Morbius debuted in 2022 to overwhelmingly negative reviews. Despite that, Sony Pictures still gave its writers the green light to pen Madame Web, a movie released this year...to even worse reviews.
While we still don't know what went wrong with the latter, it's no secret that the Living Vampire's big screen debut underwent extensive reshoots, removing various Spider-Man references in the wake of Sony and Marvel Studios striking a new deal to share the web-slinger.
Michael Keaton's Vulture was always set to appear but was once going to be depicted as originating from Michael Morbius' world. Reshoots later added a Multiverse element - even though him being set there made no sense - and Adrian Toomes attempted to recruit the bloodsucker to his heroic Sinister Six.
Talking to Josh Horowitz, Keaton confessed that his cameo made no sense to him and that the people in charge failed to even properly explain it to him!
"I mean, they said 'Okay' ... and even they couldn’t quite explain it. They said, 'Look, let me just kind of tell you,' and I go, 'I really don’t quite know what you’re talking about or even who some of these people are,' and he said, 'Okay, let me explain,' but it was complicated because, obviously, they were looking down the road."
"I’m nodding like I know what the f*** they’re talking about. I go, 'Uh-huh.' And I’m thinking, 'You may as well be explaining quantum physics right now to me. All I know is I just know my guy. And I know the basics,'" Keaton continued. "So finally, they were looking at me, and they just started laughing."
"They said, 'You don’t know what we’re talking about, do you?' I said, 'No, I don’t, no idea what you’re talking about.'"
Something tells us Keaton won't be clamouring to return for Morbius 2! Jared Leto has largely remained silent when it comes to his thoughts on the Marvel movie, but Matt Smith didn't shy away from addressing its failings a few months after it arrived in theaters.
"Yeah, it was thrown under the bus," Smith said of the response to the movie. "But you just have to roll with it. What else are you gonna do? It’s a film, at the end of the day, we’re not saving lives. For whatever reason, it didn’t quite work out and...It is what it is."
The Doctor Who star isn't the only actor dissatisfied with the finished product, as co-star Al Madrigal expressed similar frustrations during an interview with us in 2022. "I got butchered in that thing. I think that’s what they did," he said. "They just really…because of COVID, they just had so much time to mess with it. They really messed with it."
Hear more from Keaton in the X post below.