If you’ve swung by the cinema in Spider-Man, you might have seen the message “Maddie, will you marry me?” displayed on the board above its entrance. As it turns out, the message originates from a tweet back in May this year.
Tyler Schutz tweeted at Insomniac, Spider-Man’s developers, requesting their help to propose to his then-girlfriend.
Keyword: then.
https://twitter.com/topnotch1210/status/994743495498895360
After making sure she wouldn’t check his Twitter, and that they’d still be together come September 7th (the game’s release date), Insomniac agreed to help.
Well ok then, who are we to say no to love? DMing you and we will see if we can work something out
— Insomniac Games (@insomniacgames) May 11, 2018
Sadly, however, the well-intentioned proposal didn’t go according to plan. In a video posted by Tyler – which he has since taken down – he revealed they had broken up, and Maddie has since begun a relationship with his brother. Ouch.
Jacinda Chew, Spider-Man’s Art Director, offered to patch out the sign and replace it with something else, which Tyler initially resisted, appreciating the humour and hoping it might serve someone else.
https://twitter.com/topnotch1210/status/1038625245568139264
However, he has since spoken to Kotaku, suggesting the sign be changed to honour the memory of recently deceased grandmother, who introduced Tyler to Spider-Man, gifting him his first Spider-Man comic book.
Fortunately, Tyler seems to be seeing the funny side of the whole ordeal and thankfully seems to be enjoying the game nonetheless.
