There has only been one film released at this point, 2018’s Venom, but thus far Sony’s nascent Spider-Verse has remained largely separate from the company’s collaboration with Marvel Studios for the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies that are set in the MCU. But the success of Venom and a new deal with Marvel Studios to share Spidey seems to have emboldened Sony and it now looks like the Spider-Man franchise is already setting up crossovers with Morbius.
The first trailer for Sony’s second Spider-Verse film, this summer’s Morbius, included a massive reveal by showing us Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes, who we last saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming. This pretty clearly established that Morbius takes place in the same world as Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, that being the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now the Spider-Man franchise seems to be further blurring those lines and deepening those connections.
This is thanks to a bit of viral marketing from Sony. The company set up a fake Instagram account for Flash Thompson, who is played by actor Tony Revolori in Spider-Man: Far From Home, to promote that film. It’s a lot of Flash being Flash, hating Peter Parker and loving Spider-Man and himself, until of course he find out the truth about Spidey’s secret identity.
Well, Screen Rant noticed a post that seemed to directly reference Morbius. The post features an image of the Daily Bugle newspaper (apparently based on some fan art), the headline of which reads ‘Where is Spider-Man?’, seemingly teasing that the hero will be MIA following his secret identity being revealed to the world in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Flash Thompson then laments the current state of affairs, writing:
You know, I sometimes miss when the world wasn’t being destroyed by vampires, aliens and flying robot people :(
Now, we can quibble with the fact that the Daily Bugle in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as first seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home, is not a newspaper but an online news outlet seemingly focused on peddling conspiracy theories. But the fact remains that here we have the Spider-Man franchise's Flash Thompson, via a viral marketing Instagram account, referencing vampires.
To date, vampires have not been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and with Blade still a few years off at least, there is only one vampire Flash is likely to be referencing and that’s Morbius. Flash may be prone to hyperbole, but according to him the world is being destroyed by vampires. That seems to hint at some serious events that will happen in Morbius that the denizens of the MCU will be exposed to.
For now this is just a fun reference that is still leagues from having Venom or Morbius show up in a Spider-Man movie or having someone like Doctor Strange mention Michael Morbius, but it still shows that Sony is taking steps towards the inevitable future crossovers that will bringing all of its characters together. Whether that means the Sinister Six or not we’ll have to wait and see.
Morbius opens in theaters on July 31. Check out our 2020 Release Schedule to see what other movies you can look forward to this year.
