Daredevil: Born Again's Miles Morales tease might not be what it seems

The Spider-Verse is set to grow even more, and while Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has seemingly gone down in flames with the box office bombing of Kraven the Hunter, the Marvel Cinematic Universe still has big plans for Web-Head. Aside from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' Destin Daniel Cretton heading up Tom Holland’s fourth Spider-Man standalone, there’s the delayed Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse alongside rumors that Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire could return for Avengers: Secret Wars. 

Given that the events of the Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man led directly into 2015’s Secret Wars, which then led to the Ultimate Universe being folded into ‘main’ Marvel continuity with Miles Morales in tow, there are questions about whether this will play out in the MCU. There’s already plenty of talk about a supposed ‘reset’ following Secret Wars, and even though it’s only a matter of time until Miles is cued as a potential successor to Holland’s wall-crawling hero, the MCU might not need Secret Wars to give Miles his time to shine.

Daredevil: Born Again’s Miles Morales tease

Despite some early worries that Dardedevil: Born Again would remain in its own Netflix reality instead of being part of the MCU, showrunner Dario Scardapane has wasted no time in cementing the series as a street-level addition to the mythos. Episode 2 had Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk make a not-so-subtle reference to "a man who dresses in a spider outfit,” but what if he’s not the only Spider-Man out there? After all, the return of Jamie Foxx’s Electro in Spider-Man: No Way Home hinted that there’s at least some version of Miles out there in the Multiverse when he said he was disappointed to learn the MCU’s Spider-Man wasn’t black. 

The third episode, "The Hollow of His Hand", largely focused on the trial of Hector Ayala/White Tiger (the late Kamar de los Reyes), but amid all the noise, eagle-eared fans picked up on the mention of "Officer Morales". The character of Jefferson Davis was introduced in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man No.1 as Miles’ father but later changed his name to Jefferson Morales in 2021’s Miles Morales: Spider-Man No. 22. Due to the connotations with the real-life Jefferson Davis being the first and only President of the Confederate States, Marvel Comics had Miles’ dad legally change his name. As well as changing his name to distance himself from his time as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, comic book Jefferson jokes, “I don’t know why the hell my parents named me that."

Brian Tyree Henry voices Miles’ father in both Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its 2023 sequel, but whereas Into the Spider-Verse doesn’t mention his surname at all, Across the Spider-Verse refers to him as "Officer Morales". The fact that Miles Morales creator Brian Michael Bendis is a consulting producer (upgraded to executive producer for season 2 and 3) on Born Again suggests there could be more to this. Then again, with the other officers mentioned in the same sentence having no apparent ties to the wider MCU, it could also be nothing more than a throwaway line of dialogue or a simple nod to Bendis’ comic book work. After all, are we supposed to assume that the mention of "Officer Wong" is teasing the arrival of a long-lost sibling for Benedict Wong’s Wong?

Miles Morales in the MCU

Things get even more complicated when you remember Donald Glover played Aaron Davis/Prowler in Spider-Man: Homecoming. While many picked up on the fact that Prowler is Miles’ uncle in the comics, a deleted scene featured Glover’s live-action Aaron Davis apologizing to ‘Miles’ that he’s not going to make it. Alongside the deleted scene not being considered canon, many had forgotten about Homecoming’s potential tease. The Spider-Verse movies created more canon conundrums thanks to Glover appearing as a live-action Prowler in the animated Across the Spider-Verse and Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O'Hara complaining about “Doctor Strange and that little nerd on Earth-199999.” This presents a problem in itself because the MCU is now officially designated Earth-616. 

Across the Spider-Verse co-director Kemp Powers has suggested that the Spider-Verse of the Spider-Verse movies won’t be tethered to the MCU, telling SFX: "The world of Miles Morales and Spider-Verse, it's not tied into the Marvel Cinematic Universe or anything like that. But this is a Lord and Miller film. We like to have a little bit of fun, we like to be a little bit meta and to acknowledge the world in which we are creating these stories. That's the best way to explain it." This at least solves the problem of Shameik Moore voicing Miles in the Spider-Verse movies and many thinking an actor younger than the 28-year-old Tom Holland to take on the role of live-action Miles and see the character through to the next generation of the MCU. 

We know the MCU likes to plan ahead of time, and even if Born Again isn’t referencing Miles Morales, Kevin Feige has discussed his potential arrival before. Speaking to Omelete (translated via Discussing Film), the MCU overlord explained: "Miles will appear in the third 'Spider-Verse' movie, which is in production. I hope that, shortly after that, he can enter the MCU in live-action." Those plans might’ve changed, and given that the currently-untitled Spider-Man 4 slots neatly between Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, it seems like the perfect introduction.

Audiences are expecting some major story arcs to be set up with a mysterious new role for Stranger Things' Sadie Sink, potential returns of Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire as their respective Spider-Men, and a rumored debut of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Mephisto. Is there also room in there for Miles Morales, and could Spider-Man 4 feature a heartbreaking twist where Holland’s fan-favorite hands over the baton to a live-action Miles Morales? It seems more likely that Miles will be introduced or at least teased, leading to him becoming the MCU’s de facto Spider-Man in a post-Secret Wars world.