Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is out in a few days on the 12th of November. For you lucky ones that managed to get their PlayStation 5 on launch day. It MUST. BE. NICE. And you’ll be able to play the game straight off the bat. But for the rest of us, we’ll still be playing it on our PlayStation 4 consoles. Or if you’re like me just eating ramen and watching the YouTube gameplay videos.
Peter Parker is the original Spider-Man from the Marvel universe. So who’s Miles Morales? If you haven’t read the comics or watched Into The Spiderverse you may be a little confused about these developments. But have no fear we’ve got a quick 411 recap of our web-slinging teen right here. Of course, because this is Marvel and we live in the multiverse there are a number of different origin stories. So we’ll just list them all out here.
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Comic Book Origin Story
Miles Morales made his first appearance in Ultimate Fallout #4 on August 3rd 2011 following the death of Peter Parker at the hands of the Green Goblin. A 13-year old boy, he was born and raised in Brooklyn and is the son of an African American father and Puerto Rican mother.
The story begins with a robbery at the abandoned Osborn Industries. Unbeknownst to the thief called ‘Prowler’ one of the old genetically enhanced spiders from before crawls into his bag. It turns out ‘Prowler’ is the uncle of Miles Morales and one day when Miles is visiting, the spider bites him, causing him to develop superhuman abilities. Similar to the original Spider-Man he has a lot of the same increased agility, strength, stamina and stamina as Peter. However, unlike Peter, he also has bio-electrokinesis powers, including the ability to stun enemies with a “venom blast” and camouflage into his surroundings.
Miles at first rejected his newfound powers, in lieu of living a normal life. But when Peter Parker dies, Miles takes on the new mantle of Spider-Man to continue his legacy.
Into The Spiderverse Story
14-year old Miles Morales is enrolled in an elite New York boarding school. One day while he’s out with his uncle spray painting graffiti he’s accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider. Miles starts to experience changes he can’t explain. Retracing his steps to a mysterious underground lab, Miles discovers Peter Parker’s Spider-Man trying to stop Kingpin from opening a hole in the space-time continuum, which could destroy New York. Kingpin is trying to use this “super-collider” to bring back his dead wife and son on which he blames Peter Parker. In the resulting battle, Peter Parker is killed.
As the city mourns Spider-Man‘s death, Miles tries to honour his legacy and become New York’s next superhero. It turns out however that Kingpin’s experiments have caused a mess in the multiverse and Miles meets Peter B Parker. An older, worn-down version of Spider-Man from another dimension. Together they encounter four more “Spider-people,” including teenage Gwen Stacy, Peni Parker an anime-style girl from the distant future, Spider-Ham a cartoon pig, and a black-and-white 1930s Spider-Man Noir. After getting over their shock, everyone understands they must work as a team to defeat Kingpin and return to their own universes.
PlayStation’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Story
The PlayStation game uses a Miles Morales origin story that’s more similar to Peter Parkers. When Mister Negative attacks with his Inner Demons in ‘And the Award Goes to…’ mission. His father is killed and his mother is injured. Unable to save his father Miles is left despondent and brushes off Peter Parker’s help t his Dad’s funeral. Eventually, though the two become good friends and work together at a shelter.
Later on, while helping out at the shelter, Miles is bitten by an Oscorp genetically modified spider that escapes from Norman Osborn’s secret lab. It ultimately imbues him with superhuman abilities like Spider-Man, which he then reveals to Peter. Peter then reveals his secret identity to Miles. Like the comic book Miles Morales, this Spider-Man has all the same web-swinging powers as Peter Parker plus his additional camouflage and “venom blast”.
In this story Peter Parker becomes a mentor to Miles, teaching how to swing across the city. Eventually, when he feels all is right Peter takes a very well-deserved vacation. Leaving the fate of New York City in Miles’ hands.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales by Insomniac Games is out on the 12th of November on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4.
