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Marvel debuts new biracial Spider-Man
By Alex HeiglAugust 2nd, 2011, 6:00 pmComments (18)
Okay, so that headline is kind of misleading. There are multiple version of the Marvel universe banging around, and in one of them (the Ultimate Comics one, to be exact), Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man, has died, and will be replaced with half-black, half-Latino teen Miles Morales when Ultimate Comics Fallout #4 drops Wednesday.
Axel Alonso, Marvel's Editor in Chief:
"When the opportunity arose to create a new Spider-Man, we knew it had to be a character that represents the diversity — in background and experience — of the twenty-first century... Miles is a character who not only follows in the tradition of relatable characters like Peter Parker, but also shows why he's a new, unique kind of Spider-Man — and worthy of that name."
Peter Parker died earlier this summer in Ultimate Spider-Man #160, though in the non-Ultimate universe, he's still web-slinging like a boss.
Writer Brian Michael Bendis told the Associated Press that Morales is "...younger than Peter Parker, he's coming from a different background, a completely different world view... It's Peter Parker's death that inspires this kid to step up."
Well, despite the fact that Spider-Man has always been one of the less-Aryan Marvel superheroes, unlike Thor or Captain America (and was already made into an "ethnic version" in Spider-Man 2099), this is a welcome development — Marvel's come a long way from the embarrassing Luke Cage days, when their idea of writing convincing ethnic dialogue involved copious use of phrases like "Sweet Christmas!"
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Commentarium (18 Comments)
As a person of color and an avid comics fan, I feel like I should be happier about this move than I currently am. I guess I'm just erring on the side of caution. Hopefully the writers will do meaningful and interesting things with his character.
damnnnnn, it's weird how attracted i am to that cartoon.
That was also my first thought... Maybe more girls will read comics now?
back off!
Is he really a biracial kid, or is he a TIME-TRAVELING FUTURE CLONE of a biracial kid?
I love how they talk about it like they just invented black and hispanic people in the twenty-first century.
I don't get why this is a big thing. I'm pretty sure Spider-Man 2099 was hispanic and that was like at least 10 years ago.
I thought Spider Man 2099 was Irish. His last name was O'Hara.
"he's coming from a different background, a completely different world view"
I bet you £20 that he ends up being from the ghetto everyone in america think colored people are from the ghetto.
Also has anyone explained what abilities he has?
wait that was insensitive i didn't mean everyone from america i mean comic book writers and film makers in america.
PHEW covered my back there.
The next superhero will be a leather racist who hails from the border of Arizona.
i say we make a white luke kage, white panther,a white storm
HOW CAN HE BIRACIAL SINCE "HISPANICS' ARE NOT A RACE?
Because you can be Hispanic and also independently be of two races.
Next time you try to be indignant...well, try harder.
The statement that he is "half black and half Hispanic" is grammatically incorrect and implies that being Hispanic is a racial attribute. By 'half Hispanic" does the writer mean to imply only one of his parents is Hispanic? Probably not. In any case, the sentence construction is grammatically incorrect and implies that one cannot be both black and Hispanic.
There's no such thing as a Hispanic race, so this guy isn't biracial, he's Dominican.
OR...he could be born in...any number of Spanish-speaking countries in the Western Hemisphere and happen to have African AND Caucasian/Native American ancestry.
Kid has some giant shoes to fill and im a spiderman fan to a T 2099 is Miguel O'HARA whats wrong with keeping peter parker spiderman you dont mess with Stan Lee's shit or you may lose interstate of people like me