Current Events > So what exactly is the appeal of Miles Morales...

(+) Yeah! (+)

besides being a black Spidey? I don't see what makes him unique, or sets him apart in a note-worthy way from Peter Parker. When I look at Terry McGinnis, for example, I can see that they were going for a younger, less broody Batman with futuristic tech. But Miles just feels tokenized from top to bottom. Similar age, personality, etc. as regular Spider-Man, but plot twist: he's black.

Am I missing something?

marketing gimmick

still, I liked Spiderman Into The Spider-verse

He has the venom blast which is an OP move that can take out almost anyone and he can also turn invisible

Feline_Heart posted...

He has the venom blast which is an OP move that can take out almost anyone and he can also turn invisible

Are those characteristics of a spider? If not, then that's just random lol

Do black people need some inherent edge to be worthwhile? "Spidey but black" is perfectly fine as is. There doesn't need to be anything deeper than that. But at least as far as Spiderverse is concerned, I like Morales more than Peter.

You dont have to like him, but you sure need to take that token shit somewhere else, especially if your example is the most surface level analysis possible.

I am a Spidey fan and didnt see him until Into The Spiderverse. If you;ve seen that.. you see his appeal.

He's from Brooklyn. Peter is from Queens.

There's a reason Brooklyn is really called Kings County.

Uta posted...

Do black people need some inherent edge to be worthwhile? "Spidey but black" is perfectly fine as is. There doesn't need to be anything deeper than that.

I disagree. I feel it's lazy and unimaginative.

He is a very flat character and Spider-Verse is his best/only good showing.

Jerry_Hellyeah posted...

You dont have to like him, but you sure need to take that token shit somewhere else, especially if your example is the most surface level analysis possible.

Nah, I stand by what I said. He doesn't appear to be distinct from Peter in any meaningful way. I find that lazy and unimaginative.

superman 2000 posted...

Are those characteristics of a spider? If not, then that's just random lol

Are super strength and esp?

archedsoul posted...

He's from Brooklyn. Peter is from Queens.

Wow. They couldn't even make his birthplace different than New York. lol

superman 2000 posted...

Nah, I stand by what I said. He doesn't appear to be distinct from Peter in any meaningful way. I find that lazy and unimaginative.

How about the impact of being a young black man in New York and dealing with all of that beyond also being a superhero?

Like yeah Peter Parker's Spider-Man character already had to deal with hero work in a city where some people hate him, but he never dealt with racism and the juxtaposition between being a hero and saving people who are potentially racist to you.

Being black is definitely a part of his story and depending on the writer plays a huge part in his stories.

He's legit better in every way to original spiderman and his suit is nicer

It gives a different perspective. I'm not sure how he is in the Ultimate comics, but recent interpretations put him in really different circumstances that might influence his decisions in different ways from Peter.

KogaSteelfang posted...

Are super strength and esp?

Spiders have great reaction times, so they were just playing on that idea

superman 2000 posted...

Wow. They couldn't even make his birthplace different than New York. lol

Like 90% of Marvel characters are based in New York

Axiom posted...

He's legit better in every way to original spiderman and his suit is nicer

I like him but hes nowhere near as cool as Peter. I agree that his suit is great though

superman 2000 posted...

Wow. They couldn't even make his birthplace different than New York. lol

To non New Yorkers it looks that way. To people from New York Queens and Brooklyn are essentially two different cities.

KogaSteelfang posted...

Are super strength and esp?

Yeah. Watch the pilot episode of Marvel's Spider-Man (2017).

PrsdntHeidecker posted...

He is a very flat character and Spider-Verse is his best/only good showing.

he also great in Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

but tbf, I haven't read the comics.

He fills the void of people complaining that adult Spider-Man is boring and he needs to be a high school/college student again.

Jeff AKA Snoopy posted...

How about the impact of being a young black man in New York and dealing with all of that beyond also being a superhero?

Like yeah Peter Parker's Spider-Man character already had to deal with hero work in a city where some people hate him, but he never dealt with racism and the juxtaposition between being a hero and saving people who are potentially racist to you.

Being black is definitely a part of his story and depending on the writer plays a huge part in his stories.

That's nice and all, but it's riding the coattails of Spider-Man instead of having its own identity, so it still feels lazy and unimaginative. Why not just make Miles Morales a unique/original hero? You can still accomplish everything you just said, but with the added bonus of being completely fresh.

Feline_Heart posted...

Like 90% of Marvel characters are based in New York

I actually didn't know that lol. I retract that particular complaint then.

ScazarMeltex posted...

To non New Yorkers it looks that way. To people from New York Queens and Brooklyn are essentially two different cities.

Fair enough.

superman 2000 posted...

That's nice and all, but it's riding the coattails of Spider-Man instead of having its own identity, so it still feels lazy and unimaginative. Why not just make Miles Morales a unique/original hero? You can still accomplish everything you just said, but with the added bonus of being completely fresh.

That is more a critique of the comic genre as a whole rather than Miles Morales.

I like how TC is criticizing the character without actually consuming any media with the character in it lol

Well to be clear, I don't mind that he's "Black Spidey" so much as I mind that the writers don't really do anything distinctly different with him. He's very similar to Peter Parker, but just a different race. Feels kind of pander-y. If that was gonna be the case, he might as well have just been his own type of hero.

Doom_Art posted...

I like how TC is criticizing the character without actually consuming any media with the character in it lol

I like how this is just a baseless assumption lol

superman 2000 posted...

Why not just make Miles Morales a unique/original hero? You can still accomplish everything you just said, but with the added bonus of being completely fresh.

How would this adjust your original critique of him behaving too similarly to Peter Parker?

Doom_Art posted...

I like how TC is criticizing the character without actually consuming any media with the character in it lol

got em

Guide posted...

How would this adjust your original critique of him behaving too similarly to Peter Parker?

Peep post #25.

Were_Wyrm posted...

He fills the void of people complaining that adult Spider-Man is boring and he needs to be a high school/college student again.

Didn't Ultimate do this whole retcon thing to shove in some highschool age stories down the line?

Feline_Heart posted...

I like him but hes nowhere near as cool as Peter. I agree that his suit is great though

Parker is and has always been boring. Generic nerd becomes OP after getting power story then of course getting his crush. His villains are what made him interesting

superman 2000 posted...

Peep post #25.

I see it, but that doesn't change that he'd still be him with a different powerset, thus still not adjusting to being "different enough from Peter Parker" based on your criticism. He'd be, at least in your perception, Peter Parker with different powers.

Gamespot knows why lol

https://youtu.be/fz91mXqcxtc

he's Marvel's Poochie the Dog

Some of his uniqueness was taken by the Tom Holland Spiderman. Which probably screws over any origin in film for Miles.

Guide posted...

Didn't Ultimate do this whole retcon thing to shove in some highschool age stories down the line?

Yes, which is where Mile originally comes from.

Were_Wyrm posted...

Yes, which is where Mile originally comes from.

Following comic origins/timelines is deep magic.

@Guide

Heroes having similar personalities can be found across the board, but when one of those heroes is basically just a spin-off of the original with the only notable catch being that they fill a token role, then it kinda just feels like a corporate cash grab. Again, using Terry McGinnis as an example, he wasn't just Batman with a new face; he was a kid (which was novel since Batman's always been well into his adulthood) with a much less cynical outlook on life, and the adventures took place in a more technologically advanced era. It played with the idea of "What will become of Batman when Bruce is too old? Who will protect Gotham then?" That made it feel fresh in a way that actually requires some thought and creative effort.

superman 2000 posted...

besides being a black Spidey? I don't see what makes him unique, or sets him apart in a note-worthy way from Peter Parker. When I look at Terry McGinnis, for example, I can see that they were going for a younger, less broody Batman with futuristic tech. But Miles just feels tokenized from top to bottom. Similar age, personality, etc. as regular Spider-Man, but plot twist: he's black.

Am I missing something?

plot twist: he's puerto rican as much as he is black.

superman 2000 posted...

That's nice and all, but it's riding the coattails of Spider-Man instead of having its own identity, so it still feels lazy and unimaginative. Why not just make Miles Morales a unique/original hero? You can still accomplish everything you just said, but with the added bonus of being completely fresh.

This seems more a complaint about mantle-passing in super hero franchises than anything specific about miles (who isn't that similar to peter imo, all that they really share is being an altruistic nice guy). I see nothing wrong with the passing of a mantle onto a protg, it makes more sense than not having a character change for 80 years.

superman 2000 posted...

Heroes having similar personalities can be found across the board, but when one of those heroes is basically just a spin-off of the original with the only notable catch being that they fill a token role, then it kinda just feels like a corporate cash grab. Again, using Terry McGinnis as an example, he wasn't just Batman with a new face; he was a kid (which was novel since Batman's always been well into his adulthood) with a much less cynical outlook on life, and the adventures took place in a more technologically advanced era. It played with the idea of "What will become of Batman when Bruce is too old? Who will protect Gotham then?" That made it feel fresh in a way that actually requires some thought and creative effort.

It being across the board would be a more general critique on the comics industry as a whole, no? And for the record, I haven't kept up much with comics in a long, long time, but movie Morales strikes a very different tone from any given Parker/Spider-Man that I know of.

Solid_Seb posted...

This seems more a complaint about mantle-passing in super hero franchises than anything specific about miles (who isn't that similar to peter imo, all that they really share is being an altruistic nice guy). I see nothing wrong with the passing of a mantle onto a protg, it makes more sense than not having a character change for 80 years.

Both Peter and Miles start off as brilliant but somewhat socially awkward teenagers who become superheroes of the cheeky and wisecracking variety. I don't mind stories that entertain the idea of someone else taking up the mantle of Spider-Man, but if they're just gonna be "Peter Parker but darker", where's the novelty? If the novelty IS the fact that Miles is black, then to me, that just feels kind of lazy and unimaginative. I'd rather Miles's Spidey be meaningfully distinct from Peter's, as opposed to just feeling like a knockoff.

Well in his first comic appearance, he (warning spoilers) takes over the role after Peter is killed. At first he wears Peter's suit, but people feel it's in bad taste since Spider-Man just died, so he changes the look of the suit. So he basically becomes the successor to Spider-Man. New suit, younger, and new powers.

Miles for the most part has the same abilities as Peter though. And that's because a scientist stole Peter's blood in an attempt to recreate the formula that created Spider-Man. And Miles' uncle, stole that formula and unknowingly brought one of the Spiders home with him, and that spider bites Miles.

And for the record, Miles Morales is half Black, half Puerto Rican.

you guys know that puerto rican is a nationality not a race right

SSJGrimReaper posted...

you guys know that puerto rican is a nationality not a race right

Tell that to Puerto Rico, you'll get hit with a china.

superman 2000 posted...

I disagree. I feel it's lazy and unimaginative.

Nah, I don't think you think that. I think you're being prejudiced.

My only issue with Miles is that he makes Peter pointless. He has better powers. The only thing Peter has over him is he's got better Spidey Sense. Whenever they decide to age up Miles he's gonna outclass Peter in every other category because he just has stronger powers. It's really stupid to me.

archedsoul posted...

He's from Brooklyn. Peter is from Queens.

There's a reason Brooklyn is really called Kings County.

Brooooklyn!

superman 2000 posted...

Both Peter and Miles start off as brilliant but somewhat socially awkward teenagers who become superheroes of the cheeky and wisecracking variety. I don't mind stories that entertain the idea of someone else taking up the mantle of Spider-Man, but if they're just gonna be "Peter Parker but darker", where's the novelty? If the novelty IS the fact that Miles is black, then to me, that just feels kind of lazy and unimaginative. I'd rather Miles's Spidey be meaningfully distinct from Peter's, as opposed to just feeling like a knockoff.

Well I haven't read into the comics at all, so you might have more knowledge of their personalities than I do. What I can say is that in the spiderverse movie miles and peter don't seem similar personality wise at all (exception the aforementioned altruistic nice-guy nature, a trait shared by many super heroes). Peter is the wise-cracking quip-throwing cocky one, while Miles is an emotionally inclined adolescent looking for guidance. It was the same for the Miles Morales spider man game.

As for the nerdy teenager aspect, I see having a mind for science as a necessary part of being spider man, since he manufactures his own webs and tech. Having a jock type or some other gimmick wouldn't make much sense.