Why Morbius' Post-Credits Scenes Are Such A FAIL for Marvel Movies
Morbius is now out in theaters and to say it's getting a serious reaction from viewers would be an understatement. Morbius got such a thrashing by critics that the entire Internet sat up and took notice. One of the biggest complaints about Morbius almost universally across the board has been Sony's attempt to imitate Marvel Studios' signature post-credits scenes, which act as "button" teasers that set up the next chapter of storytelling. Morbius has two scenes included in its end credits, and not only are they bad – they are a complete FAIL for Marvel Movies.
(WARNING: Morbius SPOILERS Follow!)
The first Morbius post-credits scene squanders the promise of trailers, by revealing that Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes/Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming gets warped from the Marvel Cinematic Universe into Sony's Spider-Man Universe via Doctor Strange's spell. Toomes appears in another jail cell in the SSU, but because there's no official record of his crimes there, we hear from a news report monologue that he could be released.
The second Morbius post-credits scene sees Michael Morbius speeding through the desert in a luxury call, to make a middle-of-the-night rendezvous with a mysterious contact. When Michael gets to the coordinates in the middle of nowhere, Vulture swoops in to meet him and offers a proposition: join a team that Vulture is putting together, that could deal with the Spider-Man of that universe.
Why Morbius' Post-Credits Scenes Are a FAIL For Marvel Movies
Without a doubt, Morbius' post-credits scene is a logistical mess, which is sure to confuse more fans than actually excite them.
First, there's the major question of why and how Michael Keaton's Vulture ends up in the SSU, given Doctor Strange's spell – a spell whose parameters were already questionable in No Way Home, but are all but invalidated by Morbius. It's now clearer than ever that Strange's spell was nothing but a plot gimmick that gives Sony and Marvel Studios the thinnest of excuses for shuffling characters between the MCU and SSU franchises.
The horribly-explained character transfers are quickly robbing this entire franchise multiverse concept of any real appeal, as the line between canon and non-canon is just getting messier and more confusing. It's also clearer, now, why Marvel Studios just borrowed a tiny piece of symbiote from Sony and put Tom Hardy's Venom and all these SSU Connections back in their own sandbox (see: Morbius reviews).
Finally, there is also the issue that Morbius' post-credits scenes negate significant pieces of the preceding story and character work. Adrian Toomes' entire motivation for villainy was trying to provide for his family as a blue-collar worker in a new world of superhero elites and governmental control. Yet at the end of Morbius Toomes finds himself in a new universe and all he says is 'Hope the food's better,' and immediately turns to archvillainy. The same goes for Michael Morbius: after an entire film depicting Morbius' heroic struggle to rise above the monster within, he's just ready to join Vulture and become a villain? It's a post-credits turn that contradicts the entire "hero's journey" of the film that led to it.
Sure, Sony can probably bring the characters back around. Vulture can get back to the excellent complex depiction we got in Spider-Man: Homecoming, whenever he re-appears for this Sinister Six event. Morbius could turn out to be one of the Sinister Six members who eventually redeems himself, but man... How many Marvel movie fans are there hoping to see any of this unfold?
Morbius is now in theaters.