Contains spoilers for Miles Morales: Spider-Man #42!Marvel has found a lot of humor over the years in the relationship between Spider-Man and Deadpool. Though this comedic camaraderie is usually between Deadpool and Peter Parker, Miles Morales’ Spider-Man recently called out his comic-book existence in a way even the Merc with a Mouth would enjoy.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #42 marks the end of an era for the web-slinger, concluding a nearly four-year series for the character. The grand finale sees Miles receive a reading about his future from the Book of Fate. As the fortune-telling Madame Berlotte reads Miles’ tarot cards, the young superhero begins to question the nature of fate and the universe. Looking back on all of his past adventures, Miles wonders if the universe – or, even more so, the multiverse – is too big to save, his choices and actions making no real difference. While ruminating on the concept of destiny, Miles, in a pure meta moment, decides, “Maybe there is some cosmic book out there that records all our fates.“
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #42 comes from Saladin Ahmed with art by Carmen Carnero, Paris Alleyne, Ig Guara, Paco Medina, Walden Wong, Alitha E. Martinez, Natacha Bustos and Christopher Allen. Though not a direct address to the audience, the issue allows Miles to break the fourth wall by addressing a cosmic book (or, more accurately, a comic book) that seemingly dictates the course of his life. Speaking by proxy to his writers and fans, Miles declares that whether or not such a book exists, his fate is his own. It’s a heroic, individual answer to a problem that’s plagued Deadpool over his entire comic career.
Miles Is His Own Spider-Man
While this is a more innocuous way to break the fourth wall than Wade Wilson would choose, Miles’ remarks about fate and destiny do highlight a troubling trope for Spider-Man. Miles, plagued by the same bad luck as Peter Parker, begins to question whether one hero can make a difference in the grand scheme of things, and parts of this issue allude to the fact that, in some ways, he may not be able to. Four years after Miles Morales: Spider-Man began, the titular hero faces similar problems as those he did in the beginning of the series: he can’t escape tardiness, his heroism gets in the way of his love life, and he even faces the same villain he did at the series’ start. In a very meta way, it makes sense that fate frightens Miles Morales. The life of a comic book character is filled with the constant, cyclical battles that eventually replay.
The issue, however, does show a light at the end of the tunnel for Spider-Man. Though he still faces familiar problems (even fighting the villain he fought with Captain America once already), his situation seems markedly better than it did at the beginning of Miles Morales: Spider-Man as a result of the connections he’s made along the way. Even if he can’t save the multiverse, he can still save those around him and make each day matter. At the end of the issue, Miles Morales resolves to “write the pages” of his own life, breaking the fourth wall in Deadpool fashion while still keeping Spider-Man‘s unrelenting optimism.
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #42 is available from Marvel Comics now.
