Long before there was a Spider-Verse full of Spider-People, Miguel O'Hara was Marvel's first major Spider-Man who wasn't Peter Parker. Created by Peter David and Rick Leonardi in 1993, Miguel was Spider-Man in the 2099 timeline. He was the line's breakout star, and his series has been revived numerous times, even though the rest of the 2099 line is long gone.
Recently, in the final pages of Amazing Spider-Man #25, Spider-Man 2099 made his grand return. The hero has been scarcely seen for the past few years, but he seems set to return to active duty in the Marvel Universe in a major way. In honor of Miguel O'Hara's return, CBR is taking a look back at the hero's primary costumes and how they've changed over the years.
SPIDER-MAN 2099's ORIGINAL COSTUME
Spider-Man 2099's first costume features a design that's become iconic at this point. It takes the usual blue and red Spider-Man color scheme and inverts it, making blue the primary color with red being used to compliment it. The costume features a skull-like emblem on the chest and red accents around the eyes. On his forearms, two red spines protrude from each side, complemented by a red arrow on each hand. Spidey 2099 also has a unique set of web wings that are messier than the kind found in most spider suits, appearing to flow from his back like a cape rather than from his side and bicep.
Miguel, who is of Mexican heritage, originally created the costume for a Day of the Dead festival in Mexico. Like most Marvel superhero costumes, his suit is made of unstable molecules that make it extra durable. As he reflected on why he made the skull-themed suit, Miguel said that he needed "something extra sturdy" for the festival.
Perhaps what's more interesting about this costume is that it's actually black and red instead of blue. This is gathered through context clues rather than the images themselves. For example, the bounty hunter Venture threatens Miguel by saying: "Alchemax wants your black-clad butt, and I'm here to bring it to them." Similar dialogue about the costume's color scheme follow throughout the entirety of Peter David's original Spider-Man 2099 run.
The most likely reason for this is that Miguel's costume fell victim to the 90s art trend of using dark blue coloring to represent black. However, that blue design followed the character for years, becoming the most accepted version of his costume. It's the blue costume that finds its way into other subsequent appearances including 2014's Spider-Man 2099 solo series.
SPIDER-MAN 2099 IN SHATTERED DIMENSIONS
In the video game, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, Miguel O'Hara was featured as a playable character. This quippier version of Spidey 2099 took inspiration from his classic navy blue costume, prominently featuring the skull on the chest and chevrons around the eyes. However, this costume had a very noticeable leathery texture, resulting in a certain net-looking sheen across the blue suit that made it look like a product of the future. The web wings are also cleaner-cut and unlike the first suit, they come from his biceps and the side of his body. The web wings also appear to be less web-like in their styling and more like a white fabric.
The suit itself is less vibrant, opting for a darker navy than most. Most notably, there is a much smaller, silver variation of his skull logo on his back, placed right between his shoulder blades. This silver color scheme is also subtly acknowledged through accents on the back of his suit and on the soles of his feet.
Of course, throughout the game, there are various costumes Spider-Man 2099 can wear such as the Spider-Armor and the Cosmic Spider-Man suit but this is the rundown of his main costume in the game. Miguel has worn suits similar to this one in several of his other video game and animated appearances.
SPIDER-MAN 2099's WHITE COSTUME
After Peter David and Will Silney oversaw Miguel's second solo series in 2014, they returned for the third volume of Spider-Man 2099 in 2015. In this series, Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man, designs Miguel a new suit while he's trapped in the present-day Marvel Universe. His internal dialogue in the second issue describing the suit reads: "The material is made of unstable molecules bonded with kevlar. Increasing its durability so that nothing short of a Howitzer can penetrate it. Light byte material better integrated to improve gliding. And internal thrusters for launch. Spider-Saucers running down the sleeves, integrated into the gloves, providing distance offensive capabilities. On-board sensors for complete vicinity readings. State of the art, top to bottom."
Where the first costume was essentially just a cloth suit, this one is more like an Iron Man suit, hi-tech and complete with thrusters. The web wings in this suit are more clean-cut and come from the arms to the side of the body like most Spider-suit web wings. The color scheme was alternated for this suit, swapping the dark blue for a white color. The red accents are still there (as are the red spines on the forearms), but the skull motif is no longer as prominent on the chest plate. In its place is a more subtle take on a similar design. The red chevrons are still on the mask, but sleeker looking. The red arrows on his hands were also swapped for red finger stripes. The legs and side of his body are colored black on this suit.
This costume was a drastic change from his prior one, but it only appears in this volume. As of this writing, it looks like Miguel has returned to his blue and red suit in Amazing Spider-Man #25.