Sony Pictures has long been hard at work on creating its own interconnected universe. First with Venom, and then Venom: Let There Be Carnage; this weekend, a new anti-hero joins the family: Morbius. Jared Leto perfectly embodies the lead character, bringing to life an intense, touching, and visually entertaining comic book epic. Audiences will no doubt take to the Living Vampire quickly—don't be surprised if Michael Morbius becomes a household name.
If most of what was read in the above paragraph felt incorrect, well, that's because it was. In fact, Morbius is getting destroyed by both critics and fans alike. Nearly every aspect of the film has been criticized, with many claiming the movie belongs in the early 2000s. The project even ended up getting one of the lowest CinemaScores to date, sitting above only Fan4stic.
One of the biggest points of contention about the film was its post-credits scenes involving Michael Keaton's Vulture. Not only did the scene make no logistical sense, but its repercussions within the Marvel continuity could be wide-reaching in all the worst possible ways.
So, of course, the director has now revealed someone else he'd like to have crossover with Michael Morbius.
Morbius Director Teases Crossover
In an interview with Variety, Morbius director Daniel Espinosa talked about Michael Keaton's role in the post-credits scenes, while also revealing that he'd love to have Norman Osborn crossover one day.
He started by talking about the intelligence of Jared Leto's Morbius and Keaton's Vulture, saying that "both of them... [are] pretty brainy," and how Morbius is "one of the five big geniuses of the Marvel Universe:"
"I think they’re pretty brainy, both of them. Vulture is pure mechanic ingenuity. Morbius is regarded as one of the five big geniuses of the Marvel Universe. As a biologist, there are very few other people that have the same strength, maybe Hank McCoy as Dark Beast. Wasn’t it a Spider-Man comic where Aunt May was sick? And he gathers Reed Richards, Tony Stark, all the geniuses, and in there is Michael Morbius."
The director then revealed how he thinks "Norman Osborn would be very interesting" when asked who should team up with both Morbius and Vulture in the future:
"I think Norman Osborn would be very interesting. That’s a whole different idea, that’s like if you go away from the idea of Sinister Six and you’re going into something different. There are other possibilities, because it’s been made for so many years. For me, what Kevin Feige made so brilliant was the way they took many of the mythologies and chose different parts of them and the realization that it doesn’t have to start just like the comics started. You don’t have to go from the ’60s and the ’70s and then to the ’80s and ’90s. You can take from the 2000s, which was like Civil War, and mix them with other concepts of characters that are from earlier parts of the comic book universe."
Do Fans Want a Norman Crossover?
It's (probably) not an exaggeration to say that most fans won't want to see Sony Pictures pull Norman Osborn into Morbius' bubble of existence; especially not Willem Dafoe's iconic take on the villain. Had the movie been received better, there might be more excitement in that regard, but for Sony's recent Vampire outing, it doesn't look fated.
It's also quite funny that Espinosa refers to Michael Morbius as one of the five big geniuses of the Marvel Universe, which is not true in the slightest. On the many lists found across the internet, he fails to even be among the top ten candidates—generally speaking, he's never even in the running.
Whatever plans Sony Pictures had regarding its cinematic universe may be in danger. With the lackluster performance of the film, everything the company may have wanted to do could be re-evaluated. After all, just look at how quickly they dropped Andrew Garfield and his Spider-Man world after The Amazing Spider-Man 2 tanked.
For those who may still want to give it a look, Morbius is now playing in theaters worldwide.
