A new fan theory might have cracked the code on how Sony’s Marvel Universe is tying its franchises together. If the theory is correct, it means there was some blending when it came to Spider-Man: Homecoming and Morbius long before fans had any idea a movie about the “ pseudo-vampire ” was in the works.
Screenrant has posted a YouTube video talking through the assertions, claiming Michael Morbius was hidden in the background in one particular scene of Homecoming. The brief appearance in question comes toward the end of the film when Adrian Toomes, otherwise known as The Vulture, has been captured and thrown into prison.
Toomes is walking past a line of prisoners headed in the other direction, and in the shot, a man who looks quite a bit like Morbius can be spotted heading in the opposite direction. The appearance, if it is Morbius, is a blink and kind of shot in a way that could lead people to come down on either side of the theory.
On the one hand, ScreenRant points out it appears the man some have identified as Morbius is wearing an eye patch. That would seem to disqualify the vampire character almost immediately since his eye would heal quickly enough he wouldn’t need a patch.
On the other hand, the site points out it could be a way to hide his regenerative powers from his fellow prisoners. It’s also possible the injury occurred just minutes before the man is seen and the eye hasn’t had time to heal fully.
One mark on the side of the argument that the long, dark-haired man in the scene is indeed Morbius is the continued connection to Toomes. The Vulture, played by Michael Keaton in both Spider-Man: Homecoming and Morbius , made an appearance in the latter’s new trailer. It’s apparent that the two men know each other and that leads to the question of “how?”
Another shot in the trailer shows Morbius, who is a Nobel-prize winning scientist apparently clad in an orange prison jumpsuit. While the jumpsuits Toomes and his fellow cellmates are wearing in Homecoming are white, the theory posits Morbius could have been transferred to another prison at some point.
The final strike against the man in question being Morbius is that he is not Jared Leto, who will play the vampire scientist in the upcoming film. The rebuttal to that is simply that Spider-Man: Homecoming producers didn’t know who would be playing the character when that movie was made.