils him. Tricking out vehicles and tech to better serve the Inner Demons gang in exchange for profit, Tombstone brutally kills one of his minions as punishment for a sloppy job, taking too much pride in the work of his gang to allow laziness. On the side, Tombstone concocts a temporary inhalant that grants the users his power of invulnerability, using bribery and thefts to create the concoction while planning to become the city's sole supplier. Even when his powers are stripped, his arm busted and his plan ruined by Spider-Man, Tombstone cheerfully reiterates that he'll be back for more "thrills" against the hero in no time.
- "The Heist" DLC chapter: Walter Hardy, the former Black Cat, whom is just as devious as his daughter. Faking his death years ago to protect himself and his daughter from the Maggia, Hardy manages to get a hold of Spider-Man’s phone number and disguises himself as a cop right on top of a police station. Calling himself Detective Mackey, Hardy tricks Spider-Man into uncovering loot he hid years ago. When Spider-Man finishes up, Hardy leaves with his loot, knowing Spider-Man won’t tell his daughter the truth because Spider-Man is a "decent guy." He also asks Spider-Man to look after Felicia. While only featured in a simple side-mission, Hardy more than lives up to his anecdotes as a brilliant criminal.
- Miles Morales: Aaron Davis, Miles' affable uncle, is the retired mercenary, Prowler. Quickly finding out that Miles is the new Spider-Man, Aaron begins to worry about his nephew's well-being, and returns to his criminal activities for the sake of trying to protect Miles. When Miles reveals that his friend Phin is the leader of the Underground, Aaron convinces Miles to infiltrate the group by lying to Phin that he wants to help her cause. Afterwards, when Miles tells Aaron that Phin found out Miles' identity, Aaron suggests that Miles meets up and has an open talk with Phin after she finds out Miles' identity, truthfully using this as an opportunity to inform Krieger where he can capture Tinkerer on the condition that they don't harm Spider-Man. Later, Aaron tranquilizes and imprisons Miles as he's heading to Roxxon Plaza, making sure he stays out of danger even at the cost of other innocent lives. Despite his selfish nature, Aaron did everything in his power to protect his family until Miles made him see the error of his way, and publicly reveals all of Krieger's crimes at the cost of turning himself in.
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2: Sergei Kravinoff, better known as Kraven the Hunter, is determined to have a "worthy" death rather than succumbing to cancer. Reaching New York to find more dangerous game, Kraven has numerous Super Villains kidnapped by his Hunter Army so he can hunt them, constantly disappointed that none can kill him. Finally encountering Spider-Man in the Symbiote Costume, Kraven quickly figures out the alien's weakness and later kidnaps Miles to coerce Peter Parker into a fight. Almost succeeding in goading Spider-Man into killing him, when the Symbiote bonds with Harry Osborn to become Venom, Kraven finally gets his Last Hunt, calmly thanking Venom before finally having his worthy death.
- Memetic Loser: The Avengers of this universe have gotten this reputation since they've been The Ghost even though New York has gone through several disasters since the first game.
