While fans are reveling in Spider-Man: No Way Home's in-home release and the celebration of the character that that film provided, Sony is prepping to release its next adventure in its own wall-crawling universe. Morbius stars Jared Leto as Spider-Man villain Michael Morbius, a biochemist who, in trying to cure his rare blood disease, infects himself with a form of vampirism.
So far in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSMU), there have been few questions about its connections to other films attached to the web-slinger. However, Morbius has brought up some interesting Multiversal questions. In the film's trailers, there were hints pointing to all three big-screen Spider-Men, so it remains unknown what universe this movie actually exists within.
And even more at the forefront of many fans' minds is the question of whether a Spider-Man will even appear in the upcoming film. There had been no mention of Marvel's webhead in the SSMU until the post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage saw Tom Hardy's symbiotic anti-hero travel briefly into the MCU, seeing Tom Holland's Peter Parker on a TV screen.
But will Peter/Spidey make an appearance in Morbius? Well, fans may finally have an answer!
Morbius' Spider-Man
In an interview with Cinema Blend, Morbius director Daniel Espinosa revealed if Spider-Man already exists in the New York City that Jared Leto's Michael Morbius calls home.
Espinosa said, "Of course" there is a version of Spider-Man there. He described his take on the Marvel universe as a world where "you have the same characters, and it's ALL of the characters" despite being "slightly different."
This means "in almost all [universes], you have Spider-Man" but "they will be different in tone:"
"Of course! I mean, in almost all Spider-Verse or, you know, the (universes) that existed in the Marvel universe, if you read the comic books, the whole idea of that kind of – the Marvel string theory, if you would call it that. It's very related to, if you remember, the alternative Seinfelds. You have a world where you have the same characters, and it's ALL of the characters, but they are slightly different. So in almost all verses, you have Spider-Man, or a Fantastic Four, or a Tony Stark, or a Morbius. But they will be different in tone."
The director clarified that this is "not quite the way that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (is) approaching the idea." However, he did mention that the MCU is "remaining to some core truth."
He also brought up the idea of a "spider totem" in all these universes, meaning "there has to be a Spider-Man. Or a Spider-Woman:"
"That's not quite the way that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (is) approaching the idea, but they're remaining to some core truth. Then you have the second kind of legend, which is about the totem. Which is that, in all universes, there is a spider totem. Which means that in all universes, there has to be a Spider-Man. Or a Spider-Woman."
A Slurry of Spider-Men
So, in these quotes, Espinosa does not 100% confirm that Spider-Man will appear in Morbius. However, he does lock in that the character does/has to exist in this version of the universe.
Fans have already seen a quick glimpse of the wall-crawler in one of the Morbius trailers, as Jared Leto's anti-hero is seen walking past a poster with what looked to be Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man on it. But this does not necessarily mean that if a Spidey were to appear in the movie, it would have to be Maguire.
It feels as though the Morbius director is taking a page out of the Marvel Comics Multiverse book, meaning that this Spider-Man seen in this universe may have the same suit as Tobey Maguire's web-slinger, but it could literally be anyone under the mask.
With an infinite number of universes comes an infinite number of Spider-Man variations. That could be a version of the character that is actually Andrew Garfield who wears a suit just like Maguire's. Or it could be a whole new actor entirely.
However, for now, the speculation machine will have to continue to roll along, as nothing will be written into stone until fans see Morbius in theaters on April 1.
