Spider-Man: Miles Morales
When Miles Morales came on the scene in 2011, a new generation of comic writers, artists, and editors were thinking about how to keep comics reflective of the “world outside [your] window,” attracting new audiences while maintaining old ones. Readers were demanding stories more reflective of a changing world, and now artists and writers with more expansive worldviews were in positions to tell them. Although Miles wasn’t the first Black or Latine character in the Marvel Universe, nor the first to embody a legacy character, he was new—a character of his time with the potential to connect with teens accustomed to a multicultural America.
So, Miles Morales exists not just in the Marvel Universe, but in this one, too. In Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ytasha L. Womack examines Miles in the context of Ananse and Trayvon Martin, Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright, Sun Ra and Kendrick Lamar. Miles is a symbol of the dynamism of Afro-Latine culture. She explores the core themes in the first 15 issues of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man and how they detail the evolution of one of the most compelling arachnid lore of the new age, the pressures of legacy, and the power of shapeshifting.
Womack examines the cultural and historical significance of Miles’s new powers, particularly in visibility. While it’s an asset for a vulnerable teen whose physical strength is underestimated, and useful for a new superhero unknown to police and the citizenry, Womack cites culture critic Seve Chambers’ observation that in Black and Brown communities, invisibility is about the “erasure of identity and individuality.”
At 13, Miles symbolizes a crossroads that many teenagers face. They seek to understand where their family values fit in a complex world of adult power struggles. It’s incredibly transforming, Womack writes, to watch a teen come into his power just as his world and timeline go into a catastrophic flux.
Miles is the rare superhero with a father, Jefferson—a good man and police officer with a strong moral code, who also hates mutants. His presence is a strong influence on Miles’s personal ethics and his behavior as Spider-Man, even as Jefferson is a threat to his secret identity.
“Miles exists as a symbol of hope and inspiration,” Womack writes. “We can be our own hero, whether a spider strikes or not. Miles Morales is a light. His shape-shifting presence lives eternal.”
Ytasha L. Womack is a writer, cultural critic, and filmmaker recognized for her work in Afrofuturism, race, and speculative fiction. She is the author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi & Fantasy Culture (2013), Black Panther: A Cultural Exploration (2023), and The Afrofuturist Evolution: Creative Paths.
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