After the death of his parents, he remained on Pandora and was adopted by Nash McCosker and Mary after the First Pandoran War. He grew up despising his father, wishing he was never related to him, and preferred to be called Spider instead of sharing his father's name Miles. Spider was enamored of Jake Sully's family and spent a considerable amount of his time with them; becoming Kiri's best friend. To feel more adapted to the Na'vi, he grew his hair in Na'vi-style dreadlocks and paints his body with spartan fruit dye to mimic Na'vi's body stripes.[1]
During the Second Pandoran War, Spider was temporarily abducted by his father's clone. He attempted to lure the team of Recombinants away from the Sully family. However, after the Skirmish at the Three Brothers, Spider refused to accept his father's clone's plans for his life. Spider crossed paths with the Sully family again and was able to reunite with them, rejecting Recom Quaritch's offer to side with him. He now lives with the Metkayina clan in Awa'atlu. Granted the ability to breathe Pandoran air and even form tsaheylu by Kiri, Spider finally becomes a fully accepted member of the Sully family and is welcomed as one of the People in a ritual led by Ronal and Eytukan in the Spirit World.
After the Na'vis' victory over the RDA, Miles was too small to be sent to Earth with the rest of the humans. He was therefore taken in by McCosker and Mary who were allowed to remain on Pandora. Despite having a foster mother, Miles wishes his real mother was still alive and he keeps a photograph of her near his bed in his room. He received the nickname "Spider" due to his natural climbing ability even as a young child,[2] although the low gravity of Pandora has also aided in this.
A young Spider playing with the Sully children.
Despite being a human, Spider always felt like a Na'vi at heart, preferring to spend his time in the Pandoran jungle while donning an exopack and carrying a folding knife for defense. This has frustrated his foster family, who have attempted to get him to spend more time with the humans to little avail. He was enamored by the Sully family, considering Lo'ak, Kiri, and Tuktirey his true family, although he was not as close to Neteyam.[3] Neytiri, however, always saw Spider as one of the people who destroyed her home, believing he belonged with his own kind, and thus acted distant with only a basic amount of respect to him. Likewise, Spider did not fully consider Jake and Neytiri his adoptive parents, referring to them as "Mr. and Mrs. Sully." Spider grew especially close to Kiri, the adopted daughter of the family, and she gave him the nickname "monkey boy".
Return of the RDA[]
Spider enjoying Lo'ak's Iknimaya.
When Spider was a teenager in 2168, he accompanied the rest of the Sully family to Lo'ak's Iknimaya rite. Although he himself could not be linked with a mountain banshee, he loved the expanse of the Hallelujah Mountains and willingly participated in this difficult journey to the Banshee Rookery.
Not long before the humans returned to Pandora, the Omatikaya clan moved to a new Hometree. On this occasion, Spider wanted to join the Sully family circle, but Neytiri noted that it is a "family" celebration, implying that there was no place for Spider. Kiri, however, insisted that he stay. Soon after, he and Kiri sneaked into the RDA's base where the two watched Jake's old video logs. They also confided their feelings to each other about their parents whom they did not know. Spider also hinted that Neytiri would hate him.
Spider being criticized by Neytiri for treating the old battlefield like a playground.
Later, Spider, Kiri, Lo'ak and Tuk decide to secretly go exploring because the clan is involved in a "boring" council meeting. They visit the old battlefield of the Pandoran War where they find a human skeleton in a Samson's cockpit. Lo'ak and Spider end up almost accidentally killing Kiri and Tuktirey when the Samson falls. Spider begins to run low on oxygen and the kids try to find their way back home. Meanwhile, Jake and Neytiri form a search party for the children. They eventually find the children. Jake blames Lo'ak, though Spider admits he also deserves some blame. Neytiri agrees that Spider is at fault and orders him to stay away from Kiri, claiming they will never see each other again.
Spider captured by Nash McCosker.
After the RDA announces their plans to return, Max Patel insists Spider stay with the McCoskers, Kiri insists he come with them to High Camp. McCosker finds the two and tells Spider to go with him. Although Jake and Neytiri think Spider is best with his foster family, Kiri is upset and flees. However, she then resolves to not leave Spider behind. Kiri, Lo'ak and Tuk go get Spider at Hell's Gate after he hears knocking on his bedroom window. They are soon found by McCosker who says they can be useful, however, he traps Spider and the siblings in separate rooms.
Spider trying to keep up with the Sullys.
Spider manages to escape his cell using a fire extinguisher to bash the windows, and he rescues the Sully children. The children flee into the forest with the RDA following them. Jake and Neytiri catch up and the whole family reunites. As the family becomes involved in another chase, Spider briefly struggles to catch up due to being a human. After a series of events involving a crash landing into the ocean, the group is rescued by Wu Mingxia and Norm Spellman.
Capture by the Recombinants[]
Spider greeting Max and Norm.
In 2169, after the Sullys attack a Mag-Lev, Spider, Kiri, and Lo'ak visit the link station, where Grace Augustine's avatar is located. Kiri wanted to visit her mother and see her video records, which Spider watched with a mixture of sympathy and envy. An argument ensued among the boys over who Kiri's father was, unanimously, if jokingly, pointing to Norm. After a while, Spider became serious and said that sometimes it's better not to know his father's identity, referring to Miles Quaritch, to which Kiri assured him that he was not the same as his father and does not have to be.
Spider aiming at the Recoms.
Later while exploring the forest with Lo'ak, Kiri and Tuk with the exception of Neteyam, they are captured by the Recombinant squad. Quaritch's Recom identifies Spider as the son of his human counterpart. Quaritch is surprised that he was not sent to Earth, to which Spider replies that babies cannot be put in cryosleep. While held hostage, Spider (grief-stricken) witnesses a recording of Quaritch's last moments as a human, the fight with Jake, and Neytiri killing him with her arrows. When Jake and Neytiri rescue their children, Spider accidentally trips and falls down where he is abducted by the squad.
He is soon put in a cell and struggles with trying to get out, hitting the window with a chair like a savage as described by the guard who is watching him. Soon after, he is psychologically tortured by General Frances Ardmore in order to find out where the Sullys are, using a machine called a NeuroSect which can analyze his thoughts, but he is able to withstand it even after it gives him a nosebleed. Quaritch took pity on the boy, who stopped the device and asked Ardmore for a personal audience. While in a cell, Spider is approached by the Recom Quaritch who tries to act like a fatherly figure towards him. Spider is given the human Quaritch's dog tag by him, but he throws it across the room, prompting the Recombinant to claim he is not the same as his father. Although uncooperative, and unaware of Quaritch's assassination mission, Spider does grudgingly agree to assist Quaritch.
Spider and the Recombinants see that Quaritch has tamed the ikran.
During subsequent expeditions into the wilds of Pandora, Spider taught the Recombinants, among others, the Na'vi language, laughing at their inept attempts to communicate in it. On another occasion, they travel to the banshee colony in the Hallelujah Mountains to tame their own banshees and ease their passage through Pandora. Quaritch had intended to use tranquilizers to make things easier, but Spider laughed at him, saying that even Na'vi children could handle the ikran with their bare hands. This touched the ambitions of the colonel, who pounced on the chosen banshee, and after a long struggle managed to bond with the animal.
Spider bonding with his father's Recom.
One day, while Spider was flying with Quaritch, he teaches him to say "I see you", but they are interrupted when the Bridgehead staff pick up on radar the presence of a Samson heading to the offshore archipelago several hundred kilometers from the jungle. Quaritch took this as confirmation of his suspicion that Jake had run away from home. Taking Spider and the rest of the Recoms squad with him, he got the crew of the SeaDragon to cooperate and had them drive across the archipelago to find Sully.
Spider begs Quaritch to spare the Tsahìk.
During the trip they arrive at the village of the Ta'unui clan, Quaritch begins to forcefully question the villagers about Jake's location in which the villagers along with the Ta'unui Olo'eyktan refused to reveal it under the orders of Tonowari as Spider told Quaritch and his squad that Forest People had never come to the water worlds. This led to Quaritch's squad ordering to kill one ilu, much to Spider's shock along with the clan, and then he threatens to kill the Tsahìk if Spider doesn't make that clear to the Olo'eyktan but he replied that he wouldn't and then distressingly pleads for Quaritch to spare her as this was wrong. The clan claims they have no knowledge of Jake Sully's location as they didn't know anything about him, prompting Quaritch to order his squad to burn down the village instead. As the villagers were horrified by their home being burned, Spider tells the people that he is incredibly sorry before being forced to leave.
Spider distraught over the murdered tulkun.
Spider is taken aboard the Cet-OpsS-76 SeaDragon when Quaritch agrees to let Mick Scoresby, the ship's captain, complete his quota of tulkun hunting. Spider watches a broadcast and witnesses in disgust as the RDA brutally kills the female tulkun Ro'a. While the adults clap and cheer they were able to hunt a tulkun, he instead gets teary-eyed, especially after seeing Ro'a's calf curious about its deceased mother. When the RDA extracts amrita and Ian Garvin explains the process, Spider is appalled that they only extract the amrita and then dump her carcass back into the ocean.
Spider escaping the SeaDragon with Lo'ak and Neteyam.
When Quaritch captured Lo'ak, Tuk and Tsireya the daughter of the leaders of the Metkayina clan, Spider decided to mutiny, he ran to help them but was stopped by soldiers and taken back to the bridge. He was on the bridge during Payakan's attack on the ship and the skirmish at Three Brothers Rocks. When one of the propellers caught fire, Spider takes the opportunity to knock out the pilot Ward with a fire extinguisher. He sabotages the carrier's helm controls and causes it to accelerate uncontrolled towards the nearby reef. It barrels over them, landing hard, immobilized and immediately beginning to sink. Spider is eventually rescued by Lo'ak and Neteyam and the three attempt to escape, although Neteyam is fatally shot.
Neytiri lightly cuts Spider's chest as she holds him hostage.
Spider helps carry Neteyam to the nearby rocks. When Neteyam succumbs to his injury, Spider sheds tears for him. When Jake wants to head back to the SeaDragon to rescue Kiri and Tuk, Spider reveals he knows their location and both go back to the ship. Spider stays out of the way as Jake and Neytiri begin to massacre the survivors. When he sees Neytiri in rage, Spider is horrified and hides from her. When Quaritch holds Kiri at knifepoint, Neytiri grabs Spider and holds him at knifepoint as well. Using him as a bargaining chip, she lightly cuts his chest as a warning. Quaritch releases Kiri due to his compassion for the boy. The ship begins to sink and during Jake's fight with Quaritch, the two begin to drown and Spider and Kiri get separated from Neytiri and Tuk.
They meet Lo'ak and tell him that Jake, Neytiri and Tuk are trapped inside the ship. Spider helps find Jake, but finds Quaritch unconscious and is initially hesitant to save him, however, begrudgingly rescues him, bringing him up to the surface and leaving him on nearby rocks, where he regains consciousness. Quaritch begs his boy to go with him, however, he rejects this and leaves, much to his dismay.
Spider being embraced by Jake.
Spider returns to the Sully family on the rocks where Neteyam died. They all acknowledge his presence except for Neytiri, who is focused on cradling Neteyam's body. Kiri is joyed by his arrival and calls him Monkey Boy, while Lo'ak says Spider's name. Kiri puts her hand on his chest, and Jake asks Spider if he is doing alright. Jake then embraces Lo'ak and Spider and says, "A son for a son", possibly suggesting Spider has been finally adopted into the Sully family. During Neteyam's funeral, Spider holds hands with Kiri under the water as Neteyam's body is laid to rest.
Encountering the Mangkwan (Avatar: Fire and Ash)[]
Spider bonding with the teens.
Spider continues to live among the Metkayina Clan following the Skirmish at the Three Brothers. One night, Spider has a frightening experience in which he nearly suffocates due to his exopack running low on oxygen, and the Sully family has difficulty finding his spare exopack. Due to her hatred for humans, Neytiri watches dispassionately and refuses to get involved.
Upon the arrival of flying merchant ships signaling the arrival of the Tlalim clan (also known as the Windtraders), Jake and Neytiri suggest Spider return alone with the clan to return to High Camp, feeling he would be safer there with Norm and other humans as constantly living on an exopack is no life for Spider. The other Sully children hate this idea and do not wish to separate with Spider. Jake and Neytiri compromise by taking a vacation back to High Camp as a final goodbye to Spider, to ensure he arrives home safe.
Unfortunately, the convoy is attacked by Varang and the Mangkwan clan. During the attack, Spider bravely fights a Mangkwan warrior with a bow. When the airship is destroyed, he, Tuk, Lo'ak and Kiri escape on Kiri's Second Banshee, but fall to the rainforest floor when she's shot down.
Spider forgot to bring the backup oxygen mask, and collapses from asphyxiation while they are trying to escape the red Ash fighters. Kiri connects her queue to the ground. Based on intuition, she places a woodsprite into his mouth and pushes it down his throat. After his body is enveloped with Eywa's vines, Spider gains the ability to breathe on Pandora.
Varang threatens Spider.
Varang and the Mangkwan clan arrive and the clan captures the children, and Varang wonders how Spider can breathe without an exopack and slaps him. Kiri claims it is the will of Eywa. Varang then holds Spider hostage and threatens to cut him, asking Kiri if she believes Eywa will save him, leaving Kiri dejected. Varang then tells Kiri that Eywa holds no dominion in their situation. The kids are later joined by Jake and Quaritch who were captured while working together to find the kids. Eventually, Kiri is able to engineer an escape using the flora and a rescue party from High Camp finds them the next day.
Spider linking his queue with an ilu.
At High Camp, Norm and Max run tests on Spider and discover that he now has a mycelium endosymbiont that has changed Spider's body on a cellular level to be able to breathe Pandoran air and grow his own queue. It can't be removed without killing Spider and Jake worries that the RDA will be able to replicate the process should he fall into their hands and engineer an army of humans who can breathe the Pandoran atmosphere. Jake brings Spider back to the Metkayina where he explores his new abilities with Kiri's help.
While the preparations for Metkayina's First Communion are taking place, Kiri and Spider wander away from the village to fetch fresh water. It is at this moment that Spider begins to tease Kiri about the ritual she performed to save him, sarcastically asking if she couldn't have asked Eywa to make him "a little bit taller, maybe a little bit more blue". After emphasizing that she was "busy saving his life", Kiri places her hands on his shoulders, telling him that "he's perfect just the way he is". She then looks at him tenderly, and proceeds to place her hands on his cheeks and kisses him. Spider, though visibly confused at first, returns the kiss, placing his hand on her cheek. Kiri then smiles mischievously, while Miles is left visibly stunned, a smile betraying his happiness. On their way back to the village, they are ambushed by the Mangkwan. It is then that Spider leads Kiri down another path, drawing their pursuers attention away long enough for her to escape and hide before is captured by Quaritch.
Spider and Quaritch at Bridgehead.
Brought back to Bridgehead, Spider rejects his father's attempts to bond and uses Quaritch's dog tags to engineer an escape, disguising himself amongst the Bridgehead civilians. Seeing Jake under attack, Spider bravely steps in the way, knowing that the RDA will not kill him. Ardmore eventually orders Lima 1-6 to kill both Jake and Spider over the objections of Quaritch and Parker Selfridge, but Neytiri rescues them on Sa'ata.
Jake refrains from killing Spider.
Near a river, Jake decides that they can't protect Spider and he must kill the boy to keep him out of the RDA's hands. Having witnessed Spider's courage in protecting Jake, Neytiri proves to be more reluctant. Jake takes Spider into the forest to kill him, but struggles to go through with it. Accepting his fate and calling Jake "Dad," Spider asks if Jake still loves him, which Jake confirms. Jake is unable to bring himself to kill Spider and pulls him into an embrace instead. Joining them, Neytiri finally accepts Spider as her son.
Having been warned of the coming RDA attack on the tulkun gathering, the Na'vi rise to defend them while Jake orders his children to hide. With the arrival of the Mangkwan turning the tide in the RDA's favor, Kiri decides to connect to the Spirit Tree to convince Eywa to help. When Kiri begins to seize again, Spider, donning a dead RDA soldier's exopack to breathe underwater, connects as well, eventually joined by Tuk. Together, the three are able to reach Eywa before a nearby explosion breaks their connection to the tree. However, Eywa heeds their plea and sends Southern Squidrays to assist.
Spider threatens to kill Recom Quaritch.
Spider later joins Jake in fighting Quaritch, shooting Quaritch in the arm with a crossbow. When Spider nearly falls to his death, Jake and Quaritch work together to save him. Afterwards, Quaritch leaps to his apparent death.
Later, Spider links to the Spirit Tree with Kiri. The two enter the Spirit World where Spider is greeted by the many Na'vi who have died, including Eytukan, Tsu'tey, Rotxo and Neteyam. Grace Augustine teases Spider before Ronal leads a ritual welcoming Spider as one of the People to his amazement.
Personality and Traits[]
Spider having blue dye applied to his body in order to feel more Na'vi.
Spider is a kind, strong-willed and witty boy who carries guilt due to what the humans have done to Pandora. Having been raised by the Na'vi, he has developed empathy for them and has always looked up to them, both literally and metaphorically, going so far as to paint himself blue in order to be more like them and has displayed several of their mannerisms. He enjoys nature which gives him and Kiri a common interest to bond over. Because he is not as big and fast as the Na'vi, Spider is put into a position where he must persevere and exert himself in order to keep up with the Sully family. Spider can also have quite the temper and attitude when agitated, using language like "dipshit". He despises being judged for his race, saying he is not like many other humans, and he has an argument with Neytiri about how he should not be blamed for the choices of people made when he was merely an infant.
Spider suffers a nosebleed from the RDA's torture due to his loyalty to the Na'vi.
Spider is very loyal to the Na'vi, doing whatever he can to buy them time and even tells Ardmore he would rather die than disclose the Na'vi's location. He tries to mislead the Recombinants away from the Na'vi, while also wanting them to turn away from the RDA and reform them by teaching them about the ways of the Na'vi. He is one of the few humans who developed a deep connection with the world of Pandora, trying to learn about the traditions and culture of the Na'vi, similar to Grace or Jake.
Spider visibly distraught for the tulkun.
Spider also exhibits compassion for other living beings, such as the tulkun, and is visibly distraught upon watching a livestream of them being hunted by humans. He is dismayed that the rest of the Cet-Ops don't seem to care about their lives, viewing them only as beings to be harvested and exploited, and he is particularly annoyed when the RDA only extracts their amrita and does not bother to at least use the most of their bodies for resources after. His compassion for others even results in him saving Quaritch's life.
From an early age, growing up in the forest, Spider gained speed, agility, cunning, and fighting abilities virtually unknown to humans. This is partly due to Pandora's lower gravity than Earth. Like the Na'vi, he learned to read clues and pick up the faintest sounds, use a bow, scale the dangerous Hallelujah Mountains, and successfully fight for survival in Pandora's hostile environment. He can also swim and is able to hold his breath for even a few minutes. Unfortunately, despite his deep desire, he is unable to live a full life as a Na'vi, as his weaknesses include his dependence on exopacks and the lack of a queue to connect with other life forms.
Thanks to Kiri, Spider later developed the ability to breathe Pandoran air and even his own queue. Doctor Norm Spellman determined that mycelium that was basically the same thing as the forest network had colonized Spider, spread through his entire system and made changes at the cellular level, particularly Spider's blood chemistry, nervous system and lungs. The mycelium was an endosymbiont, and it and Spider were most likely keeping each other alive. Even trying to remove it could potentially kill him. As a result, Spider has developed abilities similar to a Na'vi, including being able to make tsaheylu with the wildlife and the Spirit Tree.
He was previously known as "Javier Socorro" during production. At some point, his first name was changed to "Miles" which was confirmed in Avatar: The High Ground.
"Socorro" means "help", "aid" or "relief" in Spanish and Portuguese. It is also a real Hispanic/Latino surname with geographic roots in the Canary Islands.
Apart from the nickname Spider, he has another nickname "Pink" due to his skin color and being human.[4]
In a violent deleted scene, Spider witnesses Neytiri's brutality as she repeatedly kills human beings and defiles their bodies, even a man who is seen pleading for his life. Even in the final version, blood suddenly appears on Neytiri's face, suggesting Spider did witness the full incident. Later on in the deleted scene, Neytiri is seen holding Spider hostage, even after Quaritch has released Kiri. Jake, Kiri and Quaritch have to convince Neytiri to not kill Spider.
In the original script, Lo'ak says to Neteyam in order to convince him to rescue Spider, "Come on, bro! He's our brother from another mother!"
In the original script, in the ending, Spider desperately wants to join the Sully family when they holds hands in a circle after Neteyam's funeral. Kiri invites him to join, but Neytiri shoots him a look to keep out, and he does not join. This is still similar to a scene in The High Ground, but with different context and Spider does join here.
In an early preview, Spider is said to be Jake's and Neytiri's adopted son.[5] However, the final film contradicts this with Jake saying he was not part of the family and compared him to a stray cat. Whether or not Spider can be considered part of the family in the ending is unknown, as Jake says "a son for a son". Joshua Izzo put emphasis that Spider should not be considered an adopted family member, at least before he is embraced by Jake in the ending.
An image of Jake's Songcord shows that he had a piece that symbolized Spider's adoption, even before Lo'ak's birth.[6] However, it was dismissed as non-canon by Joshua Izzo in 2024.
According to his actor, Spider has spent months with Recom Quaritch throughout The Way of Water (hinted at by Ronal's pregnancy) which only shows the more important scenes.[7] This is likely one of the reasons why Spider saves Quaritch, as he has been building up his relationship with his father's clone for months instead of days.
There is also almost a running gag of sorts with Spider using fire extinguishers. He uses a fire extinguisher to break his way out of his cell in The High Ground, then he uses a fire extinguisher to bash Ward unconscious in The Way of Water.
When Spider is in the RDA cell, just before he says, "Let me out of here!" it can be seen that he is giving the camera the finger.
After The Way of Water was released, Spider became widely despised by many viewers. Polygon called him the most controversial character in The Way of Water.[8] Despite that he does what he can to protect the Sully family, some viewers dislike him anyway, especially due to his moral choice to save Quaritch which can seem bizarre to those who don't think about why Spider decided to do that. They also feel that he is out of place within the universe. However, Spider's status as an awkward out-of-place character, torn between two worlds, can be seen as fitting perfectly within the themes of the Avatar series, seen with characters such as Jake in the first film and Teylan.
Spider's transformation by Eywa was originally supposed to appear near the beginning of The Way of Water, but when the film was divided into another film, his transformation was moved to occur near the beginning of Fire and Ash. A widespread theory was that Quaritch could convince Spider to side with the RDA with a promise that Spider could receive his own avatar. However, in 2023, there was an art exhibit that spoiled Spider would grow his queue, although viewers were unsure if this meant Spider would mutate into a Na'vi by growing taller, having his skin turn blue, etc. A dialogue script was also seen in a documentary which showed Mo'at talking about Eywa saving "the boy" from death, so many Avatar fans already had an idea about where the story would go. Spider growing a queue was later confirmed by the film's second trailer, making many viewers dislike this trailer for spoiling a major plot point.
Other[]
Spider in Avatar: The Battle for Pandora.
After filming The Way of Water and Fire and Ash, Jack Champion had a growth spurt. IMDb lists his last reported height as 6′ 3½″ (1.92m). It is unknown if this will be reflected in the canon of Avatar 4 and 5.
Spider may be considered to be the first Disney character to say the word "fuck". The second appears to be Peter Quill in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, released half a year after The Way of Water, when he tells Nebula to open the fucking door. This movie also features Zoe Saldaña who portrays Neytiri.
Spider is also the first character to say "fuck" in the Avatar universe.
Spider is very similar to the fictional character Tarzan. They are both teenagers with dead parents, were raised in the wilderness by another species, have dreadlocks, wear loincloths, have strong climbing abilities and have compassion for animals. They both have to challenge a man who has hatred for the species that raised them (Quaritch and Clayton). Both can also be considered Disney characters as well as Disney holds some IP rights to the Avatar series.
„Guys, sometimes it's not so great to know who your father is.“- Regarding Quaritch.
„They can't put babies in cryo, dipshit.“- To Recom Quaritch.
„Plltxe nìNa'vi tsafya srak? Plltxe nga na 'eveng ahì'ì! (You call that speaking the language? You sound like a three year old!)“- Spider taunting Quaritch in Na'vi.
„Come on, keep up, losers!“- To the Recom squad.
„What the hell are you doing?!“- After Quaritch orders his squad to shoot an ilu.
„Please, please don't do this! This is wrong! What you're doing here is wrong!“
„DON'T TOUCH ME! ...I'm sorry!“- To Quaritch, and then apologizing to the villagers.
„I'm good, dumbass.“- To an RDA employee who tells him to ensure his mask is tight.
„Fuck! Come on, you son of a bitch!“- Deciding to save Quaritch.
