Sony Pictures has released the first Morbius trailer and it came with several big surprises. Not the least of which was the rather unexpected cameo at the end from Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture, who we last saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming. With that, it seems two universes are about to collide, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Morbius takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There is a lot to unpack here.
First, let’s go over the Michael Keaton cameo itself. After the title card is revealed, we cut to a sequence with Adrian Toomes standing by what looks to be a police vehicle of sorts as Jared Leto’s Morbius approaches. It’s not explained why the two are meeting, but the last time we saw Adrian Toomes, he was in prison. So we’re guessing someone had to bust him out of prison in order for this interaction to take place. Maybe. More on that in a second. Adrian has this to say upon seeing Morbius, implying the two have something of a history.
“Michael Morbius. Got tired of doing the whole good guy thing, huh? What’s up, doc?”
This opens up a whole mess of questions. As it relates to this movie specifically, setting aside the larger picture for a moment, how do these two know one another? What do Michael Morbius and Vulture have in common? The other question is, why does Morbius need the help of a supervillain? What can Vulture offer him? Unfortunately, we’re left with precious few answers for the time being. But for fans of Marvel, there are much larger things to deal with here than a plot thread. This could be a big deal for the MCU moving forward.
No matter what direction this goes down, the implications are huge. A major character from the Spider-Man universe within the MCU has crossed over into Sony’s universe. This makes those rumors of Tom Holland possibly appearing in Venom 2 seem all the more plausible. Yet, to add to the confusion, the Spider-Man we see on the wall in this very same trailer appears to be the Tobey Maguire version from the Sam Raimi trilogy. Though, within the world of comic book logic, there could be a relatively simple explanation for all of this.
Marvel Comics has long had a multiverse in place. Essentially, there are different versions of Earth that house different versions of the same characters, with minor, or sometimes huge differences. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse dealt with this concept quite a bit. Sony could very well be introducing a multi-verse here. That means this could be a different Vulture than the one we’ve seen before. Should this prove true, it would also mean this movie won’t technically take place within the MCU, but it leaves the door cracked open for possibilities down the line. We’ll have to see how it all plays out when Morbius hits theaters on July 31 from Sony Pictures.
The Vulture returns ? #Morbiuspic.twitter.com/Dnu46IRY8j
— Marvel Facts & News (@MarveIFacts) January 13, 2020
That’s… not the right Spider-Man. #Morbiuspic.twitter.com/Pq2ayBPzHx
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 13, 2020
