Animated Spider-Man Actor Taking Over The Role In Live-Action?

Shameik Moore voices Miles Morales in Across the Spier-Verse and its upcoming sequel, though he wants to play the character when a live-action version inevitably happens.

By Sean Thiessen | Updated

In 2018, the world fell in love with Miles Morales. Already beloved by comics fans, the Afro-Latino Spider-Man variant hit the big screen in Into the Spider-Verse, but the Brooklyn native has yet to make a live-action debut. Shameik Moore, the voice of the dimension-hopping Miles, told Empire he is the perfect man for the job of a live-action Spider-Man – if the timing is right.

Shameik Moore in Dope

“I feel like everyone knows I would be a great [live-action] Miles Morales. As I left the theater after that premiere, Jamie Foxx looked at me like… he knew. I think Tom Holland knows, too. It just depends on how old they want Miles to be by the time they’re ready to do a live-action movie. ”

Shameik Moore

When Shameik Moore attended the premiere of Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021, he felt a lot of eyes on him. The movie featured Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire, and Andrew Garfield facing off with their greatest villains, prompting Jamie Foxx’s Electro to remark that there must be a black Spider-Man somewhere in the multiverse. “[Everyone] looked at me on that line,” Moore said.

Shameik Moore may have the look to play a Miles Morales Spider-Man, and he proved with Into the Spider-Verse that he has the chops. His age, however, may pose a problem.

Shameik Moore is 27, already about a year older than Tom Holland. The Miles Morales of the Spider-Verse films is a high schooler. That doesn’t necessarily mean Moore is out of contention; Andrew Garfield went back to high school as Peter Parker at age 28, and Tobey Maguire was 26 when he landed the part.

It is unclear whether or not Shameik Moore has a shot at a live-action Miles Morales appearance or if one is in the works. Amy Pascal, the producer in charge of Spidey movies, said fans are a couple of years away from seeing the next steps for the wall-crawling hero. She revealed that Tom Holland is a big fan of Into the Spider-Verse, which fueled another casting rumor.

Tom Holland is speculated to appear with Shameik Moore in Across the Spider-Verse this summer, with Holland lending his voice to an animated version of Peter Parker for the first time. The cameo would also represent a collision of Sony’s animated Spider-Verse and the MCU. With or without Tom Holland, Across the Spider-Verse will have plenty of Web-Heads for Miles.

Across the Spider-Verse features the return of Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, Hailee Steinfeld as Spider-Gwen, and Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker. Nicolas Cage won’t be back as Spider-Man Noir, but his absence makes room for Oscar Isaac as Spider-Man 2099, Spider-Man India, Spider-Woman, Spider-Punk, the Scarlet Spider, and many, many more.

A live-action outing for Miles Morales feels inevitable, but when Sony will put that plan into action feels far murkier. They may wait until the animated Spider-Verse trilogy is complete when Beyond the Spider-Verse releases in 2024, but the clock is ticking for Shameik Moore, as though the actor is still young, it doesn’t take long to age out of playing Spider-Man. 

Still, if anyone is going to play Miles Morales in live-action, Shameik Moore is one actor fans would love to see take a swing at it.