Skip to main content

Will Spider-Man Appear in ‘Morbius’?

Stop messing with our heads, Sony!

Jared Leto in Morbius, walking by a Spider-Man poster with "murderer" spray-painted across it.

After years of delays, Sony’s Spider-Man-adjacent Morbius movie is finally hitting theaters on April 1, 2022, and we’ll finally have all our questions answered about this most confusing of vampire movies. Does Morbius take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or not? Which Spider-Man is in the poster visible behind Morbius in the trailer? Is Michael Keaton reprising his role as Adrian Toomes or is he in the movie purely to mess with our heads? Thanks to a sound bite from Jared Leto, who plays the titular character, fans are wondering all over again how closely the movie will tie into the Spider-Man films. Is Peter Parker himself going to appear in the movie?

Recommended Videos

The Spider-Man Universe

First, a little background on Sony’s Spider-Man spinoffs. Morbius, along with the two Venom movies and the upcoming Kraven the Hunter, are all part of the Spider-Man universe, since all these movies focus on villains from the Spider-Man comics, for which Sony owns the movie rights. Sony is gradually highlighting all these classic villains in their own movies as they try to make the most of their Spider-Man rights while they loan the webslinger himself out to the MCU, more or less. But are the films all building up to something, or is Sony just highlighting the villains for their own sake? It’s hard to say right now.

Recently, though, Jared Leto shared some thoughts on the possibility of Morbius facing off against Spider-Man. When asked if audiences could expect a Spider-Man cameo in Morbius, Leto said that he’d “love to get in the ring with Spider-Man. I think Tom Holland is amazing, and we’d make quite a dynamic duo.”

Watch the full clip below:

His comments don’t seem to suggest that he’s already filmed a scene with Tom Holland for Morbius, which means that a Spider-Man cameo might be unlikely (although it’s hard to take anyone’s word on possible Spider-Man appearances these days)—and that makes sense for Morbius’s first outing. A cameo would pull the narrative focus away from Morbius himself, instead of letting the character shine in his own film.

Judging from the trailer, this movie is solidly Michael Morbius’s story. We don’t just see him gaining and discovering his powers; we also see him struggle with questions of ethics and identity. What does it mean that he found the cure to his blood disease by trying to save people, but now finds himself needing to kill to survive? What have his new powers turned him into? While he’s struggling with these issues, Morbius will also have to contend with Loxias Crown, Matt Smith’s character who suffers from the same blood disease as Morbius, but doesn’t have the same moral code to pull him from the brink of full-on evil. The story is already rich enough without throwing Spidey into the mix.

However! Leto’s comments do seem to suggest that Morbius might tousle with Spider-Man later down the line. After all, Eddie Brock found himself transported to the MCU at the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, so it seems like Sony and Marvel definitely have something up their sleeve.

(image: Sony)

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Author
Julia Glassman
Julia Glassman (she/her) holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and has been covering feminism and media since 2007. As a staff writer for The Mary Sue, Julia covers Marvel movies, folk horror, sci fi and fantasy, film and TV, comics, and all things witchy. Under the pen name Asa West, she's the author of the popular zine 'Five Principles of Green Witchcraft' (Gods & Radicals Press). You can check out more of her writing at <a href="https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/">https://juliaglassman.carrd.co/.</a>

Filed Under:

Follow The Mary Sue: