Everyone knows Peter Parker as Spider-Man and by now, the young Mile Morales. But not everyone is talking about Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of the future. Hence, why they call him Spider-Man 2099. If you take a look at him, he even looks like he’s from the future. He’s got a bright blue costume with some red outlines and a web-like cape to go with it. If you still think he’s another Spider-Man, believe me, he’s very different from Peter Parker and Miles Morales. Speaking of that, Miguel O’Hara made a brief cameo appearance in the post-credits scene in the 2018 animated Into the Spider-Verse movie. For a movie featuring multiple Spider-Man variants, I was kind of hoping he would make an appearance. Sure, it was small, but he’ll apparently have a more significant role in the sequel. And the man voicing him is none other than Latino superstar Oscar Isaac.
I think having Miguel O’Hara in more movies is a big step for Marvel. So far, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has given us some subtle hints about the existence of Miles Morales. He would be a suitable successor for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker, but why stop there? Marvel Comics has a lot of Spider-Men in their universe and I want to see as many as they can throw at us. The good news is that Oscar Isaac will be back to voice Miguel O’Hara again in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One). That’ll give the character more attention and hopefully fans will be pulling for his live-action debut in the MCU. Marvel and Sony, I hope you’re already working on it. And I have to say, they brought back Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield for Spider-Man: No Way Home and they actually pulled it off. It was all kinds of glorious and I think that’s just a stepping stone to what else Sony and Marvel have in mind. And I’ll keep saying it because it needs to happen, and I believe it will. Miguel O’Hara or Spider-Man 2099, must make his live-action debut. When and where is something I’ll leave up to Sony and Marvel. If they need another year or two to pave the way for his debut, then I’ll wait.
In the meantime, I think we should just take a minute to sink in how different Miguel O’Hara is from the most famous of web-slingers. There’s no question about it, the most famous of Spider-Men is Peter Benjamin Parker from Queens, New York. Just like Bruce Wayne is the definitive Batman, he is the definitive Spider-Man and that will never change. However, Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker have something in common: the amount of variants they have. Yes, almost every major comic hero has at least one, but you’ll see far more Batmen and Spider-Men around. It all makes sense, given how popular the two heroes are. For the case of this particular Spider-Man, he has a similar look to Peter Parker, but there are many things about him that make him anything but. As the name implies, he’s from the future, the year 2099. Who is he specifically and what does he do? His name is Miguel O’Hara, an Irish-Mexican geneticist living in Nueva York, which is basically a futuristic version of New York City. His gained spider-like abilities when he conducted experiments to recreate the powers of the original Spider-Man. He was then a victim of a freak accident that rewrote half of his genetic code. And half of that genetic code was, you guessed it, spider DNA. In that moment, the Spider-Man of the future was born.
Okay, so Miguel O’Hara has spider powers, how does that separate him from Peter Parker? Just think about Spider-Man’s most signature gadget. Without a doubt, it’s his iconic web-shooters. Other than Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, all the Spider-Men had to build their own web-shooters and develop their own web-like substance. Well, that’s not the case for Miguel O’Hara, because he has the ability to make his own organic webbing. Since he can shoot his webbing from his wrists, he doesn’t have to worry about running out of webbing. That’ll save him a lot of work. Just take Andrew Garfield’s word for it. The powers of Miguel O’Hara doesn’t stop there. While he can produce his own organic webbing, there is a downside to his powers. Unlike the other Spider-Men, he doesn’t have a spider-sense. Wait, a Spider-Man with no spider-sense? That doesn’t sound right. But Miguel O’Hara does make up for this with his own enhanced vision and hearing, something Peter Parker doesn’t have. These abilities are so great they allow him to see in complete darkness and practically zoom-in on anything from great distances. The enhanced vision does make him very light-sensitive, which requires him to wear sunglasses when he’s outside. Do you really need a spider-sense when you can hear things coming from several miles away?
If Miguel O’Hara is another Spider-Man, he should be able to crawl on walls, correct? Well, that’s only half correct. This Spider-Man can crawl on walls, but it’s only because of the angled talons protruding from his fingers and toes. Sounds like a disadvantage, but don’t worry, these talons also make good weapons for him. The last and most distinctive difference between Miguel O’Hara and Peter Parker is his venom glands. These glands allow him to pass on a non-lethal paralyzing toxin by biting his enemies. Yes, he has pointed canine teeth or just fangs. This Spider-Man actually sounds kind of creepy, doesn’t he? With the claws and fangs, you can certainly put him on a different level than the other Spider-Men. And throw in his own organic webbing and enhanced hearing and vision into the mix, and we got ourselves a totally different type of hero. These distinctive powers are half the reason Miguel O’Hara is such an intriguing version of Spider-Man and I really want to see how these powers are used in the Into the Spider-Verse sequel. And the fact that he comes from such a diverse background would make him more relatable and exciting for fans. As someone who is half-Latino myself, I am particularly interested in seeing more of Miguel O’Hara. We’ll see what happens after the Into the Spider-Verse sequel.Oscar Isaac
Follow Us
