The Pull And TikTok creator Leaks World, who also goes by the name Malik, has created an entire personality around Miles Morales. But he’s not just a simple version of the Spider-Man character; Leaks World specifically functions as ‘NPC Miles Morales’. While livestreaming on a busy city block or at an event, he talks and chats with canned one-liners. The routine’s eerie effect has captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of people online.
Leaks World is best 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 clear, youthful voice of Miles Morales as he holds up a heart with his hands: “Thanks for following!” Sometimes Leaks World sticks to a limited number of rehearsed lines, but other times he breaks from the Miles character and puts a vulgar spin on the beloved Marvel hero and swears.
In an Oscar-worthy piece of NPC acting, Leaks World appears in front of red velvet curtains, wearing a denim jacket over the Miles Morales Spider-Man suit. He stares blankly into the distance as his body sways back and forth in an endless, useless loop. Leaks World says: “I don’t think I should use that now; That sounds pretty dangerous!” Drew “Druski” Desbordes, a comedian, looks at 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 over 1 million followers. His genre of content combines 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 one aisle in a Home Depot. In disbelief, viewers say things like “how did he get there WITH A FUCKING TRIPOD” as you watch him perform on top of a tower full of boxed merchandise.
His stiff poses are reminiscent of street performers masquerading as statues, but this creator has adapted his show to a more modern age. During a TikTok Live, people can send gifts, which will trigger certain behavior from Leaks World. Sending a Milky Way gift could lead to a scenario where Leaks World disappears from the camera frame, pretends to be sucked into another universe, and then jumps back into the camera. The streams feel interactive, as if each viewer is a person holding a controller to interact with an on-screen NPC.
But Leaks World isn’t an NPC – and some viewers have made a game 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 with the audience even though he can technically walk away. If someone gives him a rose on TikTok Live, he can respond with a phrase like “They smell amazing.” If people spam the gift, it will restart the line mid-sentence, as if someone pressed a button to talk to the character again, and it will continue to repeat itself as long as people spam the item in chat.
In May 2023, the content creator posted a video about how he was doing broke and homeless at the time. ‘Everyone pretends their life is perfect. Everyone on social media is rich and famous. Not me,” he said while recording a video in a desert landscape. Later in that same video, as he walks, he says, “So maybe I’m not someone today, but I could be someone tomorrow.” (Polygon attempted to contact Leaks World for comment on this story, but we were unable to reach the creator.)
Leaks World – like many online – does its best to achieve what it can. It seems appropriate. A big takeaway from 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 if anyone can be Spider-Man, maybe anyone can be a famous content creator too.