Miles Morales (Into the Spider-Verse)

"My name is Miles Morales. I was bitten by a radioactive spider and for like two days, I've been the one and only Spider-Man. I never thought I'd be able to do any of this stuff, but I can. Anyone can wear the mask. You can wear the mask. If you didn't know that before, I hope you do now."

- Miles Morales

Miles Morales is a teenager hailing from an alternate dimension, who becomes Spider-Man following the death of his world's Peter Parker.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Miles Morales is a teenager with an affinity for spray-painting graffiti who lives in Brooklyn, New York, where the city is protected by the beloved vigilante Spider-Man. Miles won a scholastic contest which enrolled him in Brooklyn Visions Academy, though in spite of this, he was reluctant to leave behind his friends and his old school where he was very popular. His reluctance surrounding his new school occasionally put him at odds with his father. After a while, school begins to stress Miles out, which causes him to visit his paternal uncle Aaron Davis. Aaron leads Miles to an abandoned subway terminal, which serves as a canvas for Miles to freely graffiti and express himself as a way to release stress. While in the subway, Miles is bitten by a genetically modified spider labeled "42," which he quickly smacks and kills. During the following day, Miles undergoes a bizarre series of changes, including a growth spurt and the ability to adhere to materials and surfaces. He has an awkward encounter with a girl he's crushing on at his new school who claims to go by the name "Gwanda" when he accidentally gets his fingers stuck to her hair and she is forced to cut the part of her hair off. He also finds that he can walk on walls and the ceiling. When he returns to his dorm room, he finds a comic book owned by his roommate which shows the origin of Spider-Man after he is bitten by an irradiated spider and begins to experience similar things to Miles.

The Death of Spider-Man
Determined to prove to himself that he has not developed the same powers, he revisits the subway terminal where the spider bit him and finds that the spider exhibits bizarre traits even after its death. Surprised and confused, Miles is suddenly drawn to a mysterious subterranean lab where the Kingpin is trying to operate a particle collider to open a wormhole to another universe. There to stop him is Spider-Man, who fights off Kingpin's goons, including the Green Goblin, Tombstone, and Prowler. In the midst of the fight, Spider-Man rescues Miles, who has fallen into the particle collider. Finding that Miles is like him, Spider-Man offers to train him if he sticks around, but Spider-Man is later badly beaten by the Goblin, who collapses part of the collider on the two of them, trapping Spider-Man. Miles goes to rescue Spider-Man, who tells him not to worry because he always gets back up. He then hands Miles a flash drive which can shut down the particle collider and tells him to do that while he distracts the villains. Miles goes to leave, but then witnesses Kingpin brutally kill Spider-Man out of rage at something he said.

Horrified and in shock at what he saw, Miles flees (with Kingpin sending Prowler after him) and returns to his home instead of his dorm room, where he spends in the night. He overhears a news report detailing the death of Spider-Man, whose real name is revealed to be Peter Parker, a 26-year-old grad student married to Mary Jane Parker. News of the death of the beloved Spider-Man spreads throughout New York, and Miles, ridden with guilt, buys a Spider-Man dress-up costume and attends a speech by Mary Jane, where she states that everyone is Spider-Man in the end, which Miles takes to heart, as he has the potential to carry on Peter's legacy.

More Than One Wears The Mask
Later on, Miles attempts to master his new abilities but fails, damaging the flash drive in the process. He visits the grave of Peter Parker, but is approached by a man wearing web-shooters and a Spider-Man suit. After inadvertently electrocuting the man, Miles drags him through the city using his webs until they manage to get to safety in an empty Aaron's apartment. Once he regains consciousness, the man introduces himself as Peter B. Parker, an older, more jaded, and apathetic version of Miles's Spider-Man. Peter explains that he was universe-displaced by the particle collider and exhibits the effect of "glitching," which causes him pain. When Miles reveals that he has a way to destroy the collider with the flash drive, Peter steals the drive from him and leaves, but returns when Miles guilts him into training him as his Spider-Man promised he would.

Peter takes Miles to the advanced technology and research company Alchemax in order to download information about the particle collider, where they are soon found by Dr. Olivia Octavius, whereupon Miles turns invisible, another unique ability of his, and, unable to gain access to Octavius's computer, steals the computer and monitor outright and flees. Octavius captures Peter, revealing herself to be this universe's Doctor Octopus. Peter temporarily battles her off and he escapes into the woods with Miles, where Miles receives an impromptu web-swinging lesson using one of Peter's web-shooters.

While Miles struggles to master the art of web-swinging, Peter fends off attackers. Miles eventually gets a hang of web-swinging and Peter catches up to him, but their escape is interrupted when Peter experiences another glitch, which Octavius previously explained would continue to happen as long as he was in Miles's universe until he slowly and painfully disintegrated atom by atom. Octavius manages to capture the two of them, but they are quickly rescued by another universe-displaced Spider-Person, who introduces herself as Spider-Woman and reveals herself to be none other than Gwanda, whose real name is Gwen Stacy.

Gwen takes Miles and Peter to the house of Aunt May, which both Peter and May find difficult as Peter's Aunt May has already passed away and May's nephew of this universe has recently been killed. May leads the three Spider-People to the late Peter Parker's secret bunker, where they are introduced to the universe displaced Spider-Man Noir, SP//dr, and Spider-Ham. The group decides to put an unwilling Miles's spider abilities to the test, but are disappointed when they find that he has mastered almost none of them, including his unique bioelectric and invisibility abilities. The group then assembles without Miles and formulates a plan to engineer a new flash drive to shut down the collider, with Peter B. Parker volunteering to stay behind to shut down the collider once the others have returned home. Miles is upset by this, stating that he belongs in the universe where they are and that he should be the one to send them all home and shut down the collider so Peter doesn't have to die, but his plan is shot down because he is viewed as an inadequate member of the team, and not yet a competent Spider-Man.

Pressured and alone, a crestfallen Miles leaves the bunker and visits his Uncle Aaron's apartment, only to find it empty. The window is soon opened by the Prowler, however, causing Miles to hide. Prowler searches the apartment but fails to find his target, as Miles turns invisible out of fear. The Prowler receives a phone call from Fisk, whereupon he unmasks and reveals his identity to be Aaron himself, terrifying the invisible Miles, who flees the apartment noisily. This draws Prowler's attention, who gives chase until the pursuit causes a car accident, allowing Miles to get away.

Miles returns to May's house, where he alerts the other Spiders to Prowler's identity. Peter instantly asks Miles if he has been followed, to which he responds that he doesn't know. Unbeknownst to Miles, however, Prowler has assembled several of Kingpin's other goons, including Octavius, Tombstone, and Scorpion, and trailed Miles to May's house. The other Spiders and May work together to battle off the intruders while Miles retrieves the newly created flash drive, after which he flees to the roof. He is intercepted by Prowler, however, who moves to kill him, but not before Miles can unmask himself. Horrified and ashamed to see that he has been hunting his own nephew, Aaron pulls Miles's mask back down and lets him go, but is quickly shot by an enraged Fisk. Miles panics as his uncle bleeds out and Peter, who witnessed the act, encourages Miles to escape, which he does.

Miles swiftly transports a mortally wounded Aaron to an alleyway, where Aaron apologizes to Miles and encourages him to keep doing what he knows is right before dying in his nephew's arms. Officer Jefferson Davis soon turns up to the scene and, witnessing the figure dressed as Spider-Man kneeling over Aaron's body, assumes the figure to be his brother's killer. Jefferson tries to force the young man, not knowing his identity, into surrender, but Miles turns invisible and runs away. Jefferson then puts out an APB on "the new Spider-Man."

Miles returns to his dorm room at the Visions Academy and is approached by the other five Spiders, who are preparing to launch their attack on the collider. Miles insists he should be the one to shut down the collider, which Peter refuses. Miles protests this, causing Peter to restrain him. Peter tells Miles that if he can activate his bioelectric ability or invisibility on command then he will let him go, but Miles proves unable to do either. Peter webs Miles up and gags him and the other five Spiders depart for Fisk's building.

While Miles is bound and gagged, his father knocks on the door, wanting to speak to Miles about recent events. Miles is unable to answer, which his father takes to mean that Miles is still upset with him. Jefferson apologizes for the things he had said and done before, and tells Miles that Aaron has been killed. When he receives no reply, Jefferson simply apologizes again and tells Miles that he is proud of him before leaving. Inspired, Miles manages to build up enough energy for a bioelectric blast and frees himself from his restraints.

The New Spider-Man
Miles returns to the bunker where May is expecting him. Here, he takes one of Peter Parker's old classic suits and spray paints it black, then uses red spray paint to recolor the lens frames and make his own spider logo and designs. Miles then tests out his abilities in the city and, feeling confident that he is ready to become Spider-Man, takes the "leap of faith" that Peter had described to him earlier. Now a competent Spider-Man, Miles travels to the collider and joins in the fight with the other Spiders.

Miles manages to send all the other Spiders home, with Gwen promising that they would find a way to keep in touch. Miles also encourages Peter to take a leap of faith back in his own universe. Miles then sends Peter home and fights and enraged Fisk throughout the collider. Fisk eventually manages to beat Miles down, but Jefferson Davis, who has arrived and seen the new Spider-Man fighting Fisk, realizes that Spider-Man is not the enemy, but an ally, and encourages him to fight back and beat Fisk. This gives Miles the strength to perform another bioelectric blast, called a venom strike, and incapacitate Fisk. Miles then manages to shut down the collider and end the battle.

While Fisk is arrested, Jefferson Davis thanks the new Spider-Man for his efforts and wishes him well. Miles, as Spider-Man, goes on to gain the public's approval, becoming New York's new beloved vigilante. Miles also formally introduces himself to his roommate at Visions Academy, including showing him his powers. As Miles prepares to go to sleep one night, a small portal opens and he is greeted by Gwen from her universe.

Character traits
Miles is a social and assertive teenager who is very popular in his neighborhood of Brooklyn. He is a promising kid with massive potential, who just wants to be normal, but often does amazing things while trying to avoid the spotlight. This is evident by him trying to get himself kicked out of his exclusive boarding school by intentionally failing a science test. He is a nice and friendly kid, as he enjoys making his friends and family laugh. He also has a habit of making jokes whenever he is in an awkward situation. Miles has a big interest in hip hop and graffiti cultures, constantly stamping his art around Brooklyn as self-expression and an expression of love for his city.

While initially hesitant to become a superhero like Spider-Man, Miles accepted his role as New York's protector after witnessing Peter Parker's death. However, despite already intrinsically knowing his responsibility, Miles found himself struggling to jump into action and controlling his abilities due to fear. It wasn't until his uncle's death and his father's words that he was finally able to take a leap of faith and gain the confidence and mastery of his powers. After defeating the Kingpin and saving the multiverse along with New York City, Miles embraced his role as the new Spider-Man.

Powers
Spider Physiology: Having been bitten by a genetically-altered spider similar to Peter Parker himself, Miles possesses enhanced strength, speed, agility, spider-sense, and the ability to climb walls.
 * Superhuman Strength: Miles possesses the proportionate strength of a spider. Using his profound powers, Miles can harm opponents that can knock them out such as Kingpin. He was also able to crack a boulder in two by slamming his fist into it.
 * Superhuman Speed: Miles possesses superhuman speed that allowed him to transverse at high amounts of paces while running, as well as traveling while web-swinging.
 * Superhuman Agility: Miles possesses great amounts of enhanced levels of agility that are far beyond the natural physical limits of an Olympic-level gymnast. While running on the sidewalk and into the road, Miles could land on his feet without harm once he was ran over by a car.
 * Spider-Sense: When danger is present, Miles possesses a tingling sensation in his head as a sort of early warning system, allowing him to react accordingly. His spider-sense offers him near complete awareness of his surroundings, and in conjunction with his reflexes, allows him to instinctively dodge or counter nearly all attacks. His spider-sense can also come to contact greatly with that of Peter Parker from his dimension, making them have some sort of connection.
 * Wall-Crawling: Miles possesses the ability to cling onto any surface using just his fingertips and feet. The extent is how much pressure he can stick to walls is less than perfect, considering how much focus he needs to handle lifting his own weight.
 * Camouflage: Miles can camouflage himself, making him effectively invisible to the human eye.
 * Venom Strike: A form of directed energy that can be conducted through Miles' hands and can be used against an opponent at a distance by conducting it through a material in which both Miles and his opponent are in contact, managing to knock out Peter Parker himself.

Relationships

 * Jefferson Davis - Father
 * Rio Morales - Mother
 * Aaron Davis - Uncle.
 * Peter Parker - Mentor.
 * Gwen Stacy - Best Friend and Love Interest.

Appearances/Voice Actors

 * Canon (1 film)
 * Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (First appearance) - Shameik Moore

Trivia

 * This is the third animated appearance of Miles Morales and his feature film debut.

Behind the scenes
To be added