Spider-Man #12's Miles and Spider-Gwen cover

[CryoFlar3]

I'd rather one of marvel's top 3 selling females not end up on the list of "characters who perform statutory rape." for whatever the fuck Bendis wants to do.

Miles is at the age of consent in New York and Gwen is under 21 so its leagle. No need to worry about statutory rape issues.

[ZuLuLu]

Oh come on with the statutory rape, it is just a kiss on the cover, they are both teenagers, no one knows what is actually going to happen in the book.

I get that some people don't like this but let's not get ahead of ourselves and create a false controversy.

[leo619]

I don't get why you lot are making it a dick measuring contest between Peter and Miles when a much realer issue is the very likely statutory consequences for Gwen.

For a guy she doesn't know or hang out with.

Except it's not, under the laws of new york, anyone over the age of 13 but under the age of 16 can date anyone 4 years older than him. So if miles is 16, he can date someone up to the age of 20.

[ijacksparrow]

Except it's not, under the laws of new york, anyone over the age of 13 but under the age of 16 can date anyone 4 years older than him. So if miles is 16, he can date someone up to the age of 20.

Actually, this is misleadingly wrong. The age of consent in New York is 17. Since Miles is reportedly sixteen and Gwen is around 19-20, they can kiss, but not have sex until he is 17 years old. In New York there are no age gap laws, so kissing and holding hands is fine, but anything that goes further aka making out, second base, third base and etc., that would fall on statutory rape by Gwen. It's at the very least morally reprehensible from Marvel to go ahead with the cover, but yeah. It's not like Marvel doesn't like their controversy. At all costs, sometimes.

[ZephyrSurf]

Except it's not, under the laws of new york, anyone over the age of 13 but under the age of 16 can date anyone 4 years older than him. So if miles is 16, he can date someone up to the age of 20.

See, last I remember Miles having an age, he was 14. And I know Gwen was a minimum of 19. So I was going off the assumption that those ages were the ages they had.

[Tuck]

See, last I remember Miles having an age, he was 14. And I know Gwen was a minimum of 19. So I was going off the assumption that those ages were the ages they had.

Miles is 13 when Ultimate Peter dies. Ultimate Spider-Man #200 takes place on the second anniversary of Peter's death. (There was already a one-year skip in Miles's book when he quit after his mother died). Then there was another volume of Miles's book (granted, written by Bendis, so it could have entirely taken place inside of one day ), Secret Wars, and the eight month post-SW gap.

In New York there are no age gap laws,

Age is accounted for. It came up in a very high profile case here a while back.

It's at the very least morally reprehensible

Oh, relax. Move them both back a year and she's a senior and he's a freshman or sophomore, and no one would blink twice at them being a couple.

[Mister Mets]

Actually, this is misleadingly wrong. The age of consent in New York is 17. Since Miles is reportedly sixteen and Gwen is around 19-20, they can kiss, but not have sex until he is 17 years old. In New York there are no age gap laws, so kissing and holding hands is fine, but anything that goes further aka making out, second base, third base and etc., that would fall on statutory rape by Gwen. It's at the very least morally reprehensible from Marvel to go ahead with the cover, but yeah. It's not like Marvel doesn't like their controversy. At all costs, sometimes.

New York does have age lap laws.

http://www.kurthahnschool.org/compas...ory-rape-laws/

Fortunately, lawmakers in New York took teenage relationships into account. In New York State, a person who is under age 16 but older than 13 years old can consent to sex with a person who is no more than 4 years older; the crime of the 3rd degree rape only happens when a person over the age of 21 has sex with a person who is under seventeen years old or younger and that person can or may be punished with up to 4 years in prison.

Incidentally, I'm so happy to have "age of consent laws in New York" on my search history.

[marvelguy25]

Well, I was only referring to a kiss actually happening or not based on the cover.
Another thing worth noting would be other of Bendis' covers/solicits. In many of those, there are things on it that don't even happen on the issue itself. Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man had some of these, and more recent examples would be the Kamala one as already mentioned, or the villain in issue 4 cover, who never even appeared on the actual issue.

another thing worth nothing is that despite the cover they never really went out nor shared any romantic interactions with eachother.

[ZephyrSurf]

Miles is 13 when Ultimate Peter dies. Ultimate Spider-Man #200 takes place on the second anniversary of Peter's death. (There was already a one-year skip in Miles's book when he quit after his mother died). Then there was another volume of Miles's book (granted, written by Bendis, so it could have entirely taken place inside of one day ), Secret Wars, and the eight month post-SW gap.

Man, Bendis' timeline is god damn weird. Wasn't Ultimate Peter 15 for the entirety of his tenure?

[Tuck]

Man, Bendis' timeline is god damn weird. Wasn't Ultimate Peter 15 for the entirety of his tenure?

He turned 16 right at the beginning the the Death of storyline. (Or at the end of the story just before it.)

[ZephyrSurf]

He turned 16 right at the beginning the the Death of storyline. (Or at the end of the story just before it.)

Dude needs to get a handle on this age thing cause Kamala's going to simultaneously be older and younger than Miles with Bendis time

[Frontier]

I think everyone is putting more thought into this age gap thing then Bendis did. He probably just assumes Gwen is an average teenager instead of college-age .

[ZephyrSurf]

I think everyone is putting more thought into this age gap thing then Bendis did. He probably just assumes Gwen is an average teenager instead of college-age .

Well of course, it's bendis.

[ijacksparrow]

New York does have age lap laws.

http://www.kurthahnschool.org/compas...ory-rape-laws/



Incidentally, I'm so happy to have "age of consent laws in New York" on my search history.

Yeah I just found this as well:

When teenagers become sexually active, it brings to their lives a whole host of new complications and confusions. While most high school students think of the emotional, social, and physical consequences of sex, few consider the legal gray area they might be entering. What makes high school relationships less than straight forward is a concept known as “Age of Consent.” The age of consent is the age in which one can legally be consent to have sexual relations. The age of consent in New York City is seventeen years old. The law exist because the Government doesn’t want any child above or even below the accepted age to be exploited by an adult.

Many teenagers first become sexually active before the age of 17. So what then? If you are having sex at 15 or 16, are you breaking the law? Fortunately, lawmakers in New York took teenage relationships into account. In New York State, a person who is under age 16 but older than 13 years old can consent to sex with a person who is no more than 4 years older; the crime of the 3rd degree rape only happens when a person over the age of 21 has sex with a person who is under seventeen years old or younger and that person can or may be punished with up to 4 years in prison. The younger the victim is, the more severe the punishment. Note that this mans if you are 13 years or younger, you cannot legally consent, regardless of whether the other person is the same age or not.

If the victim is under fifteen, the punishment is up to seven years in prison, but still older men/women decide to have sex with young girls/boys. Parents are starting to become even more concerned about there children’s safety and every week the New York attorney’s receive a calls from angered parents.

This is just another complication that teenagers need to keep in mind when entering into a relationship, especially as they get older. If you are an 18 or 19 year old senior, it may against the law to have a relationship with someone who attends the same school as you. As with everything involving sex, the important thing is to be responsible, respect your self and your partner, and never rush into any relationship without considering the consequences.

See, last I remember Miles having an age, he was 14. And I know Gwen was a minimum of 19. So I was going off the assumption that those ages were the ages they had.

In Bendis tradition, he tells the stories of his characters over interviews. I get the confusion with people thinking he's 13 or 14, but according with a Bendis interview (basically that's how he tells the stories of the character after all):

“Because he’s now 16, the only thing he thinks about more than Spider-Man is girls,” says Bendis with a laugh. “In the grand tradition of Spider-Mans, it ain’t gonna be easy.”

Source: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/01...der-man-series

Gwen is in college and living by herself with her roomate Betty in NY's Earth 65, while Miles attends to high school in NY's Earth 616. Would it illegal? It depends, it's muddy as hell. Here's an interview from Jason Latour for Spider-Gwen's relaunch after Secret Wars:

CBR: Since this arc deals with a mystery involving Gwen's past, will we learn more about her old life through flashbacks?

Jason Latour: Yes. We're going to see some fun stuff, like the Mary Janes in high school. Some people might be uncertain of her age, but in our very first issue we state that Gwen is, in fact, 19. She's been out of high school for a couple years. That means we're going to flash back and see a much more naïve version of Gwen and the cast, which I think will be a lot of fun.

Source: http://www.comicbookresources.com/ar...ew-spider-gwen

Not sure how much time passed from her first Edge of Spider-Verse or first Spider-Gwen run. Not sure if he's talking about that issues or not. But the question "is it morally reprehensible?" I'd argue that yes. Age of consent and legal varies in North America state by state, and in some states would be statutory rape. Regardless if the cover is deceiving or not, Marvel is obviously going for the controversy about Miles with a version of Gwen, not caring that much about their age differences and how their fans see something like that. Bendis does whatever Bendis wants, and pretty much that's the reason why this is happening. Should Marvel and Bendis think things through better? Of course. With great power there must also come -- great responsibility. Bendis is just interested on making Miles an overpowered Chuck Norris anyway, he probably has some sort of age changing sting and now he's older than Gwen.

I think everyone is putting more thought into this age gap thing then Bendis did. He probably just assumes Gwen is an average teenager instead of college-age .

Well, this is obvious. The correlation between power/responsibility and continuity aren't things that matter for Bendis, after all.

[Smoov-E]

Miles is a plothole. I've tried to make sense out of the character explaining that he doesn't even have an origin story that makes sense and his fans came up with some crazy theories about realities adjusting because of Reed Richards after Secret Wars and how it's integral to Miles Morales story that he stopped a whole full year acting as a Spider-Person because his mother died in the Ultimate Universe. I tried to argue that making him "stop being Spider-Person" for one full year wouldn't even make sense if what Marvel is doing is making the character part of their main universe, especially if his mother isn't even dead, so why would he stop a full year and what I came to realization is that just like Bendis, his fans don't care. Sometimes Miles will be sixteen, others eighteen, I don't even doubt that Bendis would think that Spider-Gwen is younger than him. They don't care about this, they don't care about things making sense, so why the hell should anyone do? It's whatever the explanation that Bendis gives, just like Miles being more capable to defeat Blackheart than all the Avengers combined, or how we don't even know if he's a Spider-Person from an alternate Earth or he's a Spider-Person from the main universe with no clue about the fact that all the people from his other Earth died or don't exist anymore. We don't even know his origin, so why his age is important? Or Spider-Gwen's for that matter? It's whatever Bendis wants it to be. As long as Bendis doesn't bring Spider-Man and his supporting cast on this non-sense, I couldn't care less.

For a guy who hates Miles you really love talking about him and coming up with conspiracy theories about him and his fans