I'm honestly a new comer to the world of comics. I know it's late news. But I'd like to know your opinion. My opinion is that people don't like the idea of a minority spider man. People are saying that it's because his story sucks, but I have a feeling people would be praising it if he was the brown haired white guy we know and love. The story brings up a lot of great issues that have to do with being a kid and more. The instance of his mom dying is a very heartfelt and well- written moment in my opinion. In addition, diversity isn't a bad thing. I know people will call it political correctness, but diversity is a cool thing. It's not because I can't relate to a white character, It's just cool to be represented a medium you love. My younger brother watched justice league and it was really cool seeing him enjoy John Stewart as Green Lantern. Plus, Peter Parker isn't dead, the mantle was just passed on. Marvel isn't idiotic enough to kill off one of their flagship characters. It's ok to give the name to someone else. Robin has been many races. Black, white, biracial, he's been a lot of races. Again, I'd like to know your opinion.

@optimus007: I got back into comics (trades) after a lengthy hiatus with the Ultimates. (Captain America kicking Hulk in the stones suckered me in.) I picked up the Fantastic Four, X-Men and Spider-Man as well.

For 145 issues or so (24 trades) we got to follow a modernized Peter Parker become Spider-Man. We got to see him go from the ground floor as a rookie to being a halfway decent superhero. Then he gets killed off so that Miles can be introduced and we can wipe 145 issues away and start over with the rookie superhero. A decade of reading and all we have to show for it is Pete dead.

Yay.

Its not that he is a colored spiderman. As a matter of fact many people liked the idea. The problem was he was a carbon cut of peter. Their stories were so similar for a time that they basically should have just revived peter.

Because he isn't Peter Parker

I personally think it's his age that's the problem, not his race.

Cause he was Italian.

Beata

@mysoulz:

I can kind of see the age as problematic, but you have to admit, it was a pretty good idea. A lot of kids around the world have rough lives, and those kids can connect to Morales through that. It's not like Miles was the greatest spider man when he started. He stumbled a lot before he got better.

I like Miles he's cool

I think his age is mostly problematic to experienced Spiderman readers, but his age can be beneficial to those that's either inexperienced in reading Spiderman and/or they can relate to him better with his age (but it's still really young). But his stories are cool and doesn't suffer with racial stereotype in his ultimate series.

@fuzzylittlerodent:

Like I said in my comment, Marvel isn't stupid. They're not going to permanently kill off a character that has gathered so much popularity. This can be applied to The new Captain America. Steve Rogers will eventually take back the name that is rightfully his. Miles, as for as a character goes, is pretty cool to me. Despite having similar powers and a costume, he still has enough individual characteristics to call his own. I hope Marvel keeps going with it.

@mysoulz:

I agree. A lot of minority characters are so badly written, you cringe. I think that's why we need more people from different backgrounds to write these characters. I am not saying that the straight white male can't write great minority characters. Brian Michael Bendis has proven that with Miles. But I think we need more minorities in the comic industry(women, blacks, Muslims,etc.). Marvel is successful with diversity because it looks at minorities. A Muslim helped write Mrs. Marvel. Look at DC, You're getting names like Black Lightning. Seriously, it's like most of black character there has to have black in front of their name. Love John Stewart though.

optimus007: I never doubted Marvel's inteligence. I have to give them credit, not many can pull off PR stunts like this one so well. Personally, I don't care much for him, but I can see why people might think he's oh so cool and relatable. He has definitely become his own character. Unfortunately, many people still believe that he was created to satisfy our politically correct liberal society. Which is partially true.

I'm going to say the exact same thing i've said everytime this question as been asked. Their are a few reasons I dislike him:

1. His age. They killed off so much story potential in making him that age and kill of a lot of my interest in the process...

2. He's basically Peter Parker 2.0. I mean they couldn't even be bothered to come up with a new origin story "lets just have an improved spider that bit Pete bite someone else" lazy idea imo. They both have the same personality too. There was no point in killing Ult Pete just to give us someone who was the same.

3. They shoved Miles down our throats. Pete wasn't even cold in his grave and suddenly there was a new Spider-man swinging about. Had they given us time to get over his death and maybe have an Ult Marvel arc on how Pete not being there changed things it would have been easier perhaps even welcome to have a new Spider-man.

The best Spider-man we've had since Pete is Kaine by a LONG shot.

@fuzzylittlerodent: I don't think we have to call a diverse character politically correct. They could've just made someone who resembled Peter the new ultimate. But they went another route, which I admire. The world, the US in particular, is a very diverse place and it's alright for it to be reflected.

@damage32:

Thanks for agreeing with me.

Yea, most minority characters are being written by non high profile writers, so that possibly can be a major problem there. Judd Winick invested in writing Batwing with a high profile artist, which the first few issues made impressive reviews. But most high profile writers would rather just write major dc/marvel characters, since they have greater recognition among pop culture. It's a rare opportunity to have Bendis and Remender to write PoC characters. I would have never thought that the All New Captain America would have such sales at it's release.

Having the word "Black" in front of a name of a PoC was a big deal at the time, since they were unheard of. At least I would rather for T'Challa to be called Black Panther and not "Coal Tiger" as Kirby's original designs :) But as times goes on, it can be a little frustrating and annoying, since the name is pointing out the obvious in modern times.

Miles isn't a carbon copy of Peter, by a long shot. You can tell that people who say things like that either haven't read the comic or are reading what they want; Miles story foils Petes' in very significant ways, such as their opposite reactions to receiving spider-powers. The major similarities between Pete & Miles is that they both received similar powers in the same way & they they both needed an "Uncle Ben moment" to become Spider-Man.

So yeah, I think people are biased against Miles and will use any small reason to hate on the kid

Personally, Make Mine Miles Morales

Miles isn't a hack of Peter? Ok, how? The op says Miles isn't accepted because of race. Ok, how about Ben Reilly? He wasn't accepted as spiderman. He was white and was only allowed to be the scarlet spider, a knock off of the original who lasted maybe five years before literally turning into dust and it's been fifteen plus years since. I think that proves skin color does not play a part in him not being liked. Peter is spiderman just like tony stark is iron man, Bruce Wayne is batman, Steve rogers is captain America and Clark Kent is superman. They have all been replaced and that change failed always. I only came to this forum to try and understand why Miles hasn't already been forgotten and it seems to me that the only reason he's still here is because if anyone says they don't like him theyre called racist and we must accept him over Peter. Spiderman, iron man captain America have existed for decades under countless writers and through ups and downs and I would like to see miles stop being published under the name spiderman without bendis( the most popular writer around) to see if his character can stand on his own two feet. I agree that comics need more PoC but stealing one characters personality, powers, fans etc is not the way to go.

@kiba:

How are we stealing you're icons? We didn't stop reading Peter Parker to get Miles Morales. You said that it's not about race, but for some people it was. It's hard to believe it doesn't matter when people across many forums called him "nigger spider man" and saying what they didn't know. Most of these people either don't read comics, they don't like change, or their idiotic comic fans to the highest degree. People do realize ultimates is an alternate universe, right? What's the use of having an alternate universe if you can't experiment with it. Miles isn't Peter. Miles is Miles. He is a new black hero who took up the mantle of one that couldn't for a while. I'm against race swapping too, but not in this context. Dick Grayson was Batman for a while. Many people have been Robin, alternate universe or not. I hated the new Black Wally West for many reasons. One of them being they couldn't even give him a new name. There have been many flashes, but they weren't all named Barry Allen. Another is that he's a one dimensional stereotype. Painting graffiti? Seriously? I hate race bending, but not something like this. Miles is an awesome character, and the fan base reflects that. He's no different than GL John Stewart. Summed up, if you're going to race swap, don't color the character black. Give him a good origin story and write said character well.

@kiba:

No one "stole" anything. The writer for Spider-Man created a new character to be Spider-Man. Miles is very popular so it's weird that you claim to be invested in seeing why he's still around.

Ben Reilly was super popular, by the way. He was Spider-Man for awhile but it's too bad editorial decision ruined his story.

People don't inherently dislike Morales, what most of us don't like is him being pushed to the forefront of the comics over the far more interesting and beloved Peter Parker (There was even talks of Morales getting cast in one of the upcoming movies) Also as a character Morales brings nothing fresh to the character other than his skin colour and to most of us that's not interesting at all. Finally I think the real anger is that when the generations of fans that have grown up reading Spider-Man state that they would obviously prefer Parker to continue being the main Spider-Man we get accused of being prejudiced when for most of us that couldn't be further from the truth.

@furiousweasel: ^^This.

@furiousweasel:

I think Peter is a cool character. I don't think anybody is disputing that. But I think Peter is held too high on a pedestal at times. It's almost like he's a god to hard core comic fans. I grew up with Peter. Watched his shows and got his toys. But....... I don't mind changing up the mantel. You said that Miles isn't that interesting. But was Peter that interesting the first few issues? His story wasn't that remarkable. The main reasons he's lasting this long is because of publicity and how much time he's had. He's been around for a while and he's been given good stories and publicity. I bet if Miles gets the same treatment, people will probably like both. As far as prejudice, it can come into play. Phenotype can play a part in liking characters. I've seen a lot of racists. Plus, I get a feeling people would lose their crap, say, the whole justice league was race swapped. I'm happy you're not a bigot, but that sadly isn't true for all people who prefer Peter over Miles.

Because Peter is more powerful, funny, more intelligent and better at everything.

@optimus007: yeh u new to comics. When Peters story first came out in 1962 it was very remarkable cuz compared to the buff chiseled jaw Charles atlas looking heroes of the time he was a geeky awkward kid who couldn't score with chicks and when he finally gets superpowers he's not labeled the defender of our planet by his local newspaper but a menace to NY city. Yet he's driven to be a hero cuz he has great power and with that comes you get the point. (that formula has worked with the character all through the decades cuz it worked well from the first instant). The phycology was different back then, cuz times were different. Super Heroes were basically far-out Greek gods and Marvel giving us everyday folks. Nowadays you have all different variations so its harder for a new hero to catch a break. "minority" or not (never liked that word ). There is a lot of racism about the place and I can see this as a fuel for racist to air their usual insecurities some outright and some subtle. but there are some genuine longtime fans who just cant get behind this not because they don't like black folk or Hispanic folk or Gypsy Folk or whatever but because they gave us peter Parker Spiderman for decades and now there giving us a Miles Morales Spiderman because minority kids need a Spiderman to. that kinda reduces the whole thing to like my friend somewhere above said being "liberally correct" or " being unnecessarily ethnically diverse just for the sake of being ethnically diverse", we get the point you want more minorities but you didn't have to change good old wisecracking peter parker to get that. The thing is it might work or it might fall flat time will tell. Personally I was never a fan of the ultimate line but I found Miles's story quite good for an alternate universe story. Bringing it to the main universe and Miles as The Main Spidey nah. but then again there's a lot of stuff that I haven't been on the same page with Marvel when it comes to their Stoytelling for a while now.

"New to comics"

Thats the issue right there, go back and read about parker's stories then find out for yourself.

@vivide:

Do you have any recommended issues? I already know a lot about him from movies and TV, so I would like ones that stick out.

@optimus007: look for the ones by J. Michael Straczynski

The problems with Miles...first off stop blaming it on race,that is a cop out for why people don't like him the reason people wouldn't care if it was Peter again is because it's Peter not because he is white, had they not created Peter in the Ultimate universe Miles would have gotten less problems. Which leads us to the first problem, Miles' intro was them killing Peter (they brought him back when they needed to try to help Miles get people) and Miles storyline is a pure rip off of Peter, bit by spider gets power someone dies he feels guilty picks up spider costume, but he didn't even come up with his own he stole Peter’s and later changed the color scheme. Next problem his powers, he has nothing new or original about him basic spider powers are Peter’s camo is from Venom and the symbiote and the Venom blast is from Jessica Drew. And to keep this short I'll cut to the biggest problem, he is Brian Michael Bendis' "chosen one" he will always win by dumb luck, he doesn't learn he just gets lucky, what Blackheads the demon defeated the entire B-team Avengers Miles will touch him and the Venom blast will stop him even though she thor couldn't. The best thing for Marvel is to cut their roster and kill off most of this all new Era of characters and focus on the greats and realize Miles is hated because he isn't any good not because of his race

@optimus007: the problem is Miles isn't diverse, he's a rip off, Cloak was diverse, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Storm were diverse Miles is a PC push and the only thing he is around to do is to "be black" when he complains about being called "the black Spider-Man" even though Peter is swinging around in the classic red and blue or when he asks of if the word profile was used by Tony Stark because he is black.