Miguel O’Hara, better known as Spider-Man 2099, seems to attack Miles Morales in the first trailer to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One), with several potential reasons for his odd behavior. Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy’s “Spider-Gwen,” and the world-weary Peter B. Parker are set to return in the sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, as will Miguel O’Hara, following a short and comedic cameo in the film’s post-credits scene. Superheroes battling each other is fairly common in the genre, with any number of possible scenarios explaining why one Miguel O’Hara might be attacking Miles Morales.
Into the Spider-Verse lovingly brings Miles Morales, the fan-favorite successor to Peter Parker in the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, to the big screen with a retelling of his origin story. With a heartfelt and funny story, combined with an animation style that perfectly captures a classic comic book aesthetic, Into the Spider-Verse was successful among viewers and critics alike. It’s no surprise that a sequel is underway, and it’s poised to continue the stories of its Spider-Man variants and expand the role of Miguel O’Hara’s Spider-Man 2099.
The first Across the Spider-Verse trailer begins with Miles Morales reuniting with Gwen Stacy and joining her on another multiverse-spanning adventure, only this time, Miles will visit other realities instead of variants coming to his. The first reality that the trailer shows could be the home of Pavitr Prabhakar, the hero of Spider-Man: India, but Miles’ exploration is cut short by Miguel O’Hara, who grabs him and throws him through a portal into what appears to be the Nueva York of his home reality before abrasively flinging him towards the pavement. The encounter could be due to a misunderstanding, a conflict of interest, or perhaps a malicious influence on O’Hara.
Having Marvel superheroes fight each other is often used as a means to showcase their differences in powers and personalities. Some of the best examples of this can be found in the MCU’s The Avengers. In the 2012 film, Iron Man and Thor compete over custody of Loki (not knowing that they’re on the same side yet), and their brief encounter demonstrates which abilities that one can effectively use against the other before Captain America intervenes and blocks a powerful blow from Mjolnir with his shield. Miles Morales and Miguel O’Hara could similarly have a brief fight due to a misunderstanding, before their misunderstanding is ultimately cleared up and they become allies.
Similar to another MCU film, Captain America: Civil War, Morales and O’Hara might have vastly differing ideologies regarding how to resolve the film’s conflict, leading to a physical fight for control of the situation. With a new threat that could potentially threaten the multiverse, the newcomer Miles Morales and veteran O’Hara could come to blows over the former’s idealism and the latter’s potentially more pragmatic solution to whatever the threat may be. With multiple Spider-Man variants, they’re bound to have different approaches to defeating their adversaries.
Spider-Man’s rogue’s gallery also includes villains like Mysterio and the Ringmaster, whose mind-bending technology could be controlling O’Hara, forcing him to fight Morales. Another possibility is that O’Hara wasn’t attacking Miles at all, and he was simply catching him from a fall and bringing him to his home reality, albeit abrasively. This would be similar to Spider-Gwen tying Miles Morales and Peter B. Parker up in her introduction in the first film. Whatever the reason behind Spider-Man 2099’s apparent attack on Miles Morales is, the first trailer Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) promises an exciting new multiverse-spanning adventure.
