What if Miles Morales had never been bitten by a genetically enhanced spider? What if, instead, the U.S. government recruited, trained, and granted him incredible powers with the Super-Soldier Serum, making him a friendly neighborhood Captain America? Or perhaps Miles was taken from everything he ever knew — his family, his home, his entire life — and transformed into the immortal weapon of war known as the Wolverine! If he was blasted by gamma radiation and turned into a Hulk, would Miles be man or monster? And are there other super heroes that the many Miles of the multiverse might have become instead of Spider-Man? You bet there are! But most importantly — what makes Miles Morales a hero no matter the circumstances, no matter the reality?
"It's just . . . I'm tryin' to have a chill day and y'all are making me think about my responsibilities." -- Miles Morales as the Mighty Thor, Asgard's God of Thunder
"Well, with great power . . . " -- Huginn, a talking raven who is Asgard's royal messenger
"Don't you have a statue to $#!& on?" -- Morales
That above quote, dear readers, which is simultaneously humorous AND cringe-worthy, represents pretty much the only thing that I will remember about this graphic novel. Although titled What if . . . ? - just like the Twilight Zone-ish Marvel anthology series that ran sporadically in print from 1977 to 1984 and the subsequent animated series that premiered in 2021, both of which intentionally screw around with the biographical elements or continuities or defined superhero characters - it seems like it's really just an instance of a book and/or storyline latching onto a known quantity to generate the needed interest. The individual segments where teenager Miles Morales inhabits Captain America / Wolverine / Hulk / Thor were too brief to make much of any impression, and only serve as an excuse to have them eventually team up with his Spider-Man in the closing chapter for a fizzled smackdown on that annoying uncle antagonist. (Seriously, the way he treats his adolescent nephew is kind of deplorable, and I was soon wishing a grand piano or anvil would simply fall on his head like it was straight out of old Looney Tunes clip.) This is unfortunately the second time this week (!) where I am reduced to commenting that an appealing Marvel character was ill-served by their volume.
A series of alternate universes where Miles Morales is mashed together with other Marvel heroes - Captain America, Wolverine, Hulk, and Thor - followed by a team-up of mainstream Miles with the four others. The Hulk story isn't too bad, the Cap story is OK, the Wolverine story is meh, and the Thor story was just a bad idea. The final crossover story reads like the author just skimmed the others in the collection, by-the-numbers and not very memorable. Mediocre collection overall. (C+)
1 - What if Miles Morales became Captain America? 1-Star. ⭐️ Written by Cody Ziglar, this is clunky and relies so heavily on slang and phrasing from 5 years ago that it’s already cringey. This is going to age as well as those “hip” 70s comics where characters said things like, “Sock it to me, ya dig?” All the characters sound the same.
2. What if Miles Morales became Wolverine? 2-stars. ⭐️⭐️ Written by John Ridley, this is only slightly better than the first one. The first half is actually set in the 1970s, but these characters feel like sketches.
3. What if Miles Morales became the Hulk? 5-stars. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Written by Anthony Piper. This is the only good story in the bunch, honestly, and it simply has Miles in therapy with Doc Samson talking about his feelings, with flashbacks to illustrate it. It has a real Good Will Hunting vibe to it, as well as the only decent joke in the entire collection. It’s not a great joke, but compared to the rest of the book…
4. What if Miles Morales became Thor? 1-Star. ⭐️ Written by Yehudi Mercado, this also has awkward street slang and a goofy rap, but at least it’s mashed up with typical Thor speak. It’s not good, like really not good, but at least it’s different. Unfortunately it devolves from there and the story doesn’t flow… in much the same way the rap doesn’t flow. Awkward.
5. What if Miles Morales (teamed up with himself)? 2-stars. ⭐️⭐️ Also written by Cody Ziglar, this also has flow issues, with herky-jerky starts and stops. It also has the problem of everyone sounding alike, just with a slightly different cadence. A lot of “dope” this and “youngblood” that, even from Hulk Miles and Thor Miles. This is a multiverse team-up story where all the evil Uncle Aarons get together to be the Evil League of Evil Uncles… Aaron-Loki, Aaron-Sabretooth, Aaron-Prowler, and, for some reason, Aaron-Blue Marvel. That last one makes no sense, aside from the fact they needed someone who could overpower Hulk-Miles and Thor-Miles.
Aside from the one standout, this is a pretty sad collection. The art ranges from serviceable to good, penciled by several different artists.["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>["br"]>
This was a loaner otherwise I wouldn’t have sought it out. Still, I went in with an open mind.
Multiverse storytelling is now very much a mainstream thing and it’s tough not to assume that with a new Miles Morales Spider-Verse film, Marvel editorial wanted in with a miniseries where we see alternate versions of Miles as different superheroes before they all get together to defeat the big villain.
The end result is completely empty. Most of the “stories” are just plugging Miles and his supporting cast into new costumes and that’s as deep as it goes. I guess there are people that enjoy that sort of thing (“Awesome, Ganke is Professor X!”) but for the most part, the writers didn’t take advantage of the alternate realities to offer some new perspective on the character. It was more, “look how cool this is.” No, it isn’t.
That said, the Hulk issue seemed to understand the assignment best. I was ready for it to be the silliest (that was the Thor issue by far, not in a good way). However, it was the only one that seemed to make any effort, successfully incorporating artistic and narrative homages to Miles’ origin in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 (2011). I liked how it used the framework of a therapy session with Doc Samson to dig into the emotional aspects of his complicated relationship with his uncle and how that anger manifested itself. Of course, all that nuance went out the window with the book's chaotic continuity checklist theater ending.
I’m glad this has its fans. Unfortunately I found this to be a tedious attempt at corporate synergy and a wasted opportunity.
Part of the problem is a bad mismatch in the premise. I mean, theoretically this is about Miles Morales, and it indeed coopts his family structure ... but the character in all the other What If? universes isn't otherwise Miles. They don't act like Miles, they don't talk like Miles, and they don't think like Miles. (Most or all of the authors also seem to have lost track of the fact that Miles is half Puerto Rican, instead leaning entirely into his black heritage.)
And that deserves some discussion too, because some of the takes on Miles really felt offensively stereotypical. Like racistly so.
I mean, I get there was a good heart here: improve the representation of Marvel's lead heroes. The result is just not good, in large part because of the attempt to piggyback it off of Miles' success, creating stories that were only going to disappoint.
And the stories definitely disappoint. This isn't traditional What If? either, despite the coopting of _that_ name too. It's a multiversal story of Uncle Aaron being back and trying to destroy everything and multiversal "Miles" coming together.
All together, a horrible mess. I skimmed the last few issues, but should have just put them down.
Unfortunately, a waste of time. I think it was intended to really on the charm of seeing Miles & his cast in different costumes, but most of these stories lack substance of their own. Some issues where better than others, but never interesting. The art is passable with the occasional cool panel and janky anatomy. (I have to go to a dentist appoint, I'll add more thoughts later)
Captain America The suit is cool. There’s a mashup of Miles and Cap’s origin. It features the most cameos of Miles’ cast, which makes the others more disappointing. Aaron Davis takes Winter Soldier’s role, except he dresses as the Prowler and acts nothing like Bucky or Aaron.
Wolverine It starts in the 70s. A little better. Flash forward to days of future past, Miles is hunted by a masked version of his father. They both get unmasked and are appalled by themselves. Then Aaron jumps in as Sabertooth with a mustache. We don’t get enough time to explore anything really.
Hulk This is best one. It actually has substance. Classic Hulk retold through a therapy session. Miles’ anger comes being a child and the murder of this Uncle.
Thor. Hoo boy. I can't believe this was made. It also has the best art. Most people react to the first couple pages, which given the Author’s intent, I don’t think are so bad. They’re so goofy
What if Miles Morales was Captain America or Wolverine or the Hulk or Thor? Having already had interdimensional encounters with fellow Spider-Men and Women, Miles now encounters variants of himself who fill the roles of other familiar heroes in their own worlds. The various incarnations of Miles then have to work together to defeat the villainous variants of his uncle Aaron; the Prowler, Sabertooth and Loki.
There's a certain amount of mileage in the What if... scenarios introduced here but unfortunately the writers (or, more likely, their editors) choose to speedrun through them all, so that none of them gets chance to really develop in any particularly interesting ways. So, besides 'What if Miles was... whoever' there's very little content to these stories and even tying them together using the more familiar Spider-Man Miles at the end doesn't rescue it.
This is both a What If? mini-series but also an excuse for more trans-dimensional adventures for Miles. So we get various zany alternate versions of Miles, but instead of the traditional What If? format with one minor change to his backstory, we just get completely different versions of him that result in iterations of Miles as Captain America, Wolverine, Hulk, and Thor. But after four issues of individual adventures, we have all of them ending up in the same universe as Miles for a big adventure.
It's still largely fun and some of the reimaginations are pretty funny. But they're less What If? stories and more just recasting various characters using Miles and his family. This is not inherently bad, but if you are a What If? purist, you may have some concerns. Still, a solid mini-series overall.
Issue 1: Miles becomes captain america. Interesting that Uncle Aaron does a betrayal just like in into the spider verse. The Quantum shockwave is very exciting!
Issue 2: Miles becomes Wolverine. A re-imagining of Miles through a mutant lense and the relationships he has with his family. This story is quite weak
Issue 3: Miles becomes the hulk. Ganke makes an appearance. Exploration of the relationship between Morales father and uncle are consistent between all stories. The third one ended in an unexpected way.
Issue 4: Miles becomes Thor. This one seemed a reinvention of the world but low energy plot.
Issue 5: an avengers/spiderverse style get together. This is interesting concept. A nice but ever so brief story. At least it was low on exposition and high on action. I hate when comics are high on exposition and low on action!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This was really kind of dumb and didn't make a whole lot of sense. There is a Captain America-Miles, a Wolverine-Miles, a Hulk-Miles, and a Thor-Miles, and in every one of their respective universes, Uncle Aaron is a bad guy (though the Hulk story doesn't really show that version of Aaron, unless it's the Blue Marvel who shows up in the fifth issue). All five versions of Miles (including Spider-Man) team up against all five versions of Uncle Aaron to try to stop him from destroying the multiverse or some such nonsense. The art throughout isn't bad, but some of the writing is just cringeworthy (especially a lot of the rhymes in the Thor version).
I knew about the controversy going into this, so I can't really comment on what I would have thought of it without everyone already noting the glaring Black cultural references from a non-Black writer. I almost feel like I would have enjoyed this more as individual issues - the first four focus on different heroes, and then they all come together in a story that really deserved more fleshing out. It seems like it would have done Miles more justice to simply jump from universe to universe than to throw half a plot together.
What if Miles Morales was accidentally exposed to super soldier serum and became Captain America? Naturally, his Uncle Aaron would fall into the hands of the Russians who would turn him into the Prowler, working for the Grey Skull to steal parts for a device to open the multiverse. We then glimpse other Mileses in other worlds including Wolverine-Miles, Hulk-Miles, and Thor-Miles, all of whom must team up with Spider-Miles to defeat all the different versions of Aaron who want rewrite reality so that they are the hero instead of their nephew.
Not a bad entry into the What if scenario. For the most part, all the variants of Miles work. Except Thor for me it's to on the nose and cliche. The hood of Asgard is just too much for me. One of the best story is Wolverine's. I like how the writer worked in the tragedy of Atlanta's children murder cases. That was a real high point, before the story descends into Comic books mayhem.
This is a 5-issue What If...? miniseries focused on Miles Morales. Each of the first four issues asks a What If question about Miles. What if he became Captain America? What if he became Wolverine? What if he became the Hulk? What if he was Thor? I think the Captain America issue was the best. The Thor issue was definitely the worst (google the issue for all crap it got for bad cultural appropriation, being woke, etc) in trying to be hood and just feeling like a mockery of hood culture (which I know nothing about). The final issue is conclusion as the four featured Miles' team up to fight all their Uncle Aarons. It's a decent story with great art, the Thor issue just brings it way down.
Book 46/100 for 2023. Meh. Love the idea of seeing Miles become a superhero via different routes, incorporating different legacies, but the execution was very flat. Same beats every go-round, times four, then have the obligatory team-up in part five. Oh no, the bad guys are overpowered because of sci-fi maguffin with no explanation! Let's have the good guys combine their powers in a way that makes no sense to save the day! Could have been so much better and so much more.
What if Miles Morales was Captain America is marginally interesting.
What if Miles Morales was Wolverine is just "Then Uncle Aaron would be Sabretooth and he'd eventually still find Xavier, I guess and nothing interesting or different would happen"
What if Miles Morales was Thor is horrible.
What if Miles Morales was Hulk is just like, the first few seconds of any Hulk tale.
Ultimately, there's a real paucity of creativity here.
Collects What If...? Miles Morales (2022) issues #1-5
The first two issues were great, and then the last three issues were just a little above average. I guess I'd say that I overall liked this, but it didn't leave a lasting impression.
SPOILERS:
The first four issues feature four different versions of Miles from the Multiverse, and then in Issue #5, those four characters team up with the Earth-616 Miles Morales.
Me apetecía seguir leyendo sobre Miles y el What If...? parecía una buena forma de hacerlo. Bueeeeno, podría estar mejor. La historia que más me ha gustado ha sido la de Capitán América, pero a partir de ahí la cosa ha ido cuesta abajo. Wolverine y Hulk son normalitas y la de Thor tirando a mala. Luego sí, se han juntado con Spider-Man y no ha estado mal el final, pero me esperaba algo mejor.
I do like What If... comics, I have always liked. It has always been a mixed bag series, so this collection is summary of the What If.... series. Some so bad it made me weep (the Thor one) and some so good I would love to read more (the Hulk one). The art side is pretty much what Marvel offers these days, nothing too memorable but at least not so much manga-influenced.
Some of the arcs seemed a little strained to find a serious note to them. The basic theme is that Miles Morales was destined to be heroic, no matter that the situations he was faced with. That came across perfectly.
Just bad. Labeled What If?, it's alternate realities where Miles becomes a different hero but Uncle Aaron is still a douche. All of these alternate origins all share a sameness that doesn't make sense. Nor is there much story in any of these. Marvel really whiffed on this one.
Loved this! I haven’t really encountered other versions of Miles before so this was incredibly fun. I liked the focus on family, because Miles’ family is so close to him. Jolly good read. Hope we get a sequel some day.