No Land for the Dreamers (Into the Spider-Verse)

Superman, while not the most popular comic book superhero, is by far the most iconic. His values and beliefs are conveyed through his design alone: compassion and the responsibility of power. As the modern day's most popular comic book superhero, Spider-Man embodies those very values. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse's Miles Morales provided a different take on the classic hero: a more progressive modern reimagining. Yet, upon further examination of both him and Superman, it becomes clear that Miles has more in common with the original big blue boy scout than his own web-slinging predecessor. That both Miles and Superman exist to examine and criticise the very nation they represent.

Part 1: The Boys in Blue

Clark Kent was created in 1938 by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, both second-generation Jewish immigrants. Living in an age of growing anti-semitism, their creation of Superman was no doubt inspired by their own life experiences: a refugee being raised on American soil, instilled with American values the same way Siegel's parents fled Lithuanian antisemitism. As an illegal immigrant, Superman stood firmly against any and all social injustice whether it be racial discrimination or the mistreatment of the working class.

Yet, the cover of Action Comics #1 did not portray him as a symbol of hope. Rather, it instilled fear in the reader as he angrily smashed a car against a rock as terrified onlookers fled from the scene.

Eight years prior in 1931, James Truslow Adams coined the term "The American Dream" in his book Epic of America, describing it as:

That dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.

And yet, this dream was seemingly dying; industrialisation had turned workers from individuals with their own hopes and aspirations to mere cogs in an assembly line slowly being phased out by machines. Described as "more powerful than a locomotive," Superman stood against the dehumanisation of capitalist industrialisation. He was a man of the oppressed and underrepresented, a humanist who sought refuge in a foreign land and strove to embody the flawed nation's potential for greatness.

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was perhaps the most influential factor in shaping the public's perception of Spider-Man including his status as a American icon. The first film released less than 8 months after the September 11 terrorist attacks, the national tragedy still fresh in the cultural consciousness.

The film made New York a character in and of itself, giving great focus to the relationship between Peter and the city, paying off in his showdown with the Green Goblin at the Queensboro Bridge where the people of New York banded together to help the hero, proclaiming "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!" A similar emotional beat was seen in the sequel when a train carriage of citizens swear to keep his identity a secret. Peter, a boy who came from a financially struggling household, pulled himself up by his bootstraps and united the nation behind him. He exists as a modern embodiment of the American Dream with Raimi never failing to include a triumphant scene of him with the nation's flag behind him. He stands for truth, justice, and the American way.

Part 2: Star Spangle-less Spider

Miles Morales is every bit as American as Peter Parker and Clark Kent. His mixed heritage represented just how varied the recognised racial demographics of New York had become since the original days of Peter Parker. Created during the presidency of the first Black American president, Miles had become a new symbol of America as a nation even if America was not ready to accept him. 2017's Into the Spider-Verse saw his most iconic incarnation. It was a film with a soundtrack that was a collaborative mosaic of modern artists bringing their own unique styles to help shape the identities of both the film and its protagonist.

While not intentional on the part of Spider-Man creators Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Peter Parker’s iconic mask has become something that any and all people can imagine themselves wearing. Stan Lee even alludes to this during his cameo in the film when he tells Miles “It always fits.” Spidey's red and blue costume represents the hope that even underprivileged friendless orphans like Peter, can achieve greatness through perseverance and hard work.

Miles is introduced to the audience while listening to “Sunflower” as he designs stickers. “Familia” is heard on his way to school, taking the role of the film’s background music before cutting out when trips and his headphones unplug. We hear the music not as it should be heard with realistic sound design, but rather how Miles hears it. After the film began with a traditional Peter Parker, the music of diverse artists bleeds into the film’s identity as Miles makes this Spider-Man movie his own.

This change in identity only becomes more apparent as the film goes on, culminating in Miles’ leap of faith. After painting the suit while keeping the words of Peter B. Parker to heart (“Do it like you”), he leaps off of a building as the film plays “What’s Up Danger.” The heroic rise following the second-act low point is set to a song that reflects who Miles is, but the one heard in the film is altered to include the film’s heroic Spider-Man leitmotif. He has become his own distinct hero.

Miles exists in an America that has accepted that American Dream is dead. In an age that acknowledges diversity, Miles finds himself trying to leave his mark on the world and express his own individuality. He is an artist at heart: leaving custom stickers around the city, creating his own mural at the time of his spider bite, and even altering the iconic American-coloured costume to better reflect his own identity with the same spray paint that he created his mural with, literally defacing the symbol of America. Wearing the suit itself is no longer enough, regardless of whether or not it he physically grows into it. It does not reflect who he is, and he, as an ethnic minority, should not have to wear the symbol of a system that is stacked unfairly against him.

Both Peter and Miles live in New York: the city that, historically, many immigrants first saw as they arrived into the country. They would disembark at Ellis Island with the Statue of Liberty in plain sight, filling them with the hope of an American Dream that never truly existed. Miles is multiracial, both Black and Latino. He is a mosaic of the underprivileged, of those whom the American Dream forgot. The idea of “Spider-Man” always needed to broaden.

The film's perfect blend of what were once distinct genres of music prove that Miles had indeed become his own version of Spider-Man, one that required breaking the mould and finding his own voice rather than conforming to the values of a time that would have never accepted him. Diversity cannot be seen under the same mask and theme, it can only exist within a mosaic of colours and sounds.

Miles marks the return of the truth and justice that Superman embodied. Miles's story, while not being about industrialisation, takes the idea of the callous classist system and recognises its intersectionality with race. His triumphant "Leap of Faith" scene even ends with him leaping over a bank called "Trust Us" to defeat a wealthy White businessman.

The All-American boy scout was created to show how the American Dream was antithetical to the truth of injustice. The patriotic public failed to acknowledge this and later flocked to Peter Parker's Spider-Man. Thus, the importance of Miles being a new Spider-Man rather than an original hero entirely goes beyond the theme that "anyone can wear the mask." The mask represents the strength of the individual against an oppressive system, one that was always broken.