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Currently Playing: Peter was nerfed, and I have proof.

Second Channel: @thatguyaqua Edited by VFXShaun Shauns Twitter: https://x.com/VFXShaun Shauns Portfolio https://ytjobs.co/talent/profile/3229?r=333 Shauns YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/c/PlaystayShaun Get 20% when buying G Fuel: https://www.gfuel.com/THATBOYAQUA One of the biggest criticisms of Spider-Man 2 since launch was that Peter Parker was nerfed. What does this mean? Well it simply means that he was weaker and more incompetent in Spider-Man compared to Spider-Man 1 and Miles Morales. Some moments like the infamous fridge scene have become a symbol of this nerf , but the bigger question I want to answer: is this criticism actually true? The answer is yes? Well, no. But, yea. Sorta. It’s complicated, so I want to take some time to look over Peter's performance over the first and second game, and see if he really was nerfed, and more importantly, how. I think there are three ways to analyse how and why Peter might have been nerfed. There's the narrative sense, which is, how often he justifiably loses, then we can look at how Peter is thematically nerfed, looking at how he operates in the context of other characters, and finally, the time sense, where we can view how much Peter is nerfed in the context of screentime. Before we get started; we have to make something clear. People often say Peter was nerfed, but what they actually mean is that Spider-Man was nerfed. We say Peter so people don’t assume we’re talking about miles, but we’re talking about Peter's Spider-Man. For the sake of this video, we will refer to Spider-Man purely in terms of Peter Parker's heroic persona, and we will only refer to Miles by the name Miles. This isn’t because “Miles isn’t Spider-Man”, ok I’m not a freak, it’s just for simplicity. Also, this video was actually supposed to go on my second channel, That Guy Aqua, but it’s going here so you guys can hear about said second channel. I’ve been covering Superhero topics, mostly relating to Spider-Man and Batman, posting every Monday, and I hope to see you guys over there. Without further adieu, let’s see if Peter was actually nerfed. When I began researching for this video, my first step was to replay the games and look at all the times that Peter loses. I then tried to categorise how he lost and if it was justified. A justifiable loss is considered as a moment where he does not feel, in the moment, nerfed as a means of giving the story stakes. For example, when he loses to the Sinister Six; that’s totally justifiable. He’s surrounded, is taking a 1v5, and while he holds his own for a bit, it makes perfect sense that he loses here. An unjustified loss is when in the burning building with may, Peter’s strength is suddenly so weak, that he virtually passes out as he falls into a burning building, where, had Miles not caught him, he would have burned alive. This to me is an unjustified loss, where his strength, dexterity, and durability have been altered to give a moment stakes, and push the idea that Spider-Man needs to rely on his friends. Was Peter Nerfed? It's a question that has permeated Spider-Man discussion. If Spider-Man 2 Peter nerfed was an actual critcism, why werent more critics talking about it? It begs the question; was Peter actually nerfed, and if Peter was nerfed, what does that tell us about Spider-Man 2. Marvel's Spider-Man 2 had many longform videos like my own Spider-Man 2 story critique, apart of my Spider-Man 2 review. In said Spider-Man 2 analysis, I mentioned the nerfing allegations but didn't take them seriously, and perhaps I should have. This might be a bit of an adendum to my Spider-Man 2 critique, but more content like this will be avialable on my second channel, That Guy Aqua, separate from That Boy Aqua which will remain a channel focused on longform reviews.