Morbius Director Says Venom's Universe Has A Spider-Man (And We'll Meet Him 'Soon')
Do you ever wonder how many Spider-Men is too many Spider-Men? If not, you're probably about to. In a Q&A with "Morbius" director Daniel Espinosa that was posted on Twitter today, CinemaBlend revealed that the limit on Spider-Men apparently does not exist.
The exchange has not been shared on CinemaBlend's website yet, but the series of Twitter posts from the website's official page is as follows:
CB: Is there a Spider-Man in Venom's universe?
DE "Of course"
CB: "Ok, so which Spider-Man exists in Venom's universe?"
DE: "It is my understanding that audiences will discover the answer soon." – @CinemaBlend
At this point, my first reaction to this news isn't excitement, but confusion — and the urge to do some math to sort out all of these timelines. Although he's a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland's Peter Parker is also technically a Sony Spider-Man. At first glance, this question seems to indicate the introduction of a completely new Spider-Man, but it's possible Espinosa could be referencing Holland's take on the character.
New Spider-Man just dropped?
In December, amid a series of what seemed like public miscommunications between the actor and the studio heads, Sony Pictures chairman and CEO Tom Rothman implied that Holland's next appearance may not be in a Spider-Man film. "It's reciprocal," he told Comic Book, "So we lend one [character], and they lend one, and that's how Benedict [Cumberbatch] is in this movie. So we have one more 'lend back' that's committed."
Could the 'lend back' somehow be in "Morbius"? That would be odd, given that this movie suffered pandemic-era delays and was written years ago at this point, meaning its chronology likely wouldn't be set after "Spider-Man: No Way Home. A promotional image for the movie shows Morbius walking past graffiti of Spider-Man with "MURDERER" written on his face, indicating that the Peter Parker in this universe was also framed for murder by Mysterio. Sony producer Amy Pascal also hinted that Holland could show up in a different Sony and Marvel property back in December, triggering the chain reaction of clarifications by initially telling Fandango that, "We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel, it just isn't part of ... we're thinking of this as three films, and now we're going to go onto the next three."
For the sake of Tom Holland getting a break, I almost hope this means the "Venom" universe will reveal a fifth big-screen version of Spider-Man (or twelfth, if you count all the "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" characters). By qualifying his statement with the phrase "it is my understanding," Espinosa also makes it sound like the appearance isn't something he witnessed firsthand. If so, that leaves the door open for the Venom/Spider-Man crossover to happen outside of "Morbius." It's also possible the director has inside knowledge about future "Venom"-verse properties that are still in early stages, like "Kraven the Hunter."
"Morbius" will premiere in theaters on April 1, 2022.