[Editor's note: The following contains spoilers for Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.]
Miles Morales has been around for less than a decade, but he's already cemented himself as an essential part of the Spider-Man mythos. Thanks in large part due to the Oscar-winning movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and now with Miles getting his own video-game with Spider-Man: Miles Morales, the character has not only proved himself to be an exciting and unique character on his own terms but also embodies everything Spider-Man represents.
Now that Spider-Man: Miles Morales is out, it's about time we look back at the character's short yet impactful history and revisit the five greatest moments across different media that prove why Miles Morales is a perfect Spider-Man.
Getting His Powers and Growing Different Than Peter
Unlike Peter Parker, who is usually portrayed as having started his career as Spider-Man alone, discovering his powers on his own, Miles becomes a hero in a world full of other superheroes. That means that Miles has a much different path when it comes to embracing his powers and responsibilities, because he's not just accepting the gift (or burden) or having superpowers, he's also embarking on a journey of always being compared to Peter Parker.
In Miles' first appearance in the comics, he initially rejects the call to adventure after realizing a spider gave him powers in "Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man" in 2011. He is afraid to be thought of as a mutant, and decides to leave the superheroics to the other Spider-Man. The problem is that, shortly afterwards, Peter gets shot, and Miles becomes guilt-ridden over the thought that he could have helped had he just embraced his role earlier. This means that Peter is actually Miles' Uncle Ben in this universe, and the reason he decides to don the costume and go out to help people, only meeting Peter when he accidentally travels from another dimension, where the two get a bit of a mentor-mentee relationship on and off over the years.
Miles' appearance in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon follows this same portrayal of the character. Miles meets a Peter Parker form a different universe after his own Peter died, and the two get a poignant yet still charming scene where they bond over being Spider-Man.
Into the Spider-Verse changes things, with Miles actually getting to meet Peter Parker shortly after getting his powers; Peter even gets a moment where he recognizes what Miles is going through and promises to show him the ropes, but dies before he's able to. Though Miles still starts out trying to get rid of his powers, meeting Peter changes the dynamic: Peter actually gets to entrust Miles with becoming the new Spider-Man before dying, rather than Miles wondering if he's overstepping his boundaries by donning the suit. When Miles does meet another Peter Parker, their relationship is much more like father-son, with Peter B. Parker being an older, more tired Spider-Man reluctantly helping this kid become his own hero.
Spider-Man: Miles Morales changes things even further by having Peter be alive and well not only when Miles first gets his powers, but well into his training. After Miles' dad dies (more on that later), he becomes friends with Peter, and easily confides in him the moment he realizes he has superpowers. Though the change in character design for Peter means the two look much closer in age than they're supposed to be, they still share more of a mentor-mentee relationship like in the comics, with Peter offering advice and encouragement throughout the game.
Miles' Family Shapes His Identity
When Miles Morales debuted, one of the main things that made him different from Peter Parker was that both his parents were alive, at least for a while.
In the comics, Miles gets a family life tragic enough to fit his role as Spider-Man. First, his mom, Rio Morales, dies after being accidentally shot fatally by police who were trying to kill Venom in "Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man" #22. This causes Miles to follow the Spider-Man trope of quitting being a superhero, at least for a year. Not to be outdone, when Miles reveals to his dad that he's Spider-Man, he walks out on the kid and blames him for the death of his wife and brother, Aaron. These losses severely impacted Miles, but they were thankfully corrected when Miles made the jump from the Ultimate universe to the main Marvel universe, where Miles' dad actually knows his identity and aids him on occasion behind Rio's back.
Into the Spider-Verse, on the other hand, gives us a vastly different, and much happier portrayal. Everything you need to know about Miles and his family life you get in Miles' first scene in the movie. In it, we see the morning hustle of the Morales house before Miles joins a new school. English and Spanish weave in and out of conversations, even in the same sentence, and both parents seem harmoniously caring about their son. Sure, the comics show them to be a loving family, just like Peter's, but in just that one scene, the film tells you that Miles grew up in a very different environment that shaped him as a person, and as a superhero.
The same thing happens in the video game, even if it still follows the "Dead Parent Route" by killing Jefferson Davis in the first game. The game really makes the player feel like Miles comes from a mixed-race household, and nowhere is it as evident as the scene near the beginning where you have to pick a record to play during a Christmas party. You can either pick “Moanin’” by Miles Davis, “Esta Navidad” by Willie Colón, or “Merry Christmas Baby” by Otis Redding. The choice doesn't impact the game, and there are no wrong answers, but that simple choice signals how big code switching is in Miles' life as an Afro-Latino kid.
Facing the Prowler
Every Spider-Man gets an uncle who deeply impacts their path as a superhero, but Miles is the only one to get an uncle who tries to kill him.
We have already posted a whole fantastic article on the different iterations of The Prowler, so let's just do this quickly: If the death of Peter Parker was the moment that made Miles decide to become Spider-Man, the moment he faced the Prowler is the moment Miles becomes a proper hero.
In the comics, Aaron Davis discovers his nephew is Spider-Man and blackmails him into helping him defeat his competition in the criminal underworld, otherwise he'd reveal Miles' secret identity to his parents. When Miles stands up to his corrupt uncle, they get into an ugly fight that accidentally results in the death of Aaron, who tells Miles with his dying breath that they are no different. It was a dark moment that made Miles confront the idea that he could end up just like Aaron did.
Spider-Verse treats Prowler like a substitute for Uncle Ben. Right before he dies, at the hands of Wilson Fisk rather than fighting Spider-Man, Aaron gives a speech about how Miles is better than either his dad or his uncle, serving the same purpose as Ben's speech on responsibility. This was Miles' first and biggest failure as a superhero, his big test that made him doubt his role, and the motivation to finally embrace his powers.
The new PlayStation game takes a different, and in many ways better approach. Rather than having them be antagonists, Prowler actually aids Spider-Man on several occasions, providing tech and advice and acting as a substitute father to Miles after his father died. The inevitable fight between the two gets a very different approach. After his uncle kidnaps and imprisons him in a futile attempt to keep him safe, Miles reveals how powerful he really is. Miles is not breaking away from Prowler because he's being blackmailed, but because Prowler would rather let innocents get hurt than risk his own life, or Miles' life, something the superheroic Miles simply cannot accept.
A Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
No matter how many big, multidimensional, and intergalactic adventures Spider-Man gets involved in, he's always a neighborhood hero at his core. But Miles' background also gives him a unique relationship with the people he protects.
One of the best parts of the new Miles Morales game is the way it integrates the side missions into the main story and makes them feel essential. Sure, you're technically focused on a big plot involving a nuclear reaction that can destroy all of Harlem, but you spent quite a lot of time helping local businesses, finding lost toys or helping regular people with smaller problems. This all pays off when at the end of the game where you get a Spider-Man 2 moment: The people in the neighborhood you've been helping out for the past few hours help conceal your identity and let you get away before the reporters come in. When a reporter asks someone if they got a look at your face, the man only responds, "He's our Spider-Man." In the games so far, Peter seems to be playing in a bigger field, dealing with bigger issues, while Miles is all about taking care of the neighborhood and its people — especially bodega cats.
"That's all it is, Miles. A leap of faith."
Even if they've already been going out in a disguise for a while, every superhero gets a moment when they finally embrace their role and actually become a hero. For Peter Parker, it was losing Uncle Ben, and even when Miles gets his Uncle Ben moment, that's not when he actually becomes Spider-Man.
The comics are the closest we get to the Peter Parker approach, as it is after losing his mom and quitting being a hero for a year that Miles decides to return and embrace his role as Spider-Man. He decides then that it doesn't matter what he loses, he still needs to fight to protect others.
What is left to say about the "Leap of Faith" moment in Into the Spider-Verse? Not only the best moment in an animated film in 2018, but one of the greatest moments in a superhero film ever made. It is the culmination of everything the movie had been building towards, showing Miles' wish to help others, but his very different approach than Peter. After this moment, Miles is no longer just wearing a costume; he's building a suit of his own and taking that huge leap of faith while the absolute banger that is "What's Up Danger" plays in the background.
Insomniac gives Spider-Man: Miles Morales its own "Leap of Faith" moment during the game's climatic fight against Tinkerer, but it's actually broken in two parts. The first part is in the middle of the very long fight, as Tinkerer beats the living hell out of you and asks why you keep fighting despite being given every chance to leave unharmed, to which Miles replies, "Because I'm Spider-Man." The second comes as Miles realizes Roxxon's Nuform reactor is about to blow, and he still decides to sacrifice his life to absorb that energy and save the people of Harlem. Sure, he doesn't die (though he technically should have not survived a fall from the atmosphere), but it's still a powerful moment that shows Miles embrace what makes a Spider-Man: heroism and selflessness.
We may have known Peter for a lot longer than we've known Miles, but in just under a decade, the young Afro-Latino resident of Brooklyn (or Harlem) has established himself as a true Spider-Man and given us plenty of moments to cheer.