Despite the inclusion of superheroes, villains, and other paraphernalia from the Marvel Comics universe, Insomniac Games’ Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales present realistic takes on New York City for its titular heroes to swing throughout. However, there are some notable deviations from reality, such as the removal of the Chrysler Building due to copyright concerns.
Players have recently pointed out another deviation that offers an interesting look into the kind of alternate history created by a world full of super-powered beings – or at the very least, an Easter egg indicative of the developers’ political leanings. If someone playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales travels to the UN, The Republic of Ireland’s tricolor flag beside France has been replaced with a Green Harp Flag.
This Green Harp Flag is generally symbolic of a United Ireland seen prior to the Irish War of Independence against Britain that ended in 1921, according to a report by TIME published this February. The State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo) Irish Studies Group indicates the flag was also used prominently by Wolf Tonne (or Wolfe Tone) during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, as well as during the Fenian Rising of 1867.
According to the Irish Times, unification became a major talking point for the Sinn Fein political party following Brexit, the UK referendum to leave the European Union. As of this writing, there is still a split between Northern Ireland as part of the UK and the independent Republic of Ireland, which makes the flag an interesting inclusion in a game like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, where Easter eggs typically depict the X-Men or other comic book heroes.
This is not the only statement included with Insomniac’s title. Spider-Man: Miles Morales has a Black Lives Matter tribute with a black-and-gold Spidey suit. However, the Green Harp Flag has raised eyebrows for some, with Reddit user gothamite27 saying it seems “a little bit insensitive” to include in a post to r/SpidermanPS4 last week. “It’s extremely pro-independence and plenty of people in the north [sic] are unionists,” they said, and if Ireland were to unite it likely wouldn’t use a “politically loaded flag.”
Many have been praising the lifelike recreation of New York seen in Insomniac’s open-world superhero games, in spite of potentially fraught new inclusions like a different flag for Ireland. Players have been able to find their apartment buildings in Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which is indicative of the developers’ attention to detail.
The game has been a big part of Sony’s thus-far successful PlayStation 5 launch, and it’s likely Insomniac Games will continue to adjust it for a long time to come. Many have noticed odd bugs throughout the game, for example, but a recent Spider-Man: Miles Morales update fixed bugs and improved stability, which should keep players interested in swinging around New York.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales is available now on PS4 and PS5.
Sources: TechStomper, Reddit, TIME, SUNY Geneseo, Irish Times
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