The following story is going to dig into massive spoilers for Morbius, the Spider-Man movies, and plans for Sony’s Marvel universe. Be warned that you probably shouldn’t read this if you don’t want to hear any details.
There’s a huge chunk of audience members who are heading to theaters to see Jared Leto’s Morbius just so they can pick up on the different ways that the movie connects to either Venom, Spider-Man, or anything else in Sony’s larger Marvel universe. These ties are there… but you basically have to wait all the way until the two mid-credits scenes in order to see any connections to elements we have seen in previous Spider-Man movies. And they raise a ton of questions that still need to be answered.
I’m going to assume that you ignored the Morbius reviews, and have seen the scenes in question. But just in case you haven't seen the movie yet, but still want to know how Morbius fits into the growing Spider-Man universe at Sony, let’s break down quickly what happens before we shift over to what it could mean, and the curiosities raised by the actions we have seen.
What Happens In The Morbius Mid-Credits Scenes
The first thing that we see in the Morbius mid-credits is a reference to Spider-Man: No Way Home, and that’s the purple tear in the sky that was created by Doctor Strange’s spell. This signifies that the scenes in Morbius are complete reshoots – which were hinted at by Michael Keaton earlier this year – because Morbius originally was supposed to reach theaters long before Spider-Man: No Way Home opened, and including the spell wouldn’t have made any sense. In fact, there are different scenes that showed Keaton meeting Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius, which were in the trailer. It looked like this:
Now, these new scenes suggest that it’s Stephen Strange’s spell that somehow brings Keaton’s Adrian Toomes over from the MCU to Sony’s Morbius world. Keaton was in prison ever since the conclusion of Spider-Man: Homecoming. He materializes into a prison cell in this new world, but the environment has clearly changed… similar to how Eddie Brock’s dive of a hotel room turned into a resort in the mid-credits scenes for Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Toomes looks around in the cell, sees himself in the mirror, and comments, “I hope the food’s better in this joint.”
Because Toomes hasn’t committed any crimes in the Morbius universe, the authorities at the Manhattan Detention Center have no reason to hold him. He’s promptly released.
In the movie’s second credit sequence, Michael Morbius (Leto) is driving through what appears to be the desert. The GPS map on his dashboard signifies that the road he’s driving on has nothing around him, which makes sense once he sees The Vulture flying over him. Morbius exits his car, checks his watch, and sees Vulture approaching from a distance. Toomes has a full, mechanized Vulture suit again. He lands next to Morbius, thanks him for meeting, and mentions that he has been reading up on the man-vampire. “I’m not sure how I got here,” Toomes says. “Has to do with Spider-Man, I think. I’m still figuring this place out, but I think a bunch of guys like us should team up and do some good.”
“Intriguing,” Morbius replies.
What Do These Morbius Scenes Mean For The Future?
Morbius director Daniel Espinosa admitted to us during an exclusive Twitter Q-and-A that this scene does, indeed, set up a Sinister Six movie. Assumedly, Morbius and Vulture are two of the six. Tom Hardy’s Venom and Aaron Taylor Johnson’s Kraven could be two more of the six. There’s also the possibility that other villains could have been transported into the Venom/Morbius universe through Doctor Strange’s spell… even though, that’s not really how the spell was supposed to work.
Adrian Toomes DID know Peter Parker’s true identity, so it’s possible that knowledge was the reason he was sent away from the MCU and into the Morbius universe. Given the fact that Strange’s spell was supposed to erase the memories of Peter, Toomes might not still know that Peter is Spider-Man, though his dialogue confirms that he knows Spider-Man exists.
This is another thing that Daniel Espinosa confirmed to us in that Morbius Q-and-A: There definitely is a Spider-Man in this world. But who is it? Fans are speculating that Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, last seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home, could be the Spidey of the Sony universe, leaving Tom Holland to hold court in the MCU. If this is the case, then that world might also have a Rhino (Paul Giamatti), a Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan) and an Electro (Jamie Foxx), the latter having been returned to his world following No Way Home.
There’s also the possibility that Sony is setting up the villains in this universe to take on a totally different Spider-Man who we haven’t met yet. It might even be a live-action version of Miles Morales. A very popular character in modern comics and on Sony-backed video games, Miles was the center of the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and would be a hit in live action. The studio has possibilities.
These are speculations. All that we can confirm, thanks to these scenes, is that Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) now exists in the same universe as Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) and Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), and that the universe has a Spider-Man… just, not which Spider-Man. Plans are for Sony to introduce Kraven the Hunter (Aaron Taylor Johnson), the Chameleon, Madame Web (Dakota Johnson) and whomever Sydney Sweeney is playing in that film. So the universe is expanding, and Morbius contributes to its growth.
What Questions Remain After Those Morbius Scenes?
That’s not to say that all of this makes sense. Doctor Strange’s spell in Spider-Man: No Way Home initially was supposed to pull in anyone in a different universe who knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Adrian Toomes did know Spidey’s true identity… but why did he get kicked from the MCU to Morbius’s world? That’s not how the spell worked. Even when Strange stopped the tear in the sky and sent newcomers back to where they came from, that shouldn’t have included Toomes. He WAS in the universe he started in. Why did the spell send him away?
Something similar happened to Tom Hardy’s Venom in the post-credits of both Let There By Carnage and No Way Home… and it didn’t make such sense then, either. The spell messed with the multiverse. But Eddie Brock knows nothing about Peter Parker or Spider-Man. So why did he shift back and forth. It’s possible that the symbiote, Venom, knows Spider-Man. He does say, “That guy” when he sees Tom Holland unmasked on the television. But their shared history is a mystery.
Finally, why would Adrian Toomes want to start a band of criminals to go after Spider-Man? At the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming, Toomes essentially agrees to protect Peter’s identity from Mac Gargan (Michael Mando), payback for Peter saving Adrian from flaming wreckage on the beach. Wanting to take the kid down makes about as much sense as Morbius (Leto) wanting anything to do with this, at all.
Some of this could be answered in future movies. At the moment, it appears that Sony is taking its time developing its universe, laying the foundation for a Sinister Six but still introducing key characters through solo movies. To keep track of the remaining 2022 movie releases that will hit theaters, use our guide. We update it often.
