Spider-Man 2099 first showed up in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse movie’s post-credits scene. His real name is Miguel O’Hara, and he has a significant role in the Spider-Verse trilogy. But with his actions in Across The Spider-Verse, is Spider-Man 2099 a bad guy? We have covered an introduction about this character and his powers in a related post before the movie’s release. But here, we’ll dive into details to uncover Miguel O’Hara’s motives for stopping Miles Morales and whether he is considered a villain in Beyond The Spider-Verse.
Spoiler Alert! The following post will include heavy spoilers for Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.
Who is Spider-Man 2099 in Across The Spider-Verse?
Miguel O’Hara is a Spider-Man from another dimension, where he merges his DNA with a spider. He’s known to be the leader of the Spider Society in the Spider-Verse movie series, and he has some different powers from a classic Spider-Man. He uses claws to stick to the surfaces, has a fang, and he can glide. However, Miguel O’Hara is not a happy Spider-Man.
When Spider-Man 2099 tries to explain the multiverse and Canon Events to Miles Morales, he mentions that he has destroyed a universe. He replaced himself with another Miguel O’Hara from another dimension, and this changed the canon of that universe, hence destroying it. But does this make Miguel a bad guy?
Is Spider-Man 2099 Evil in Across The Spider-Verse?
Spider-Man 2099 in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse sure does look like an evil character. But he can be sorted in the gray characters area. He did wrong, but he learned from it to fix the other timelines and prevent further issues that could wipe out other universes.
Miguel is not a funny person like Peter Parker or other Spider-people, for sure. Still, he is willing to sacrifice for the greater good when it comes to doing the right thing. We saw this kind of personality with Doctor Strange variants in the Multiverse of Madness movie. In that movie, a Strange variant tries to sacrifice America Chavez to prevent Wanda’s control over her powers while saying that this was the only way.
Now one very important thing to note here is that both Spider-Man 2099 and Doctor Strange might be wrong in their calculations. The MCU Doctor Strange proved that he could do both saving America and prevent Wanda from gaining her powers. Now can the same thing apply to Miguel’s theory for the Canon Events and the need to sacrifice? Beyond The Spider-Verse will answer that in 2024.
Why Is Spider-Man 2099 Fighting Miles Morales?
Miles Morales is a very different being from the other Spider-people. A radioactive spider bit him, but that spider was from another universe. This changes everything! Every Spider-Man has a certain identity in the universe based on the spider’s origin that bites them. Now when a spider from another dimension bites Miles Morales, he originates from Earth 42, while he was born in 1610!
This is why Miguel is fighting Miles Morales to prevent him from making holes in the multiverse. In other words, Miles was not supposed to become Spider-Man on Earth in 1610, based on Miguel’s model of the multiverse. And that’s why Miles disrupts Canon Events, and Spider-Man 2099 tries to stop him.
Related:
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Core Spider Characters, Explained
Now what Spider-Man 2099 does is not an evil act. He doesn’t want to kill Miles Morales’ father, nor he’s willing to make every Spider-Man suffer the loss of a loved one. But he has reached a model where he can save universes and millions of lives instead of a person. So, in the end, Miguel O’Hara is not a villain in the Spider-Verse. Maybe if he finds a new way to prevent the Canon Events’ disruption, he won’t be willing to fight Miles Morales and even help him to save more people.
Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse is playing now in the theatres.
