In this review of Miles Morales: Spider-Man #40, Miles comes face to face with Rabble again in a way he never expected!
Miles Morales: Spider-Man # 40
Writer: Cody Ziglar
Artist: Marco Renna
Main Cover: Federico Vicentini
Variant Covers: Inhyuk Lee, Mark Bagley, Bengal
Page Count: 19 pages
Release Date: November 5, 2025
This Review Contains Spoilers
While spending time with Tiana, Miles admits that he wishes he could help more people, including Raneem, and that helping people like her is why he is Spider-Man in the first place. He leaves, arriving at Dr. Kwan’s early, and is there as she’s finishing a session with Raneem. Both of them have strong reactions, panicking and rushing in to fight, but Dr. Kwan turns into Powerlift and stops them.
As Miles is apologizing, the Assessor appears, trapping Dr. Kwan in her own VR environment before fighting Miles and Raneem. Raneem gets angry because he is using her machines, and tries to turn them on him, giving Miles an opening to hit him. Instead of staying to fight, Miles uses the opening to turn invisible and run away with Raneem.
After they leave, the Assessor repairs himself and reflects on the data he gathered on them before declaring that the experiment can begin.
Analysis
The art style of Miles Morales: Spider-Man #40 is very well done. The characters are expressive, and the style highlights the bigger, more obvious expressions as well as the small, subtle ones. There are two full-page pictures of Miles as he’s swinging, one with Tiana and one of him alone. They’re bright, colorful panels that use dynamic posing to highlight Miles’ unique swinging style.
There is also a moment where Miles and Raneem charge each other that is particularly eye-catching. Raneem’s eyes are glowing, and MIles is mid-suit up, with his face only half-covered. They’re both the focus of their panels, and the backgrounds are a blur in their rush to attack each other. It highlights the fact that this is a rushed, impulsive moment for both of them.
When it comes to the story within Miles Morales: Spider-Man #40, this setup already has the potential for insane battles and a strong focus on character development for both Miles and Raneem. The arrival of Assessor means that Miles is going to have to pull out a few tricks and fight outside of his comfort zone. His panic at seeing Raneem and being reminded of the events of the Gang War means that he’s also going to have to fight against himself to be able to think critically and act rationally.
Raneem’s machines being used against her by The Assessor is a great metaphor for the lack of control she’s mentioned feeling in this issue and the previous one. The machines are hers, but the Assessor has managed to take them as his own, causing her visible distress over someone else using the machines that she’d controlled from a young age.
The one downside of the plot is the questionable continuity between the end of the previous issue and the beginning of this one. Issue #39 ended with a cliffhanger about the Origin Boxes. Though the issue makes it clear that the resolution to that storyline won’t be seen until 2026, it’s still odd that there’s no mention of them. There’s no talk of research on them, no talk of having called someone to look at them, there’s no mention of them at all. Even when Miles is recounting his last few adventures, he doesn’t mention his trip into another dimension, his new memories, or the origin boxes at all.
Considering the sudden return of his memories was a large plot point in Ultimate Incursion: Spider-Man, it was surprising for it to go without so much as a mention, even if the origin box storyline won’t be seen for a few months. Still, it’s a very minor moment of distraction in an otherwise great issue, and doesn’t take away too much from any of the moments in the current story.
Final Thoughts
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #40 brings together art, character, and story for a great start to this arc. Though there’s a surprising lack of story from previous issues that feature Miles, it’s a minor misstep overshadowed by the positives.
