If images and videos floating around on social media are to be believed, Insomniac Games’ and Sony’s Marvel’s Wolverine has seemingly been censored in the Middle East to remove all references to Mystique’s marriage to Tyger.
If you’re wondering why something like that might be censored in the Middle East, that’s because Mystique and Tyger are women. Same-sex relationships are illegal and even potentially punishable by death in multiple countries in the Middle East.
There are several unique images of the censored elements being shared online, including this post, which features a censored image of Mystique and Tyger’s wedding day, from a user directly replying to one of Insomniac Games’ posts on X. The post reads: “Why did you censor Mystique’s lesbian relationship in Lebanon.” Another post from a user on X features a censored version of a letter referencing Mystique and Tyger’s relationship.
However, the most convincing piece of evidence is a video on the subreddit r/PlayWolverine, which shows several of the allegedly censored scenes:
“In my version of the game scenes mentioning mystique and tiger censor or cut out anything mentioning their relationship, thought it was a glitch at first but as I played through I realized it wasn’t,” reads the post.
Perhaps the most convincing element of the video’s veracity is the fact that while the dialogue referencing Mystique’s “wife” has been cut out even as the background audio in the scenes continues to play.
If accurate, this wouldn’t be the first time Insomniac Games or Sony censored a release in certain regional markets. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was censored in multiple parts of the Middle East to remove all of the game’s Pride flags. A mission featuring a young gay couple was also altered to remove any references to their relationship.
Kotaku has reached out to Sony for comment.