Would It Work...

[Celgress]

...If Miles became the primary Spider-Man of 616 and Peter semi-retires, like what happened with Ben Reilly and Peter in the 1990s?

I think it could work. Unlike Ben at the time who was essentially a new character, Miles has been around long enough to establish himself. However, there would no doubt be an inevitable backlash. The most important question from Marvel/Disney's POV is would comic book sales of Amazing remain steady or would they fall or even collapse after such a change? That's something no one can really answer I suppose.

[WebSlingWonder]

I think, while it could work, there would have to be a very viable in-story reason. Peter as he is right now is in his prime as a hero, and doesn't seem like he has a reason to retire/quit. Even MJ supports him being Spider-Man, which was one of the main reasons he was intending to quit. I think if they were to have Miles be Spider-Man for good, it would have to have a strong reason.

[Celgress]

FYI That's a typo it won't let me edit in the poll question which should read - Do you think Miles could carry the franchise? lol

PS WebSlingWonder thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree with you there would need to be a damn good reason given in-universe for the change.

[NC_Yankee]

...If Miles became the primary Spider-Man of 616 and Peter semi-retires, like what happened with Ben Reilly and Peter in the 1990s?

I think it could work. Unlike Ben at the time who was essentially a new character, Miles has been around long enough to establish himself. However, there would no doubt be an inevitable backlash. The most important question from Marvel/Disney's POV is would comic book sales of Amazing remain steady or would they fall or even collapse after such a change? That's something no one can really answer I suppose.

I do not see such a move as necessary. I would agree that Miles could carry Amazing, but as we saw with Renew Your Vows an adult, married and with child Peter will sell..Since the entire purpose of Spider-Man ( from the perspective of Disney/Marvel) is to make money, why take advantage of having both a teenage Spider-Man ( Miles) and an adult Spider-Man ( Peter)?

[H-E-D]

In an internal narrative sense, it could definitely work. But I'm not sure the current direct market audience would be onboard for it.

[Minerboh]

It's worth the try.
Miles is the only one that can carry on as Main Spider-Man. All the ethical values that make Spider-Man are there.

[Revolutionary_Jack]

The risks of such a story might potentially outweigh the benefits.

Let's say they do a crossover tomorrow, and Peter's decommissioned for a while and Miles becomes the sole Spider-Man and we get say a year and a half of Miles Morales as the one and only Spider-Man across all titles. If the sales are very good, it still won't lead to Miles replacing Peter because again that's not going to actually happen. Peter needs to be unpopular by himself for a legacy replacement to happen (as it did to Barry Allen and Hal Jordan who weren't popular at the time when they got replaced) and he isn't. If the sales are bad, it could kill Miles Morales as Peter's legacy for good.

My feeling is that Miles needs to be built up with his own rogues and his own relationships with rogues for that to happen. Miles taking over Peter's role should feel like an addition, a bringing of something new to something familiar.

And again, how many variations of "poor taste" can we keep doing about Miles filling Peter's shoes.

[Mister Mets]

I don't think it works.

One reason is that Peter Parker is a really popular character. Miles is doing okay, but there's no indication he's more popular (Into the Spider-Verse made less money than any of the other Spider-Man movies; the Miles comics don't outsell the Peter Parker comics.)

It could also create a backlash against Miles if there's a sense that he's being used to replace Peter. This is baggage the character and the franchise do not need.

[PCN24454]

I originally said unsure but now I’m thinking no.

When a character is considered iconic, you use their name even if you change everything else about the character. Even after ITSV, Peter’s name is still more well known than his. While some of that just comes from the fact that Miles is a comparatively new character, it’s too big a hurdle for Miles to overcome, especially when you consider that there’s no in universe reason why Peter would quit.

Look at Batman. For every Robin or potential successor, he’s still the person that most people think of when they hear Batman with Dick Grayson being the most iconic Robin to the point of it being sad.

[bob.schoonover]

I think it could work in a limited sense - think Dick Grayson running the show for a year and a half during Morrison's run - but Peter will always be the one everyone not reading comics monthly will know. It couldn't/wouldn't last. But as a story conceit, sure - Miles was a competent and believable lead in Spidergeddon and there'd be plenty of interesting stories with him bouncing off Peter's rogues, trying to work with Jonah, etc. As mentioned above, it'd also need to be a believable reason for Peter to not be around - "Oh, MJ and I are going to work on us" wouldn't work.

[SuperiorIronman]

I think it could work just fine. Miles has an iconic outfit, a fairly simple origin (either inspired by Peter's sacrifice or motivated by altruism inspired by Spider-man) which lends itself to a unique take, Miles has a unique power to him, and you don't necessarily require a unique rogues gallery. Miles in pretty much every way is designed to eventually succeed Peter Parker.

And to be honest, I'd like to see that in the mainline books. I don't think Peter has to settle down to do it (as is this weird thought even the writers have), but I genuinely think Miles could takeover and share the spotlight with Peter. I'm thinking a sort of Batman Beyond dynamic or that Peter takes on a role similar to Ezekiel where he's just out of the spotlight but he's still a main player in the story. That way both are featured prominently, and you can appeal to both fan-bases seeing as Peter would still be active and continuing his story.

I don't think Miles could support a flat-out takeover, but a "dynamic duo" works seeing as it does sell as ITSV proved.

[Lee]

I think the audience would still want to buy and read new comics about Peter Parker as Spider-Man, and Marvel's licensees would still want to make products with the traditional Spider-Man character design.

[Tuck]

I don't think it works.

One reason is that Peter Parker is a really popular character. Miles is doing okay, but there's no indication he's more popular (Into the Spider-Verse made less money than any of the other Spider-Man movies; the Miles comics don't outsell the Peter Parker comics.)

It could also create a backlash against Miles if there's a sense that he's being used to replace Peter. This is baggage the character and the franchise do not need.

DC does legacy characters all the time. Even the resets back to the "old" Flash and Green Latern were resets back to legacy characters.

Marvel's married itself so strongly to this singular timeline, that that may be the problem. If Miles had stayed in his own universe, and Marvel had made a genuine effort to sell 1610 as just as legitimate as 616, we could have watched how it shook out over the years.

[Snoop Dogg]

If Marvel takes the financial risk of putting their flagship character on ice again, it would have to be for a new character taking over ASM's place like Otto. Miles wouldn't work because we already get Miles and he has his own space, therefore instead of getting something truly new and different for a while, we're just losing something.

[Ursalink]

I think it MIGHT work for Miles to take the role of Spider-Man while Peter tries to stabilize his life. Problem, Peter's guilty won't allow him to stay entirely retired as long as he lives. Also, for us "the readers), Peter Parker will always be the original and one-true Spidey.