Why would someone scrawl the word “Murderer” across a mural of Spider-Man in a Morbius movie? It’s a question fans have been asking themselves ever since that image (featured above) appeared in a trailer for the Jared Leto feature Morbius. And now that fans are heading to theaters to see the movie, they might realize… that scene doesn’t make it into the final cut. Strange. So when CinemaBlend got the opportunity to sit down with Morbius director Daniel Espinosa on the day that his movie is opening around the world, we asked him about that specific shot, and what his intentions were with including it.
His answer, though, dodges a few bullets regarding fan theories. Daniel Espinosa tells us:
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.
Interesting. We know that bigger-budget comic book movies like this can take feedback from all directions, especially when a movie like Morbius is trying to fit itself into a larger universe. It sounds like, at one point, Morbius was going to include a reference to Spider-Man – probably ordered by producers looking to establish ties to the characters of Venom and Spidey – but the mural shot was removed. And Espinosa says that he can’t comment on it because it wasn’t one of his ideas, and he only focused on the main movie, in question.
As Morbius director Daniel Espinosa went on to explain to CinemaBlend, as he discussed Michael Morbius meeting Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton):
When you do these movies, the question that you, as a creator, ask yourself is, ‘How close can I get to all of the characters that exist within the world of this environment? Can I get the Kraven to pass through here? Would I be able to get like a small CGI moment to claim that there's a Spider-Man in this universe? Or anything like that?’ In the beginning, the idea was to be a bit more playful with those things, and let (characters) just pass each other and not have so much connectivity – and then lead that later.
This could continue to be the direction that Sony decides to go with its Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters. The studio has announced at least the next two movies in this world – Kraven the Hunter with Aaron Taylor Johnson and Madame Web with Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney. Somewhere along the way, Spider-Man will have to show face in this timeline, now that Toomes is talking about him in the Morbius mid-credits scenes. You know we will be on it once that happens. For now, see Morbius in theaters and learn all about the man-vampire, played by Jared Leto.
