15 Years Ago Today, Marvel Comics Gave Its Best Young Hero His First Ongoing Comic

It has been 15 years since Marvel Comics introduced one of its best new characters of the 21st century. In the 2010s, Marvel was working on introducing several legacy characters, younger heroes based on veteran heroes, and many of these new characters ended up succeeding on every level and are still important members of the Marvel Universe today. Marvel introduced Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye in 2005, Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel in 2013, Sam Alexander’s Nova in 2011, Viv Vision in 2015, and Riri Williams’ Ironheart in 2016. However, the most popular legacy hero didn’t debut in the mainline Marvel Universe and instead made his debut on Earth-1610, the Ultimate Universe.

After making his debut appearance in Ultimate Fallout #4, Miles Morales received his first solo series, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, on September 14, 2011.

Miles Morales Gets His First Comic Book in 2011

Miles Morales’ story began in Ultimate Fallout #4 (2011), in a story called “Spider-Man” by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli. Peter Parker had died after getting shot by the Punisher and then beating the Ultimate Green Goblin before succumbing to his injuries. In this first story, the new Spider-Man showed up to fight a villain known as the Kangaroo. Even though he won, people around the fight told him it was in bad taste to dress like Spider-Man after his death. He then unmasked to show he was a young Black Latino teen. This then led to the new series, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man.

This new series finally introduced Miles Morales to Marvel Comics readers. The issue had the first appearance of Miles’ parents, Jefferson Davis and Rio Morales, and even his uncle Aaron, the Prowler. It also showed how Miles got his powers and where the spider that bit him in this world came from. The issue also revealed his different powers from Spider-Man, including the ability to turn invisible. It was a solid start for the new hero and took the character back to what made Spider-Man popular in the 1960s. Miles was a teenager in school who had to learn what his powers were and what he needed to do to control them.

The follow-up comics even had people start to think he was a mutant, which was just as much a source of bigotry in the Ultimate Universe as it was on Earth-616. The second issue brought in Ganke, Miles’ best friend, whose appearance the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Ned Leeds was based on.

Miles Morales Has Become the Best Legacy Hero of the 21st Century

While Ms. Marvel and Ironheart got their own Disney+ shows and Kate Bishop shared hers with Clint Barton’s Hawkeye, none of them have touched the popularity of Miles Morales, especially for mainstream audiences. After Spider-Man went to the MCU and Sony was stuck with just Spider-Man-related characters, nothing succeeded other than the original Venom movies and the Miles Morales Spider-Man animated films. Even when Venom began to falter in the sequels, Miles’ two movies were universally acclaimed, and the third is a much-anticipated 2027 release.

Released in 2018, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and 93% from the audience. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse came out in 2023 and has a 95% rating from the critics and audience. Into the Spider-Verse won an Oscar, and Across the Spider-Verse was nominated for one. The two films made a combined $1.1 billion at the box office. It is clear that Miles Morales is as popular as anyone in the Marvel Universe, even though Peter Parker’s version is still the box office champion.

In the comics, it is just as impressive. After “Secret Wars” in 2015, Miles’ kindness toward the Molecule Man allowed him to survive the incursion, and Molecule Man transferred Miles to Earth-616 and even resurrected his family to join him there, reuniting them after Miles’ mother died on Earth-1610 and Jefferson was seemingly wiped from existence after “Time Runs Out.” This made Miles more popular than ever as he reunited with Spider-Man from Earth-616, after the two met earlier in crossover storylines.

There are now two Spider-Man heroes in Marvel Comics, and this is not a problem with Peter Parker. Miles also made his name away from Peter Parker, as he was a key member of the Champions with Kamala Khan, Nova, and Ironheart. He has also started developing his own rogues’ gallery, with Miles Morales villains like Rabble and the Accessor making their names on Earth-616 thanks to the young Spider-Man.

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