It's not really practical or sensible to task your developers with making sure that Spiderman can start digging a hole if he wants to. In the long run probably frameworks will start to handle these things - soil mechanics, building infrastructure, metal deformation, and so on, and then all games will start to include them by default by gradual degrees. But hoping the game developers themselves make working hedge trimmers instead of focusing on actual gameplay is silly.
If you can't rip a car in half or see the insides of a building then battle damage will look like it's painted on.
If Spiderman can't move a bit of rubble (he doesn't really do dirt) then he can't pull something into or out of place to free a friend or trap an enemy.
It's (all) the little things that are in the way of a game feeling immersive and appealing to people who aren't just into the main mechanic (ie shooter on rails).
