Race & Spider-Man: Sony Confirms a Glass Ceiling for Miles Morales

[Shaka Zulu]

Basically, Sony has confirmed that the black version of Spider-Man (from Ultimate Spider-Man) won't ever be in any future movies made by Sony, as they want to keep it the story of Peter Parker. Naturally, this is pissing people off, as one can see by the Tweets made by this article's author: (Race & Spider-Man: Sony Confirms a Glass Ceiling for Miles Morales)

Personally, although I love the idea, I think that Miles should be exposed a little bit more to the wider public beyond the readers of Ultimate Spider-Man before millions are spent on a movie featuring him, but that's just me. Anybody else think the same thing?

 

[Tosk]

It's not racism. It's no different to Sony (Avi) saying, "You'll never see Ben Reilly as Spider-Man."

Edit: I hadn't clicked yet, now I have. The question also included Ben Reilly and Miguel O’Hara, so that's that. How can somehow honestly claim racism at the Miles (and Miguel) shut-out without just conveniently ignoring Ben Reilly? To clarify; we will never see an identical, white clone of Peter Parker as Spider-Man on film. Racists!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

This sort of reasoning is a catch-22. You don't see a lot of superhero/comic book movies featuring central characters as people of color, because they aren't popular in the comics, and they aren't popular in the comics because comics have long been a predominantly white medium, so no one reaches that level of popularity to justify making a film.

Then again, you've got black people getting cast as the Storms in the new Fantastic Four movie, so maybe one day we'll get a black Peter Parker, too.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I would question whether or not Sony would have the rights to Miles Morales as a specific character in the first place. The movie rights were sold to Columbia (who was then bought by Sony) back in the 90s, and I harbor doubts that the contract would be worded so vaguely that Sony would automatically hold the rights to a character created within the last five years.

 

[Tosk]

Then again, you've got black people getting cast as the Storms in the new Fantastic Four movie, so maybe one day we'll get a black Peter Parker, too.

I would much rather see Miles as Spidey than just "making Peter black". What I really want to see though, is a Black Panther movie. C'mon already!

 

[JarodRussell]

Then again, you've got black people getting cast as the Storms in the new Fantastic Four movie, so maybe one day we'll get a black Peter Parker, too.

Except for skin color, what would be the difference? Have black Peter Parker beat up racists just to make a point?

 

[Mr Light]

That'd be hilarious if Marvel owned the rights to Miles Morales, so they could put HIM in the Avengers films but not Peter Parker

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I have no problem with the movie version of Spider-Man being Peter Parker. I think that has to do with other things besides race.

Given a little more time to get her established, I'd love to see Kamela Khan, though.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

I don't think this is a racial issue so much as it is an issue that when people think of Spider-Man, they mostly think of Peter Parker. Maybe in a while Miles Morales will supplant or rival Parker in name recognition among casual fans that you need to have a decent box office take, and then they would reconsider the decision.

 

[JarodRussell]

I wonder what they would be saying had Warner Bros. continued The Dark Knight with Joseph Gordon Lewitt's character, as that was the whole point about the new Batman franchise, that anyone, not only Bruce Wayne, can be Batman.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Then again, you've got black people getting cast as the Storms in the new Fantastic Four movie, so maybe one day we'll get a black Peter Parker, too.

Except for skin color, what would be the difference? Have black Peter Parker beat up racists just to make a point?

You might as well ask what's the difference in having non-white actors in movies to begin with.

 

[JarodRussell]

The thing is, Peter Parker is such a neutral character, his skin color makes no difference.

Black Superman would be very different. A black kid ("adopted" by white parents perhaps?) growing up in a small town in Kansas...

 

[Gaith]

If we're ever to have a non-PP Spider-Man at the movies, I vote for a female Spider-Person. Could be a black female Spider-Woman; why not. But I don't read comics, so I can't say as I care about this Morales fellow.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

That'd be hilarious if Marvel owned the rights to Miles Morales, so they could put HIM in the Avengers films but not Peter Parker

He would have to have a different code name -- Arachnid, Iron Spider, something that wasn't "Spider-Man." But then it would get tricky, because Sony could argue in court that Marvel was diluting their film rights to an arachnid-powered super-hero.

I wonder what they would be saying had Warner Bros. continued The Dark Knight with Joseph Gordon Lewitt's character, as that was the whole point about the new Batman franchise, that anyone, not only Bruce Wayne, can be Batman.

I wish Warners had rolled the dice and at least tried a John Blake Batman movie, just to see if it would work.

 

[Set Harth]

"Aren't you a little short to be Batman?"

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The thing is, Peter Parker is such a neutral character, his skin color makes no difference.

Perhaps not to you, but for a young child of color lacking in pop culture role models and positives influences, it could make a big difference.

I'm not of the mind that movies should generally be made with some kind of social justice agenda--really!! --but if a black guy got cast as Peter Parker or something like that, I wouldn't really bat an eye and would rather consider it a positive step.

 

[JarodRussell]

The thing is, Peter Parker is such a neutral character, his skin color makes no difference.

Perhaps not to you, but for a young child of color lacking in pop culture role models and positives influences, it could make a big different.

Just to be clear, I would have no problem at all with a black Spidey.

But when it's positive to have a black Spider-Man, is it detrimental when Spider-Man fights a black Electro? That's always my issue with the argument.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

The thing is, Peter Parker is such a neutral character, his skin color makes no difference.

Perhaps not to you, but for a young child of color lacking in pop culture role models and positives influences, it could make a big different.

Just to be clear, I would have no problem at all with a black Spidey.

But when it's positive to have a black Spider-Man, is it detrimental when Spider-Man fights a black Electro? That's always my issue with the argument.

No, but obviously there's a big contextual difference between casting black people as heroes vs. casting them as villains. It's not novel to have black villains.

 

[Cyke101]

This sort of reasoning is a catch-22. You don't see a lot of superhero/comic book movies featuring central characters as people of color, because they aren't popular in the comics, and they aren't popular in the comics because comics have long been a predominantly white medium, so no one reaches that level of popularity to justify making a film.

Aye, and it's additionally a case of studios and publishers not willing to take that chance. Thankfully, we have comics like the new Ms. Marvel that's doing pretty well critically and financially, and I really hope that that pans into more diversity in Marvel in general, but also into a budding franchise for Kamala Khan.

As Gail Simone once pointed out, audiences have always been diverse. Arts & entertainment? Not so much. Trying to make a minority part of the center tends to elicit accusations of tokenism and PC-ness, but good art & entertainment is inspired by reality, and reality has a lot more color than white male faces. One reason why Anthony Mackie chose to play the Falcon was so that kids in general would have a black action figure to play with, and that black kids in particular could have something that says, "Hey, that hero looks like me! I can be a hero, too."

Additionally, while I dislike the Fast & the Furious movies, one thing it has going for it is *plenty* of minority protagonists, and it rakes in the cash. It's kind of cynical to say that this all depends on money, but there is certainly appeal.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

I would much rather see Miles as Spidey than just "making Peter black". What I really want to see though, is a Black Panther movie. C'mon already!

In agreement with you on the two points, even more so for the second.

Except for skin color, what would be the difference? Have black Peter Parker beat up racists just to make a point?

Not black Peter Parker, Miles Morales. That last detail makes all the difference.