The MCU Isn't Quite Ready For Miles Morales (But It's Almost There)

We all know it's coming, the only question is when. Just like the X-Men, Miles Morales will make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut at some point. Sure, Sony and Disney need to figure out a deal that will make the maximum amount of money for both, but introducing him in the MCU makes so much sense that there's no way it won't happen eventually. After all, his take on Spider-Manning have managed to breathe fresh air on the character concept, and Miles' role in "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" and the upcoming "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" have more than realized the character's big screen potential.

Still, nothing's ever simple when it comes to superheroes. While Miles may seem like the kind of guy who's well on his way to get his MCU membership card fast-tracked, he's actually a character whose debut shouldn't be rushed. In fact, there are numerous reasons to keep Mr. Morales as far away from the MCU as humanly possible ... but only for the time being. 

The most immediate reason to refrain from introducing Miles in the MCU is that the character already has a lot on his plate with the "Spider-Verse" movies, which seem destined to become the critical darling of Spider-Man franchises. Per Rotten Tomatoes, "Into the Spider-Verse" is easily the best Spidey-themed movie ever made with its 97 percent approval score, and from the looks of it, "Across the Spider-Verse" will be the rare sequel that delivers. What's more, the "Spider-Verse" movies are designed to be a complete trilogy, with "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" wrapping up the story sometime in 2024.

To put it mildly, this is not the kind of run that should be disrupted. The "Spider-Verse" movies are so unique and so wonderfully weird that it would be a travesty to stir the pot by randomly introducing a MCU Miles before the animated trilogy's conclusion. Marvel and Sony should limit themselves into potentially using the "Spider-Verse" trilogy's ending to tease Miles' impeding MCU debut. In fact, even that might be too much, because even after these movies, there's plenty of reasons to let Miles rest for a while before bringing him to live action.

There's also the matter of the incumbent MCU Spider-Man. Tom Holland's Peter Parker has spent a trilogy of his own movies as a kid who got thrown in the deep end, and found himself fighting Captain America (Chris Evans) and assorted aliens before he even had the chance to graduate from high school. This means that the character is still very, very young, even though he already has an impressive amount of MCU appearances under his belt.

Introducing Miles before Holland's Spidey ages up a bit would seriously mess with the iconic mentor-mentee chemistry that's such an instrumental part of the two spider-heroes' interactions. Besides, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" effectively reboots Peter Parker from a high-tech hero with numerous connections in the superhero community to the impoverished street-level hero that meshes better with his comic book origins. It would be a shame to rush things by forcing this version of Peter to suddenly play second fiddle to Miles before he gets a few more appearances under his belt — perhaps in the form of a second trilogy of his own movies. After that, he (and the audience) should be more than ready to allow a new Spider-Man bask in the spotlight.  

Sure, the animated Miles Morales and the live-action Peter Parker both have a few more adventures in them before Miles can reasonably enter the MCU. Even so, reboot fatigue is arguably the most important reason to avoid introducing a live-action Miles Morales quite yet.

While he's not quite on Batman levels, Spider-Man is still one oft-rebooted live-action superhero character. We've gone from Tobey Maguire to Andrew Garfield to Holland in the span of two decades and eight "Spider-Man" films, along with the latter's numerous appearances in other MCU movies. What's more, "Spider-Man: No Way Home" specifically rubs this in by featuring all three live-action Peter Parkers, along with a bunch of their respective bad guys. Miles, of course, isn't a reboot of Peter Parker, but he's still very much a Spider-Man. Introducing him this early in the game –- and this soon after both the MCU and the "Spider-Verse" movies have leaned so heavily into the "multiple Spider-people" concept -– might very well be the drop that causes the Spider-glass to overflow. 

If the MCU is willing to wait a few more years before bringing Miles in, he may very well prove to be the perfect way to breathe fresh air into the whole concept of Spider-Man. By putting him at the forefront when the time is right -– and only when the time is right -– the MCU will get a brand new Spider-character with all sorts of new stories to tell, while still allowing the currently forgotten MCU Peter enough time to reestablish himself as a crime-fighting legend.

As they say, good things come to those who wait. When it comes to Miles' MCU debut, the wait will certainly make things much, much better.