This is a question many fans have been asking. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has had six appearances in the MCU starting with Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. He has two more rumored but almost certain appearances in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars with the added potential of another trilogy of Spider-Man movies. So, with Miles Morales continuously growing in popularity, where will he fit in?
I think the introduction of Miles partially depends on when Tom Holland decides he no longer wants to play Spider-Man which could be quite a while. Tom Holland has said numerous times that he wants to play Spider-Man essentially indefinitely, but that he would only do so if the scripts and stories did the character justice. Holland is only 28 years old, meaning he has multiple decades that he could potentially continue to play the character for. He’s done a fine job of playing characters outside of and very different from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Every year a movie has come out that he has been Spider-Man in, he has also starred in at least two other films with the exception of when Infinity War and Endgame were filmed and released back to back. If Holland is going to continue to play the webslinger for the foreseeable future, when will he and Miles meet?
In the first appearance of Miles Morales, he debuted as part of the Ultimate Marvel Universe on Earth 1610. After the death of that world’s Peter Parker and Spider-Man, he was bitten by a radioactive spider created by Oscorp scientists to recreate the abilities of Spider-Man. This is extremely similar to his origin in the movie Into the Spider-Verse, so if you’ve seen this movie, you should be pretty familiar with his origin.
As the MCU is currently undergoing its Multiverse Saga, there is a perfect opportunity to introduce Miles in the form of Avengers: Secret Wars. In fact, I think it’s more likely that Avengers: Doomsday will truly serve as a part one to Secret Wars. It is entirely possible that the ultimate universe will be introduced in Doomsday or even sooner in Fantastic Four: First Steps. It has been confirmed that First Steps takes place in a separate universe from the main MCU timeline. It’s possible that their universe could be the Ultimate Universe in which Miles Morales already exists and could even be operating as Spider-Man. In the Secret Wars comic, the Ultimate Universe and Earth 616 merge. If this happens in the movies, a version of Miles Morales from the Ultimate Universe could be pushed into 616 and become the main version of Miles Morales we will see moving forward.
However, many fans are becoming tired with the multiverse as a storytelling tool. Personally, I think there’s been some hits and misses, but it seems like the multiverse is not holding the interest of audiences as well as Marvel and Disney hoped it would. Spider-Man: No Way Home and Deadpool and Wolverine obviously did great financially and resonated with fans, but I imagine Disney is going to want to downplay the multiverse until it is necessary in the next two Avengers movies.
Taking that into consideration, Marvel may take the simplest route and use the breadcrumb trail already laid for the inclusion of Miles Morales. In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Aaron Davis is introduced and played by Donald Glover. He even name drops Miles, meaning Miles Morales already exists on Earth 616. We also saw him suited up as Prowler in Across the Spider-Verse. We only get a very brief look at his suit, but I would love to see him in action in a Spier-Man movie, particularly one where he has to go up against Peter and Miles. Technically, it isn’t even necessary to dive into any multiverse shenanigans for Miles to be introduced as a Spider-Man. His origin story from the Ultimate Universe could be played out in almost the exact same way in the universe we’re already familiar with in the MCU. There’s already a great blueprint for this in the form of Marvel’s Spider-Man games for the PlayStation.
Regardless of how Miles is introduced as a Spider-Man, I think many fans would love to see Tom Holland’s Peter Parker grow as a person, then become a mentor to a new Spider-Man very similar to what happens in the games. Now that Peter is completely alone in the movies, watching him learn how to deal with that loneliness, learn from it, and grow from it, only to end up in the perfect spot to become a mentor to the next generation of heroes just like Tony Stark was to him would be a phenomenal character arc. Kevin Feige, feel free to use that idea in however many movies you’d like.
How do you think Miles will be introduced? Let me know in the comments!