Was Miles Morales Supposed to Be the Prowler? Explained

‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ allowed us to see a welcome surprise in the form of another Miles Morales that the Earth-1610 version of Miles met. We are talking about Earth-42 Miles Morales, who lives in a mirror opposite of Earth-1610 universe because this universe doesn’t have its own version of Spider-Man. The surprising part is that the Miles of this universe was the Prowler instead of Aaron Davis. So, was Miles Morales always supposed to be the Prowler?

It is unlikely that Miles Morales turned into the Prowler, no matter how close he was to Aaron Davis. That’s because Peter Parker would have lived if Miles didn’t become Spider-Man. Parker’s Spider-Man served as a role model that kids of Miles’ age looked up to, and that means that he knew that a life of crime wasn’t right for him.

We need to understand that things happen for a good reason, and the fact that Miles became Spider-Man in his universe also happened for a good reason. As such, he might have avoided turning into the Prowler when he became Spider-Man and was able to learn how to be a hero from the mentors he had in his life. So, with that said, let’s look at whether or not Miles was supposed to be the Prowler.

Earth-1610 Miles Is an Anomaly

We all know that Miles Morales is the new Spider-Man of his universe, Earth-1610. He carried the mantle Peter Parker, killed by Kingpin, once carried honorably. But we learned more about his origins as a superhero during the events of ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,’ the sequel to the hit movie ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.’

In ‘Across the Spider-Verse,’ Miles met a lot more Spider-People when he sneaked into a portal Gwen Stacy used to get to the universe of Spider-Man India to chase after the Spot. Of course, before that, we learned that the Spot was a scientist working on different spiders in Earth-42 before the Alchemax collider turned him into a being that could open up portals to other dimensions. As such, the Spot had an origin story connected to Miles Morales’ origin story, and the spider that bit Miles was one of the spiders that the Spot was experimenting on.

After the fiasco in Spider-Man India’s universe, Miles was invited over to Earth-928, the universe of Spider-Man 2099, Miguel O’Hara, the leader of the Spidey Task Force that took care of problems related to the multiverse. That was when Miguel revealed they were also concerned about canon events, which all Spider-People needed to experience because those events connected them to the larger web of the Spider-Verse. If a canon event of a certain universe were to be prevented, the universe would implode, and that’s why Miguel and the other Spider-People thought that canon events were incredibly important.

Of course, Miles’ canon event was his father’s upcoming death because all Spider-People needed to experience the death of a captain. And because Miles’ father, Jefferson Morales, was about to get sworn in as the captain of his police station, he was about to die at the hands of the vengeful Spot as part of Miles’ canon event.

Miles, however, didn’t want his father to die, and that was when he tried to go against all of the Spider-People. Miguel ordered the Spider-People to apprehend Miles so that they could stop him from returning to his universe. Miles resisted to the best of his abilities, and that was when an angry Miguel O’Hara said that he was never supposed to be Spider-Man and that the reason why he was never invited to be a part of the Spidey Task Force was because he was an anomaly.

Miguel said that the spider that bit Miles came from Earth-42 and ended up on Earth-1610 due to the collider accident. This spider was supposed to bite a person on Earth-42 but turned Earth-1610 Miles into Spider-Man. Miguel also said that the Peter Parker of Earth-1610 wouldn’t have died if Miles hadn’t turned into Spider-Man. And that’s why he was an anomaly, as the spider that bit him was from an entirely different universe.

Miles could escape Earth-928 using a device that scanned a person’s biology to determine which universe they came from. However, Miles ended up on Earth-42 because the machine traced his DNA back to that universe as the spider that bit him and gave him his powers came from Earth-42. And that was when Miles met his Earth-42 version, which was the Prowler.

Miles’ Fate Might Have Been Different

When Miles realized that his mom in that universe did not know who Spider-Man was, and when he saw that his Uncle Aaron was still alive, he found out that he was in an entirely different universe. Earth-42 had no Spider-Man, so it was darker than Miles’ own Earth-1610. And that was when Miles also realized that his father in that universe had died instead of Uncle Aaron.

The fact that Jefferson died on Earth-42 allowed the Miles Morales of that universe to stray from the right path. Miles was always close to Aaron Davis, who was the original Prowler. That’s because Uncle Aaron was cool, unlike Jefferson. 

As such, it is possible that Jefferson’s death steered Earth-42 Miles closer to Aaron, who indoctrinated him into the world of crime. And it is also possible that Aaron eventually passed his mantle as the Prowler to an angry and angsty Miles Morales.

So, what about the Earth-1610 Miles Morales? Well, for one thing, there’s a good chance he should never have been Spider-Man if it weren’t for that Alchemax collider accident that sent the Earth-42 spider to Earth-1610. So, if that didn’t happen, Miles’ close relationship with Aaron would have steadily steered him closer to a life of crime.

But let’s not forget that Miguel said that the Peter Parker of 1610 wouldn’t have died if Miles didn’t become Spider-Man. As such, even if Miles didn’t become Spider-Man, the good thing is that there was a role model that he could look up to because his universe’s Peter Parker wouldn’t have died. As such, even if Miles did experience his father’s death, he wouldn’t be an angry and angsty kid because Spider-Man was a role model that every young person in New York looked up to.

In Earth-42 Miles Morales’ case, he didn’t have Spider-Man as a role model because his universe never had its own Spider-Man. On top of that, he lost his father. That means that his only role model in life was his uncle, who was a criminal. But in the 1610 version of Miles Morales, there was a Spider-Man that the regular people and kids of New York could relate to because he was an everyday hero who helped everyone and gave hope to the city. And that’s why Miles Morales might not have become the Prowler if the Earth-42 spider didn’t turn him into Spider-Man.

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