Miles Morales: Spider-Man

Miles’s most intense internal conflict stems from the concept of legacy and what it means to be a part of one. Miles’s father, Jeff Davis, and his uncle, the deceased Aaron Davis, both lived lives of crime in their adolescence and into early adulthood. While Mr. Davis changed the course of his life away from stealing, his brother Aaron eventually died in the act. An immense amount of pressure is placed on Miles to break the cycle of crime that seems to plague his paternal family. Miles grapples with the idea of legacy, its hand in his own (supposed) predisposition to evil, and is eventually able to overcome this fear by dedicating himself to bettering his community.

For most of the novel, Miles wonders if it is even possible for him to break the cycle of crime that he and others (like Mr. Chamberlain and the dean) use to define his family. He wonders if he’s predisposed to committing crimes, likening it to “how really tall people usually have really tall parents. Or how you can be predisposed to be an alcoholic if one of your parents is. Miles had what he always had considered complicated genetics: bad blood” (22). He sees his father and uncle’s past actions as something he will always (have to) carry moving forward, despite being his own person and a part-time superhero. Until Miles meets his incarcerated cousin Austin, Uncle Aaron’s son, and processes his own feelings regarding legacy, he doesn’t fully consider the idea of change or nuance—that people like his father can (and prove they can) change, and that people like his uncle often have complex reasons underlying their actions. In Uncle Aaron’s case, he stole partially to provide Austin’s mother with life-saving medication. However, Miles’s fear and anxiety are only intensified by his father’s constant reminders about Uncle Aaron’s unfortunate fate, having died some time before the novel.

It is this idea of predisposition to evil that causes Miles to quit being Spider-Man, despite knowing he can help people with his powers. Whenever he makes a mistake or gets in trouble (either of his own accord or not), Miles hears Uncle Aaron’s dying words on a loop, reminding him of the burden he carries as heir to the Davis legacy: “You’re just like me” (11). He reorients himself by remembering his father and uncle’s choices and actively going against them: He wants to focus on finishing high school as a model student, which relies on him temporarily giving up the mantle of Spider-Man. Furthermore, Miles is able to overcome his fear of following in his uncle’s footsteps by standing up for his community and fighting against injustice (the Chamberlains and the Warden). He proves to himself that he is good and can continue to be good, by caring for those around him and standing up for what is right. With Ganke and Alicia’s coaxing, he also learns to overcome his fear by being kinder to himself, by giving himself the space to be a normal teenage boy. Miles “hustles” at Ganke and his own behest (taking advantage of his superhuman abilities to win bets), but these moments are relatively benign compared to his father’s and uncle’s pasts. However, his aggressive handling of the neighborhood shoe thief is excessive. Yet he sees these moments as hard proof of evil rather than acknowledging his mistakes and striving to do better. It isn’t until the end of the novel—when he honors his own emotions, his fear and his hope—that he moves past his stagnation.