From the second that first trailer was released, it became clear Sony Pictures planned to promote Morbius by teasing its place in the wider Marvel Multiverse. Jared Leto's Michael Morbius was shown walking past graffiti labelling Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man a "murderer," while Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes (a villain introduced in the MCU) has been heavily featured in every trailer.
It's possible all of that has something to do with what the plan was when Sony and Marvel Studios parted ways for a brief spell, but fans have been left confused...especially after watching Morbius!
In an interview with Variety, director Daniel Espinosa reiterated previous comments that "in all these universes there’s a spider because he’s a totem" when asked about Spider-Man. However, when the trade pushed for an explanation behind that graffiti, the filmmaker appeared to shift the blame to Sony's marketing team, suggesting it wasn't something he ever actually shot.
"I make the movie and then some people make the trailer," Espinosa cryptically responded. "When I make the movie, everything that I include in the movie, it’s included. If it’s not in the movie, it’s because I don’t think it should be included. So no, that’s not in the movie."
Bizarrely, the director went on to play down the fact that almost none of Toomes' scenes from the trailers made it into Morbius and went so far as to suggest the Multiverse is a Sony creation. "What had to be changed was the physiology of how to move between worlds. The idea of moving between worlds was invented by Sony, not by the MCU. They did it and then I had to adjust."
Well, someone has definitely been drinking Avi Arad's Kool-Aid!
It's obvious Morbius was changed a great deal in post-production and that goes a long way in explaining why the response to the movie has been so negative. Simply put, it was a mess, but you can read more of our thoughts on that by clicking here. As for those comments about the Multiverse, we're assuming Espinosa is referring to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, though it's clear Sony has taken the rules set down by Marvel Studios in Spider-Man: No Way Home and done what they want.
What do you make of Espinosa's take on what we saw in Morbius?