Spider-Man: Where to Start With Miles Morales

Miles Morales is one of the hottest characters in the medium right now and that’s hard to debate. The Ultimate Spider-Man has been everywhere over the last two years. Last week saw Sony announce Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales to almost universal acclaim. We’d be remiss not to mention the fan-favorite Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as well. The Black Puerto Rican superhero has struck a major chord with audiences and it has become common to see him listed among kid’s favorite heroes when asked around Halloween. With Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse‘s sequel in development and the PS5 game on the way, new comic fans might be looking for places to start with the Wall-Crawler, well, Marvel listed some important books and they’re collected down below for reference.

When Brian Michael Bendis introduced Morales in Ultimate Fallout, many thought it would be just a quick change of pace, and then Peter Parker would come swinging back in. But, his character has endured. Bendis was adamant that this change of character served an important purpose.

“Many kids of color who when they were playing superheroes with their friends, their friends wouldn’t let them be Batman or Superman because they don’t look like those heroes but they could be Spider-Man because anyone could be under that mask,” Bendis said to the New York Daily News back in 2015. “But now it’s true. It’s meant a great deal to a great many people.”

There was of course some pushback, but that didn’t deter Bendis and now Miles is one of the most popular Marvel characters around. In 2016, the writer talked to io9 about the journey to Miles’ starring in Spider-Man #1.

“What is interesting is that the response to [Miles], just from the cartoons or whatever, is just… in so many reasons, he should not have worked,” Bendis explained. “Peter Parker’s not broken. There’s nothing wrong with Peter, but here’s this other thing we want to do. The response to that has been so overwhelmingly positive from older fans and younger fans… I can’t tell you what a wonderful, heartwarming experience it is to hear from people about Miles every day. It’s amazing.”

Do you love Miles Morales as Spider-Man? Looking forward to that PS5 game? Let us know in the comments! Check out the selection of books below:

Ultimate Fallout (2011) #4

Witness the fallout of DEATH OF SPIDER-MAN and the birth of the new ULTIMATE COMICS UNIVERSE.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (2011) #1

Meet Miles Morales, the all-new Ultimate Spider-Man! (His first ongoing book!!!)

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (2011) #12

Miles must choose between battling his uncle turned crime lord or joining him to keep his family safe! – What path will Miles take?!

The Amazing Spider-Man (2014) #10

A spider-army is gathering to fight Morlun and his deadly family, but who will lead them? – Why, only the greatest spider-hero of all, THE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN. – Our universe’s AMAZING SPIDER-MAN has an issue with that. – GUEST STARRING- MILES MORALES!

MILES MORALES: ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN (2014) #12

THE EPIC CONCLUSION! Is this the end?

Secret Wars (2015) #1

THE FINAL INCURSION IS HAPPENING! THE MARVEL UNIVERSE IS COLLIDING WITH THE ULTIMATE UNIVERSE! AND NEITHER WILL SURVIVE!

The Amazing Spider-Man (2015) #13

Things aren’t going well between the Amazing Spider-Man and the Invincible Iron Man and their conflict is opening the door for Regent and his plan against our heroes! Now that Regent has started imprisoning HEROES and stealing their powers things have gone from bad to worse.

Spider-Man (2016) #12

THIS IS IT! THE MOMENT YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR! THE KISS HEARD ROUND THE WORLD! The two most talked about heroes give us something new to talk about in this Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen crossover. How did Miles and Gwen get here?!

Champions (2016) #1

Following the fallout of CIVIL WAR II, Avengers Ms. Marvel, Nova and Spider-Man strike out on their own — joined by Cyclops, Viv Vision and the Totally Awesome Hulk! Six young heroes determined to change the world — and they’re only the beginning!

Miles Morales: Spider-Man (2018) #1

Balancing his normal life, school, parents, etc…and super-heroing has never been easy, but when the Rhino and a cadre of mysterious criminals start plaguing Brooklyn, things take a dark turn. And Miles doesn’t even know the half of it yet.