'Across the Spider-Verse' and the Latino legacy of Spider-Man
Now, its sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” features two Latino Spider-Men in starring roles.
- Now, its sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” features two Latino Spider-Men in starring roles.
- Irish-Latino Spider-Man Miguel O’Hara of “Spider-Man 2099,” voiced by Oscar Isaac, is jumping into the fray.
Breaking the mold
- His powers came from a magical amulet that bestowed him with speed and martial arts expertise.
- Later iterations of White Tiger included his niece Angela del Toro and his sister, Ava Ayala.
- The first Marvel Latina superhero, also co-created by Mantlo, was Firebird – real name, Bonita Juárez – who first appeared in 1981.
Spider-Man’s web extends into Latin America
- In Latin America, Spider-Man has been a popular character since the hero first appeared in his own series, “Amazing Spider-Man,” in 1963.
- In Mexico, Spider-Man quickly became more popular than any other Marvel character, save for his girlfriend, Gwen Stacy.
- Or maybe Latin Americans love his luchador-esque costume – Peter Parker did, after all, debut his Spider-Man title and threads as a professional wrestler.
An Irish-Latino swings into the Spider-Verse
- So it was a big deal when Miguel O'Hara took on the mantle of Spider-Man in his own series, which ran for four years.
- Miguel O'Hara is the future Spider-Man of Earth-616 in the year 2099, a post-apocalyptic future run by greedy corporations.
- When O’Hara first appeared in 1992 as the main star of the “2099” series, fans embraced him, with little controversy.
- And perhaps O'Hara’s light skin made it easy for readers to forget that he was Latino in the first place.
Recasting Spider-Man as an Afro-Latino
- When Morales came on the scene, he wasn’t merely a carbon copy of Peter Parker, though.
- He was raised by his African American father – an ex-con who had turned his life around – and Puerto Rican mother in Brooklyn.
- How Morales’ race and ethnicity would play into the stories has been a point of contention.
- In December 2022, Cody Ziglar, a Black comic writer, took over as the head writer of Morales’ story.
- As Frank, the comics scholar, notes, these differences can lead to feelings of alienation.