From the beginning, Marvel's Spider-Man is a big game with its expansive story mode. That alone will give a player a good five to ten hours of an emotional rollercoaster ride. Drawing inspiration from the Batman: Arkham games, Marvel's Spider-Man features an open world for gamers to explore.
Within that world, Peter Parker can be the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man by accomplishing side missions across New York City. While some are pretty simple time wasters, others excel in providing more content to Marvel's Spider-Man with interesting characters and stories.
College Buddies
This mission tests the player's knowledge of the massive New York City map. Spider-Man is given a picture that shows a person and a location in the background. Spider-Man only gives a slight hint as to which direction it might be but it's up to the player to figure out where the corrupted pedestrians are.
The extra twist of finding the right location makes this side mission more than a typical enemy encounter in Marvel's Spider-Man. There is a puzzle element to it to keep it refreshing, unlike many other repetitive side quests that can be found in the game.
Internet Famous
Of all the many obscure or underrated Spider-Man villains, nobody expected Screwball to make an appearance in Marvel's Spider-Man. In this game, she is presented as an egomaniacal streamer who uses criminals to cause chaos so that Spider-Man can appear on her stream for views, likes, subscriptions, etc.
This side mission pokes fun at over-the-top streamers but also showcases the dangers that online influencers can bring. Also, as downright annoying Screwball can be, there is an odd charm factor to her mission that makes it engaging.
Enemy Faction Bases
Whether it's Kingpin's thugs or the corrupted Demons, there are bases positioned across New York City throughout the game. Inside, it's basically a challenge map with Spider-Man fending off waves of enemies. However, each enemy base features unique optional objectives to accomplish for more crafting materials.
This is one of many examples of Insomniac toying with completionists. Later on, especially with Sable bases, those objectives get more and more difficult because it's already hard to fight off the many enemy types regularly. However, it never gets to the point of rage-quitting but just frustrating the player enough to become determined.
The Original Black Cat
In The Heist DLC story, there is a side mission in which Spider-Man works with a police officer to find the pieces of art that Felicia Hardy's father, the original Black Cat, had stolen. It's a simple but effective collectible-focused mission that allows for more to do in the DLC besides rushing to the next main objective.
Much like with the Black Cat side mission in the original campaign, it ends with a twist, one that is far from predictable and helps make the mission feel worth the extra effort in the end.
Helping Howard
On a roof near the FEAST center, there is a transient named Howard taking care of some pigeons. All he asks is that if Spider-Man sees any of his twelve missing pigeons, he sends them back home. It sounds simple but these twelve pigeons make Spider-Man chase them through the city and they can get crafty with their flightpaths.
It's a fun distraction that helps the map feature one of many open-world cliches but what makes the mission stand out are the interactions with Howard. The more pigeons that are returned, the more Spider-Man learns about Howard. It gets surprisingly emotional and it shows Peter Parker's best quality: always willing to help anyone, even with something as small as returning their pets.
Spider-Men
There's nothing wrong with being a cosplayer. In fact, there are a plethora of many amazing Spider-Man cosplays out there. While pretending to be a character is one thing, to try and actually take on the role is a bit extreme and that's where this mission shines as Spider-Man deals with an imposter.
While the imposter means and does well, it also turns him into a target of New York's criminal underworld. As much as most like to disagree with the ravings of J. Jonah Jameson, people trying to be like Spider-Man is a genuine danger and it's nice to see Marvel's Spider-Man tackle that issue in a healthy manner.
Black Cat's Stakeouts
She might not be one of the best villains in Marvel's Spider-Man but Black Cat does give Peter a memorable side mission. Felicia Hardy AKA Black Cat has stakeouts positioned across the city and if Peter can figure out her plan and stop her in time, she will give up the life of a thief and go straight.
It's an interesting concept as Spider-Man has to figure out via the stakeouts which place she plans to rob at each location. It leads to a good twist from Black Cat and also the unlocking of one of Spider-Man's many black suits from the comics.
Taskmaster's Tasks
One of the more surprising villains is Anthony Masters, the infamous Taskmaster, who presents Spider-Man with a series of challenges across New York City. Fighting mercenaries in full-on brawls, taking them out with nothing but stealth attacks, chasing drones through the city, or stopping planted bombs.
There are a lot of tasks to complete and a wide variety of them to keep things from getting boring. However, these tasks can be frustrating with trying to get an Ultimate rating on all of them, as most of the tasks require near-perfection to do so. It all leads to different encounters with Taskmaster himself who is equally fascinating and terrifying in this version.
Peter's Backpacks
Peter Parker in Marvel's Spider-Man is eight years into his career as the web-slinger. Much like in the Batman: Arkham games, a lot of history has happened off-screen in this unique universe that Insomniac created. With the backpack side mission, players can learn the history of this Spider-Man.
There are dozens of backpacks across the city and each contains an item that Peter Parker reflects on. These can range from an old schoolbook to a vial containing the Sandman to an Easter egg hinting at a larger Marvel Universe within the game, such as a business card from Matt Murdock, who most comic fans and Netflix viewers might know as Daredevil.
Tombstone
Most of the side missions in Marvel's Spider-Man fall under the trope of helping regular people around New York City. However, fighting the big and bad supervillains is a large part of the appeal of Spider-Man. That's where the Tombstone missions come in, providing a small side story across multiple missions.
It starts with investigating Alchemax and a strange compound until it leads to an epic fight with Tombstone himself. Not only does the mission provide more history and development of this drastically different version of the character but also a dynamic boss fight.
NEXT: 10 Best Villains In Marvel's Spider-Man Game, Ranked