It seems that everyone is talking about Morbius this weekend, but not really in any way that involves the newest addition to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Instead, all attention is on the appearances of Michael Keaton’s Vulture in the movie, and lack of references to Spider-Man, which the trailers all alluded to. With the film having crashed to a dismal critic rating, audiences have been more forgiving with the living vampire’s debut, but director Daniel Espinosa has now explained why that trailer scene including a Spider-Man mural did not make it into the final film. Minor SPOILERS for Morbius are contained in this article.
It is fair to say that of all the movies released recently involving characters related to Spider-Man, Morbius has caused the most confusion for its mixed up world that can’t seem to decide whether it is part of a Spider-Man world or not. While Espinosa has previously said that Morbius inhabits the world in which Tom Hardy’s Venom exists, and undoubtedly where the upcoming Kraven The Hunter will also rest, the trailers seemed to suggest otherwise. First there was the image of Spider-Man appearing on a mural with the word murderer written on it in spray paint, and then the introduction of Adrian “Vulture” Toomes from the MCU’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. Now Espinosa has explained what happened to the former of these, claiming that it was never part of the movie. He told CinemaBlend:
“That image is only in the trailer. So for me, as a director, I only do the movie. I, as a fan, have several kinds of opinions and thoughts about that. But since I didn’t put it there, because it’s not in the movie, and I didn’t put it in the trailer either. (So) if I said something about what I think it is, it would be as a fan. But because I’m the director, I would be accused of knowing something. Which I don’t, you know? If I knew something, I could tell you. (But) it’s not mine. It’s not from my idea, you know? I would love to be honest and responsible, but I can’t, because it’s not mine.”
Did Sony Try and Fail To Do Some Marvel Studios Trailer Trickery With Morbius?
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With Espinosa claiming that the Spider-Man mural seen in the trailer was never in the movie, suggests that somewhere along the line, Sony was attempting to perform a slight-of-hand bit of trickery that Marvel Studios have perfected when releasing trailers for its upcoming movies. While Marvel has made a habit of including alternate takes or removing key characters from scenes in order to keep some secrets for the movies’ release, Sony has simply managed to annoy a lot of fans by including something in their trailer that blatantly was not going to be in final film.
Further to the annoyance of Spider-Man and MCU fans, the scenes involving Michael Keaton’s Vulture only happen in the post-credit scenes of the movie, which somehow the character is transported into this universe by Dr. Strange’s spell. Although nothing about Vulture’s appearance seems to make sense to anyone, from his arrival, through the presence of his Vulture suit in a world he apparently didn’t previously exist in, and the fact that Morbius seems happy to discuss Spider-Man with him without seemingly knowing who Spider-Man is, it turns out that all of this is just the out-of-date icing on a mostly unappealing cake.
