Warning! Contains spoilers for Miles Morales: Spider-Man #39
In the newest issue of Miles Morales: Spider-Man, Marvel twists a central theme from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse in the cruelest way. While Into the Spider-Verse insists that “anyone can wear the mask” of Spider-Man, Miles’ current foe shows him the possible perversion of this uplifting message.
When Miles and his friendly clone Shift learn that Aaron Davis (Miles’ uncle, also known as the Prowler) is possibly alive and stuck in an alternate reality, the pair set out to find him somewhere in the multiverse. On their journey, they end up in a reality where Brooklyn has been taken over by Selim, another clone of Miles who acts as an enemy rather than a friend. Though the Selim of Miles’ dimension died after trying to prove himself the superior Spider-Man, this reality’s Selim has established himself as an evil emperor. Miles and Shift team up with the new universe’s version of Ganke, Miles’ best friend back home and an older resistance general in Selim’s world. In the resistance, they also meet an adult freedom fighter version of Miles’s baby sister, Billie, who Ganke raised after Selim killed Miles and hunted the rest of the Morales family.
In Miles Morales: Spider-Man #39, writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Alberto Foche put a despicable twist on the concept of anyone being able to take the Spider-Man identity. As Miles and Ganke discuss their next move, Ganke tells Miles that he never revealed Billie’s true family to her. Since she grew up under Selim’s rule, Ganke says Billie grew to despise Miles’ Spider-Man symbol and everything it stands for. “Thing is, all the evil crap Selim did… he did it under that spider symbol,” Ganke says. “Anyone can wear it, right?”
This dialogue exchange is clearly riffing on the Into the Spider-Verse’s thematic use of Spider-Man iconography. In the film, Miles learns through the other heroes of the Spider-Verse that the Spider-Man mask does not belong to just one individual. It’s a lesson that helps Miles to grow into his own heroism, showing him that he has just as much right to be the superhero as the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker. Ganke’s line from Miles Morales: Spider-Man #39, however, reveals a sinister spin to anyone being able to take up the mantle. While this idea is presented in the movie as a celebration of diversity and individuality, Selim abuses this concept, using the Spider-Man mask instead for villainy and personal gain. In Selim’s reality, even Miles and Shift seem guilty by association just for wearing their own costumes. It’s a strong and cruel narrative twist that reflects the real-life perversion of symbols of pride into symbols of hate by guilty parties.
By making a villain the dominant Spider-Man of one reality, Saladin Ahmed and Alberto Foche show the possible distortion of one of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s greatest lessons. Selim’s use of the Spider-Man symbol as an evil dictator puts a cruel twist on a defining line in Miles Morales’ history.
