What Is Miles Morales’ Ethnicity? Is He Hispanic or Biracial?

Spider-Man is one of the most iconic superheroes of mainstream comics ever. However, the 21st century brought us many new additions to Marvel Comics, and the mantle of Spider-Man always seemed to be reserved solely for Peter Parker. However, Multiverse became huge in the last twenty years, and we saw Marvel adding new characters that refreshed the old guard of established superheroes, including Miles Morales. The young boy from Brooklyn became one of the most important characters for the new generation of superheroes, representing many diverse American people. In this article, we will try to determine Miles Morales’ ethnicity – is he Hispanic or biracial?

Miles Morales is the son of an African-American father and a Puerto Rican mother born in Brooklyn, New York. If we have to determine the character’s ethnicity, Miles Morales is an African American Latino, and both cultures are very visible in his everyday life. With that being said, Miles Morales is both Hispanic and biracial, which makes him an incredibly interesting and unique superhero of Marvel Comics.

We will discuss Miles and his ethnicity more, his origins, and the importance of his character in Marvel Comics. If you are interested, stay with us until the end.

The creation and origins of Miles Morales

Spider-Man has been an important part of comics for decades – culturally, probably the most important superhero of all time. There are barely any comic book fans that dislike the character, and the fact that Peter Parker transcended all social barriers for all kinds of people to like him, says it all. Stan Lee knew that Peter Parker was an important character, even confirming that he would never let his character ever be changed. Frankly, even after the legendary creator’s passing, that notion seems to stay like that for now and the future.

However, in true comic book nature, even the most famous superheroes need refreshing. The mantle of Spider-Man has been rarely passed over, and instances when other characters held the mantle of Spider-Man, happened in alternate universes – Gwen Stacy, Mayday Parker, Miguel O’Hara, and Miles Morales.

Specifically, Miles Morales was first introduced in the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series – a modernized re-imagining of Marvel’s long-running Spider-Man comic book franchise. In the Ultimate run, Peter Parker is allegedly killed-off, and a teenager from Brooklyn, Miles Morales, replaces Parker as the new Spider-Man.

The origins of Miles Morales are quite interesting. Miles is originally from the alternate Earth-1610 (The Ultimate storyline), a teenager living in Brooklyn with his parents Rio and Jefferson Morales. Rio was working as a nurse in the hospital, while Jefferson changed his criminal youth to become an officer of NYPD.

Unfortunately, Jefferson’s brother, Aaron, didn’t abandon the life of crime and continued conducting many shady jobs, making Jefferson and his wife, Rio, very uncomfortable, especially regarding their son Miles. After the S.H.I.E.L.D. arrested Norman Osbourne and outed him to the public as Green Goblin, Aaron used the situation to break into the Osborn Industries and steal. However, unbeknownst to him, an Oz Formula-enhanced spider crawled into his bag.

We already mentioned the animosity between Miles’ parents and Aaron, but that didn’t stop the teenager from visiting his uncle. While visiting his Uncle Aaron, Miles was bitten by the genetically enhanced spider, which bestowed him powers and abilities like camouflage, increased agility, stun blast, and more. Miles is unhappy about that development and decides to stay “normal” and let Spider-Man (Peter Parker) continue to protect the city of New York.

However, the notable hero dies saving his family from Norman Osbourne, and arriving late to the scene, Miles mourns the death of Peter Parker and, inspired by the New York protector, decides to take over the mantle of Spider-Man.

After many happenings that saw Miles meeting many superheroes of his universe, he accidentally became part of the event known as Spider-Verse, which led to Secret Wars and a new reformed Earth-616, where Miles Morales and his family lived their lives as if nothing happened.

Miles Morales, as Spider-Man, became part of the Prime Universe, where he became part of many notable superhero groups, like Champions and Young Avengers.

What is Miles Morales’ ethnicity?

Over the years, we saw hundreds of characters becoming part of the Marvel Universe in one way or another. However, as it always was with any fictional media after World War II, representation seriously lacked, and the fans started voicing their dissatisfaction – for a good reason. The world changed massively during and after WWII, especially for comic book media, which was used as other fictional media for propaganda and recruiting people for the war that raged overseas.

Of course, discrimination against other races and ethnicities was very much present during that period. Still, in the 1950s and 1960s, comic book creators started evolving their ways with the social changes that significantly impacted the voices of people. Black Panther and John Stewart as Green Lantern were the first black superheroes that were introduced in Marvel and DC comics. Over the next few decades, more Asian, Indian, and other ethnically different superheroes entered mainstream comics.

El Diablo and White Tiger were the first Hispanic DC and Marvel characters introduced in the comics. Still, the characters were never deeply interpreted or given more than one or two solo comic book runs. However, Miles Morales was a positive change and character representing multiple ethnicities and became an important part of the comics.

Since its introduction in 2011, Miles Morales has greatly represented African-American and Puerto Rican people. Miles’s mother, Rio, is canonically Puertorican, while his father, Jefferson, is African-American. That means Miles is African-American and Hispanic/Latino and has mixed ethnicity.

Is Miles Morales Hispanic or biracial?

With all being said, some fans still can’t decide if Miles is Hispanic or biracial, and frankly, we are not really sure either. Representation of diverse characters in fictional media is still a sensitive topic for some people, and divisive opinions exist among people of color. Sometimes it is hard to determine a character’s ethnicity or origins because authors can change it whenever they want – especially in comic books.

Miles Morales is a popular Marvel character that has been part of many different fictional media. In the comics, Jefferson Davis (Morales) is African-American, while Rio is white.

The notable game Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales followed comic books and made Rio Morales white. At the same time, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse animated movie has Miles’ mother of brown race, which is different from the comics. Nevertheless, if we have to “define” the ethnicity and race of Miles Morales, we would say he is an African-American Hispanic/Latino biracial character and a great representative of a diverse American population and people worldwide.

Spider-Man is an incredible and iconic superhero, which impacted popular culture in many ways, and Miles Morales is definitely one of them.