One Of Spider-Man 2’s Boss Fights Has A Reference To A Popular Anime

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has been ethereally enjoyable for most folks all across the world, being crowned as the highest-rated Spider-Man game in the world at the moment. Apart from all that it gets right, it appears that the action-adventure title is loaded chock-full of references to other people, characters, and now, an anime. Please be warned that major Spider-Man 2 spoilers await you ahead.

During the 25th main mission of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, where Miles Morales sees himself going up against a symbiote-infused Peter, there’s a sequence in there that shows Miles landing a charged strike on Peter, right in the midst of the bout. However, the way Miles does it bears a heavy resemblance to a fight scene in the popular anime My Hero Academia. The following clip sees a side-by-side comparison of the two battles.  

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we need more peak anime references in video games | #spiderman2 #peterparker #milesmorales #myheroacademia #mha #deku #bakugo #foryoupage

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For those not in the know, the clip other than Spider-Man 2 featured above is from the 25th episode of My Hero Academia’s third season and sees both main characters going up against each other. It helps knowing that the anime’s lead writer, Kohei Horikoshi, is a major Spider-Man fanatic, loading the show with a number of different Spidey references and easter eggs.

As far as these quirky little inclusions in the game are concerned, though, Spider-Man 2 has a wealth of them, ranging from Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther to Marvel’s Wolverine, not to mention a tribute to a deceased Insomniac developer as well in the form of a mural. Oh, and an out-of-bounds glitch was discovered by a player too, revealing what happens to poor Rhino in the Spider-Man universe, kind of.  

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was released for the PlayStation 5 on October 20, 2023. In its dedicated review, eXputer gave the game a 4/5, deeming it yet another fantastic PlayStation exclusive that fans will love to get going with. On a side note, in case you happen to be a new player, make sure to go through this write-up on the best Spider-Man 2 tips and tricks to get the most out of the title.