Introduction
We were all amazed by the news that we would be getting our friendly-neighborhood Wall crawler his own film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe alonside all our favourite heroes (while also pushing 4 films out of their release dates: seriously, 2018 now for Black Panther? ugh). Now with discussion going back and forth on how it should be approached, with rumours from Iron man to Civil War to appearing in Doctor Strannge, some have also been arguing for Miles Morales, a personal fan favourite and a series i've been reading since 2013 when I picked up the firtst five issues in paperback from a book fair. From the first issue with Miles and his Uncle and Father, to his charming interaction with Ganke, to the lottery scene, I was into it, and with the scenes taking place during Peter's Death, I started to fall in love and craved more. I back tracked to earlier Peter Parker issues and started a subscription for Miles' Monthly series. Ive followed him through evert personal experience and boring tie in *cough United we Fall cough*. Now, with that said:
Miles isn't ready for the big screen
Why, you may ask, he isn't ready? As a fan, shouldn't I be arguing for him to get his own film, break the norm?
At least not immediantly. Let us review, shall we?
Arguments against Miles
Miles has been in print for a whopping 4 years, with a total of three great arcs, the rest either being focus on his father, focus on Peter, poorly written, or just nothing special. His best stuff has come through the stuff right before United we stand with his uncle, the last moments of both Catyclysm and Venom War, and all of No More (if you read miles and havent checked that out,
please do). His villains are mostly lackluster, exceptions being The Prowler, Mysterio, and Maximus Gargan, The Scorpion and new Kingpin of crime.
And while some argue that those moments would make a great movie, you're absoluetly right. With some re-writing and re structuring, these moment could make a fantastically paced, actioned, dramatic and character driven film that would make Marc Webb look like an 11 year old trying to direct adapt a Ultimate comic. Sorry buddy.
But let's be honest here, is there any chance Marvel would stop at just one Spider-Man movie with a newly established statis quo for the Web Slinger? if you said yes, you don't know how business works
But wait, what about Miles just taking over some of Peter's Storylines! they can be adapted for him if Peter dies in the MCU, and you have more possibilities for more films!
Another point, I hope atleast someone thought of or this is just plain awkward. The only problem is that outside a handful of strories specific to Peter, IE Clone Saga, Grim Hunt, Spider-Man Blue, a lot of Spider-Man's stories have been told already. Goblin, Gwen Stacey's death, No more (twice), Venom, Lizard. And the problem is that these villains have no real emotional or significance to Spider-Man other than the sinister six and for jokes (well, and being arounf for 50 years). No one will say Alex O'Hirn is a deep character. People laugh at the Shocker. They're great secondary villains, but as main baddies, they're C list. Miles can easily fight these villains and have it be entertaining, but without countless rewritig and backstory and chemistry and plot, these villains just aren't that interesting.
Conclusion
Let me rephrase: Miles is great. He's a phenominal leap for comics and minorities in general. You have a comic with a half black, half hispanic Kid being Spider-Man. The problem doesn't lie in wether he should replace Peter, it lays in a lack of devolpment for such a relativley young character. in another hald decade, Miles can very well be seen as a fully fledged character, but as of right now, he's still growing and is constantly being showered with crossovers that add nothing to his story. Same reason I don't want a Khamala Khan as Ms. Marvel in film: because she's been around for less then 2 years. That doesn't mean I dont want her in general, it just means I want them to grow before being thrown in a film with virtually no devolpment. Miles' time will come eventually, just not in the next year.
-Stay Spectacular my friends,
WO