Miles Morales Is The New “Ultimate Spider-Man”

First there was Miguel O’Hara (Spider-Man 2099). Then it was Anya Corazon (Spider-Girl). Now, Latinos are getting yet another web-slinging superhero: Miles Morales. Marvel announced that Miles Morales will succeed the dead Peter Parker (he was killed in Ultimate Spider-Man #160) and become the new Ultimate Spider-Man.

The Hispanic Spider-Man (or blacktino, to be more accurate) will make his debut in tomorrow’s Ultimate Fallout #4. 

From Marvel’s press release:

​”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,” says Axel Alonso, Marvel editor in chief, in the press release on Morales.
And writer Brian Michael Bendis tells the Associated Press: “He’s younger than Peter Parker, he’s coming from a completely different background, a completely different world view.”

Alonso, by the way, is Hispanic himself.

Kudos, Marvel. We applaud the effort to increase diversity. Just one thing, though: try harder. Seriously, if you’re going to use a character’s ethnic background as a selling point, don’t do a half-assed job. Identifying Miles Morales as half-black, half-Latino doesn’t tell us that much about where he’s coming from, or what his “completely different world view” is. Latinos are not homogeneous and our backgrounds differ from one another. Someone who’s part Mexican experiences the world differently than someone who’s part Puerto Rican or Dominican. Lumping us all together into one group completely undoes what you’re trying to do.

On the bright side, at least Donald Glover is closer to making his dream of playing Spider-Man on film a reality.