Spider-Man 2099 made his feature film debut in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Spider-Man is a popular character in comics, television, and films. The original Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse film is a love letter to the character’s many different versions. Its sequel Spider-<an: Across the Spider-Verse premiered June 2, 2023.
Along with the return of Miles Morales, the film introduced a new character, Miguel O’Hara. Miguel is the leader of the Spider Society, a group of Spider-People protecting the multiverse. At first, Miguel appears to be a competent leader and heroic figure. In fact, Miles spends the movie wanting to prove he’s worthy of joining the Spider Society.
However, Miguel reveals in a plot twist he deliberately banned Miles from joining the society. He considers Miles an “anomaly” and a danger to the multiverse. At this point both Miguel and the Spider Society become obstacles Miles fights against.
Miguel is clearly an important character in the sequel, but who is Miguel exactly? Does the movie want us to see him as the villain of the story?
Who is Spider-Man 2099 in the Comics?
[Image via Marvel Comics]
Miguel O’Hara begins his story as one of the corporate drones working for Alcehmax. When he tries to quit the genetics program, his boss drugs him with Rapture. Rapture is a drug that binds to the user’s genetic structure, and which only Alchemax produces. Miguel tries to rewrite his genetics, only for Spider-Man’s genetic code to imprint on himself by mistake.
The experiment mutates him giving him fangs, claws, and organic webspinners.
Author Peter David created the character stated that he deliberately wrote Miguel to contrast the original Spider-Man. He explained his core principle in designing him to Newsarama in 2009.
Pretty much every place where Stan (Lee) zigged, I zagged…. whereas Peter Parker is a high school student, Miguel is a fully-realized adult working in a laboratory. Whereas Peter was shy and reticent, and didn’t know how to talk to girls, but talky and outgoing as Spider-Man, Miguel O’Hara was a fully confident wiseacre with a finance… and as Spider-Man relatively mute.”
There is even a classic twist on the “with great power, comes great responsibility” line. Miguel’s brother says the line word for word, only for Miguel to come up with his own version.
What was Gabe saying? With great power… must come great responsibility. Wrong. Compeltely wrong. With great power comes great guilt.”
Spider-Man 2099 is a different character from everyone’s classic idea of Spider-Man. However, that does not necessarily mean he is a villain. In fact, the movie version of Miguel is much more a tragic type of hero than his comic book counterpart.
Who is Spider-Man 2099 in Into the Spider-Verse?
[Image via Sony Pictures]
Anomalies are visitors from another universe. They destabilize the universe they are inside just by existing. Canon Events are what Miguel terms as events that happen to every Spider-Person across the multiverse. Uncle Ben’s death, and the death of a police captain, these events are landmarks in Spider-Man’s life. If these events do not happen, the universe becomes unstable.
Miguel knows about these dangers because of his backstory in the film. In the past, Miguel discovered a universe where he had a daughter. When the Miguel from that world died, he tried to take his place. However, his death in that universe was a Canon Event. Undoing that Canon Event led to the entire universe disintegrating in front of his eyes.
This, in turn, leads to Miguel’s strict enforcement of Canon Events. Miguel commands Spider-People to let Canon Events happen. In the story, he criticizes Miles Morales for saving the life of a police captain and averting a Canon Event. This means if Miguel knows someone’s death is a Canon Event, he will let them die.
This is what leads to the conflict between Miguel and Miles. When Miles learns his father’s life is at risk, he goes against Miguel.
Spider-Man 2099 vs. Miles Morales
[Image via Sony Pictures]
In an interview with GQ, Miguel’s voice actor, Oscar Isaac, said:
Interviewer: You’re not like other Spider-Men.
Oscar Isaac: Yeah, he’s got this particular unique quality to him, but there are a lot of things about him that I think are very surprising and make him such his own thing. The fangs and claws and the violence that’s simmering underneath at all times? He’s just a really interesting character.
Miguel and Miles share some things in common. The film, for example, reveals them both to be “anomalies.” This is because the spider that bit Miles originally belonged to “Earth-42.” Actually, an experiment snatched it away from that universe. Due to this fact, there is no Spider-Man “Earth-42.” Miles also caused the accident at the end of the first film which created the villain known as “The Spot.”
However, Miguel chose to travel to another universe. Whereas, the spider bit Miles by accident. Hence, Miguel blaming Miles for many things, such as the death of his world’s Spider-Man, isn’t exactly fair. This stems not from malice, though, but from Miguel’s own misplaced sense of guilt.
Spider-Man 2099’s Guilt
After all, Miguel’s disruption of a Canon Event led to the destruction of the universe. Due to this, he sees Miles trying to alter a Canon Event to save his father as making the same mistake. Miles’s actions must be selfish, since he’s putting one life over the fate of the multi-verse, at least in Miguel’s mind.
Miguel thinks this way because he believes his selfish desire to have a family hurt others. Since then Miguel makes a point to be completely selfless in his actions. He always puts the interest of the multi-verse above himself. In other wods, Miguel is on the side of sacrificing the few to save the many.
Miles, being Spider-Man is a sacrifice. You have a choice between saving one person and saving every world.
He also expects Miles to make the same sacrifices he has. Spider-Man 2099 believes there is simply no other way of being Spider-Man.
Miles and Miguel are not opposites because one is a hero and the other a villain. It is because they represent two different ways of being Spider-Man.
Hero or Villain?
[Image via Sony Pictures]
He certainly is an antagonist. If Miles is the protagonist of the story, then Miguel is his opposition, which is an antagonist by definition.
Miles and Miguel are a pair of ideological opposites. Miguel opposes Miles in trying to save his father, but only because he believes he is saving the many by sacrificing the few.
They are both trying to save people. However, the methods they use as heroes differ.
Hence, Miguel may be closer to an anti-hero. An anti-hero is someone lacking traditional heroic qualities. One good example of an Anti-Hero is the comic book version of Spider-Man 2099. There, he is a much more morally conflicted character. For instance, he begins working for the evil mega-corporation and only becomes a hero by accident.
What if he’s not someone who cares, huh? Ever think of that? Maybe he’s just… just someone who got caught up in things. Someone who if he never put the costume on again, he’d be perfectly happy to go back on his life, what if…?
Miguel is not the antithesis of Spider-Man like his comic book counterpart. Instead, he selflessly dedicates himself to protecting the multi-verse. If anything, his determination to save the multi-verse is the problem.
Here, he takes Spider-Man to its worst extreme. He demands Spider-Man sacrifice everything, including their loved ones for the greater good. He almost has no identity anymore outside of his duty as Spider-Man.
The film rejects Spider-Man 2099’s ideology. There are hints his Canon Event theory may not be completely true. Gwen Stacy’s father averts his death by just quitting his job. Miguel, however, cannot accept the idea it is possible to alter Canon Events safely.
Miguel is not just the extreme of Spider-Man. Spider-Man 2099 is also unwilling to accept that his way of being Spider-Man may be wrong. He is the antagonist to Miles who is trying to find his own way to be Spider-Man.
Anyone Can Be Spider-Man
In the story, the word “Canon Event” has a double meaning. Canon is defined as the events, characters, and settings that exist in a fictional universe. For example, what the author writes is canon, and what a fan writes is fanfiction.
A big theme in the Spider-Verse films as a whole is that “anyone can be Spider-Man.” Spider-Man 2099 rejecting Miles Morales as Spider-Man ties into this theme in that he is a character trying to say who can and cannot be Spider-Man. The directors confirm this was deliberate in an interview with Nerdist.
Interviewer: One of the major conflicts in this film are people telling Miles what he can’t do, what he shouldn’t be allowed to do, that he’s not a real Spider-Man Was there any degree of that story a commentary on the fans who don’t see Miles as a real Spider-Man?
Justin K Thompson: Yes. Spider-Man is definitely a character that is owned by the audience, but some of that audience takes it so seriously it’s trying to enforce and restrict who should be – like literally – I remember when Miles comic book first came out there were people rejecting Miles as a character for their reasons. Obviously, that’s not how we think it should be and we wanted to talk directly to that and almost stick it to that mentality. No, anyone can wear the mask.
Again, what sets Miles and Miguel apart is Miguel insisting that his way is the only correct way to be Spider-Man. Miguel is just like an audience member who is too protective of the “canon.” He is too unwilling to see things from Miles’s point of view. This makes him an antagonist in a story where Miles learns how to be his own Spider-Man.
What Makes a Hero?
[Image via Sony Pictures]
In the original comics, he is a darker shade of grey, a Spider-Man in the far-off future struggling to be a hero in a morally bleak world. The movie adaptation while more heroic, is just as morally ambiguous.
While he is genuinely trying to save the multiverse, he becomes the enemy of an innocent teenager. Through their conflict, Miguel and Miles explore an interesting moral dilemma. Is it selfish to risk the lives of many people just to have one person? Can Spider-Man still be called a hero if they knowingly let people die to serve the greater good?
While he may not be a villain his actions are contrary to the message of the film. Miguel is telling Miles that he is wrong and cannot be Spider-Man. His cynicism is against the hopeful message that “anyone can be Spider-Man”. The film trilogy is not over with, however. Hopefully, i the third movie, Miguel will learn the error of his ways.
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