Meet the Felines Behind Spider-Cat in ‘Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales’

While swinging across Marvel’s New York City, he also swung into our hearts. No, the answer to this isn’t Miles Morales — though he does rank pretty high — but rather Spider-Man the Cat. Or as he has become lovingly known on the internet, “Spider-Cat.”

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales features this new crime fighting feline who assists Miles on missions. After Miles saves Spider-Cat and returns him back to his owner, The Bodega Suit is unlocked, giving players the ability to actually take Spider-Cat with you through the city. And not only is Spider-Cat a fun accessory to have in Miles’ backpack, but he’s got his own cat finishers, too. While, obviously, cat finishers seem like a no brainer, they weren't always a part of the game.

“When I found out we had a cat wearing a Spider-Man mask in this game, I jokingly said that we should create cat finishers. Everyone chuckled and that is where it ended,” Boola Robello, a Senior Animator who worked on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, along with Marvel’s Spider-Man, explained to Marvel.com. But, still thinking about it, Robello decided to try animating what a cat finisher might look like.

“I sent out a video of my animation to the team, and before I knew it our Creative Director Brian Horton was asking for a compressed video so he could run it by [Director of Production at] Marvel Games, Eric Monacelli,” Robello Continued. “After approval, we moved it onto my schedule and into official production. I coordinated with Senior Programmer Paul Hiley, and with his programming we worked out the technicalities to make the cat finisher a functional move for the game.”

While Robello worked on the animation, Johannes Hammers stepped in to assist with the sound design for the cat finishers — and it all started with him just asking around if anyone had a cat. 

“I put out a ‘cat-casting-call’ to two of my fellow Insomniacs who I knew had cats. I knew [dialogue coordinator] Tyler Held had a cat. I asked him if he had any recordings and I ended up using those for the meow/purring sounds as Spider-Man the cat goes back into the backpack. [Tyler’s cat] Kevin had the perfect attitude of ‘Yep, just took care of those bad guys' and now it’s back into the safety of my backpack feeling. I had heard [Director, Audio Management] Karen Read’s] cat on zoom calls, and Juicy the cat had the perfect ‘I mean business’ meow that is in the ‘ground finisher.’”

If you’re scratching for more information about Spider-Cat, Marvel.com spoke to the cats (and their humans) about their involvement in the game. Here’s the who’s who and who you’ll hear and see meowing in the game.

HAWKE

Name: Hawke
Age: 6
Where the cat can be heard in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Kind of all over the place.
What the cat’s human worked on for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Jeremie Voillot – Senior Manager of Sound Design (PD Sound).
Fun fact about the cat: He likes to go on walks with his humans like a dog!
How the cat has reacted to fame since the game’s release: Honestly, it really hasn’t changed him much, to his credit.
Cat’s favorite Spider-Man issue: #1 of course!
What other Marvel pet would the cat like to team up with for a dynamic duo? Zabu!
What the cat likes to do in their free time: Eat. He likes to eat a lot. He’s a bit chubby but he has been working on it.

KEVIN

Name: Kevin
Age: 2.5
Where the cat can be heard in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Kevin did the meow that Spider-Cat does when jumping back into the backpack after doing the finisher.
What the cat’s human worked on for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Tyler Held – Dialogue Coordinator (PD Sound).
Fun fact about the cat: Kevin got his name after I found him in the snow at a family Christmas party. I opened my car door to leave and he decided to jump in. I didn’t want him to be Home Alone on Christmas.
How the cat has reacted to fame since the game’s release: Went straight to his head. He’s been demanding more food and wants to go buy a Catillac…
Cat’s favorite Spider-Man issue: Anything that involves Black Cat, he has a crush.
What other Marvel pet would the cat like to team up with for a dynamic duo? Bill the Lobster, although I am not sure of Kevin’s true motives there.
What the cat likes to do in their free time: Besides being a diva and trying to annoy me as much as possible, Kevin likes to lay around in awkward positions and play with his sister, Ivy.

KINAKO

Name: Kinako
Age: 3.5
Where the cat can be seen in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Kinako was an animation reference and an inspiration for cinematic cat animation.
What the cat’s human worked on for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Kahye Hwang – Senior Animator.
Fun fact about the cat:  He can climb over any fence.
How the cat has reacted to fame since the game’s release: He’s been sleeping all day as usual.
What other Marvel pet would the cat like to team up with for a dynamic duo? Chewie.
What the cat likes to do in their free time: He enjoys going out for walks.

JUICY

Name: Juicy
Age: 1
Where the cat can be heard in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: She is the voice of Spider-man the cat during the cat finishers.
What the cat’s human worked on for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Karen Read – Director, Audio Management.
Fun fact about the cat: She’s incredibly vocal until, of course, you try to record her - then she gets terribly camera microphone-shy.
How the cat has reacted to fame since the game’s release: Juicy’s actually been making it very difficult to play Miles & the Remaster because she takes her role very seriously and plants herself in front of the TV, ready to jump into action.
Cat’s favorite Spider-Man issue: Avenging Spider-Man issue #5, where he teams up with Captain America.
What other Marvel pet would the cat like to team up with for a dynamic duo? I think Juicy & Goose (aka Chewie) could become BFF’s…
What the cat likes to do in their free time: Juicy still has the energy of a kitten so she spends half the day chasing and attacking everything in the house and the other half taking some hard naps to recover.

MIM

Name: Mim
Age: 4
Where the cat can be heard in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Various vocalizations for cinematics.
What the cat’s human worked on for Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales:  Emile Mika, Supervising Sound Designer (Sony). Cinematic and in-game foley and sound design.
Fun fact about the cat: He loves to play fetch with his favorite toys!
How the cat has reacted to fame since the game’s release: He loves leveraging his new found fame for more treats!
Cat’s favorite Spider-Man issue: Amazing Spider-Man #3 (Doc Ock!).
What other Marvel pet would the cat like to team up with for a dynamic duo? Lockjaw.
What the cat likes to do in their free time: He loves to sunbathe on the patio (supervised, as he’s mostly an indoor cat!).

Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales is now available both physically and digitally at the PlayStation Store.

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