Why ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Is Special to Kids of Color
Spider-Man has been a fan-favorite of comic book enthusiasts & casual fans of the cartoons & films since his first appearance in “Amazing Fantasy #15” in 1962. Since his humble beginnings, we’ve known Spider-Man out of the mask as Peter Parker, a historically book-smart, white male who learned from the untimely passing of his Uncle Ben, that “With great power, comes great responsibility”. Peter lives day to day working on maintaining strong, healthy relationships with his Aunt May, his best friend Harry Osborne & the two loves of his life at different times, Gwen Stacey & Mary-Jane Watson. At night he’s tasked himself with the responsibility of fighting evil villains & keeping NYC residents safe from harm. These have held true & been staples of Peter’s story throughout time & are present in the Spider-Verse film as well. While most of these are generally real problems that we can relate to, they’re not very complex & lack the depth of what kids of color specifically deal with on a day to day basis.
While not a major concern, piggy-backing off the 2011 comic, “Ultimate Fallout #4”, this film makes way for a new generation of Spider-Man, named Miles Morales & embraces even younger fans with a diverse cast kids of color are more likely to identify with & relate to.
Miles is an Afro-Latino high schooler that resides with his parents in Brooklyn, New York. Miles takes over Peter’s role as NYC’s guardian-Spider after Peter’s untimely passing. By day Miles does things that mirror lots of children of color’s interests, such as tagging, reading a diverse array of comics, listening to hip hop & balancing maintaining a difficult relationship with his parents, as well as creating his own chosen family outside his home on top of keeping his grades up. Miles is even visually reflective of a lot of today’s youth of color, he has a head of coarse curly hair, styled into a small, semi-kept afro, opts for fitting base layered clothing, while rocking oversized outer layers like gym shorts, a hoodie, an MA-1 bomber jacket, finished off with a well-worn pair of Nike Air Jordan 1 hightops in the “Chicago” colorway. Creators sited Childish Gambino & Barack Obama as early sources of inspiration for Morales, which is fitting & very in step with the times, so it’s not surprising that his outfits & silhouettes clearly resemble that of Fear Of God, by Jerry Lorenzo, a grail-brand among today’s youth.
Key moments that will strike chords with kids of color will be seeing a kid like Miles, similar to them, having artistic abilities, such as tagging, that he’s not quite certain how to share or express without the labels of “vandalism” or “property damage” haunting him, struggling to fit in majority Caucasian schools, parents who can sometimes hinder the greatness in you with their skepticism of your dreams & over-protection of you, finding a confidant in a close family member, like Miles’s uncle Aaron, a best friend, like Gwen Stacey, or a chosen family of people that relate to you for one reason or another & can become a vital support system for you during your times of need, like Peter B. Parker, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, Peni Parker & Spider-Man Noir.
As an African American man, who’s still very much in touch with their inner-child, I can say there was nothing more magical than seeing a kid that looks like myself & so much of today’s youth forge his own path, create his own look & do amazing things in his uncertainty, but still have a level of swagger about himself. It’s heartwarming to have the Spider-cast & Stan Lee (via a small animated cameo) assure the viewer(s) that literally anyone of any ethnicity, heritage, culture or gender has the ability to wear the mask of Spider-Man, cause at the end of the day it’s the greatness & selflessness within each of us that connects us & makes us amazing!
