So, why not Miles?
The word is out: Spider-Man: No Way Home is a runaway hit with fans at theaters! But there are cracks in the armor. Could this be an opportunity for Ciem: Inferno in the future, or not?
Tobey has pretty much made it clear that he is in it for the paycheck, not much else. Andrew Garfield wouldn't mind a gay Spider-Man. And then there's Tom: who has been white-guilted by woketards and the pressure they've placed on him. Tom wants to step aside at some point soon, and have a new actor step into the role of being Miles Morales. Already, there are some issues with that:
- Miles was a toddler in Homecoming. It would take another four or five years, even if he weren't affected by the Blip, to fit the role. This gives Sony three years to find an actor that would be age-appropriate.
- The animated Into the Spiderverse series is still gaining steam, with Across the Spiderverse having been announced. Appeasing Tom and Zendaya's woke requests too soon would undermine that series' brand if Miles in live action competes with animated Miles too soon.
- Miles would need to tackle a large number of issues left unresolved with Peter, and with the MCU in general, in order to truly shine. Villains that Peter has yet to face, such as Kraven the Hunter, would have to become Miles-oriented villains, just to give Miles more to do than deal with Prowler again.
- Since there's already been a Tinkerer in the MCU, as a henchman to Vulture, rehashing the Earth-1048 storyline for Phin from Insomniac's game about Miles would be harder to justify.
Miles vs. Candi
But then there's another issue: what if Sony signed a Dozerfleet contract? Here's the pros and cons of making the Centipede and Fire saga versus going the "safe" route with Miles:
| Candi Flippo | Miles Morales |
| Relative unknown means fewer audience preconceived notions. | Popular with subset of fans means lots of preconceived notions. |
| Relative unknown means no safe bet on audience growth. | Popular with subset of fans means safe bet on audience presence, if not growth. |
| Powers derived from a centipede plus Zeran tech. Has more in common in Nightcrawler than a spider hero. Could lead to audiences not being as impressed. | Can do most things Peter can do, plus plenty of things Peter can't. Audience wants him to succeed already. |
| Southern Indiana setting and mythology separate from Marvel means attracting audiences often ignored by Marvel. | Is as Big Apple-centric as most of Marvel. The Midwest feels insignificant. Again. |
| Comes with Anarteq attached, which could prove more popular than Ciem over time. (Unless he's unfairly compared to Aquaman into oblivion.) | Comes with Venom attached. |
| Has to come in striking strong right out the gate, while reminding audiences of uncomfortable moral realities that never expire, in spite the audience being desperate to fancy that the message is "outdated" somehow. Has only books and some Sims mods to fall back on. | Can fall back on the animated movies if need be. |
| Is a non-white heroine for a non-woke reason: original artist wanted to try something different when creating her parents. And she's a logical consequence of combining their DNA. Her being partially black is treated as an insignificant detail. | Is a non-white Spider-Man for a woke reason: Brian Michael Bendis wanted to virtue signal by creating a token non-white Spider-Man. Character's entire existence in the beginning was for tokenism. |
| Can be used to address issues such as police abuse (and federal official abuse) from a greater angle of exposing the root problems of human sin and of the consequences of humanist worldviews in a broader sense, especially via Darius Philippine's faith-heel turn. | Would be expected to view all those issues through a woke lens of "racism" being to blame for everything. Wouldn't be allowed to explore other angles. |
| Can address everything from issues with modern sex ed and its widespread social consequences, to problems with the justice system in general, to the general root problems of negligence, selfishness, and oversight in the human heart. Can also comment on the widespread problem of human trafficking in the American Midwest. | Would be too distracted swinging webs and fighting those defined as "villains" by SJWs. Wouldn't dare touch some of the subjects that Candi takes on. |
| Strong supporting cast. | Strong supporting cast, though not as strong as Peter's. |
| Would require some Percolation Wave plot coupons to shoehorn into the Into the Spiderverse animated series, and would have a hard time proving herself to the Spiders, given she's a centipede. About the only time she's useful, is against Morlun. | His animated counterpart is already established, and very popular. |
| Only borrows a handful of style cues for artwork and costume design from Peter Parker. Has otherwise always been a very different sort of character. Like a Sam Fisher Batwoman in an orange military combat suit with golden centipede emblems stitched on. | Has often struggled to come out from under Peter's shadow. Into the Spiderverse was the first time Miles got to effectively do this. |
A better alternative
While a Sony film about Candi cannot be completely ruled out yet, it will be a while before this happens. And giving Tom that Miles live action film he wants right away doesn't seem like a good investment for Sony either. In 3-10 years? Definitely. Right away? No.
So what to do if Sony can't get Tom back for another Spider-Man movie for a while, especially given that most of the MCU (spoiler alert) now has forgotten that his Peter Parker ever existed?
If Sony wants its Sony Universe of Marvel Characters franchise to grow, there's a logical Elseworld to explore in the mean time. And this one has already demonstrated that it can function without Ciem, without Peter Parker as Spider-Man, and without excessive Woketardism. It would lack the Christian implications of Ciem, but it would be consistent with the rest of Sony Marvel, and would be a hard one to turn down. And...it could get started right away!
Of course, this would be Spider-Gwen. The Earth-65 Gwen Stacy has some bugs (no pun intended) to work out. However, the material and setup is already there. If the more kid-friendly version of her from Into the Spiderverse is any indication, Gwen is ripe for a live action adaptation. Maybe a different actress than Emma Stone would be needed to pull it off; but there's no shortage of Spider-Gwen cosplayers in the world!
The setup is there. It's all a matter of Sony following through. This isn't to say Sony should abandon live action Miles. Far from it! It'd be far too much of a missed opportunity. But...it's not finished yet. Let that one cook a few more years, and then go for it! The point is, the future of Spider-Man movies shouldn't be half-baked. They require thought and attention to detail that even most other Marvel heroes don't bother with - not even Ant-Man! So if a new Spider hero is to replace Peter Parker, let Sony take the time to do it right! Modern Marvel issues are littered with examples of replacement heroes that are either half-baked or just plain bad, from Kamala Kahn to Riri Williams to the crazy girl willing to murder a random cashier over a choking turtle!
Whatever Sony decides, let's hope they choose to give their selection time to grow. Don't rush anything through! Hard work matters! There's a reason that the first Captain America is still a treasured film, and audiences wanted to pretend The Eternals never happened! Sony needs to pay attention to Disney Marvel; to learn from its mistakes.
And if relations with Disney get too sour? Ciem is still around. And she comes with an entire universe of interesting attached characters for Sony to tap into as well - without the Disney baggage!
