SPIDER-MAN 2099 (Exiles)

Publication Date: 14th May 2015
Written By: Monolith.
Image Work: sixhoursoflucy.
Biography

BIOGRAPHY - Page 1

Miguel O'Hara was born around 2070 and raised by George and Conchata O'Hara in New York City along with his younger brother, Gabriel. George O'Hara was a blue collar genius working for Alchemax, the MegaCorp that owned and ran New York City in the late 21st century. He personally designed the surveillance network for the Public Eye, the Corp's privately-owned police force. Despite his brilliance, George O'Hara was brutal at home, physically assaulting and psychologically intimidating his wife and children. Conchata weathered George's beatings as best she could. She once remarked that she sold her soul to get out of Downtown (the slums of Old New York buried underneath Alchemax's Nueva York), and seemed to consider George a necessary evil. Still, she loved her boys, and tried to draw George's rage to her instead of the children whenever possible. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #10]

Miguel was biologically the son of Tyler Stone, George's boss and one of the highest ranking directors of the Alchemax corporation, answering directly to the reclusive CEO himself. Conchata privately considered Miguel her shining act of defiance against George, but guarded Miguel's true paternity with great concern. In many ways, Tyler Stone was even worse than George O'Hara, leaving Conchata constantly concerned with how Miguel would turn out. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #25] By nature or nurture, Miguel proved to be highly intelligent even at a young age, and by his early teens he tested well enough to place into Alchemax's private educational program. Conchata was leery about attention from the Corps, secretly afraid Miguel would go down the same path as Tyler Stone. An intelligent child was a profitable child, however, meaning a raise in credits and social status for the family. As a result, George made it violently clear that Miguel would be accepting Alchemax's offer. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #10]

Miguel was taken away to boarding school at the Alchemax School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester County, personally escorted by Tyler Stone himself. Miguel took an instant dislike to Stone, who insisted on calling him "Mike," and slimily indicated that Miguel had best not make waves at the school, or else George would hear how unhappy they were with him. The school was run by the sympathetic Angela Daskalakis, who did her best to make Miguel feel welcome, but he hadn't even made it through the front door before a bucket of water was dumped on his head. Angela identified Kron Stone as the culprit and forced him to apologize, but this only ensured Kron focused his hatred on Miguel. Kron was Tyler Stone's recognized heir, but also a budding sociopath thanks to his troubled home life. Nevertheless, Kron felt invincible at school due to his father's status.

Still, Miguel made friends as quickly as he made enemies. On his first day, he bonded with Xina Kwan, a student with an interest in artificial intelligence and Twen-Cen artifacts. They made plans to go swimming together, but Kron caught Miguel off-guard before Xina arrived at the pool. Kron held Miguel's head underwater in an attempt to drown him, leaving him floating lifelessly in the water. Xina saved Miguel's life by giving him CPR when she arrived. She also encouraged Miguel to report Kron to Angela, but he refused to even confirm Kron was responsible for attacking him. Miguel (realistically) believed that Tyler Stone would protect his son from anything as serious as expulsion and, if he tried to get rid of Kron but failed, Kron would kill him. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #18-20, 22]

When George and Conchata came to visit with Gabriel on parents' day, Xina endeared herself to Miguel and Conchata by tricking George into drinking some "special" beer after he made a few racist comments about her. When Gabri accidentally ran into Kron, the boy started beating on Gabriel until George intervened and roughed him up. George quickly submitted once Tyler Stone arrived and ordered him to apologize to his son, but Conchata stood up to Tyler and forced him to back down instead. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #23, 26]

Still, Kron's treatment of Miguel continued, as he later "pantsed" him in the middle of a soccer game. Miguel was embarrassed and ran off, particularly because Xina laughed too. Xina followed and apologized to Miguel, but again insisted that he stand up to Kron or else the bullying would keep coming. That night, Kron assaulted Xina in the girls' showers, accusing her of plotting against him with Miguel. Miggy heard Xina scream for help and ran to her defense. Although Miguel tried to play the situation lightly, Kron had a knife with him and it was clear he was no longer joking. Kron likely would have killed Miguel and Xina if Angela didn't arrive in time to knock the fight out of him. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #27-29]

Over Tyler Stone's objections, Angela brought Kron up for expulsion before the disciplinary committee. Miguel was supposed to testify at the hearing and back up Xina's version of events. At first, Miguel was too scared to face Kron, and ran away from the school. He eventually had a change of heart, however, and returned in time to give testimony against Kron, not only for the attack in the showers but also the drowning incident from earlier that term. After he tricked Kron into confirming the attack on the record, the school went forward with expelling Kron, despite Tyler's influence. Tyler and Miguel had a small confrontation after the expulsion when Miguel ironically remarked on how it must be difficult being Tyler's son. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #30, 32-34, 38]

Miguel and Xina remained best friends throughout their time at the Alchemax School, and eventually started dating. When they graduated, Miguel took a job at Alchemax in their bio-engineering division and moved into a suite at Babylon Towers. After losing a friendly bet, Xina agreed to help Miguel "break in" the apartment, and they consummated their relationship. Miguel saw Xina's Marilyn Monroe tattoo on her belly for the first time during the "breaking in" and to remember the occasion he later programmed his household A.I. Lyla (LYrate Lifeform Approximation) in Marilyn's likeness. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #22]

Only a few months later, however, Miguel inexplicably fell for his brother Gabriel's new girlfriend, Dana D'Angelo, when they double-dated. The unspoken attraction turned into an affair one night when Gabriel cancelled on Miguel and Dana for dinner. Dana would later claim that Gabri was too caught up in his art to give her the attention she wanted, but Miggy's reason for cheating is unknown, other than the claim that he and Dana just "clicked." Xina came home early from visiting her folks a few weeks later and caught them in the act. Xina walked out of Miguel's life after that, but Dana encouraged Gabriel to remain close with her and Miguel. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #37] Gabriel went through a series of girlfriends after Dana and suffered a serious addiction to net-gliding, but eventually got his life turned around. In 2098, he and Miguel attended the Dia de Muertos festival in Mexico together. In order to dress for the occasion and keep up with the heavy partying and street activities, Miguel bought a specially-made costume of Unstable Molecules Fabric for extra resistance to wear and tear. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #2]

Miguel and Dana dated for several years before getting engaged, although they didn't set a date. Miguel's parents eventually split up, as the years of abuse were too much for Conchata, driving her to a mental health clinic upstate for long term care. George O'Hara remarried, but Miguel remained out of his father's life as much as possible. George confronted Miguel and Dana on the street once, and tried to evoke a rise out of his son. Miguel walked away only because he knew, if he punched his father, he wouldn't stop hitting him until he was dead. When George died suddenly at an early age, Dana was touched when she saw Miguel shed a single tear for his father when no one else was watching. Unknown to Dana, Miguel was crying because he had wanted George to suffer horribly through all the problems and ailments of old age, as punishment for his brutality during Miguel's childhood. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #10]

[Note: Most of the events and details above were provided by issues released after the point when Exiles' Spider-Man 2099 split off from the original continuity. They are presumably still accurate, but any information coming from after Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #11 is potentially not canon for this version of Miguel.]

At Alchemax, Miguel became involved in the Corporate Raider program. Rivalry between the MegaCorps occasionally required enhanced agents to defend property or acquire assets, and Mig spear-headed a genetic engineering process that could conceivably create Alchemax their own made-to-order superhumans. The animal testing phase seemed promising, and Miguel began working on genetic templates for future human trials, including a spider template based on his research of holos from the Heroic Age about the original Spider-Man. For a time, Miguel's biggest hassle was dealing with Aaron Delgado, Alchemax's middle manager assigned to Corporate Raider who constantly tried (and failed) to flex his authority over Miguel.

Despite his cocky attitude and frequent successes in trials, Miguel recognized that the Corporate Raider program wasn't anywhere near ready for human trials yet. So when Tyler Stone barged into the lab one day with an inmate volunteer named Sims, Miggy was very put out. He tried to explain the potential hazards to Sims and Stone, but neither would budge. Realizing that Stone would go ahead with the trials even without him, Miguel reluctantly attempted to imprint Sims with a strength-enhancing template. The strength enhancement worked, but Sims was hopelessly mutated and died in agony while trying to strangle Miguel.

In the aftermath, Miguel attempted to quit the Corporate Raider program and Alchemax altogether. Tyler Stone supposedly accepted his resignation and proposed a toast. After a glass, however, Stone told Miguel he had laced the wine with Rapture, a hyper-addictive drug known to have genetic bonding properties. Since Rapture withdrawal could be lethal after just one dose, and Alchemax was the only authorized distributor of the drug, Tyler said he felt confident that Miguel would reconsider his resignation, if given the night to think it over. Numb with the shock of how easily he had been played, Miguel mutely left Stone's office.

Feeling like he was racing the clock until the Rapture withdrawal symptoms began, Miguel came up with a desperate plan. The Corporate Raider program already had a genetic profile on Miguel saved as an experimental control from before the Rapture bonded to his system. Miguel gambled that he could use his machine to imprint his own un-altered genetic code onto his current one, wiping out the Rapture. However, as he set the machine on automatic and stepped into the chamber, Miguel was spotted by Aaron Delgado. Jealous of Miguel's intelligence and sick of his attitude, Aaron decided to arrange an "accident" for the wunderkind by tampering with the controls. Aaron loaded the spider template and pushed the machine's power levels well past the safety zone. In the explosion that followed, Miguel miraculously emerged unhurt, but permanently changed by the machine. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #1]

Sporting fangs, talons and radically altered eyes, Miguel was an unnerving sight when he stumbled out of the chamber. Aaron panicked, out of fear of what Miguel had become and worry that his part in it would be uncovered. He opened fire on Miggy and, while Miguel was able to dodge the gunfire, it still struck hazardous materials and caused an explosion. Aaron ended up dangling over the edge of a hole in the high-rise. Miguel tried to pull him back up, but his talons dug into Aaron's flesh until he squirmed free and fell to his death. On the run from Alchemax security, Miguel skittered up the outer wall to the roof, using his talons to grip the smooth walls. By chance, a Thorite (Norse worshippers who rose up after Thor's disappearance during the Heroic Age) protester was flying by on a light-byte glider, and Miguel hitched a ride. After Miguel flippantly referred to himself as Spider-Man, the Thorite dubbed him the Harbinger of Thor, a sign from on high that the Heroic Age was returning. As the Thorite ran off spreading the word of the Spider, Miguel took some of the light-byte cloth for a mask and stumbled home.

After getting home, however, Miguel realized he had made a mistake. He spotted Venture, one of Alchemax's elite cyborgs, approaching Babylon Towers. Venture was a heat-tracker, following "Spider-Man's" heat signature trail from Alchemax straight to Miguel O'Hara's front stoop. Thinking quickly, Miguel disguised himself using the Dia de Muertos costume from his trip to Mexico (the only thing he owned made of UMF) and attached the light-byte cloth to give the costume a glider ability. Miguel then jumped out of the tower and intercepted Venture before he made it to Miguel O'Hara's apartment. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #2]

Despite his spider-powers, Miguel was not a fighter by nature, and barely held it together against Venture. Still, he was successful in covering his tracks. By leading Venture in a running fight through Babylon Towers and then out the window of his own apartment "by chance," Miguel kept Venture from realizing he was doubling back on his own heat trail from the night before, keeping his identity secret. The battle didn't go as well, and Miguel was on the ropes several times as Venture toyed with him. Still, the fight gave Miguel the chance to discover the spinnerets on his forearms, producing his own organic webbing. Turning his smarts to the problem, Miguel finally defeated Venture using magnetic repulsion from the maglev cars and then stabbed the cyborg's own staff through exposed circuitry on his leg, electrocuting him. Miguel spent the next few days crisscrossing the city in costume and out in order to completely flummox any further attempts at heat tracking. [Spider-Man 2099 (1st series) #3]