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Editor’s Note: The following article contains Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse spoilers.The first big-screen animated adventure for Miles Morales in his journey as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a major success and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2019. Now, its sequel, Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, has quickly become a global phenomenon that is drawing rave reviews and big box office dollars. Into the Spider-Verse introduced Miles (Shameik Moore), the film’s hero, having a crush on his new would-be classmate and later fellow spider-hero, Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), aka Spider-Woman. Across the Spider-Verse takes their relationship a step further, but still falls short of pulling the trigger on a full-blown romance between Miles and Gwen Stacy. That said, the third installment of Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse might be headed in that direction. But what about Miles and Gwen in the Marvel Comics storyline? Is their relationship strictly platonic, or does romance bloom? Well, truthfully, it’s complicated and warrants further exploration.
What Is Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy’s Relationship in Marvel Comics?
The most significant development in Miles and Gwen’s relationship in the comics evolves from the Sitting in a Tree storyline. This was a six-part, multi-issue crossover between Miles’ mainline Spider-Man book and Gwen’s Spider-Gwen book published in 2017. Right off the bat, the storyline shows Miles and Gwen amid a full-blown, romantic kiss in its opening panels, and then Miles recounts the events of what has taken place to his roommates. He even refers to Gwen Stacy as his, “Future wife. Or at least my future girlfriend. Definitely my future something.” While the prologue, cover artwork, name of the storyline, and Miles’ comments look like they are putting the two spider heroes on the path of romance, there is a catch to Miles’ misleading comments. In this storyline, Miles travels to dimension Earth-65 to search for his missing father, Jefferson Davis, who got mixed up in something dark on S.H.I.E.L.D. business to protect his son’s identity. After S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill points Miles in the right direction, he travels over to Earth-65, where he luckily runs into Spider-Woman, who offers Miles her assistance in helping track down his missing father.
Throughout multiple issues, Miles and Gwen get involved with the Jefferson Davis of Earth-65, who turns out to be a gangster and goes by the name of “Scorpion.” He’s attempting to use some stolen technology, wrist bracelets that can bounce the wearers between the Multiverse’s dimensions. Throughout their quest, they run into Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel, and Miles’ teammate in The Champions. Ms. Marvel recognizes the chemistry between Miles and Gwen, and Gwen acknowledges that Miles is someone who can recognize and understand her experience as a teenage spider hero in a way that others cannot. Throughout their adventure, Miles and Gwen relate to each other and get along fairly well.
Eventually, Miles and Gwen are separated into different dimensions. Miles is reunited with his real father, and they plot to take down Scorpion and his plot to hold the Multiverse hostage. Meanwhile, Gwen is temporarily stranded in dimension Earth-8. This dimension is home to an adult Miles and Gwen, who are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary and are currently away on a second honeymoon. Not only are they happily married, but they also have two kids together: son George Jefferson Maximilian “Max” Morales; and daughter Charlotte Morales. When Gwen meets the kids, they are being watched over by their “uncle,’ Earth-8’s Peter Porker, the Sporktakular Spider-Ham. Thanks to the desire of the Spider-kids to help Earth-65 Gwen, Peter Porker reluctantly agrees to lend their aid. They travel back to Earth-65 and help Miles and his dad take down Scorpion and his agents.
The story ends with Miles and Gwen back in the building rooftop scene from the prologue. Except rather than the blatantly visible romantic kiss they shared in the first chapter, this version is drawn by a different artist. A shadow obscures Gwen and Miles’ faces, and it is unclear whether they actually kissed. They may have kissed or almost kissed since Gwen pulls back once it is over. The experience has been too much for her. She apologizes to Miles, but after seeing the happy family of Miles and Gwen in Earth-8, she fears it might be the hands of fate at work forcing them together. She is unsure if her feelings for Miles are genuine or because of the glimpse of their alternate universe counterparts in Earth-8. So, while she leaves the possibility open for something between the two to happen in the future, she pumps the breaks for now. The issue and story end with Miles and Gwen drinking soda together and agreeing to be just friends, for now. However, the image of the two heroes sitting together on top of a high-rise building overlooking New York looks like it was visually translated for Across the Spider-Verse.
In Marvel Comics, Miles Morales Ends Up in the Friend-Zone
Unfortunately, Sitting in a Tree offers a great deal of buildup to an anticlimactic moment. The story even has Ms. Marvel noticing the obvious chemistry between Gwen and Miles, but she cautions Gwen not to hurt his feelings. Unfortunately, the opening prologue and that fantastic cover art by Sara Pichelli and Jason Keith, showing Gwen and Miles sharing an iconic upside-down kiss, are misleading. There is no such moment of the two kissing while hanging upside down in the actual story. There is even the implication that the kiss Miles and Gwen shared at the beginning of the story did not actually happen as it’s depicted in the prologue. Considering that scene was part of Miles recounting his perspective of the events to his friends, he could have been embellishing or self-editing what happened.
Regardless, it’s disappointing how the story strings readers along for six issues, and when it returns to the moment teased in the opening scene, it’s now obscured and in shadows. The cover art and the opening prologue are gigantic bait and switches. Ever since the Sitting in a Tree storyline, Miles and Gwen have stayed in the friend zone, even though Miles views Gwen as his “future something,” although he could have merely been referencing the Miles and Gwen of Earth-8. Since the storyline, Miles and Gwen have moved on to different relationships in the comics, so the romantic pairing has been put on the back burner unless it’s ever revisited in the future.
One thing that writers Brian Michael Bendis and Jason Latour established in this multi-issue crossover is a version of a happily married Miles and Gwen exists in the Marvel Multiverse. The couple’s two children are chips off the proverbial blocks, and they’re also aspiring superheroes as Spider-Boy and Spider-Girl. Gwen doesn’t ever get the chance to meet the Earth-8 versions of Miles and Gwen because they are away on vacation. Miles only meets their kids when they arrive to help and save the day, but he does learn a bit about their home dimension. Witnessing the alternate-dimensional Spider-People versions of herself and Miles was just too much for Spider-Gwen of Earth-65, so she decided to pull back from dating Miles for the moment. She’s unsure if the attraction she feels for Miles is real or because of what she witnessed in Earth-8. However, she leaves the idea of the two possibly getting together in the future open.
What Does the Future Hold for Miles & Gwen?
For now, the relationship between Miles and Gwen, or “Gwiles” as fans call it, is not setting sail in the comics, even though both characters technically leave the door open on the idea of dating each other in the future. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse does continue to hint at a potential romantic relationship between the two, and scenes from “Sitting in a Tree” clearly influenced the sequel. The scenes where Miles and Gwen are sharing their experiences as Spider-Man and Spider-Woman and how they can relate to each other in ways others cannot understand influenced the relationship’s depiction in the animated movie. However, the movie takes things a few steps further.
In Across the Spider-Verse, there’s a fun “meet the parents” type scene, where Gwen meets Miles’ parents Jefferson and Rio Morales. Jefferson and Rio, especially Rio, can tell that Miles likes her Gwen. Gwen even visits Miles in his room, and he awkwardly attempts to make it look more presentable to impress her. On the surface, the scene plays out like a kid introducing his girlfriend, or at least the friend he wants to be his girlfriend, to his parents for the first time. When Gwen and Miles are reunited, she finds his sketchbook, seeing he’s drawn quite a lot of artwork of her. Gwen isn’t a fool and recognizes Miles’ attraction to her. She points out that in every other universe, Gwen Stacy falls for Spider-Man, but she then cautions how it ends badly for the both of them in every different scenario.
Consequently, there are moments in the film where Miles shows light jealousy toward his suspicions of Gwen being closer than friends and teammates with Spider-Punk, aka Hobie Brown (Daniel Kaluuya). Considering Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse‘s ending and what Gwen learns from her experiences with Miles, the door cannot be fully closed on the two finally getting together in Beyond the Spider-Verse. But whether the Gwiles ship will finally set sail in the threequel or not remains to be seen, and fans will have to wait until March 2024 to see the conclusion and possible emotional fulfillment of this long-awaited romantic pairing.
Fans can check out more of Miles and Gwen in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which is now playing in theaters.
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