While Tom Holland was celebrated for his performance as Peter Parker in Captain America: Civil War, a not insignificant portion of Marvel fans were bummed that half-black, half-Latino Miles Morales of Ultimate Spider-Man didn’t swing on the big screen. In the trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming, fans are still feeling that way, because Homecoming is lifting quite a lot from Miles’s stories.
In the trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker (Holland) juggles growing up, hormones, and homework while fighting crime as Spider-Man. Though his mentorship under Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and his battle with Vulture (Michael Keaton) are hallmarks of Peter from his classic The Amazing Spider-Man comics, a lot of Peter’s personal life feels like Miles Morales was swapped out.
Created by Ultimate Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis in 2011, Miles assumed the Spider-Man mantle after Peter’s death in the parallel Ultimate universe. His best friend is Ganke Lee, an enthusiastic Asian-American teen whom Miles confides in. (Jacob Batalon’s Ganke Lee-inspired character in Homecoming is named Ned Leeds, who is Hobgoblin in the comics.) Miles also dates Katie Bishop, who sorta-not-really-but-kinda resembles Zendaya’s Michelle in Homecoming.
While there’s plenty of Parker signatures in Homecoming, such as Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and love interest Liz Allan (Laura Harrier), fans have taken to Twitter to express a strong Miles Morales vibe in Homecoming, lamenting that one of Marvel’s popular characters of color still doesn’t have a movie.
Many aren’t convinced and believe Homecoming could have just been a Miles Morales movie.
Peter and Miles share different mythologies, and while Homecoming is certainly borrowing a lot of Peter Parker’s, there’s more than enough Miles Morales within Homecoming.
It’s sparked a minor debate, even bringing up whitewashing, which has been a hot button topic in Hollywood in 2016. Marvel in particular has faced criticism for whitewashing characters like the Ancient One in this year’s Doctor Strange.
Some are even saying Homecoming “[s]hould’ve just went with Miles” in the first place.
Ganke Lee, who is a popular character from the Miles Morales mythos, is one of the cornerstones for the argument that Spider-Man: Homecoming should have been a Peter Parker movie, even if he’s been renamed Ned Leeds.
While some fans are deflated Homecoming is not a Miles Morales movie, a few still praise the film’s diversity in its supporting characters.
It’s clear that Spider-Man: Homecoming has played Lego with the Spider-Man mythos, swapping in and altering personalities, but few can deny that Spidey’s first MCU solo film hasn’t ignored the source material in the slightest.
Compare below:
Miles, Ganke, and Katie in 'Ultimate Spider-Man'
Spider-Man: Homecoming will be released July 7, 2017.
