We Now Know Where Miles Morales Got His Suit

The Spider-Man: Miles Morales trailer from Sony's Future of Gaming livestream was exciting for a lot of reasons. It was also the cause of a whole lot of confusion. For a few days after the event, there were a lot of conflicting rumors flying around about what exactly this game is. Is it a true sequel to the hit PS4 game Marvel's Spider-Man, a DLC expansion, or some different kind of add-on? It was a while before we got the final word from Insomniac – Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a standalone add-on in the vein of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.

Confusion aside, the follow up to Marvel's Spider-Man is looking like a worthy addition to the franchise ⁠— though not as long as fans had hoped. In addition to clarifying exactly what the game was going to be, Insomniac has said that it's only about half as long as the original Marvel's Spider-Man. 

Even so, the trailer showed off more of the combat and web-swinging that fans of the original loved, along with some of Miles's signature abilities like camouflage and the Venom Strike. The trailer, supposedly rendered using the in-game engine, ran smoothly and the graphics looked beautiful. The graphics were especially notable since, throughout the wall-crawling action, we got to see Miles sporting his sleek black and red costume.

That costume is the subject of some discussion. Where does Miles get his suit? There are as many different answers as there are Spider-Man continuities. In the animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a young Miles Morales took an extra suit from Peter's aunt May and spray painted it himself. In the Ultimate Comics storyline he gets his signature suit from S.H.I.E.L.D. after being arrested for using the Spider-Man costume and identity. S.H.I.E.L.D. gives him a modified version of the costume, allowing him to pay tribute to Peter Parker while also making it clear that he's not the same person. Those are just a couple of examples; every Miles Morales story has him getting the suit differently.

If you're not Marvel-savvy, you may be wondering how the same character's story could have played out in a bunch of different ways. To answer that, we need to talk about parallel universes. The Marvel Multiverse would take its own article (or several) to explain well, but all you need to know for now is that there are many, many different Marvel universes. All of these universes exist at the same time and run parallel to one another, and this is how Marvel avoids paradoxes through all of its many different stories. Each What If? book, each different comic series, each game and show and movie takes place in its own universe. They stay separate from any other universes so that no plotline has to impact or conflict with any other — except during rare crossover events.

One such crossover event was Spider-Geddon, a limited run 2018 comic series which featured Spider-people from many different timelines coming together to fight a common threat. It was the sequel to 2014's Spider-Verse (not to be confused with Into the Spider-Verse). Aside from having similar names, and sharing the premise of bringing together a Spider-army from many different areas of the Marvel Multiverse, the stories are almost nothing alike. Spider-Verse, and later Spider-Geddon, involved the Spider-Army fighting back against a group of interdimensional hunters who were determined to wipe the Spiders from the entire multiverse. 

One of the many Spider-Men involved in Spider-Geddon was the PS4 version of Peter Parker, who at one point had an interesting conversation with a Miles Morales from another universe. This other Miles Morales was the central hero in Spider-Geddon, something that PS4 Peter commented on. He mentioned that there was a Miles Morales in his own universe, but much younger and less self-assured. Peter said it was impressive to see this version of Miles Morales grown up and leading an entire team. Miles thanked him, and asked Peter to say hi to the Miles Morales of his own universe. Peter's response was, "I might do more than that. Pretty snappy outfit you've got there..."

So there we have it. One panel from a 2018 comic book may be the definitive explanation for PS4's Miles Morales's suit. Inspired by the Miles Morales of another universe, Peter makes a similar costume and gives it to the young hero; or at least puts the idea of a black and red outfit into his head. All of the other details — the where, when, and how — remain to be seen, but this seems like a pretty clear answer to "why."