How Old Is Miles Morales in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the first animated movie in the Spider-Man franchise, and it introduced Miles Morales’ Spider-Man to the big screen. When it was released in December 2018, not many people expected the movie would receive such critical acclaim and become such a massive hit. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and it grossed $384.3 million worldwide against a budget of $90 million. Now, after five years, the sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is just around the corner, and in this article, we’ll return to the first movie to tell you how old Miles Morales was.
Miles Morales is roughly 14-15 years old during the events of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The movie takes place in 2018, the same year it was released, so it’s safe to say this incarnation of Miles Morales wasn’t born before 2003. At the beginning of the movie, Miles is adjusting to college-preparatory school, and he was right at that age when it was time to enroll in preparatory school. Just like Peter Parker, Miles Morales was also a teenager when he was bitten by the radioactive spider, which gave him superhero powers and spider-like abilities.
Miles Morales was first introduced in Marvel Comics in 2011, created by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. The character gained widespread popularity thanks to the success of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Insomniac’s video game Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a spin-off to Insomniac’s original Spider-Man game. Now, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the second installment of the animated Spider-Verse trilogy, is one of the year’s most anticipated movies. The third movie in the trilogy, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, is set to be released in 2024.
Miles Morales’ story in the Spider-Verse franchise
Miles Morales’ origin story in the Spider-Verse franchise is somewhat similar to Peter Parker’s. In the beginning, Miles is a regular teenager who is trying to adjust to prep school while also living up to the expectations of his father, Jefferson Davis, who isn’t a fan of the original Spider-Man. Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider when he visits an abandoned subway station to paint graffiti with his uncle Aaron Davis.
Miles soon discovers Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin, who has the plan to access parallel universes in the Multiverse to reunite with his deceased wife and son, whose deaths he blames on Spider-Man. Spider-Man arrives and saves Miles, but he gets wounded after the explosion. Spider-Man gives Miles a UBS drive that can disable Fisk’s machine and warns him that the city could be destroyed if Fisk tries to reactive it. Fisk eventually kills Spider-Man, and Miles escapes.
While the city is mourning the death of Spider-Man, Miles decides to use his newfound powers to take his place as the city’s protector. He eventually meets older Peter Parker from another parallel universe, Gwen Stacy, aka Spider-Woman, and Spider-Man Noir, Peni Parker, and Spider-Ham, each coming from some different part of the Multiverse. Although he wants to join the Spider-team, the others tell him that he lacks the experience to become a superhero.
Miles will eventually find out in the most shocking way that his uncle Aaron is actually the villain known as the Prowler, who works for Fisk. Aaron also learns that Miles is the new Spider-Man, and unwilling to kill his own nephew, he spares his life. Unfortunately, after that, Aaron is shot and killed by Fisk. After his uncle’s death, Miles still wants to join the Spider-team to help them get home, but they restrain him in his room, and older Peter Parker decides to stay behind and sacrifice himself to disable Fisk’s machine.
While he’s tied up in a web in his room, Miles hears his father outside the door. Jefferson inspires Miles with his words, after which Miles manages to control his powers and escape. Miles returns to Aunt May of the deceased Spider-Man, creating his own suit and joining other Spider variants in a fight against Fisk. Fisk is eventually defeated, and guests from other parallel universes are sent home. Jefferson sees the new Spider-Man, and even though he’s completely unaware that he’s his son, he stops seeing Spider-Man as a menace after Fisk’s arrest.
While Miles is adapting to his new life, the life of a teenager and the life of a superhero at once, he gets a call from Gwen, who managed to get in contact with him from her own universe. The movie’s post-credit scene introduced Miguel O’Hara, aka Spider-Man 2099. As it was announced, and from what we’ve seen in the trailer that was recently released, Spider-Man 2099 will have one of the major roles in the sequel. What’s even better, he’s voiced by the Moon Knight star Oscar Isaac.
What is next for Miles Morales’ Spider-Man?
We can’t know for sure how much time has passed since the events of Into the Spider-Verse ahead of the sequel. What is known about the sequel is that Gwen Stacy will once again contact Miles and ask him to join her on a new mission to save all the universes in the Multiverse from a mysterious new villain. Despite being grounded by his mother, Miles accepts the challenge and begins a new adventure where he will explore the Multiverse and meet a whole society of people with spider-like powers. The society is led by Spider-Man 2099, but an additional problem will arise when Miles and Miguel find themselves at odds with how they plan to handle the imminent threat.
Even though the first movie introduced parallel universes and several different Spider heroes, the whole plot was kept in New York City, where the original Spider-Man is now deceased, and Miles took over as the city’s hero. In the sequel, however, the plot will move to other parallel universes, and it will be really exciting to see all those universes and all those Spider heroes in each of them. The hype for Across the Spider-Verse is very real, and we can’t even assume what writers prepared for the threequel, which is, judging by its title, set to go “Beyond the Spider-Verse.” Miles and the audience better prepare for a wild ride.
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is set to be released on June 2, 2023. The threequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, is set to be released on March 29, 2024, so in less than a year. A spin-off movie, led by female Spider heroes such as Spider-Gwen, Silk, and Spider-Woman, is also in development.