I broke the bank and got Spider-Man 2 on launch day when I said I wouldn’t, maybe I saw one too many clips on YouTube but none the less I pulled out the ‘ol Master Card and when I got home spent the next few days glued to the set.

Early on in the game, Peter Parker has a flashback. He’s at his old high school and there is one scene where he’s in the school’s darkroom. At the time I had my own full sized darkroom. So my critical eye was on full zoom as I scanned the virtual environment for inconsistencies in Spider-Man 2. I am pleasantly surprised. There is a lot of detail here. Accurate detail, which I’ll outline for you in the following screen shots.

Light Spillage

This set of enlargers is fairly accurate though I feel as though the dividers, at least in some cases would be higher to avoiding light spilling over to other student during exposure.

Is that a Beseler?!

Having a better look at an enlarger on its own we can see many of the components of a proper enlarger. First off, this looks like it could be modeled after the Omega brand of enlargers but it’s tough to tell for sure. There are also similarities to a Beseler. The rails for increasing print size, the negative carrier and contrast filter compartments,  do seem more of a Beseler design but it’s likely that it’s a combination of brands seen in Spider-Man 2.

Chemical Development

A shelf of chemicals in what appears to be amber glass. I personally used the ones on the right.

Developing Trays & Sink

A proper sink with three developing trays. This is likely for resin coated or “RC” paper, as it’s a three step process of developer, stop and fixer. The photo is a finished, or “fixed” print that someone left behind…sloppy. The fourth tray is likely water, to wash the print after a fix. Of course, this being Spider-Man 2, it’s a photo of New York.

Entrance

This is a revolving door which allows people to come and go freely while maintaining a light tight environment. I managed to snag one of these once upon a time and they are as fun to walk through as they look in Spider-Man 2.

The Rules

A list of darkroom safety pointers. Looks like someone forgot the third rule with that print left in the tray (and the chemicals in the trays as well). Not to mention the light on at all.

Darkroom Troubleshooting

I thought this was a very cool detail: A print evaluation guide which is spot on in terms of tackling print issues. To the right you can also see print examples of proper and improper enlarging exposures.

I hope you enjoyed this brief but fascinating look into what is essentially a blip in Spider-Man 2. Someone obviously loved analog photography enough to take some extra care into making this a love letter to the art. Truth be told I’ve seen museum displays less accurate than this, so I spent some time looking around and appreciating the darkroom details in Spider-Man 2.