 Miles Morales isn't Spider-Man, is an argument that I've seen floating around the Twitter space And I've more than just tweeted about once and called it a day I've tweeted about it enough to end up in a video by a popular comic youtuber just some guy In fact this video is basically going to be a response to his video But before I continue I suggest you watch his video first and do so without being toxic towards him or his fan base If you do watch it, I recommend you only comment until after the video is done I want to keep this a civil argument despite my tendency to fly off the handle of people on Twitter YouTube is a different game and starting beef with other content creators in their communities will lead to needless infighting within the community While on Twitter, you're most likely just gonna be having an insult match with one or two people Also before I continue I want to be very clear that I did make an offhand comment about this video before watching it And therefore yes, that would mean I am asking my audience to not repeat that same error. That's my bad I'll own up to it. I thought the whole video is about my tweet before I heard it Let's finally get to the breakdown. Okay, so right off the bat guy says that Miles Morales is not Spider-Man If he were Spider-Man, he wouldn't have to keep telling us Before I actually get to arguing the main bits of this I want to quickly poke a hole in this way of thinking if I went up to you and Told you that Spider-Man's costume is entirely green your response would be No, it is not if I repeated that his costume was green over and over and you kept telling me it is not and I Decided to respond with Spider-Man's costume is green and if it was not green You would not have to keep telling us no matter who's in the right or wrong in this scenario if one side has to keep Repeating what they are saying that doesn't automatically prove whatever they are saying to be false This argument doesn't have any ties to any side either if anything I could turn this around on the other side of the aisle Miles Morales is Spider-Man if he weren't Spider-Man you wouldn't have to keep telling us that he isn't now before I get to the rest of this video. Don't hold your breath. There's no sponsorship coming. Don't worry I just I just took a pause to scare you unless it's square spit I have to address what my beliefs about this topic are I believe that Miles Morales is Spider-Man and I believe that most people who say he is Know that he is not the original Spider-Man. That is obviously Peter Parker No one within their right mind is going to tell you otherwise Guy goes on to say in this video that he knows Miles Morales isn't Spider-Man Because we call him Miles Morales not Spider-Man Miles Morales isn't Spider-Man How do I know because you call him Miles Morales and not Spider-Man? This line of thinking doesn't necessarily prove anything either. You see for every alternate version of Spider-Man There's a quick alteration or addition to the name to distinguish them from their original Peter Parker's title of just plainly Spider-Man Miguel O'Hara is Spider-Man 2099 because he comes from the year 2099 Hobart Brown is Spider-Punk not because he isn't a Spider-Man But because he's a punk rocker plus Spider-Man punk doesn't really roll off the tongue Spider-Man Miles Morales is What he is called because he is Spider-Man, but his name is really Miles Morales and They didn't come up with too cool of an alteration to the original Spider-Man name for him to use unless it's kid arachnid, but If a toy of Miles Morales is sold as a toy of Miles Morales, it's because that's what he's called to differentiate him from Peter Not because he isn't Spider-Man these characters are all undoubtedly Spider-Man We only call Miles Morales Miles Morales because that is how we address the specific version of Spider-Man so that people know What we're talking about. This is why Spider-Man 2099 is commonly addressed as just 2099 or Miguel Not because it's a moment of self-adminance that said characters in Spider-Man This even applies to Peter himself if I say Peter Parker You might think of any of the movie versions the one from the comics or even video games or shows But if I say Peter be Parker you immediately think of my favorite movie version of the character Not because he isn't Spidey But because you know what I am talking about much quicker if I refer to him as Peter be Parker If I tell you to think about Spider-Man, you're obviously gonna think about this guy not this one Just because they're referred to differently that doesn't mean they still can't fit under the classification of Spider-Man But what makes them fit under the classification of Spider-Man? Well, I believe it's two things What does Spider-Man do? He climbs walls. He shoots webs. He has a high sense of awareness He helps people and he's pretty damn strong These are all things that Miles Morales does along with almost every other person who has in some shape or form Fit under the mantle of Spider-Man, but who says Spider-Man is a mantle a classification or a group Why is he now a group of people as opposed to one because these people have clearly made it so The amazing Spider-Man is commonly known as 616 Peter Parker He cannot be ultimate Spider-Man because ultimate Spider-Man is ultimate Spider-Man who is Peter Parker from Earth 1610 and that is how you tell the difference between these two Even Peter Parker has his own alterations and titles that help him differentiate even from different versions of himself Hell even when Miles took over the ultimate continuity as Spider-Man the title went from ultimate Spider-Man to ultimate comics Spider-Man Sensational Spider-Man? That's not Peter. That's Ben Riley a clone of Spider-Man How do you know? Because he's referred to differently as Sensational Spider-Man Even if you say that Miles isn't Spider-Man because we don't immediately refer to him as such This doesn't mean that the person we're talking about isn't Spider-Man We don't have to prove this because it's already been set in stone for the people who keep us in our mother's basements Marvel Comics you can say all you want that Marvel character Miles Morales isn't Spider-Man But at the end of the day, he's a Marvel character if Marvel makes a choice about a character Then that's how it is the entire reason we complain about everything They do is because we are powerless to change the choices. They make with their characters good or bad if Marvel says Miles Morales is Spider-Man then he is such that doesn't mean that Peter isn't Spider-Man It just means that Miles is also Spider-Man just a different one It's not us making Marvel change Spider-Man from being one character into a group of characters It's Marvel doing it when we tell you that Miles is Spider-Man We're telling you that Miles is Spider-Man because that's just how it is You're probably wondering where just some guy's commentary has gone in my video I've only responded to the two points he's made so far And it might feel like I haven't given him time to breathe or even address his counter points But if you watch the video before mine like I told you to because my fan base always listens to me And they never ever ever do anything I tell them not to That was a lie You'd find out that guy just states his point about how we call him Miles And that's how we know he isn't Spider-Man But then moves on to talk about how Miles is just a token character and how that somehow proves that he isn't Spider-Man I'll play the clip for you Miles Morales isn't Spider-Man How do I know because you call him Miles Morales and not Spider-Man Miles has been around for a little over 10 years He's a pinnacle of talking characters and the proof lies in him being completely unremarkable in Spider-Man's first 10 years We got most of the major stories He's known for the Green Goblin saga the death of Gwen Stacy the sinister six and so on in Miles 10 years We've got what honestly what are his major story arcs I'm a comic book fan. I know the important moments in plenty of character stories. I've never read I don't know any of his despite people talking about Miles constantly. What are his major story arcs? What are his character defining moments? Oh, what is his character? This isn't a digger insult towards guy Nothing I say in this video is meant to be as such and I want to make that very clear He makes a single point about how I address a character and seemingly proceeds to back up his point with his Problems with the character relating to him being a quote-unquote token character One could say that these two arguments are related But they really aren't classifying whether a character is Spider-Man or not has nothing to do with your opinions or beliefs about said character If I hate Miles Morales That doesn't change that he's Spider-Man because not only does he tick the boxes that make him a Spider-Man themed hero But also because the company who made him says so even if they market him as Miles Morales to keep you from Confusing him with Peter Parker the original Spider-Man We'll come back to his feelings on the character later in this video I feel like the people who fight so hard for the point guy fights for are so against the idea of Miles being Spider-Man That they've forgotten that Marvel has literally set this idea in stone for now If you believe Miles isn't Spider-Man, that's kind of too bad. He is Saying he isn't over and over and over again will not change the reality The argument doesn't even affect Miles Morales alone if Miles can't be Spider-Man because he isn't Peter Then no one else can either Fan favorite Spider-Man 2099. He can't be Spider-Man Even if people love his stories and don't see him as a token character Any potential else world that wants to put a new person under the mask to tell a new and potentially interesting story Sure, but they can't be Spider-Man All we can have is this one guy and this is the only Spider-Man we can have and no more And I think the reality is is that's just Less interesting the classic trope of the copycat superhero is fun to explore Not just for other versions of Spider-Man, but for Peter as well How does Peter interact with this new Spider-Man? Does he disagree with their methods? Does he hate them? Does he like them? Does he approve of someone else being Spider-Man? Does he not? These are fun ideas to explore that can be tied back to the original character people love so much Via the use of more Spider-Man Let's get back to what just some guy is saying He goes on to argue that Miles has been completely unremarkable in the last ten years And the proof lies in him being completely unremarkable in Spider-Man's first ten years We got most of the major stories He's known for the Green Goblin saga the death of Gwen Stacy the sinister six and so on in Miles ten years We've got What honestly, what are his major story arcs? Well, I haven't read the original Miles run since I was younger So I decided to get into contact with someone who has Jonathan or JP money one nine nine on Twitter He is a huge Miles fan and him and I were able to work together to sum up most of Miles major character arcs from his comics Miles Morales is a young kid in Brooklyn who wins a lottery getting him into a more academic schooling environment Miles is reluctant as this places the burden of huge expectations on his shoulders Miles is then bitten by a radioactive spider while trying to take a load off with his uncle Who stole this spider in the first place as the prowler? Miles reluctantly decides to use these powers for good for one outing and then decides he isn't the guy to do it The real Spider-Man is despite how much Miles is best friend Ganké thinks he should But when Miles hears of an event involving Spider-Man, he rushes over to help. It was too late Miles believes it was his fault and his reluctance stopped him from saving Peter But Ganké concludes that maybe Peter dying was the moment Miles needed to justify being Spider-Man from that point on Miles stories about fighting to prove that he can be Spider-Man Whether it's proving it to himself by fighting his own insecurities Peter's loved ones the Avengers Shield or even his father his struggle is to prove to everyone that he is capable of meeting the expectations set Upon him he goes on to lose his abusive cat burglar uncle prowler His own mother dies and he has to wonder how to go on being Spider-Man When it's tough without the original Spider-Man being there to help him Miles has to find solace in those around him his remaining family or friends who know or find out that he is Spider-Man and work with him to give him advice and help Miles is different in the way that he's not as smart as Peter is But his shortcomings are made up for because he has family and friends to lean on when it gets hard He's not like Peter where he has to take the weight of all the world onto his shoulders all alone He has a lovable cast of characters that will be there for him when he can't do it alone That's just the first few issues of his run. Those are the major story arcs that guy is looking for Guy then goes on to mention that Miles is such a blank slate that Marvel produced several what-if stories where Miles Becomes another superhero. He's such a blank slate that Marvel comics did a what-if series where miles took on different characters names What if Miles was Captain America? What if Miles was Thor and if you got more with that you could always read his regular book What if Miles was Spider-Man? Miles being a quote-unquote blank slate is not the reason they did this Marvel did this because self-expression became a core tenet of Miles's character in the film Spider-Man into the spider-verse The writers on spider-verse decided to improve Miles by giving him his own hobby a way to express himself via graffiti art This change gives Miles a concrete way to distinguish himself even further from Peter as his art becomes his own form of self-expression This self-expression is what makes him spider-man when he takes the original spider-man suit and spray paints it into a new design That's his way of taking the mantle of spider-man and doing it his way This is his way of saying that he is Miles Morales first Spider-man second yet still spider-man nonetheless This idea of self-expression is carried over into other adaptations of the character and even the video game where the tagline isn't to be greater It's to be yourself and this idea is poorly carried out by Marvel within these what-if stories where miles Expresses himself just through other superhero mantles this idea sucks, and I'm telling you why I think Marvel did it I don't think it's because miles is a blank slate Guy continues his video by continuing to claim that miles was only created to be a black character and nothing else And that his only defining character trait is that he is black and I mean At this point it's just kind of wrong I don't really know if guy is fairly given miles the benefit of it even exploring his character or even properly Explaining miles his character or at least what miles his character writing tries to be in his video He just keeps asking for miles to not have stories tied to his race which miles has The video game the movie are the most popular adaptations of this character and neither of them use race as a plot point I'm aware that there is a BLM sign in the game But it is not related to the plot in my honest opinion Just some guy in this video provides a surface level view on miles as a character and boiling down the issue Back into the fact he's a black character and not instead closely dissecting his stories to point out their issues Guy, I hope you watch this video, and I also hope you don't mind me calling you guy at this entire time But anyway, I hope you watch not because I want to own you in an argument or whatever But because I wanted you to watch a video where you didn't have to put up with me braiding you or Acting like a fool while splashing some off-hand comments in between some kind of decent points I wanted to make a video where I've really thought about everything you said and addressed that and only that If you make a rebuttal, I would hope you do the same And I asked that my community learn from my mistake about not being a civil at first And I'll be taking actions to restrict those who don't from my fan base Even if you find Marvel's efforts to define Miles as character is shallow or Unadequate or just bad It doesn't change the fact that he is Spider-Man, whether you like the character or not. This isn't really something that can be argued about Miles Morales is Spider-Man And that's not really anything we can change right now So instead of arguing about whether he is or isn't why don't we think about ideas that could make him better instead?