When the bite of a genetically engineered spider gave thirteen-year old Miles Morales similar powers to Spider-Man, all he wanted to do was keep his head down and get through school. But when Peter Parker was killed in front of him, Miles stepped up, because he knew the world needed a Spider-Man!
After enduring tragedy after tragedy, from the deaths of his mother and uncle, to the destruction of his entire universe in the Secret Wars, Miles found himself in the main Marvel universe, with new friends, new teammates, and a second chance to protect the people he loves. He’s held tight to that second chance, and hasn’t let go yet, blazing a trail through the superhero community.
He’s protected the world as an Avenger. He’s fought for change as a Champion. He’s defended the multiverse as a Web Warrior. In his neighborhood or not, one thing’s for certain: Miles Morales is the Ultimate Spider-Man!
Eager to bring more diverse superheroes into the spotlight, Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli created Miles in 2011, to astounding success. It wasn’t long before Miles took off, ultimately proving himself to be bigger than the universe he came from, when he made the leap to the 616 after 2015’s Secret Wars.
His star has only risen from there, from animated adaptions, to eventually starring in the award winning movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and the PS5 launch title, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Despite being a legacy character with huge shoes to fill, Miles Morales has more than proven his worth both in and out of universe. While he’s a very different character than any version of Peter, and leans towards the quiet side, that allows for stories with a large focus on his internal life and emotions, showing a subtle, realistic, thought process. Miles’s stories are often some of Bendis’s absolute best work, funny, thought provoking, and with consistently exemplary art teams.
Gold
Cataclysm
November 2013 – January 2014
- Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #1-3
- Brian Michael Bendis
- David Marquez
- David Marquez
- Justin Ponsor & Paul Mounts
- Cory Petit
The Plot
Galactus is here, and the world is not prepared. Miles has only been back in the webs for a few days after a year away, but as the world is crashing down around him, that’s not going to stop him from doing his best to save everyone he can.
Why We Love It
While Cataclysm itself was a mess, the three issues focusing on Miles exemplify why Ultimate Spider-Man was the heart of the Ultimate Universe, from its beginning to its end. We see Miles deal with a situation he had no way of even imagining, at an incredibly difficult time in his personal life, and putting it all aside in order to do the most good he can. After years of dramatic irony, he reveals his identity to his anti-mask dad, risking their relationship to save his life.
He spends a good chunk of the issue without his mask, more concerned with helping people than his own identity. For as much as Miles was hesitant to be Spider-Man again, he takes to it instantly, and proves that at the end of the day, he’s one of the best heroes around.
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Silver
Bendis’ Farewell to Miles
May 2018
- Spider-Man #240
- Brian Michael Bendis
- Sara Pichelli
- Sara Pichelli
- Brian Reber
- Cory Petit
The Plot
After an intense encounter with the newest incarnation of the Sinister Six, Miles finds himself in the hosptial. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, he’s visited by his friends and family, each with something to say.
Why We Love It
Bendis’s final issue, this story was the culmination of Miles’s entire 7 year history up to that point. While it was by no means the end of the character, it was undeniably the end of an era, and a tight, emotionally powerful issue that played to the emotional core of the character.
It was a fitting end to Bendis’s time with Miles, and, honestly, his 18 years with Spider-Man as a whole.
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Spider-Man No More
May 2013
- Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #23
- Brian Michael Bendis
- David Marquez
- David Marquez
- Justin Ponsor
- Cory Petit
The Plot
After the death of his mother, Miles follows in the grand Spider-Man tradition of hanging up his webs for an issue. The difference is, this issue picks up a full year after he’s made that choice. But while Miles just wants to keep his head down and spend time with his dad, the only family he has left, everyone else in his life wants him back in the mask!
Why We Love It
While this is the start of an arc that’s very good in and of itself, this single issue stands out as an excellent lens into Miles as a character. When he started out, he was younger than most incarnations of Spider-Man, and this really shows exactly what sort of effect that would have on someone. Never mind the general background noise of awful things constantly going on in the Ultimate universe, this is a kid who’s seen his hero die in front of him, had an awful battle that resulted in the death of his supervillain uncle, and just watched his mom be killed.
Miles has been through a lot, in a short time, and when he steps away from the role of Spider-Man, it feels both earned, and true to the character. This issue also delves into his relationship with his father, and the effect everything has had on both of them. While it won’t be long before he’s back in the mask, it’s hard to read this issue and not wish he didn’t have to.
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The Ultimate Spider-Man
May – November 2014
- Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man #1-7
- Brian Michael Bendis
- David Marquez
- David Marquez
- Justin Ponsor
- Cory Petit
The Plot
It’s been a week since Galactus was defeated, and the world was saved. But when Miles revealed his identity to his father, Jefferson up and left, leaving him alone.
As if that’s not bad enough, Norman Osborn’s broken out of custody, there’s a pair of thieves running around dressed like Spider-Men, and when he swings by his apartment for clothes, he comes face to face with… Peter Parker? What?
Why We Love It
There is, quite frankly, no reason “Peter Parker is back from the dead” should work less than three years into Miles’s run, let alone end up being anywhere near as good as it is. Pete’s resurrection fits with everything the Ultimate Universe has already established, raises the interesting question as to whether Miles himself is functionally immortal, and provides a good deal of emotional catharsis.
While the torch had already been passed, this is where Miles absolutely runs with it – there’s no room for doubt that he’s worthy of the mantle. And, if that’s not enough, it also has one of the funniest two page sequences in the entire Spidey franchise, when Miles provides us with the only reasonable reaction any Spider-Man should have to the word “clone.”
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Bronze
The Prowler Saga
January – July 2012
- Ultimate Comics All-New Spider-Man #6-12
- Brian Michael Bendis
- Sara Pichelli & Chris Samnee
- Sara Pichelli & Chris Samnee
- Brian Reber
- Cory Petit
The Plot
Miles is pretty new to the superhero thing, but even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be prepared for the revelation that his shifty Uncle Aaron is actually the Prowler, or that he’s fully aware of his nephew’s secret identity.
Why We Love It
Miles’s relationship with his uncle is easily one of the most fascinating aspects of the character, and it makes this story shine. It does a brilliant job of showing who Miles is, and what’s important to him, and does the same with his family.
While Aaron’s death will ultimately be undone when Miles is transplanted in the 616 (only to happen again in 2020), here it’s a tense, powerful moment, and serves to set Miles on the path to the hero he will eventually become.
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Generations
September 2017
- Generations: The Spiders #1
- Brian Michael Bendis
- Ramón Pérez
- Ramón Pérez
- Msassyk
- Cory Petit
The Plot
Peter Parker has just had the worst day of his life – so far. Almost killed his aunt, lifted a building, posed in an iconic cover, all that jazz.
What he absolutely does not need to deal with is another Spider-Man, who says he’s from the future!
Why We Love It
Due to Cosmic Cube shenanigans, Miles finds himself in the past, and meets Peter Parker directly after the events of Amazing Spider-Man #31-33, the seminal story arc “If This Be My Destiny.” While trying to figure out exactly why he’s there, Miles gets the chance to learn exactly what made the 616 Peter so amazing.
Like many of Miles’s best stories, this is largely a low-key, emotional issue, and goes a long way towards explaining why he has so much respect for Peter’s legacy in the mainline universe. Pérez’s art is outstanding, effortlessly evoking the feeling of reading the older comics, while Msassyk’s modern coloring sensibilities do an amazing job of making the issue blend the past and the present.
While this isn’t the flashiest story plot wise, it all comes together to be damn good.
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All-New Ultimate Spider-Man!
September – December 2011
- Ultimate Comics All-New Spider-Man #1-5
- Brian Michael Bendis
- Sara Pichelli & David Messina
- Sara Pichelli & David Messina
- Justin Ponsor
- Cory Petit
Before Peter Parker was killed, Norman Osborn was desperate to recreate the specific strain of his OZ formula that created Spider-Man. Along the way, another genetically modified spider is created, and eventually stolen by Aaron Davis, the Prowler.
To Aaron’s dismay, the spider ends up biting his young nephew, Miles Morales – and we all know what happens next.
Why We Love It
As far as introductions go, this is a great one – while we got to meet Miles in Ultimate Fallout, this is his chance to shine, and he does so spectacularly. He’s a young kid with big shoes to fill, but he tries his absolute best – and from the moment we see him struggling with the morality of getting into a school through a lottery system, it’s easy to tell that Miles is a kid who strives to do what’s right. We’re introduced to his friends and family, the world around him, and exactly what it means to take over the mantle of the world’s greatest superhero.
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Civil War II
July – December 2016
- Spider-Man #6-10
- Brian Michael Bendis
- Nico Leon
- Nico Leon
- Marte Gracia & Rachelle Rosenberg
- Cory Petit
The Plot
Now that he’s an Avenger on Earth-616, Miles’s life has gotten just a little bit more weird. But there’s weird, and then there’s being dragged into the middle of an upcoming brawl between superheroes!
While Tony Stark and Carol Danvers debate the ethics of acting on the visions of an Inhuman who might be able to tell the future, Miles grapples with his own thoughts on the matter, as well as his own morality.
Why We Love It
While the actual Civil War II comic isn’t exactly great, Miles’s solo tie-in legitimately is. Giving us an opportunity to focus on him, and how he feels about the whole situation, not to mention his own part in it, manages to provide a lot of nuance that was missing from the event itself.
Issue #10, which focuses on Miles retelling the final issues of Civil War, is a hell of a comic, playing into his doubts about what his family’s history means for him. Even removed from the context of the event, these issues hold up, and are absolutely essential reading.
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Spider-Men
June – September 2012
- Spider-Men #1-5
- Brian Michael Bendis
- Sara Pichelli
- Sara Pichelli
- Justin Ponsor
- Cory Petit
The Plot
Thanks to a conflict with Mysterio, the Peter Parker of Earth-616 finds himself transported to Earth-1610. Who’s this kid in the black and red webs, why is everyone telling him his costume is in bad taste, and what is it going to take for him to get home?
Why We Love It
In 2005, the official stance was that the moment the mainstream and Ultimate Marvel universes crossed over, it would mean that Marvel “had officially run out of ideas.” Barring some technicalities with the Marvel Zombies line, for the most part that wall stayed intact.
This was the book that broke that rule, bringing the mainstream Pete into the Ultimate universe, and… weirdly enough, it was good! While Peter was the main POV character, the mini-series mostly served to provide closure for the supporting cast of his Ultimate self, and gave Miles the opportunity to work with a version of the Spider-Man that he was trying his best to be.
It was a touching story, and showed that the House of Ideas wasn’t quite as creatively bankrupt as it was worried it might be.
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Corey Smith
Corey Smith is probably tired right now. He’s definitely trying not to think about everything he has to write! When he’s not staring at a blank word document, odds are he’s tweeting, playing Pokémon, or wondering how he ended up with such a smart-ass kid.
