Revealed in Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Fallout Issue 4, out Wednesday, the new Spider-Man in the Ultimate universe is a half-black, half-Hispanic teen named Miles Morales. He takes over the gig held by Peter Parker, who was killed in Ultimate Spider-Man Issue 160 in June.[1]
When I got to work this morning and first read about the new Spider-Man, I didn’t really care. It was in the Ultimate Universe (which is kind if a mess right now) and not in regular continuity. Sure, it gets Marvel some press which Marvel never gets tired of. I was going to read it since I’ve read every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man to this point.
The more I thought about it, the happier it made me. I started imagining sharing this comic with my future mixed children. I smiled at the thought that they would have a superhero who might look like them and have a similar background as them. I was already daydreaming of one of my kids wanting to dress up as Spider-Man for Halloween but not Peter Parker, “the brown one”.
Even though this probably won’t last too long (NO ONE stays dead in comic books), I plan to buy every trade paperback of this comic so I can show it to them and explain that, for a brief period, a kid like you was Spider-Man.
I really wish he didn’t look like teenage Obama though. That’s just lazy.
1. Truitt, Brian (08-02-2011). “Half-black, half-Hispanic Spider-Man revealed.” USA Today.
The post is touching, but it’s a bit racist. As a mixed person myself, who meets several mixed people all the time, I don’t think it’s fair to assert that the new spider-man will “look like him.” All mixed people don’t look alike.
Edward: Obviously all mixed people don’t look alike. However, my children will look more like Miles Morales than Peter Parker and there’s nothing wrong with that.