Spider-Man 3: Miles Morales Should Appear (But In Animated Form)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is going off the rails in the best way with the MCU's Spider-Man 3, which is set to open the doors of the multiverse wide by bringing in villains from previous iterations of the franchise, and potentially bringing back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's versions of Peter Parker as well. But Marvel Studios isn't the first to explore the idea of a Spider-centric Marvel multiverse on the big screen; that honor goes to the recent Miles Morales-starring animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Sony has had mixed success with the Spider-Man franchise, which resulted in the studio ultimately teaming up with Disney to make Peter Parker part of the MCU. However, the Sony Pictures Animation venture Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a resounding success without needing the backing of Marvel Studios. Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman, Into the Spider-Verse was for many people their first introduction to Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore), the Ultimate Marvel version of Spider-Man, who was introduced in the comics in 2011. Exploring the concept of a vast multiverse with many variations on Spider-Man, Into the Spider-Verse also featured the voices of Chris Pine and Jake Johnson as different versions of Peter Parker.

By virtue of being the first version of Miles Morales to appear in a theatrically-released film, Moore's animated version of Miles is for many people the definitive version, in the same way that Maguire was for many years considered synonymous with Spider-Man. It would therefore be a waste to recast and reinvent Miles Morales' Ultimate Spider-Man in live-action for the MCU so soon after Spider-Verse's Miles Morales was introduced. A new Miles would also require additional set-up in a movie that's already looking to be absolutely packed with story and characters. Instead, the MCU Spider-Man 3 should pay tribute to the Marvel multiverse trailblazer by featuring the animated Miles Morales in a post-credits stinger that teases Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2.

With the inclusion of Spider-Man 2's Doctor Octopus (played by Alfred Molina) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2's Electro (played by Jamie Foxx), Spider-Man 3 is set to break down the walls between the Disney-owned MCU and Sony's roster of Spider-Man franchises. That means that current and upcoming properties like Venom and the Jared Leto-starring Morbius are on the table as well. Though Spider-Man 3, Marvel can create a bridge to these other cinematic versions of Marvel Comics characters, while still keeping the core MCU intact.

The potential for cross-promotion between the two studios - assuming that relations between Marvel and Sony remain friendly - is huge. Tom Holland's Peter Parker could cameo in Venom 2, or drop in on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2 in a hilarious Who Framed Roger Rabbit reversal. Breaking open the scope of possible crossovers can only help to build hype among fans, and a cameo by Miles Morales in Spider-Man 3 could firmly establish that the MCU is connected to Sony's animated movies through the strange web of the multiverse.

That's not to say that the MCU couldn't introduce its own live-action version of Miles somewhere down the line, but that should be saved for a movie where the character is one of the leads, not thrown into an already-packed multiverse ensemble. In the meantime, Spider-Verse's Miles Morales is ready and primed for a fun (if brief) MCU appearance.

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