Is Miguel O’Hara Evil? ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ Antagonist Explained

One of the new characters that fans knew would be appearing in ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ is Miguel O’Hara, widely known as Spider-Man 2099. In ‘Across the Spider-Verse,’ Miguel acted as the leader of all of the Spider-People from different universes as they worked together to try to prevent multiversal problems from arising. But we also know that Miguel clashed with Miles Morales during the movie. So, does that mean that Miguel O’Hara is Evil?

Miguel O’Hara isn’t evil. Instead, he is simply a Spider-Man version that’s a lot more serious than the other Spider-People because he comes from a darker timeline. As such, he doesn’t have the usual friendly demeanor and funny personality most Spider-People have.

In a way, the fact that Miguel O’Hara was chosen to be an antagonist to Miles Morales in ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ is great because not all Spider-Man versions tend to have his serious demeanor. Nevertheless, despite his serious approach and scary appearance, Miguel was always portrayed as a true hero. So, with that said, let’s look at whether or not Miguel O’Hara is evil.

Miguel O’Hara is just darker and more serious

The storyline of ”Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ quickly introduced one of the movie’s most important characters. During the Gwen Stacy storyline in the early part of the film, a Vulture variant from the Renaissance appeared to cause problems in her city. However, Miguel O’Hara appeared from a portal from another dimension to assist Gwen. That was when it was revealed that he was a Spider-Man working with other Spider-People to fix problems related to the multiverse.

As the movie progressed, we learned that Gwen went on missions as part of Miguel’s group. She and the other Spider-People that worked with that group respected Miguel as their leader as he was likely the one that formed his group of Spider-People with the technology of Earth-928. But the problem was that he wasn’t too kind to Miles Morales when they met.

Miguel told Miles about Canon Events, which are events that all Spider-People must go through in their own universes, or their dimension will start imploding. He also told Miles he needed to see his father, Captain Morales, dying because this was a Canon Event. And because Miles didn’t want his father to die for the sake of following a pre-determined event, that was when Miguel decided to try to keep him in the Earth-928 headquarters until his Canon Event in Earth-1610 had passed.

Nevertheless, Miles used his powers to escape his confinement, as he went on to try to run away from all of the other Spider-People to return home to his own universe. An angry Miguel sent all of the other Spider-People to apprehend him and even told him that he was an anomaly that was never meant to be Spider-Man because the spider that bit him didn’t come from his own universe.

After Miles escaped Earth-928, Miguel sent a select group of Spider-People to go after him in Earth-1610 and ensure the Canon Event happens. In that regard, there is no doubt that Miguel is one of the major antagonists as far as Miles is concerned.

But the thing about Miguel is that he isn’t evil. He is anything but evil because he is a true hero in the sense of the word. It’s just that Miguel is simply darker and more serious than any of the other Spider-People. Think of him as the Batman of Spider-People because his demeanor can be quite dark, even though he is a superhero who wants to save as many people as possible.

Peter B. Parker commented on how Miguel is not like all of the Spider-People because he isn’t funny. As Peter said, being funny is one of the things common among all of the Spider-People except Miguel, who seems to be very serious as a superhero. And Peter also told Miles that Miguel is a good guy even though he looks scarier than most people.

Miguel is misunderstood

Spider-Man fans that aren’t familiar with Spider-Man 2099 would immediately think that Miguel is a bad guy. But the truth is that he is just a misunderstood hero. And it is important to look at his background to see that he isn’t such a bad guy.

Miguel O’Hara comes from a timeline with no superheroes because all of Earth’s heroes died long ago in a civil war. During that time, Miguel was working for Alchemax, a corrupt company that got him hooked on drugs so that he wouldn’t quit his job. And it was due to this that he tried to rewrite his DNA using a backup of his DNA before he got addicted to drugs.

But his experiment got sabotaged when his DNA was merged with a spider’s. So, when Miguel tried to rewrite his DNA, he became a mutant-like man with fangs and claws similar to what spiders have. That was when Miguel, instead of trying to avenge what Alchemax did to him, decided to be the second coming of Spider-Man in his own universe.

Of course, Miguel in ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ tried to live the life he always wanted when he attempted to replace the Miguel of a different universe after that variant died. He tried to become the father of the child of the Miguel of that universe because all he wanted was to live a peaceful life with a family. But his actions caused an implosion because he messed up what was supposed to be a Canon Event.

With all of those things established, it becomes easy to see why Miguel O’Hara has a serious and dark demeanor that departs from the funny and playful nature that all of the other Spider-People have. Miguel’s experiences in a timeline darker than most other timelines turned him into a serious Spider-Man who wants nothing more than to go straight to the point. This is why he can be somewhat mean and frank, especially when he calls Miles an anomaly that never should have happened.

But the fact is that Miguel is a true hero. He is trying to find a way to save as many lives as possible with minimal casualties. And he believes that Miles’ father needed to die so that Earth-1610 doesn’t implode due to a Canon Event that Miles was attempting to prevent from happening.

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