Miles Morales is Ultimate Spider-Man

Marvel, via IGN

Marvel recently announced that the new Ultimate Spider-Man would be a new character, named Miles Morales.  As any person who has been around comics longer than a day knows, many people weren't to happy with this decision.  These people were the minority, but they were the most vocal part of the community.  A lot of racism came out of the woodwork, but there also came something else.  Some logical arguments about race in comic books.


I'll start by just saying I like this move.  I like the idea of Spider-Man being an ideal that anyone can live up too, and another character can put on the uniform and live up to "with great power comes great responsibilities."  It makes the uniform a higher being.  Many will always think of Spider-Man and Peter Parker as the same person (I'm one of them), but sometimes someone else needs to step in to those famous red and blue tights.  The move of making Miles, a half-black and half-latino character, shows that ANY person can live up to the ideals that make Spider-Man who he is.  It makes him more relatable.  This could only happen in the Ultimate Universe, so why not give it a shot?

Now, Marvel is a business, so they want money.  This will no doubt widen the fan base of the character and make more people want to buy the comic every month.  Loyal fans (I'm one of them), will keep reading the book and have faith that Brian Michael Bendis, writer since issue #1 back in 2000, knows what he is doing.  I think the problem that a lot of people had with the announcement was the way Marvel worded it.  After reading the press release a few times, it seems like Marvel placed to much emphasis on the fact that Miles is black and latino.  If they had instead focused on a new character taking the reins as Spider-Man, there wouldn't have been as much backlash.  Yes, there still would have been some assholes spouting racism, but not the same degree.  I'm sure that Bendis didn't pick Miles for the fact that he was black and latino, but it just showed a different angle of Spider-Man and how the character really is an everyman.

IGN wrote an article on the topic of Spider-Man and racism, and one user brought up a really good point.  The IGN user's name is RK3504.  Here is the quote:


"Hi, I'm a black guy. This is stupid. Calling attention to something does not make it normal. The fact that they feel the need to diversify comics by making established characters minorities is stupid. And in case you haven't noticed, we minorities really, REALLY hate that.

Spidey's my favorite comic character - actually, tied with T'Challa. You pull a black/Hispanic guy out of nowhere, spend no time building him up or anything for a stupid purpose like this one? Try making someone new, and let the fact that he's black just flow with it.

Black Panther's from Africa. But that isn't even the main part of the character that people like. He's friggin' awesome - Marvel's Batman, in a way. Now these comic writers are trying to normalize minorities not because of a good character but because, hey, minority.

For the record, I told another friend (also black) about this (he's not really a comics fan), and, while he wasn't as hung up on the racial thing as I am, his problem was that Peter Parker is supposed to be Spider-Man. So let me put it this way - this will get hell from old readers, new readers, pedestrians, AND the minorities that they're trying to represent. I hope it fails TERRIBLY.

Goodness - don't remember Miguel O'Hara getting any of this grief. Perhaps it has to do with the message of the character. One day, Marvel will learn. I hope."

The guy brings up a lot of good points.  I do agree that if Marvel wants to add more heroes of color, they should make new characters, not give them established roles.  Marvel is always introducing new characters one way or another, so it isn't impossible for them to bring in one that just so happens to be a person of color.  Another good point is not drawing attention to it.  Did Marvel go absolutely nuts when Doctor Voodoo was named Sorcerer Supreme?  No.  They just kept telling the story.  Yeah they gave the guy his own ongoing, but still didn't draw attention to it.

If Marvel is going to try something like this in the future, they need to tone down the publicity a little bit.  Don't go telling everyone that you have a new character that is black or any race that isn't white.  Hopefully by the time that Miles' origin story is described and how he relates to Peter Parker is revealed, we will love him.  Hey, a lot of people did it with Ben Reilly.