Miles Morales, an Afro-American Spider-Man following in Black Panther’s footsteps

As recent controversies have shown, the skin colour of an actor or actress remains the source of criticism for some, especially when it comes to characters previously played by a Caucasian. Last May, for example, the African-American actress Halle Bailey received a barrage of hostile attacks for her role in the live-action version of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. The “purists” called for respect and a sort of fidelity to the earlier cartoon depiction, even though of course fish-women do not exist.

More recently, it was the interpretation of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra by the African-American Adele James in a Netflix documentary series that made people cringe.

The release of the feature film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, from Sony Pictures, seems to have caused less controversy. In just two weeks since its release, the animated film about Spider-Man Miles Morales has already