There is a huge debate going on right now in the comics world about what kind of credit people should get when certain adaptations are made of comic properties, not just the “naming credit” in things like movies and TV shows, but the payments that they should get for inspiring some key events that take places in these media. For the longest time, movie and TV studios wouldn’t even do special thanks credits to the famous writers who helped bring the comic characters from Marvel and DC to life, and now, video games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 aren’t paying that kind of respect either.
So what happened? Well, in the title by Insomniac Games, Venom makes a big splash in the latter parts of the game. We all knew Venom was coming, and that’s fine. Simply having the character doesn’t directly mean you need to give credit to a certain someone. After all, Insomniac Games has said multiple times that while they are big fans of the lore of the comics, they tend to go in a unique direction with the story based on their own ideas. That’s totally fine…most of the time.
However, fans noticed that many of the things they do with Venom in the game are taken from the comics, especially those recently written by Marvel Comics writer Donny Cates. When one fan pointed that out and said that Insomniac Games better have paid him for what he contributed, he made a very interesting gif reply:
So yeah, he didn’t get paid for his ideas being used. This is again part of the “credit” debate that is still going on. After all, if Insomniac Games had used 100% original ideas with Venom, which we know they can do based on the first two games, then they wouldn’t be in this situation. Instead, they clearly used things from the comics and then didn’t credit Donny Cates or others who have had a hand in making Venom what they are today.
One of the ironies is that this news came on the same day that Insomniac Games did an apology for the Cuban flag incident within Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and noted that “representation is important.” It is, but there are many kinds of representation, including properly representing those who paved the way for the video game you’re making.
We’ll have to see if Insomniac replies to this latest controversy and whether this debate will grow in intensity as a result.
