Npc Miles Morales Is The Street Performer Of The Internet 

The Twitch and TikTok creator Leaks World, who also goes by Malik, has created an entire persona around being Miles Morales. But he’s not just a straightforward version of the Spider-Man character — Leaks World specifically acts as “NPC Miles Morales.” As he livestreams on a busy city block or at an event, he’ll talk to chat with canned one-liners. The uncanny effect of the routine has captured the attention of hundreds of thousands online. 

This week on Polygon, we’re exploring how superheroes are dominating not just comics and movies, but all media, in a special issue called Superculture.

Leaks World is most known for his performances on TikTok Live. He sets up a tripod on a city block and talks into the camera using generic responses as if he were an NPC with a limited number of dialogue options. In a recorded video, he mimics the bright, youthful voice of Miles Morales as he holds up a heart with his hands: “Thanks for the follow!” Sometimes, Leaks World sticks to a limited set of rehearsed lines, but other times he breaks from the Miles character and puts a vulgar spin on the beloved Marvel hero and curses. 

In an Oscar-worthy bit of NPC acting, Leaks World appears in front of red velvet curtains wearing a denim jacket layered over the Miles Morales Spider-Man suit. He stares blankly out into the distance as his body sways back and forth in an infinite, idle loop. Leaks World says, “I don’t think I should use that right now; that sounds pretty dangerous!” Drew “Druski” Desbordes, a comedian, watches him with furrowed brows: “It’s like starting a game. It’s that new AI shit.” 

At the time of publication, Leaks World’s TikTok account has more than 1 million followers. His genre of content blends the live stunt antics of someone like Kai Cenat with a specific meme-like video game humor that I associate with early Smosh YouTube videos. In one video, Leaks World climbed up and streamed from the top of an aisle in a Home Depot. In disbelief, viewers comment things like “how tf did he get up there WITH A FUCKING TRIPOD,” as you see him perform atop a tower of boxed merchandise. 

His stiff poses evoke those street performers who pretend to be statues, but this creator has adapted his show for a more modern age. During a TikTok Live, people can send gifts, which will prompt certain behaviors from Leaks World. Sending a galaxy gift might prompt a scenario where Leaks World disappears from the camera frame, pretends to be sucked into another universe, and then leaps back on camera. The streams feel interactive, as if each viewer is a person holding a controller to prompt an interaction with an NPC on the screen. 

But Leaks World isn’t an NPC — and some viewers have made a game out of getting him to break character. In some of his most viral streams, people spam certain gifts to elicit certain reactions from Leaks World, who plays ball with the audience even if he can technically walk away. If someone gives him a rose on TikTok Live, he may respond with a line like “Those smell amazing.” If people spam the gift, he restarts the line mid-sentence, as if someone was pressing a button to talk to the character again, and he’ll continue to repeat himself so long as people spam the item in the chat.  

In May 2023, the content creator posted a video about how he was broke and homeless at the time. “Everybody acts like their life’s perfect. Everybody on social media is rich and famous. Not me,” he said while recording a video in a desert landscape. Later in that same video, he says, huffling as he hikes, “So I might not be somebody today, but I could be somebody tomorrow.” (Polygon tried to contact Leaks World for comment on this story, but we were unable to reach the creator.)

Leaks World — like many online — is trying his best to hustle and accomplish what he can. It seems fitting. A huge takeaway of Miles Morales in Spider-Man is that anyone can wear the mask, not just Peter Parker. In these videos, a random person has created an entire persona around a specific joke. Now, he has hundreds of thousands of followers and even streamed with Twitch star Kai Cenat. So maybe if anyone can be Spider-Man, anyone can also be a famous content creator.