Character profile

Miles Morales

Miles Gonzalo Morales

Anyone can wear the mask. He proved it and then made it his.

HeroesSpider-Verse
Miles Morales

Biography

Miles Morales was a thirteen-year-old Brooklyn kid who had just won a charter-school lottery when a stolen Oscorp spider bit him. He hid the powers, told nobody, and only put on a mask after the Ultimate universe's Peter Parker died in front of him — because he had the ability to help and had chosen not to. Guilt is the standard Spider-Man engine, but Bendis gave Miles a specific version of it: not 'I let it happen' but 'I could have been there'.

The powers overlap with Peter's and then diverge in ways that make him a different fighter. Miles turns invisible, which suits a kid who spent his first year terrified of being seen, and delivers a venom blast — a bioelectric sting that ends fights fast and which he has never fully controlled. He is faster to hide and quicker to end things than Peter, and he is a genuinely better student.

Marvel escalated him properly rather than parking him as a legacy footnote. Miles crossed over to meet the mainstream Peter in Spider-Men, survived Secret Wars, moved permanently into the main Marvel Universe alongside his mother and family, co-founded the Champions, and became an Avenger. Then Into the Spider-Verse turned him into the most beloved animated superhero of his generation and won an Oscar doing it. Fifteen years after his debut, Miles is not the other Spider-Man. He is one of the two.

Vital statistics

Real name
Miles Gonzalo Morales
Also known as
Spider-Man, The Ultimate Spider-Man, Kid Arachnid
Species
Human mutate
Place of origin
Brooklyn, New York City
First appearance
Ultimate Fallout #4 (August 2011)
Created by
Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli
Affiliations
Champions, Avengers, Ultimates, Spider-Army

Power grid

Intelligence4
Strength4
Speed3
Durability3
Energy3
Fighting3

Rated 1–7 on the classic Marvel power-grid scale.

Powers

  • Superhuman Strength and Agility

    The OZ-derived spider bite grants him strength, reflexes and balance well past human limits.

  • Venom Blast

    A bioelectric discharge through touch that can knock out a Rhino-class opponent in one hit.

  • Camouflage

    Miles turns himself and his costume near-invisible, a power Peter Parker has never had.

  • Wall-Crawling

    He adheres to any surface, with the same clinging ability as every spider-totem.

  • Spider-Sense

    A precognitive danger warning, initially far less reliable than Peter's and sharpened by experience.

  • Web-Shooters

    Mechanical shooters based on Peter's designs, later upgraded with Parker Industries tech.

  • Accelerated Healing

    He recovers from injuries at several times the human rate.

Abilities

  • Gifted student with strong aptitude in science and art
  • Fluent in Spanish, and increasingly comfortable code-switching between his worlds
  • Fast learner in hand-to-hand combat, trained partly by Peter Parker and the Champions
  • Natural team leader despite constant self-doubt

Weaknesses

  • Venom blast drains him and takes time to recharge
  • Inexperience relative to older heroes
  • Divides his focus between school, family and heroics
  • His father's police background and his uncle's criminal one keep pulling him in opposite directions

Comics history

Miles debuted in Ultimate Fallout #4 (2011) after the death of the Ultimate universe's Peter Parker, then headlined Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man. The announcement generated a national news cycle and, inevitably, a backlash Bendis has spoken about at length.

Spider-Men (2012) brought him face to face with the mainstream Peter Parker, and Secret Wars (2015) folded him and his family into the main Marvel Universe permanently. He co-founded the Champions with Kamala Khan in 2016 and joined the Avengers under Jason Aaron.

Saladin Ahmed's Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2018-2022) gave him his strongest solo run, introducing his sister Billie and the clone Selim, and Cody Ziglar's Spider-Man run continued the ascent. He has also anchored the Spider-Verse and Ultimate Invasion-adjacent titles as one of Marvel's most reliably bankable leads.

On screen

Allies

  • Peter Parker
  • Ganke Lee
  • Gwen Stacy
  • Kamala Khan
  • Rio Morales

Enemies

  • Prowler
  • Kingpin
  • Green Goblin
  • Rabble
  • Ultimatum

Weapons & equipment

  • Web-shooters
  • Venom blast
  • Black-and-red Spider-Man suit
  • Spider-Tracers

Trivia

  • Sara Pichelli designed the black-and-red costume, and Marvel has kept it essentially unchanged for fifteen years — rare for any character.
  • Miles was co-created after Bendis saw Donald Glover in Spider-Man pyjamas on Community, itself a nod to Glover's campaign to audition for the role.
  • Donald Glover eventually played Aaron Davis, the Prowler, in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and voiced an alternate Prowler in the animated films.
  • His uncle Aaron Davis is the Prowler, and the conflict between his police-officer father and criminal uncle is the spine of his origin.
  • Into the Spider-Verse won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2019, the first non-Disney/Pixar winner in five years.
  • The venom blast is not related to the Venom symbiote at all — it is a bioelectric power derived from the modified spider that bit him.
  • Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020) on PlayStation sold over ten million copies and made him a household name in gaming.

Famous quotes

I'm Spider-Man. I mean — I'm the other Spider-Man.
Anyone can wear the mask. You can wear the mask.
When will I know I'm ready? You won't. It's a leap of faith.
That's all it is, Miles. A leap of faith.

Timeline

  • 2011

    Debuts in Ultimate Fallout #4 after the Ultimate Peter Parker's death.

  • 2012

    Meets the mainstream Peter Parker in Spider-Men.

  • 2015

    Secret Wars relocates him and his family to the main Marvel Universe.

  • 2016

    Co-founds the Champions with Kamala Khan.

  • 2018

    Into the Spider-Verse premieres; Saladin Ahmed's solo run begins.

  • 2019

    Into the Spider-Verse wins the Best Animated Feature Oscar.

  • 2023

    Across the Spider-Verse makes him the centre of a multiversal war.

Gallery

Miles Morales
Spider-Man
Spider-Gwen poster art
Venom poster art
Kingpin poster art
Spider-Man 2099

Poster art is generated from each character’s signature palette. Drop official art into assets/images/ and set the img field to swap it in.

Related characters

Venom poster art

Venom

Edward Charles Allan Brock

Latest on Miles Morales

Frequently asked

How is Miles Morales different from Peter Parker?
Beyond the obvious background differences, Miles has two powers Peter does not: invisibility and the venom blast, a bioelectric sting that ends fights outright. Temperamentally he is more cautious and more supported — he has a living family and friends who know his secret, which changes every story he is in.
What is Miles Morales's venom blast?
A bioelectric discharge released through touch, produced by the genetically modified spider that bit him. It has nothing to do with the Venom symbiote. It is powerful enough to drop heavyweight opponents but drains him and needs time to recharge.
Is Miles Morales in the MCU?
Not yet. He is confirmed in the animated Spider-Verse universe, voiced by Shameik Moore, and has appeared in games and cartoons, but Marvel Studios has not introduced a live-action Miles. Aaron Davis, his uncle, has appeared in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Did Miles replace Spider-Man?
In the Ultimate universe, yes — he took over after that reality's Peter Parker died. In the main Marvel Universe both operate simultaneously, and the working relationship between them is one of the better mentor dynamics Marvel has going.
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