For any Spider-Man purists still skeptical about placing Miles Morales in the same league as Peter Parker, some stunning artwork perfectly highlights the former’s position within the Spider-Verse.
Miles Morales first made his debut in the comics back in 2011 and the 13-year-old would momentarily be dubbed the new Spider-Man of the Ultimate universe following the death of Peter Parker. This almost immediately inspired controversy from audiences who struggled to accept anyone other than Peter Parker carrying the Spider-Man mantle. A decade later, Morales has amassed a heap of fan support and remains beloved, but there remains a sub-section of audiences still skeptical that anyone other than Peter Parker can or should be Spider-Man. Even for those who do accept Miles Morales as a Spider-Man, it’s hard for some audiences to accept Miles Morales as the Spider-Man, specifically in terms of Miles Morales becoming Marvel’s main continuity Spider-Man, even though this is something Marvel has already established recently memory.
Contrarians may need to reconsider their stance after seeing Tom Reilly’s depiction of the Spider-Man lineage in all of its glory. Reilly, who has previously done work for the likes of Marvel and Dark Horse, posted some artwork on his Twitter page showcasing swinging animations for several versions of Spider-Man, including Miles Morales. This series of images (some of which can be seen below) emphasize exactly how Miles Morales has cemented himself so strongly as a modern Spider-Man and why it’s about time that everyone accepts this.
To some extent, it’s understandable why Miles remains such a divisive character for hardcore readers of Spider-Man. After believing for many decades that Peter Parker was the only man who could be Spider-Man, it’s hard to convince audiences otherwise decades later. Even DC Comics have found themselves in a similar boat as they gave the mantle of Batman to Luke Fox instead of Bruce Wayne, and Jon Kent take over as Superman. In the latter case, Jon Kent is going through his own controversies, especially after officially being positioned as the main Superman after the original’s death alongside the Justice League. Placing anyone else, no matter who they are or what they look like, in the shoes of an iconic character with nearly a century’s worth of history is a hard sell for any hardcore enthusiast.
That same familiarity is what befell Miles Morales upon his inception and to this day, that same familiarity remains in the minds of certain readers. However, the beauty of Tom Reilly’s glimpse into the Spider-Verse is what highlights the beauty of the Spider-Man mask and the evolution of its mythos: anyone can be Spider-Man. Though Marvel Comics ignores it, this was the primary lesson of Into the Spider-Verse. Reilly highlights a bevy of different Spider-Men. Reilly impressively illustrates Miles Morales and Peter Parker swinging in perfect synchronicity with the likes of Mayday Parker, Kaine Parker, Ben Reilly, Peter Ross, Otto Octavius, and even Spider-Ham himself, Peter Porker.
The beauty here is that none of them are positioned as lesser than another, but instead simply another extension of Spider-Man. Peter Parker is Spider-Man, but so is Miles Morales, so is Ben Reilly, and so on, and so forth. Spider-Man is less about who dons the mask and more about what they do with it. In that aspect, Miles Morales in the past decade has more than done respect by the Spider-Man name as much as Tom Reilly has done respect by the Spider-Family as a whole with these drawings.
