Michael Keaton Reveals Morbius Cameo Makes No Sense
Michael Keaton is no stranger to appearing in comic-book movies, but he usually at least understands why his character is there. This wasn’t the case when Keaton appeared as Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture, in 2022’s Morbius, which was a cameo that was confusing to fans and apparently Keaton himself. Keaton recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, and when he was asked how his character fits into Sony’s plans going forward, he candidly said, “No idea.”
No One Understands The Cameo
Michael Keaton went on to say that he didn’t get any clarification on set either, saying, “Even they couldn’t quite explain it.” When they tried explaining it to Keaton, he added, “OK, I really don’t quite know what you’re talking about or even who some of these people are.” Keaton isn’t alone in this thinking, as nobody else has really figured out why his appearance was necessary, especially since he literally appeared in the movie’s trailer, making it seem like he would have a bigger role.
Birdman
Michael Keaton first played Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and quickly became a fan-favorite MCU villain. There’s little doubt that fans would like to see Vulture return after he survived the events of that movie, but his Morbius appearance was underwhelming, to say the least. It appears that Sony intended to have the scene as a way to set up a Sinister Six movie, but there has been little reason to care about Sony’s interconnected Spider-Man film universe.
Not Even Michael Keaton Can Save Sony’s Spider-Verse
By far, the most successful movies are Sony’s Venom movies, which are fun and feature an entertaining performance by Tom Hardy. Other attempts like Morbius and the recently released Madame Web have been endlessly memed and fell flat on their face critically. If Sony wants to set up a Sinister Six film with Michael Keaton that gets fans excited, it’s not doing a very good job of it.
The Sinister Six
Of course, the core problem of teasing a Sinister Six movie with Michael Keaton’s Vulture, Jared Leto’s Morbius, and Tom Hardy’s Venom is the lack of a character that the Sinister Six would face – like Spider-Man. There’s just no way to imagine a good Sinister Six movie that doesn’t have Spider-Man (or other Spider heroes), and Sony hasn’t given us any indications that this kind of plan is in place. Of course, the obvious answer would be to have Syndey Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, and Isabela Merced reprise their Madame Web roles to take on the Sinister Six, but this hasn’t been alluded to either.
Another Villain Coming
Sony’s interconnected live-action Spiderverse films may be floundering outside of the Venom franchise, but the studio seems intent on chugging along with upcoming films like Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter. Without a significant uptick in quality, it’s hard to see these films carrying on much longer. Outside of the meme potential, there hasn’t been much of a reason to care.
Fans Want More Michael Keaton
Sony could just do what fans really want and focus on more animated offerings like Into the SpiderVerse and Across the SpiderVerse. In the meantime, they should at least not bring Michael Keaton back unless they’re actually going to do something with his character. We’ll just have to wait and see if the live-action Sony Spiderverse films continue to decline or if we actually get something worthwhile from the planned universe.
