In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the final look of Earth-42’s Miles Morales Prowler wasn’t the original concept drawing by Sony Pictures’ animation team.
As audiences slowly realized Miles Morales hadn’t traveled back to the right Earth, two key changes were revealed: this version of Miles was the Prowler and there is no Spider-Man in this world.
The reason, as revealed in Spider-Verse 2, is that the spider who bit Miles in Into the Spider-Verse was from Earth-42, removing the ability for a friendly neighborhood hero to exist.
Spider-Verse 2 Rejected Miles Morales Prowler Suits
As seen in the official Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse artbook, a variety of Earth-42 Prowler (Miles Morales) suits have been revealed.
In a very similar look to the final product seen in Spider-Verse 2, this iteration shows a maskless Miles, the pointed collared, the Prowler gloves equipped, but unclear if he’s wearing Nike Air Jordan sneakers as he did in the film.
Showing from several angles, this purple-forward design has a revamped chest logo, knee pads, clunky claws, and what appears to be multiple variants on the villainous mask.
The name tag may also indicate that fans can expect another origin story told from Earth-42’s perspective in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
In action, this swinging version of Earth-42’s Miles Morales isn’t as detailed but clearly shows a similar style of hair as seen at the end of Across the Spider-Verse.
This version of the suit doesn’t appear as digital or electronic, especially in regards to the mask. While no logo is present, the kicks were likely supposed to be Jordan brand, a staple of the Miles character.
Along with this image of Miles with a neon yellow Prowler logo, the official art book called this version of Miles G. Morales a “vigilante:”
“Miles G. Morales/The Prowler is the alternate reality version of Miles, who grew up completely differently from him. This version of the character was never bitten by a radioactive spider and doesn’t have any superpowers, but he has fallen into the role of becoming the vigilante the Prowler, under the tutelage of his uncle Aaron.”
Director Justin K. Thompson added the choice of adding Miles’ middle initial “to avoid confusion” as well as Earth-1610 Miles’ realization of the alternate reality he had swung into:
“Miles comes face to face with this other version of himself and realizes that because one thing dropped the other way, everything has changed due to the butterfly effect, where one small change can later result in larger changes to a determinstic nonlinear system-in this case an entire reality. Internally, we decided to call this parallel-world version ‘Miles G. Morales’ to avoid confusion!”
The final image displays the most variance of all the Prowler artwork. The coloring is a key difference, focusing mainly on a bright red around his mask and other details.
Additionally, the bottom row of designs shows off a totally different style of hair, much messier than the final product. The suit itself also is much more minimal, this could possibly be an earlier version of the suit Miles wore as the Prowler, similar to Miles’ Spider-Man suit change between Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse.
Miles Morales’ Future as Prowler in Spider-Verse 3
Spider-Verse 2 and Beyond the Spider-Verse co-director Kemp Powers has already teased Earth-42 Miles Morales’ big role in the trilogy-ending film.
Powers points out that this version was mentored by his uncle and didn’t have his father in this “different world:”
“And to explore how Miles might have developed if he were in a different world where he didn’t have his father, he was mentored by his uncle, what kind of kid would he be?”
The director also warned not to “judge a book by its cover” in regard to this alternate version of Miles:
“For people who see Miles G. Morales at the end, don’t judge a book by its cover. There’s a lot to learn about that character. It’s a very, very interesting character.”
Following the cliffhanger, it will be interesting to see if Miles 1 and Miles 2 can work together, especially knowing The Spot will be wreaking havoc in the Spider-Verse.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse is currently set to release on March 29, 2024, although some actors haven’t even started recording their material yet.
