Spider-Man developer: you can’t murder villains by tossing them off skyscrapers

If you paid close attention to the 9-minute Spider-Man demo at Sony’s E3 2017 event, you might have noticed the superhero knocking a goon off a skyscraper — only to sling him safely back onto the building. Bryan Intihar, creative director of Insomniac Games, explained that the game won’t allow players to use Spidey’s abilities to kill villains, or anybody else for that matter.

“We wouldn’t not allow that,” said Intihar. “Marvel would not allow that, the world would not allow that.”

Intihar didn’t provide specifics about how the game prevents Spider-Man from committing first-degree murder, or you know, accidentally bumpy somebody a little too hard near a very high ledge. Though it appears, in the GIF above, the game’s AI may automatically perform the safety maneuver.

Like most mainstream superheroes, Spider-Man is largely known for pulverizing enemies within an inch of their life, while maintaining an acute moral high ground. Though in the past, Spider-Man has, despite what you might have assumed, killed his enemies a number of times.