Spider-Man was one of the most popular skaters from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, but here's why the character is missing from the new Pro Skater 1+2.

Spider-Man was one of the most popular skaters in the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. As an unlockable character, the web-slinging superhero came with several unique tricks. However, Spider-Man is completely missing from the new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, a remake of the first two games in the series. That's disappointing to a lot of fans, but there's a good explanation as to why Spider-Man is absent.

The newest Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game has several secret characters, including one skater played by Jack Black. Some fans were expecting to see Spider-Man appear as an unlockable skater, but that hasn't happened. In the original Pro Skater 2, Spider-Man could be unlocked by getting 100% in the game's Career Mode. However, getting 100% in the new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 doesn't unlock a single new character. The secret characters must be unlocked through other means, and, unfortunately, none of them are Spider-Man.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games are known for featuring surprise secret characters from pop culture. Several Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Wolverine have appeared in previous entries, as well as Darth Maul from Star Wars. So far, however, it seems Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is missing pop culture skaters completely despite improving on the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games in almost every way. Regarding Spider-Man, there's a simple explanation as to why the character hasn't appeared in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, and it all comes down to the character licensing.

Spider-Man IS In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, But Not The Remake

Back in 2000, when Spider-Man appeared in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Activision and Neversoft were already working on PS1's Spider-Man. Adding the character as an unlockable skater in a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game was a way to stir up more interest for their upcoming superhero video game, and it was a nice reward for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2's players. Neversoft's Spider-Man wasn't necessarily based on the '90s TV show, but it did feature a similar art style and some of the same voice actors. This was, of course, all before Sony bought the rights to Spider-Man and locked down the character in all sorts of exclusivity deals since.

In 1999, Sony bought Spider-Man from Marvel and launched a successful trilogy of movies that started in 2002 and starred Tobey Maguire. Neversoft already had the rights to finish their Spider-Man game, which is why it released after Sony bought the character. However, Sony's ownership has caused lots of licensing issues for the character over the years, in both MCU movies and video games. Marvel's Spider-Man, a video game that released on PS4 and developed by Sony-owned Insomniac Studios, was incredibly successful. Because of this, the character has remained well-guarded by Sony, since it's arguably one of the company's most profitable IPs across all media.

All of this means that Sony was unlikely to give Activision permission to use Spider-Man in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2. Even if they allowed it, the rights to the character may have been out of the video game budget's price range. Simply put, Spider-Man was only featured in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 because Neversoft had the rights to the character at the time. Now that all of that has changed, it's unlikely Spider-Man will appear in any future Tony Hawk games.

Next: What Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 DLC Could Look Like