When Marvel's relaunched Spider-Man comic series comes out this fall, a new face will be behind the spidey mask.
The new series, written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by artist Sara Pichelli, will relaunch with Miles Morales, a half-black, half-Latino teenager, as Spider-Man, according to the New York Daily News. Morales has appeared as a version of Spider-Man in Marvel's offshoot Ultimate Spider-Man series since 2011, which is separate from Marvel's larger Spider-Man universe where Peter Parker is behind the mask. When the limited comic series Secret Wars ends this summer, however, Morales will re-emerge as the official Spider-Man on the page.
Bendis, the writer and co-creator of the new Spider-Man comics wants fans to know that Morales will indeed be the main superhero and no longer an alternate version of the web-slinger. "Our message has to be it’s not Spider-Man with an asterisk," Bendis told the Daily News, "it’s the real Spider-Man for kids of color, for adults of color and everybody else."
This Marvel announcement comes just days after a leaked legal licensing agreement between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment was released by Wikileaks. The document describes that one of the "core elements" of Spider-Man is that "he is a heterosexual Caucasian male." According to Variety, the contract, which went into effect in Sept. 2011, also includes "Mandatory Spider-Man Character Traits." One states that the character is “not a homosexual (unless Marvel has portrayed that alter ego as a homosexual).”
Marvel and Sony declined to comment.
While Morales may not replace Peter Parker on the big screen any time soon, he has portrayed Spider-Man on the small screen. Donald Glover voiced Morales in two episodes of Disney XD's series "Marvel's Ultimate Spider-Man: Web Warriors."
Bendis told Vulture last year that he hopes to see Morales appear as Spider-Man on the big screen one day, saying that whichever studio is in charge "should pursue it as quickly as possible." Andrew Garfield also supported passing down the spidey suit to Morales in an interview last year. "Miles Morales was a huge moment in this character’s comic book life. And I do believe that we can do that," Garfield told Comic Book Resources.
For more, head to the New York Daily News.