Is Morbius’ Most Recent Delay Due to Spider-Man: No Way Home?
Spoiler warning: This article may contain spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home!
Barely a month ahead of its theatrical release, Sony recently announced that it will be pushing back the release date for Morbius again; this time to April 1, 2022. For those who don’t know, this is the seventh change in release dates for the film, with Morbius originally slated for a July 2020 release before shuffling its release date due to the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. Although this latest delay comes due to resurgent pandemic concerns due to the Omicron variant, Morbius‘ shift could also be to accommodate No Way Home and Sony’s plans for their Marvel characters.
Why is Morbius delayed again?
Spider-Man: No Way Home is a film that, despite various speculations around its plot and fan expectations through the roof, managed to deliver for Marvel, becoming the biggest film of 2021. True to the rumors, No Way Home opened up the MCU into a full-fledged multiverse, including Venom’s appearance, even paying a tease at the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Venom 2 sees Eddie Brock and his symbiote arrive in the MCU, leaving a piece of themselves behind. With some speculation regarding Morbius’ place in the growing MCU still unknown, the major clue to Morbius’ connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the potential cause for this delay could probably hinge on the return of Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture.
Is Morbius Delayed To Keaton’s Reshoots as Vulture?
Played by Michael Keaton, Adrian Toomes made his MCU debut in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, as the movie, ended with Holland’s web-slinger defeating the Vulture, further resulting in Toomes’ imprisonment. Keaton can be seen resurfacing in the teasers for Morbius, wearing a similar prisoner uniform that he donned in Homecoming, although Keaton was not initially confirmed to return as Toomes in the Jared Leto film. However, it was confirmed by Keaton in November that he was indeed playing Toomes again for Morbius.
While Sony has a lot of Spider-Man projects in development, none are known to be in principal photography at the moment. This makes Morbius, the appropriate candidate for Michael Keaton to be filming additional material as Adrian Toomes for, potentially for a post-credits scene which would explain Morbius’ connection to the MCU, also teasing where Toomes will resurface next. If Keaton did film some material for Morbius, the most recent delay could perhaps accommodate the reshoot footage being incorporated into the film and one that would further develop the multiverse that No Way Home and Let There Be Carnage has begun to tie together.
Another possibility is that Keaton’s material as Adrian Toomes could be for a Marvel project, including Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which underwent its reshoots recently and could also account for Toomes appearing in the MCU and whatever universe Morbius is set in. Reports also indicate that the reshoots will be adding more MCU cameos to the movie, and, if Toomes is in multiple universes, he is certainly a prime candidate, especially as the reshoots for the Doctor Strange sequel continued into this past November, the same month as Keaton’s comments about reprising his role as the Vulture came in.
