As Miles Morales continues a heroic legacy of power and responsibility that spans generations (and even realities_, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s aware of every aspect of Spider-Man’s history, or what it’s like to endure an onslaught from an army of Spidey’s foes. This fall, he’ll experience some big aspects of the Spider-Man legacy first hand, in both the present and the past.

The first moment comes in next month’s Generations: Miles Morales Spider-Man & Peter Parker Spider-Man one-shot by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Ramon Perez. There, thanks to time travel, Miles will witness a shocking moment from Peter's past. Then, in November’s Spider-Man #234, Bendis and artist Oscar Bazaldua bring Miles Morales into the Marvel Legacy era with an arc that pits him against a new incarnation of the classic Spidey villain group, the Sinister Six.

RELATED: Bendis Promises, Spider-Men II is a Big Chapter in Miles Morales’ Story

In part two of our conversation with Bendis about his plans for Miles Morales the writer spoke with us about how these stories fit into the long-form story he’s telling, revisiting the classic Lee-Ditko era of Spider-Man, writing a jerk Flash Thompson, and the supervillains that make up the ranks of the new Sinister Six.

CBR: Spider-Men II isn't the only team-up story you're working on with Peter and Miles. You're also doing the one-shot Generations: Miles Morales Spider-Man & Peter Parker Spider-Man with artist Ramon Perez. It looks like that will allow him to return to the world of teenage Peter Parker that he brought to life so well in the 2014 Amazing Spider-Man arc, “Learning to Crawl.”

Brian Bendis: Yes! I'm so excited about this project. I love Ramon Perez and was dying for something special to do with him. Also, this is such an important chapter in the history of Spider-Man. What Miles discovers about Peter Parker in this book is so huge that it changes him forever.

I know you hear that all the time. I may have set off an alarm on this website by saying those words, but do know I don't say this unless I really mean it. I'm telling you the end of our Generations special is a big one.

It sounds like this continues the exploration of what the legacy of Spider-Man means to Miles.

Yes! Everybody knows you can't unsee what you've seen. That's what Generations will be for Miles.

It looks like this story involves time travel back to Peter's early days as Spider-Man. Will you be able to play with some of the original Lee-Ditko era Spider-Man characters in this one-shot?

Here's what I can say: You wouldn't think I'd need to do research on Spider-Man since I've literally been writing the character for most of my adult life, but I dove right back in looking for where the story might take place. In doing so, I got very reflective of who Peter Parker was in those later Ditko issues, and who he is now in the Dan Slott era.

Miles has only met the Dan Slott Spider-Man and my Spider-Man. In some places, the Stan Lee-Steve Ditko Spider-Man stories have a surprisingly depressive tone. Remember, there are whole issues where nothing goes right for Peter. So in this context, Miles will see Peter in a different light.

I'm very excited for people to see this. No matter what level of Spider-Man fan you are or where you're coming from, whether you're the deepest dive person, or you've only been reading my Spider-Man, or you literally just discovered Spider-Man this summer via the movie. I think the Spider-Man Generations special is an eye-opener on the characters and I also sincerely hope a gateway to people looking back into some of the earlier issues of Spider-Man by Stan, Steve, and John [Romita Sr.]

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Bring On the (Sinister) Bad Guys

Can you talk about the villains we'll see?

[Laughs] I can talk about Flash Thompson. He's an unbelievable dick in this issue, and it's funny because I just spent a couple years writing Flash and I really liked him. I liked Flash as the veteran and a super hero. I enjoyed writing him so much that when I went back to what a damaged asshole he was in high school and college it was like, “Oh my god!” It was this really unique experience for me to have these warm feelings towards the character and then realize I used to hate them.[Laughs]

It sounds like both Spider-Men II and your Generations one-shot are sort of the bridge to where you're headed in the Marvel Legacy era of Spider-Man.

Absolutely. People are getting a real sense of organization here. Please enjoy the fact that myself and others have given this an immense amount of thought. We've been working on these plans for over a year.

Right from Generations comes the big Legacy arc with the brand new Sinister Six. What they're after, who the Iron Spider is, all of those questions will be answered in the very first issue and all of them are a big, big deal for Miles and his personal story.

What can you tell us about the individual members of the Sinister Six, whose identities are known? I assume the Hobgoblin in the group is Roderick Kingsley, correct?

Yes! You are absolutely right. Hilariously, maybe the number one question I've been getting on Tumblr since the news got out is, “Which Hobgoblin?”

That is mama Bombshell. People who have been reading Spider-Man know there's a lot going on with Miles and Lana Baumgartner who is also Bombshell. She was part of a mother-daughter team of supervillains called the Bombshells, and we have not seen the mother since “Secret Wars.” So she made it through to the Marvel Universe.

You can also see the classic Sandman, and the new female Electro. Iron Spider is a big mystery character. The Spot is also a member. I really enjoyed writing him in Jessica Jones earlier this year, and writing him continues to be fun.

One of the great things about working at Marvel is you can be at the company for years and all of a sudden you go, “I love writing Spot!” I really, really do.

He's one of those characters who at first glance is kind of a joke, but if done right he can come off as a pretty effective and very creepy villain.

He's one of those characters like the Purple Man where if you really think about it he's terrifying.

It looks like you'll be working with two artists these next few months on Spider-Man Oscar Bazaldua and Nico Leon.

Yes. Oscar has taken over the book full time. He did the Rogue One comic for Marvel and really did a great job, but like Sara and David Marquez and Nico Leon, here is another artist where just something about Miles and his supporting cast brings out the best character acting and artist development. I think Oscar has taken a massive leap forward since he jumped on the book, and I was excited to have him on at the level he was. I've been trying to express to him without sounding like a serial killer how it's so exciting to be on a book with someone that is finding that next level.

spider-man-234-legacy-homage

It's happened to me a few times and I never take it for granted. I appreciate it even more now because I know how special that is

Nico Leon is doing issues #20-21 of Spider-Man and then Oscar is coming back for issue #234, which starts the Legacy numbering, but what Nico, who is returning to the book has accomplished with his two issues is wonderful. I can't wait for people to see them.

Nico came up with a great idea and I want to make sure he gets the credit for it. In this storyline, which is pretty important to Miles' overall story, Miles runs away from his life and goes somewhere else. Most of the story is told narratively as a series of texts between Miles and Ganke. It was after he finished the pages that Nico decided what the icons would be for everyone's texts and drew them all. Everything about them is adorable, brilliant, and hilarious. They really add to the writing in every conceivable way. That's what collaboration is all about. Nico had this great idea and executed it perfectly.

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Miles Morales Meets Marvel's Mighty Defenders

Finally, recent Spider-Man issues have involved organized crime figures like Black Cat and Hammerhead. So will Miles' have a role in what's going on in your Defenders series?

Yes, like every other writer who's written a book for Marvel I have come up with another way to connect books that I'm writing simultaneously. As you mentioned, Miles' story has been very involved with the Black Cat and Black Cat's story has been very involved with Diamondback's story, who is currently the big adversary in Defenders. So what's going to happen, starting in Defenders #4 is you're actually going to see a scene that you saw in Miles' book last month, but you had no idea that scene affected the Defenders.

As a reader, I like stuff like that. So when I have moments like that as a writer I get very excited about them. So you will feel the connections even if the characters don't.

The good news is with Miles Morales we're telling one big story of a young man discovering something new about himself and his place in the universe. It's literally the story of a boy becoming a man and because it's Marvel and Spider-Man it's as unique a story as I could think of, but I don't think there's a story that I'm writing that I relate to more, because everyone I know has had that moment of, “Who am I? What am I doing? Where am I going? How do I do this?” That's what this story is going to be, and I'm so excited that all these cool, Marvel ideas just lined up perfectly with where Miles needs to go.