One Actor Is The Only Answer For MCU’s Miles Morales

Sooner or later (and it seems like later) Mile Morales is going to join the MCU. There’s very little doubt that the character is popular enough that it would be a massive mistake not to bring him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are still two questions surrounding the character. The first is just when might he finally make his live-action appearance? And the second is when he does make that appearance, who is going to play him?

Earlier this fall, Marvel chief Kevin Feige shed some light on the former. While he was speaking at D23 Brazil, Feige made it clear that Miles Morales is in the MCU’s plans. But before they can bring the character to life, they need the Spiderverse animated trilogy to wrap up. And when it is, then Marvel will start really looking for the person who will take on the role. It seems probable that Feige and his gang have some idea of who they want to cast, but there’s one actor who has recently surged into the public view who not only wants the part but seems like the perfect pick.

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MCU Should Want Someone Who Wants It

The key for a role like this, especially one that is quite popular among the younger set, is that Marvel needs to tap someone who really, really wants the role of Miles Morales. Luckily for Feige and company one actor who has recently become part of the public discourse thanks to his supporting turn in The Penguin fits that bill. Rhenzy Feliz is coming off a fantastic run as Vic, the Robin to Oz Cobbs’ Penguin. Of course, anyone who watched the HBO Max series knows that Feliz is now looking for a new job. His character had one of the more traffic exits from a show that has been on screen in quite some time. So what better time than to lock him down for Miles Morales.

It doesn’t appear it would take much time at all to get him locked down, considering that he very badly wants to take on the role. While the actor knows that there would need to be a bit of finessing with the character, especially that he would need to be aged up a bit, The Penguin star thinks he knows a way to take Miles Morales on. He recently talked to CBR about his desire to play the part, saying he has been told he looks quite a bit like Miles since the first animated movie came out. But he also knows that when the live-action movie arrives, he’s likely not going to play a teen all that well.

An Older Miles Morales Could Work For The MCU

“I’m getting older and I don’t know if they’re going to want a 20-some-year-old playing Miles Morales,” Feliz explained. “Then you think about three movies down the line, am I going to look even older four years, five years from now… To answer the question. I would love to get to play something like that I think it’s an incredible character… It would be an incredibly exciting thing to get to do.”

First of all, it’s important to note that Tom Holland is 28 years old and was 25 when he played a high school senior in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Same with Zendaya and Jacob Batalon. All three did a serviceable job convincing the audience that they were around 17 years old. So the idea that Feliz would age out of playing Miles Morales at 25 isn’t backed up by what Marvel has done so far.

However, there is nothing set in stone that says Miles Morales has to be a teenager when Marvel fans first meet him. After all, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been rolling for quite a while now. There have been changes here and there to what has been part of the comics, not the least of which is Tony Stark dead and permanently gone, at least as Tony Stark.

The “Blip” also allows for there to be some flexibility in the character. Maybe Miles didn’t blip away. Maybe he even filled in for Spider-Man when he was gone. That might be a bit difficult to reverse engineer, but a line or two about “someone” who seemed like Spider-Man being sighted while he was away. Things were chaotic enough in that period that it’s possible it would have been a bit more underground.

The bottom line is that there are plenty of ways they could make an older Miles Morales work, if the people in charge felt that was the way to go for the MCU. But it’s worth pointing underlining that Marvel has a guy who looks the part of Miles, who wants to be Miles and the rest can be worked out between now and when shooting starts. And with The Penguin over and done with, he’s got an opening in his schedule.

MCU

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is a sprawling movie and television franchise that weaves together individual stories of superheroes including Captain America, Thor, Spider-Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and many more. The first film in the franchise, Iron Man, was released in 2008. The MCU has garnered critical praise and financial success, earning billions at the box office and becoming a cultural phenomenon.

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