No Way Home is out, and implications for Ciem: Inferno

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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!

Plum Bixie vs. 2020 Mulan: How do they compare?

Which female Chinese protagonist is better-written, in your view? Please leave a comment below, to pick your preferred Chinese action heroine.

Zize Choi, from Dozerfleet's The Tale of Plum Bixie (2018)	Mulan Fa, from Disney's Mulan (2020)
Origin Lowly sex slave / honeypot / assassin, working as a spy for a government she hates, and ideology that disgusts her.	Origin Started off loving a similarly-oppressive regime, in spite being a victim of that oppression herself.
Reaction to origin Rebels and pursues freedom and a new life, identity, etc., at the first given opportunity. Joins a liberty-loving band of hillbillies. Libertarian.	Reaction to origin Becomes a willing stooge of said regime later, to spread more of that oppression to others. Fascist.
Views on individualism Believes in the individual as something of value, and that without that, a collective is not worth having.	Views on individualism Views the collective's leaders as more important than anything or anyone else, and otherwise, values the collective above the individual (except for herself), until the individual is nothing (unless they're part of the elite.)
Emotional state Initially motivated by jealousy, pain, resentment, victimhood, and an insatiable bloodlust. Later motivated by love, and even later motivated by pain and guilt. The Implacable Woman.	Emotional state Initially motivated by pride, arrogance, resentment, jealousy, and insatiable bloodlust. Later motivated by pride. The Mary Sue.
Arrogance Becomes arrogant at one point, faces heavy consequences.	Arrogance Is constantly arrogant. Rarely faces any serious personal consequences.
Empathy Witnessing the loss of everyone she grew to care about, as she proves helpless to stop the onslaught, filling her with survivor's guilt.	Empathy Her becoming the emperor's eager stooge, feeling nothing about the hundreds of her own men she killed with her own recklessness.
Preferred weaponry Guns, knives, arrows, bazookas, any modern weapon.	Preferred weaponry Swords, spears.
Phlebotinum Wolverine-like healing	Pheblotinum Magic kung-fu that runs on Chinese Midichlorians
Meta origin Injected against her will.	Meta origin Born awesome.
Experience and training Trained for years to be a honeypot / asssassin under MSS tutelage, in spite being the butt monkey for her boss. Was given no choice. Only friend for years was Mingmei, who was also being given credit for most of her kills. Thrust into the Idaho situation against her will. But chooses to side with the locals. While a quick learner, she still has some weapons taught to her by locals.	Experience and training Joins the military with almost zero prior training, is already better than everyone else at everything. Everything cool was her choice.
Inspiration The Deputy / Judge from Far Cry 5 and Far Cry New Dawn.	Inspiration Skin swap of Brie Larson's Captain Marvel.
Peers A fellow spy, one of the few that isn't a total jerk to her. They get separated, and this friend gets assigned to other adventures.	Peers A witch, who envies her for being accepted for the same reasons the witch was made an outcast from society. Who has a change of heart and dies to help Mulan.
Call to adventure Resigned to the call. Didn't ask for it; but accepted it, begrudgingly.	Call to adventure Jumped at the call.
Inner moral conflict Am I doing the right thing for the right reason? Am I really a hero, or just a bitter mass murderer? Yes, they had it coming. But did that justify me being the executioner? Is being a violent killing machine really all I'm worth? Is this really my only way to prove to the world that I'm not just some stupid whore, like my supervisor tried to paint me? That asshole!	Inner moral conflict Why can't everyone already see how awesome I am?
Mental health PTSD, PTED, selective mutism, develops split personality / schizophrenia.	Mental health Narccissist
Huli Jing Gets a mask of one, but keeps her "Plum Bixie" spy alias, in spite the bixie and huli jing being two very different mythological animals. In spite this, she develops a mindset when on missions more in common with that of a nu gui, similar to the Japanese onryo. However, she doesn't dress the part of one. She leaves that to the onryo impersonator Anda Hirano, known in the west as the "Extirwraith," the female counterpart to Extirpon. Who, while less powerful overall, is Tug-immune, something Extirpon cannot claim.	Huli Jing Would more likely have been called one of these, rather than a "witch," if locals wished to demonize her. Gets an unexplained phoenix spirit familiar out of nowhere, without concrete explanation, presumably as a stand-in for Mushu the Dragon.
Christianity Converts eventually. Becomes more serious about it after marrying Amado Marcones. Is healed emotionally by devotion, but still struggles with guilt over her history of murder sprees.	Christianity Lived in a time when missionaries to China were almost unheard of. Would've had little chance to exposure to much outside Confuscianism. Played by an actress that celebrates the CCP's sadistic mistreatment of ethnic and religious minorities.
Outcome Lives tolerably ever after, some time after having to be hospitalized for her deteriorating mental state.	Outcome Lives happily ever after, logic be damned.