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When someone asks you to think of Spider-Man, who do you picture behind the mask? Do you think of Peter Parker, the shy bookworm from Queens, or Miles Morales, the creative whiz kid from Brooklyn? There is no wrong answer, as both characters are Spider-Man.

Thanks to movies like Across the Spider-Verse, and the Insomniac Spider-Man video games, a new generation of fans are growing up with Miles Morales as their Spider-Man. The voice cast for Insomniac’s Spider-Man 2 discussed this shift during a spotlight panel at Megacon 2024.

“For a whole new generation, Miles is their Spider-Man,” Peter Parker voice actor Yuri Lowenthal said. “Pete is now like the old guy cracking jokes that nobody thinks is funny. To a certain age of Spider-Man, when you say point to your Spider-Man, they point to Miles. It’s amazing that the character can be as flexible, and still change with the times. We live in a time of great Spider-Manitude right now.”

“It’s been a great journey,” Miles Morales voice actor Nadji Jeter mused. “When I first got introduced to Miles, he was a young boy in Brooklyn, New York. I said, okay, I have family in Queens, I know what that energy is like. He’s a 13-year-old brainiac and a scientist. So, I jumped into it. I had to do a real high-pitched voice of a 13-year-old and have the spunk of Miles.”

“I don’t fall far from Miles. The moments he’s had with the losses in his life, and everything he’s had to battle with, and coming from a foreign background. My mom is actually Jamaican,” Jeter shared.

It’s interesting to note that (SPOILER WARNING) Spider-Man 2 ends with Peter retiring, making Miles Morales New York’s only Spider-Man. The journey Miles has taken on and off the page has been extraordinary. Like Peter Parker, he’s turned into a pop culture phenomenon. Speaking personally, I can back up Yuri’s claim. Last Halloween I saw dozens of kids dressed up as Spider-Man, and most of them were wearing Miles’ costume.

This isn’t to suggest that Miles will ever replace Peter Parker. Both characters are irreplaceable, and like Lowenthal said, we’re living in a time of great Spider-Man Manitude.

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