Spider-Man given LGBTQ+ makeover in incredible ‘mod’ after homophobes tried to delete Pride flags

Gamers have given Spider-Man a Pride-inspired makeover after a new game was targeted by anti-LGBTQ+ “modders”.

After the release of the critically acclaimed Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered for the PC on 12 August, modders – people who alter or add content to a video game recreationally – jumped at the chance to break the game open and see what they could change.

But controversy soon arose after a user created a “Non-Newtonian New York” mod that replaced LGBTQ+ Pride flags with the US stars and stripes. The file was soon removed but not before several iterations reappeared.

Since the debacle, other members of the modding community have come together to prove that anti-LGBTQ+ views were a loud minority by creating a plethora of different Pride-related mods, including a trans-Pride Spider-Man suit using the trans flag colours and another mod that replaces all US flags with Pride ones.

The user responsible for the original anti-LGBTQ+ mod was banned from modding site Nexus Mods. It sparked such a massive wave of debate on whether such mods had a place in the community that the word “flag” was banned from a Spider-Man modding Discord server.

In response, Nexus Mods said: “To address the banning, which is what a lot of people want to focus on, the mod was uploaded by a sock puppet account (a newly made account by someone who already has an account on the site) and uploaded under the name ‘Mike Hawk’. It was very clearly done deliberately to be a troll mod.

“Had they not been a coward and had they used their main account instead, we would have simply removed the mod and told them that we did not want to host it,” author and site owner Dark0ne said. “The creation of the sock puppet removed any doubt and made it a very easy decision for us.”

Nexus Mods then continued to say that its community is “for inclusivity” and that it would take action against any content or user that attempts to disregard that policy. It added that, as a private business, “we have a right to choose what content we do and do not want to host on our platform”.

“We don’t want to and won’t argue this with you. We’ve explained our stance and we won’t be providing a platform for you to distort our position in order to feed an irrational and paranoid narrative. You can do that elsewhere, where we won’t care enough to read it.

“If this policy upsets you, if we’ve broken some moral code of conduct as a business that you can’t accept, then please, delete your account and move on, as we will,” Dark0ne continued.

• Dec 01 2023

16 TV stars you grew up watching who later came out as LGBTQ+