Marvel matters: The comic-book history behind every suit in Spider-Man: Miles Morales

There's a lot of suits to unlock in Spider-Man: Miles Morales, meaning that whatever your crime fighting mood, there's an outfit to match it. 

But have you ever wondered where all the costume ideas come from? Nearly every Spider-Man suit in the game has an inspiration, from obvious nods to the films and classic Spider lore right through to more niche homages to comic book cover variants and all new designs from Marvel artists that have helped bring Miles Morales to life over the years. 

So get ready to swot up on Marvel lore, Spider-Fan, as we're going to look at the history behind the suits that appear in the game, and explain their origins and inspirations from the world of everyone's favourite web-head.

The Sportswear suit

The first suit you see Miles wearing in the game has a very obvious influence: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. While the film's more iconic red and black suit is also in the game, this is a clear callback to the shorts and hoody get up Miles sports in the movie before he truly becomes Spider-Man. 

It fits the ongoing themes of the Spider-Verse as well, with the in-game Miles unsure of his abilities and short on confidence. 

The Great Responsibility suit

This suit might look like a nod to the classic Spider-Man suit, because it is, but there's more to it than that. 

The poor fit and basic design recalls the Halloween costume Miles first wore in the forth issue of the Ultimate Fallout comic, when he took on the role of Spider-Man following Peter Parker's death after fighting Green Goblin. 

The Homemade suit

This thrown together outfit is actually an almost perfect recreation of Miles' self made comic book costume that he wore in Spider-Man Annual Vol. 2 during a Skrull invasion of Manhattan. 

There's a long history of badly made suits in Spider-Lore, so it's good to see Miles keeping the traditions alive. 

The T.R.A.C.K. suit

This is a completely new suit for Miles Morales designed exclusively for the game by by longtime Spider-Man artist Javier Garrón. While he worked on numerous Marvel characters and series, 

Javier is most well know for his work on Miles Morales and said he was " humbled to contribute to this amazing piece of art that is this mindblowing game". The name is actually an acronym, standing for Time Response Activated Circuit Kinetic suit. 

The Animated suit

This suit isn't anything to do with the Into the Spider-Verse movie but is instead a call back to the costume Miles Morales wore in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series.

Coincidentally, that show did deal with the Spider-Verse when the Peter Parker and Miles Morales from two different universes had to combine forces to defeat the Ultimate Green Goblin. It uses a cel-shaded effect to recreate a hand drawn feel of Saturday morning cartoon. 

The Crimson Cowl suit

The Crimson Cowl is an odd one because its not usually associated with Miles Morales at all. In the Marvel universe, the name refers to a costume typically worn by villains, most prominently Justine Hammer, daughter of long time Stark rival Justin Hammer. 

She led the villain super group, the Masters Of Evil, wearing the costume and name of the Crimson Cowl. It's also been worn by Ultron-5 while he ran a second version of the Masters of Evil, and the human butler version of Jarvis after he was hypnotized by Ultron. 

The STRIKE suit

This is another new suit for Spider-Man: Miles Morales and was designed by artist Dave Rapoza. According to Rapoza on Twitter, "the brief was to make a suit like you would an action figure, something cool kids would wanna play with".

He's also stated it's a homage to both the Japanese character Kamen Rider and the Gundam anime series.

The End suit

The End suit is actually inspired by a one shot comic Miles appears that's a part of series of stories imagining various characters at 'the end' of their lives, and finally dying for real (as opposed to the usual, "back in a couple of issues" comic book death). In the original story Miles is an old man and Mayor of Brooklyn, having long since revealed his secret identity. 

In its post apocalyptic world, Brooklyn is one of the few safe places in a world ravaged by super germs. Miles dies protecting his home from Captain Last, a twisted impersonation of Captain America, after defeating him with a massive bioelectric blast that neither survive.  

The Miles Morales 2099 suit

The Miles Morales 2099 suit is one of the more niche suits in the game as it's based on a variant cover for issue 12 of Miles Morales: Spider-Man Vol. 1. 

The design only appears on that cover variant and was created by artist Lee Garbett, who's probably better known for his work on Captain Marvel. 

The Into the Spider-Verse suit

This iconic suit should hopefully need no introduction. It's inspired by the movie of the same name, where Miles creates his first Spider-Man suit with some spray paint and one of Peter Parker's spares. 

In-game, this recreates the movie's original style right down to the 24 frames per second animation and comic-book speech bubbles that pop up almost every time you punch an enemy.   

The Classic suit

As the name suggests this is the classic suit most commonly associated with Miles Morales. It first appeared in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Vol 2 issue 5 as a gift from Nick Fury, delivered to Miles by Spider-Woman Jessica Drew. 

At this point in Miles' career, Peter Parker had not long been dead, leading to confusion and anger at the appearance of a new Spider-Man. As a result he was captured by Spider-Woman and questioned by her, Nick Fury, Iron Man and Hawkeye before proving his worth and officially becoming the new Spider-Man. 

The Uptown Pride suit

The Uptown Pride suit is a special addition for Miles Morales. It's something you can only unlock once you complete all the missions in the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man App in-game. 

Your reward is this gold trimmed variation of the classic suit that's both a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement and the late Black Panther star, Chadwick Boseman. 

The 2020 suit

This is one of the most recent comic designs to make it into the game, originating from a variant cover of Miles Morales: Spider-Man Vol. 1, number 13 by Rahzzah Murdock. It was originally part of a series re-imagining various various Marvel characters in modernized outfits, updated to promote Iron Man 2020.

The Spider-Cat suit

While this might look like a cute idea and a bit of a joke, there is actually a Spider-Cat in the Spider-verse who appeared in a comic called Spider-Island: I Love New York City. There, he fights pigeons that have bonded with the Venom symbiote. 

And if that's not weird enough, there's even a Meows Morales cat variation in the comic books on the same Earth as Spider-Ham. Tangentially, there's also a Miles Morhames twist on the whole Spider-Pig idea, no to mention at least seven Spider-Pigs if you consider the 2014 mobile game Spider-Man Unlimited canon.

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