Ever since Michael Keaton showed up in an early trailer for Daniel Espinosa’s upcoming Morbius, fans of Spider-Man and the larger Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters have wondered if and how this feature will cross paths with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Clues about how all of this could happen started to surface in the closing minutes of both Venom: Let There Be Carnage and the blockbuster hit Spider-Man: No Way Home, with both films sending key characters across the universes (and back again) so they could interact. Will there be more of this in Morbius?
Daniel Espinosa agreed to answer the burning questions regarding Spider-Man, Venom, the Vulture, the Multiverse and more ahead of Morbius arriving in theaters on April 1. We will say right now that there are SPOILERS for Morbius in the rest of this article, so stop reading now if you do not want to read anything about the upcoming Sony movie.
To begin with, we asked Daniel Espinosa to clarify in which universe his Morbius story takes place. He told us:
Morbius lives in the same universe as Venom. This is the universe we saw Venom exit at the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and return to at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Very interesting. There’s a mention in the movie (also heard in the trailer) where a detective played by Al Madrigal comments about events that took place in San Francisco, and now we know for sure that this was a direct reference to the Tom Hardy Venom movies. Boom. While Jared Leto’s Dr. Michael Morbius is experimenting on his illness in New York City, Eddie Brock (Hardy) is wrestling with this symbiote in the Bay Area.
We pressed and asked Espinosa if this universe has a Spider-Man, and he confirmed that it does. When we asked him to clarify WHICH Spider-Man was in this world (be it Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, or Tobey Maguire), Daniel Espinosa replied to us:
It is my understanding that audiences will discover the answer soon.
Even more intriguing! Does this mean that an announcement could be coming from Sony Pictures Entertainment regarding the identity of the Spider-Man in the Morbius universe? That’s the Morbius director’s understanding.
While we had him on the line, we peppered Daniel Espinosa about the presence of Michael Keaton in the Morbius trailers, which he confirmed is the same Adrian Toomes that Keaton plays in Spider-Man: Homecoming (and not some variant version of Toomes from a different multiverse). How did he get there? Espinosa tells CinemaBlend exclusively:
At the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, and in No Way Home itself, it is clearly established that it is possible for characters to transfer from one Multiverse to another. The events of No Way Home had the effect of transferring Venom and Vulture (and maybe others) back and forth between the MCU and the Venom Universe.
And maybe others?! Oh Daniel Espinosa, what a wonderful tease. Who else could have shifted over to this universe? Knowing that Sony has both a Kraven the Hunter movie and a Madame Web feature in the works, it could be explained that these characters were pulled into the Venom/Morbius world through the events of Peter Parker’s spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home. We shall see.
We saved the best for last. Because Jared Leto interacts with Michael Keaton in the closing minutes of Morbius, we asked Daniel Espinosa about the possibility of a Sinister Six team up, and he told me:
Well, he is recruiting teammates, and he has enticed one already. So it sure looks like a start.
We are back on track for a possible Sinister Six movie at Sony. At least, that’s how we are translating these comments from Morbius filmmaker Daniel Espinosa. We now know that Morbius takes place in the same universe as Venom, that the universe HAS a Spider-Man (and we should get his identity soon), that Vulture got pulled into the universe thanks to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and that a Sinister Six team up is still in the cards. I couldn’t be more excited by all of these developments.
Morbius reaches theaters on April 1, so keep it on CinemaBlend for our review and junket coverage all next week.
