Writer says move is re-invention of ‘Spider-Man for kids of colour, for adults of colour and everybody else.
There’s been a female Thor and a black Captain America, and now an even bigger star of the comic-book universe is set to embrace diversity as mixed-race teenager Miles Morales prepares to don the mask of Spider-Man.
Morales, who has an African American father and a Puerto Rican mother, has worn the Spider-Man suit since 2011 in Marvel’s offshoot Ultimate Universe line, set in an alternate reality where Peter Parker died. Writer Brian Bendis confirmed to the New York Daily News on Sunday that he is due to become the official Spider-Man from this autumn, with an adult Peter Parker as his mentor.
“Our message has to be it’s not Spider-Man with an asterisk, it’s the real Spider-Man for kids of colour, for adults of colour and everybody else,” Bendis told the paper.
“Many kids of colour, 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,” he added. “But now it’s true. It’s meant a great deal to a great many people.” >>READ MORE