*Miles-Peter-related spoilers.*
I definitely remember liking Miles and Peter’s relationship when I saw Into the Spider-Verse in theaters, but it took rewatching it ahead of Across the Spider-Verse to make me go, “Oh wait, I love these two!” Nothing like a reluctant/depressed mentor paired with an eager/anxious would-be mentee.
By the time Peter gets pulled through a portal into Miles’ universe, he’s been Spider-Man for a long time. He knows how hard it can be, both physically and emotionally. He has back problems, he’s sick of the grind, and he’s been using food to self-soothe ever since he and Mary Jane split up. He’s burnt out but dragging himself through the day with a lot of apathy. The last thing he needs is to get sucked into another universe that just lost its Peter Parker.
Actually, scratch that. The last thing he needs is a jittery, impulsive teenager who got his spider-powers literal days ago. Miles is at first relieved by his appearance. He feels like he let his universe’s Spider-Man down, and he wasn’t sure how to make it right. Furthermore, his universe’s Peter promising to help teach him was the one thing that calmed his new-power panic. That Peter only knew him for a few minutes, and it was when he was in the middle of a serious fight, but he still took time to reassure Miles that it was going to be okay. But then he died. For Miles, meeting another Peter Parker feels like a second chance.
But then, it quickly becomes clear that this Peter is a very different Peter. He isn’t, not really—although he’s been doing this a lot longer and has been seriously banged around by life, he’s still the same fundamental guy. He doesn’t look or act like it, though. He does everything he can to push Miles away, vowing to destroy the collider but not wanting any sort of mini-me tagging along. And once Miles’ stubbornness and persistence secures him a spot at Peter’s side, Peter vacillates between not wanting to teach him anything and expecting way too much from him at a moment’s notice.
It's a wonky experience for both of them. Miles’ enthusiasm and endless questions irritate the jaded Peter, while this sad, out-of-shape Peter definitely feels like a step down compared to the first one Miles met. But by fits and starts, they begin to help each other. When Miles disobeys Peter’s orders not to follow him into Alchemax, his unexpected power of invisibility comes in handy. Meanwhile, Peter basically drops Miles into the deep end when it comes to swinging lessons, but once they get started, Peter actually does a good job of coaching him through the basics in the middle of a high-stakes situation.
I like this relationship because it’s very one-step-forward two-steps-back. I like that they annoy each other and disappoint each other, that Peter is the one who stands up for Miles with the other Spiders but still acknowledges that he isn’t ready for the collider mission, that Miles has to prove his capabilities to himself before he can prove them to Peter.
In the end, it’s not an overstatement to say that Miles changes Peter’s life. Meeting him is what makes Peter realize that he does want to be a dad, even if it’s scary, and that leads to him reconciling with Mary Jane and having Mayday. For my money, Across the Spider-Verse squanders this relationship a little, along with kind of squandering Peter as a whole. While Miles and Gwen’s relationship experiences some major friction in a complex way, Miles and Peter’s relationship is dealt with almost more as an afterthought. Peter is more in comic-relief mode in this film, and when their own friction arises, they’re not really given anything substantial enough to address it.
Which of course means that I hope we get a lot more of Peter and Miles in Beyond the Spider-Verse. Both Gwen and Peter have definitely realized how badly they let Miles down and are anxious to make it right. I have no doubt that Gwen will have plenty of space to do that, but in what’s sure to be a jampacked movie, I hope Peter gets the chance to do the same.
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