Nearly every ‘90s kid was exposed to the video game Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and many would say that the sequel was arguably the most beloved in the whole franchise, but one thing players may not have known is that Spider-Man actually made the game Marvel Comics canon. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was developed by Activision, the same gaming company that made PlayStation’s Spider-Man. Well, thanks to a little cross-promotion and a one-shot prequel comic, Tony Hawk could very well be next in line as an Avengers recruit.
The prequel comic Spider-Man: Activision – To Trap A Spider! by TQ Jefferson, Brian Michael Bendis, Chris Gosset, and Tim Smith 3 set the stage for the events of the PS1 video game. In the game, Doctor Octopus creates an army of symbiotes using Carnage as his source. It is up to Spider-Man (and the player controlling him) to stop Doc Ock before he takes control of the city. The prequel comic details how Doctor Octopus gets ahold of Carnage in the first place, as well as explaining the involvement of some of the lesser bosses in the game like Rhino and Mysterio.
While the comic book itself is of little consequence, its mere existence is enough to make Tony Hawk an official Marvel Comics character all because of one Activision initiative. When a player gets 100% in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 Career Mode with a created skater, they unlock Spider-Man as a playable character, which assuredly was a way to increase player interest in Spider-Man’s own PS1 game. As Spider-Man, players can use some of his powers while pulling off impossible tricks, proving that Spider-Man himself is actually in the game and this character isn’t just a skin. Since Activision’s Spider-Man exists in the world of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and that same version of Spider-Man had his own Marvel comic book, Activision’s Spider-Man officially exists within Marvel Comics’ Spider-Verse. This means that Tony Hawk is a canonical Marvel Comics character as well.
This revelation isn’t the first time fans have seen Tony Hawk have a run-in with Marvel Comics. In the 1996 comic series Venom: The Hunted from Larry Hama and Duncan Rouleau, Venom is on the run from capture and decides to disguise himself as a skater. For a short time, he goes by the name Rad Eddie. Venom’s Rad Eddie disguise looked eerily like Tony Hawk, but the character wasn’t Hawk himself. Venom just paid a subtle tribute to the professional skateboarder during a time when Tony Hawk’s popularity was at an all-time high, but Spider-Man took things one step further by including the pro skater into the wider Marvel multiverse.
Since Spider-Man’s inclusion in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, a few other Marvel superheroes became playable characters in the later games as well. The unkillable X-Man Wolverine is a playable character in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and players can suit up as Iron Man in Tony Hawk’s Underground. With other Marvel characters showing up in later Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games fans are only given more proof that the universe of those games takes place within the Marvel multiverse. However, it was Activision’s Spider-Man that made it official with a prequel comic that proved Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is Marvel Comics canon.
