Morbius Director On Cutting Spider-Man Reference, Other Trailer Scenes (Exclusive)

Morbius has faced no shortage of criticisms from critics and fans alike, with one complaint being that several sequences from the film’s trailers were not in the movie. The early trailers for Morbius got fans excited with sequences involving Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes character from Spider-Man: Homecoming and another trailer saw an image of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man on a wall with “murderer” painted across it to build on the fallout of Spider-Man: Far Form Home‘s Mysterio story. While Keaton appeared in Morbius as Vulture (for only the post-credits scenes), the scenes were very different from those in the trailer and the Spider-Man image was cut all together. While speaking to ComicBook.com, Morbius director Daniel Espinosa opened up about those changes. 

“No, I mean, it’s funny, because when you do a movie of this sort, there are some people that make the trailer and then you make the movie and when you make a movie, you always cut out things,” Espinosa said. “For example, if you look at Safe House, you have these, when they’re in this war room, I have many different kind of detective parts of that story that got cut out. And what I can say is that what’s in the movie is what I thought should be in the movie.”

Espinosa previously told ComicBook.com that Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s success did prompt a bit change for Morbius, citing visual elements as the biggest thing they needed to build on. As it turns out, Marvel Studios did not collaborate with Morbius despite the film using some of the Multiverse connections to build on the story. “You were not allowed to ever talk to anybody on No Way Home, because they’re at the MCU,” Espinosa said. Following No Way Home‘s successful opening weekend, Morbius was delayed one more time which prompted speculation of reshoots to add a Spider-Man or reference to the film. “The MCU kind of code is that they keep everything secret, even in their interior,” Espinosa said. “They don’t have big screenings for the company or some sort.”

When it comes down to whether or not Espinosa wanted to have Spider-Man in Morbius, seeing as he is the main character of most stories involving this particular Marvel vampire, it seems the thought was there. “Oh yeah, but I mean, I think that it’s part of the confidence level,” Espinosa said. “And I think that at that time, when I did the movie, they were in this big crisis. Remember when they were fighting and maybe not doing a [Spider-Man: No Way Home] movie at all? So, at that time there was never like… Because it was too sensitive. I think that the person that do the next movies, it’s going to be different, because I think it’s also part of Sony to get the confidence to do a universe.”

Sony’s confidence seems to be growing, having made it clear now that Morbius is in a separate universe from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and taking characters from that world for their own. Following Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and Morbius, the studio is having longtime Spider-Man producer Avi Arad as a throughline for their projects.  “Within Sony, I was in constant debate and Avi Arad was very kind of important,” Espinosa said. “And Matt Tolmach as well, because Matt and Avi did… They are the producers who are doing all Venom, Morbius, and now Kraven.”

Are you hoping to see Morbius return for a showdown with a Spider-Man? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram! Morbius is now playing in theaters,.