Morbius is the latest film in Sony Pictures' Spider-Man Universe. With Jared Leto playing Dr. Michael Morbius, the movie has been met with incredibly harsh criticism from critics and audiences alike, netting a C+ on Cinemascore and a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite the negativity, Morbius is part of Sony's own interconnected universe, so the character will most likely show up again in the future.
Due to some dialogue in the movie, as well as confirmation from director Daniel Espinosa, Morbius takes place in the same universe as the two Venom films. That character was last seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home, where he was transported to the MCU's universe, only to be sent back to his world during one of the post-credits scenes.
The repercussions of the opening of the Multiverse are what caused the mayhem, and it didn't stop there. In both of the post-credits scenes from Morbius, Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes, better known as Vulture, was sent from the MCU to the Sony universe. The scenes tease that Toomes and Morbius will be forming a Sinister Six team sometime in the future, and the film's director has recently commented on the matter.
The Future of Sony's Spider-Man Universe
In an interview with Total Film, Morbius director Daniel Espinosa sat down to talk about the future of the character following the film's two post-credits scenes that tease the Sinister Six.
The director reminisced about his childhood, where he specifically mentioned his love of "a comic book called Secret Wars." He also claimed that the entire Marvel fan base "would die to see" the characters from Sony's Spider-Man Universe on-screen together:
“I remember when I was 12 years old, I read a comic book called Secret Wars, and it was when they took all the superheroes to a planet and all the super bad guys to a planet, and they had to fight each other. In Marvel, it always has existed, this great fascination of creating groups, and new friendships that can oppose other friendships. And I think that all us Marvel fans would die to see the Sony-verse people together.”
Espinosa made it clear, however, that he is not allowed to share any details he knows concerning the "very exciting" future, or else the studio "would shoot (him) on the spot:"
"I think that the future is very exciting, and I think that the plans that Sony has in very closed rooms, that I’m not really allowed to attend, or the small snippets I’ve heard, fills me with joy. But if I said anything, they would shoot me on the spot.”
A Clouded Future
Sony has made it fairly clear that the fanbase has no idea where its universe will go next, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. When viewers saw Keaton back as Adrian Toomes in Morbius' trailer, it caused instant confusion. Many people didn't know how that character got from the MCU over to the Sony-verse, and the execution of that idea in the film has made it even more confusing for most viewers.
Spider-Man: No Way Home had five villains that shared the screen together, and while it wasn't technically the Sinister Six, it was as close as possible to that concept. That film was received extremely well by critics and audiences, and the villains were largely to thank, but they were characters who had been debuted years ago and already had fairly fleshed out stories.
When it comes to Sony's Spider-Man Universe, Eddie Brock is the only character that has been properly established, so it seems like Sony is getting too far ahead by already teasing that a Sinister Six movie is on the horizon. The Morbius post-credits scenes also raise the question of who the team of villains would be fighting.
In the trailer, Oscorp was clearly in one of the shots, and Spider-Man himself was seen in a mural on the wall in another shot. In the actual film, however, neither was present. With no Spider-Man or clear protagonist as of right now, the direction for the future leaves viewers with more questions than answers.
Morbius is currently showing in theaters worldwide.
