Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse might feature a whole team of Spider-Men/Women/People, but make no mistake, this is a Miles Morales film. For fans and critics who have been itching to see Miles on the big screen, this is huge. He’s very much the focal point of the movie, and seeing him grapple with new abilities, alternate realities all while balancing high school makes for a great storyline. He even has a few powers that no other Spider-Hero has, and he’ll get plenty of opportunities to show them off throughout the near two-hour runtime. So, what are Miles’ powers?
Spider-Powers
He’s not called Spider-Man for nothing. After he’s bitten by the radioactive spider in an abandoned subway tunnel, Miles quickly learns that he can stick to things as it causes trouble for him in school. He struggles to control his powers, but eventually he’ll be crawling up walls at every opportunity. It’s made clear that he’s not the most agile of teenagers, making clumsy awkward movements as he pretty much trips over his own feet. Luckily, thanks to the superpowers he’s jumping through the air and dodging danger at every turn.
With a little help from an aging Peter Parker, Miles masters the art of web-slinging, but not without hitting signs, lampposts and even a train before learning to glide through the streets of Manhattan. To be fair to Miles, in the most recent trailer Pete only gives him one web-shooter to learn with when hurling him off a balcony. Talk about throwing him in at the deep end. Like all the rest of the Spider-Heroes in the film, he also has Spider-Sense – warning him of danger briefly before it happens. Spider-Sense will quite literally be a life-saver during the many fights in the film, especially since Miles isn’t a trained fighter… Yet. It also helps him recognize other people with the same powers… Spider-Friends!
Venom Blast
He might have all the usual Spider-Powers, but he also has a vicious ability which gives him the edge over his opponents. Miles’ ‘Venom Blast’ uses his own biochemistry to attack other people. Crazy. We’ll get it out of the way right now, it has nothing to do with the Venom symbiote, it just happens to share the name. The ability also doesn’t have anything to do with a venomous liquid – it’s actually a huge electric charge that Miles can disperse from his hands when he’s touching something or someone.
Much like the rest of his abilities, it will take some time before he’s able to master it. In the comics, he accidentally used the blast for the first time on another teenager who was trying to steal his bag. That’s a shocking lesson the would-be-thief won’t forget. And once he’s more familiar with his powers, he can even transform his bio-electricity into a physical string of energy he can use in fights. We wouldn’t want to be on the end of that lasso. There’s no doubt that Miles will be able to use his Venom Blast against his enemies throughout Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Invisibility
Miles comes with a few extras that make other heroes jealous. Arguably his most interesting power is being able to turn completely invisible. And although it’s initially played for comedy as we’ve all seen in the trailers, it will become an essential asset to Miles in keeping him alive in his superheroics. The older Peter Parker is just as surprised as Miles at first, and is then instantly jealous that he can’t do it. The dynamic between the two really does look interesting. It first starts to show as a fight-or-flight response in a situation when Miles is scared or feels embarrassed. Remember when Jessica Alba first started showing her powers as the Invisible Woman in the 2004 version of Fantastic Four? It’s very similar.
When Miles’ powers started to manifest after the spider bite, he was trying to hide from his Dad. They didn’t see eye-to-eye on Miles’ friendship with his Uncle Aaron (A.K.A. The Prowler) and were having an argument about it. The young hero was trying to hide from his Dad after their brief fight, and quickly noticed that he was actually becoming invisible. After that, Miles quickly fled. Although when he jumped over two people moving out of their house, he turned invisible again while mid-air. Miles Morales everyone; hide and seek champion.
You can see Miles’ powers for yourself on the big screen when Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse swings into theaters on December 14.
