In this feature, I spotlight storylines that have been, well, left unresolved. Click here for an archive of all storylines featured so far.

Today, based on a suggestion by reader nightsking666, I look into the sort of open question of whether there is one Miles Morales in the Marvel Universe or are there more?

Miles Morales was an adolescent who was bitten by a genetically enhanced spider (from the same batch of spiders where one bit the Ultimate Peter Parker) that Miles' uncle had stolen from the laboratory. Miles gained superpowers and when the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker, died, Miles decided to follow in his footsteps. Nick Fury and the Ultimates stepped in and basically told him, "Quit it," but then he proved himself and they decided to give him a chance. They even gave him his own costume in Ultimate Spider-Man #5 (by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli)....





Miles fought the good fight as the Spider-Man of the Ultimate Universe.

Miles was one of the first Ultimate Universe character to interact with a Marvel Universe character when he crossed over with the Marvel Universe Peter Parker in the hit mini-series Spider-Men by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, as Peter Parker gets stranded in the Ultimate Universe...







At the end of the series, after returning home, Peter looks up HIS universe's Miles Morales, and gets a surprise...





Originally, Bendis was going to introduce Peter's Miles Morales with the intent of having that Miles become a good friend of Peter's and a supporting cast member over in Amazing Spider-Man. That did not happen.

Secret Wars eventually DID happen and when it was over, the Ultimate Universe was destroyed and only the "Prime Marvel Earth" was left. How did Miles get lumped in?

Go to the next page to find out!

At the end of Secret Wars #9 (by Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic), Miles is one of the few people to know that there ever WAS a Secret Wars, as the Molecule Man, Owen Reese, thanked Miles for giving him a hamburger. As a result of Miles' kindness, when the Prime Marvel Earth was created, Miles' mother (who had died in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man) was now alive...







But as you can see, from Spider-Man #1 by Brian Michael Bendis and Sara Pichelli, Miles and his family and supporting cast has been just merged into the Prime Marvel Earth...







As Brian Michael Bendis explained to CBR, yes, Miles does know that he came from another universe, but the eight month gap after Secret Wars was designed, in this case, to skip over Miles' adjustment period, and just have things back to normal as soon as possible.

So, back to the issue at hand - what does this mean about the Miles Morales of the "616" Marvel Universe? We don't know. Ultimate Reed Richards, the Maker, also made his way to Prime Earth, but since the "616" Reed is not around at the moment, perhaps that's an exception? Heck, note that we never even saw if Peter FOUND the "616' Miles! Maybe "616" Miles is dead? Bendis has not addressed it either way, but I suspect that this is going to just be something that never gets resolved, as Bendis doesn't seem to want to complicate things any more than he has to, which I fully support, honestly. We really don't NEED two Miles Moraleses out there!

EDITED TO ADD SOME CLARIFICATION ABOUT THE STATE OF DUPLICATE PEOPLE:

In the latest issue of Squadron Supreme, the "Supreme Power" Nighthawk met up with the Prime Earth Nighthawk. This also establishes that the current "prime" Earth IS the old "616" Earth, just with some folks from dead worlds merged on to it (and if your world is NOT dead, then you are most likely still living on said world, like Spider-Gwen on her world)...



But thanks for the suggestion, nightsking666! If anyone else has a suggestion for an unresolved comic book plot, just drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!