Writing Without Fear – How I Would Bring Miles Morales In As The Marvel Universe Movie Spider-Man
This has been bugging me a little bit, we’ve had five Spider-man movies now featuring Peter Parker and we have well established the origins of the Web head. Now we have the potential to sit through another origin story as Spider-Man finally gets absorbed into the Marvel Movie Universe (MCU). The question though is… Do we need Peter Parker as Spider-man now? Should the torch be passed on to his legacy character Miles Morales. I think his time has come, and this is how I would do it.
Spider-man has long been established as one of Marvel’s flagship titles, and Peter has had a long career as Spidey, but has he become to long in the tooth for MCU? To change-up into Miles Morales you have to change the Spider-Man movie into a passing of the torch movie, not another bloody origins movie.
How I Would Have Wrote It
You set up Peter as the older superhero formally known as Spider-man, give him a 60’s opening title swing through to establish all the touch points of origin, and his many trails and tribulations, and fights with the Green Goblin who is revealed to be Norman Osborn. In his last battle with the Green Goblin he finally defeats the Monster before mysteriously disappearing as the Web Slinger and actually having a happily ever after with MJ. We fast forward to now and Peter is living a fairly normal life, largely ignored by the world. The reason he turned his back on being Spider-man was his powers just stopped working – Peter eventually explains using the same allegory as a viral infection, he simply burned the virus out.
We then have an incident that gets him involved with Miles Morales who is a fairly ordinary kid, worried about his family and were he is going to school. I am going to run with they get involved in a mutual highway car accident; Peter has the same rare blood type as Miles and is on hand to give his blood to save the kid. While Peter has avoided this all his life, he does because he still believes in great power equals great responsibility. (yes I am keenly aware this is not Miles actually origin but stay with me.)
After the transfusion Miles recovers at an amazing rate, and once released from Hospital discovers he has super-human abilities like camouflage, increased agility, some sort of stun blast, and can climb any surface like a Spider. He then discovers via the internet the 60’s Spider-man, and puts the answer together in his head that Peter was Spider-man! After a little detective work he tracks down Peter, who refuses to acknowledge that he was once Spider-man, but advises the kid that he should hide his powers because there are people who would try to use Miles to hurt people.
Miles doesn’t listen and goes out one night to test his new powers, and as he saves someone from a mugging his heroics are filmed by bystanders, and the videos and pictures go viral. Miles wakes up the next day to find he has been dubbed the New Spider-man. With the Daily Bugle of course calling him the new webbed menace.
Norman Osborn is also still alive sitting in prison and learns of the reappearance of Spider-man, and it triggers a transformation into the Green Goblin, that allows him to breakout. Finally he will have his revenge on Parker!
Learning what Miles has done, Peter calls Miles and invites the kid to visit him. Peter reluctantly reveals to Miles he was once Spider-man, and once again tells him to hide his powers. This is the moment the Green Goblin attacks Peter’s home, and Miles is forced to use his powers to save Peter and his wife from the rampaging monster. It all goes horribly wrong and MJ finds herself once again kidnapped by Osborn as the Green Goblin.
Knowing he needs Miles help to save his wife he gives the kid his old costume and web slingers, and says he had a plan. He has one vial of anti-goblin serum left from his old adventuring days, if they can inject Osborn with it he would return to normal. If Miles appears as Spider-man it might give Peter the chance to use the serum.
We then go to the classic stand-off on Brooklyn bridge, Peter turns up to confront Osborn who wants to know where Spider-man is. To which Peter replies it isn’t him anymore… In swings Miles knocking Osborn off-balance, Peter saves MJ, we get a superhero/supervillain fight that seesaws over who has the vial, and Peter having to swing out on a line to get it. Eventually the Green Goblin is subdued, and changes into Norman who Peter knocks out (used to hurt less when I punched people). The authorities start to appear, and Peter tells Miles to disappear and we end with helicopter search lights illuminating Peter and MJ standing over an unconscious Osborn.
Then cut to a hero shot of Miles Morales dressed in a darker version of the Spider-man costume, and we have established Peter’s legacy and passing it on to a new hero for a new age.
There you go, this is how I would have written it. Whadda ya think?
