Issue 67 - Miles Morales

It's our Season 4 Premiere! We swing into the Ultimate Marvel Universe to look at MILES MORALES! It's no pressure being the next Spider-Man, right? Plus we announce changes to our Patreon, and Doc talks WCW (it makes sense in context). Listen now!

• Intro
  • Welcome back for Season 4
  • Discord & YouTube channels to watch/listen live
  • Announce changes to Patreon – monthly trade reviews exclusive to $ level
  • Mental Health Avengers coming soon!
  • Weekly shout-out to Bang Average Movie Podcast – Nathan & Tyler talk about movies. Nathan has a film studies degree, Tyler doesn’t. It comes out in the wash. Good movies, bad movies, they cover it all. Pretty funny – humor focused, so don’t expect serious in-depth analysis
  • Review read – CitrusSunshine on Apple - “I’m not that big of a comics fan, but this podcast is really good. I like that they have in universe and out of universe treatment. Often there are tips and thoughts that are applicable to my life. “
• Background (07:18)
  • Miles Morales created by Brian Michael Bendis & Sara Pichelli in Ultimate Fallout #4 (August 2011)
  • Miles was created to replace Peter Parker in Ultimate Universe, after Peter’s death – opted to create a minority character to reflect diversity of Marvel readers – look was influenced by Donald Glover
  • Miles born to black father and Puerto Rican mother
  • Similarly to Peter Parker, Miles was bitten by spider – the spider was infused with formula based on Peter’s blood – the spider crawled inside the duffel bag of the Prowler, a villain later revealed to be Miles’ uncle Aaron – when Miles went to his uncle’s house, the spider crawled out and bit him
  • Does not use his powers until he sees Spider-Man die thanks to Green Goblin – takes up the mantle, although initially shunned by public because he’s wearing a copy of Peter’s suit, and is yelled at that it’s in bad taste
  • Recruited by SHIELD – Uncle discovers he’s Spider-Man, and they battle – Aaron’s weapons malfunction and explode, killing him
  • Venom symbiote takes over the scientist who created the spider that bit him, and attacks Miles’ father, who he believes is Spider-Man – in the ensuing battle, the doctor is killed, along with Miles’ mother – Miles quits heroics
  • Returns as Spider-Man, and his father learns the truth – disowns him – later returns and reveals he and Aaron used to be undercover agents working for SHIELD
  • Reveals his identity to his girlfriend Katie Bishop, who in turn reveals she and her parents are agents of Hydra
  • Secret Wars – the Ultimate and 616 Universes are merged, and Miles brought into the mainstream universe – his mother is restored in the process, thanks to Molecule Man – now patrols NYC as Spider-Man alongside Peter Parker
  • Civil War II – Ulysses, an Inhuman with precognitive abilities, foresees Miles killing Captain America – this sets off conflict, although the murder does not occur
  • Now a member of Champions – upcoming storyline called Outlawed will ban teenage heroes, and Miles will be big part of it
• Issues (13:35)
  • Legacy character – struggles with mantle initially, especially after public reacts poorly
  • Much like Peter initially, teen hero carries with it own set of problems (22:30)
  • Difficulty of keeping family separated – doesn’t work well for him
• Break
  • Plugs for Play Comics & Into the Knight
• Treatment (40:57)
  • In-universe
  • Out of universe (44:24)
• Skit (51:22)
• Ending (57:27)
  • Next episodes – Medusa, Mental Health Avengers, Bane, Political terrorism, Tick
  • Review giveaway

References:

• Childish Gambino - Anthony (08:15)
• Molecule Man episode - Doc (11:45)
• Al Ewing NYCC Interview - Anthony (13:12)
• Viktor Frankl - Doc (21:13)
• Up to eleven - Doc (29:28)
• Psychiatry in Comics episode - Anthony (29:40)
• WCW - "Where t...