No Way Home Explains Morbius’ Post Credits Vulture Plot Hole

WARNING: This contains spoilers for Morbius.

Michael Keaton’s Vulture being in Morbius‘ post-credits scene left audiences intrigued, but Spider-Man: No Way Home can explain one of the main points that are being misinterpreted as a plot hole. While Morbius is a solo film aimed at introducing a character from the Spider-Man lore, the main talking points around it have been how the film fits into the Spider-Verse that Sony is building. From the first trailer to the film’s release, clues and teases added to the mystery of which universe Morbius was set in, the most intriguing of those teases being the fact that Michael Keaton was confirmed to show up.

After months of speculation, Morbius finally revealed how and why Michael Keaton’s Vulture was in Morbius. Through two post-credits scenes, it was shown that Adrian Toomes was transported from his prison cell in the MCU to a prison in the Morbius universe as a side effect of the multiverse cracking in No Way Home. More than the specifics of Vulture moving between universes, something that came out as confusing was the goals that the villain had as soon as he got out of prison.

One of the most questioned points about Morbius‘ after-credits scenes is why Vulture, who at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming had chosen to protect Spider-Man’s identity out of a sense of respect and gratitude to Peter Parker, is now trying to create a team to destroy the hero. However, the ending of No Way Home has a perfect explanation for that apparently sudden change of heart. Thanks to Doctor Strange’s spell, the entire world has forgotten about Peter Parker’s existence — and that includes Toomes. The world’s memories of Spider-Man, however, remain intact, meaning Vulture remembers only a superhero known as Spider-Man ruining his life and destroying his lucrative business, and he doesn’t realize that behind the mask is just a boy who was a friend of his daughter and who even went so far as to save his life.

While Doctor Strange’s memory spell perfectly settles the question of why Vulture is after Spider-Man now, it can’t be denied that Toomes forgetting about Peter Parker throws off an interesting dynamic between hero and villain that had been created in Homecoming. Spider-Man and Vulture would always be at odds with each other no matter what, but Peter’s good heart and his connection to Liz meant that there was never any hatred between the hero and villain — something very different from other Spidey foes like Goblin and Venom. However, the rift between Spider-Man and Toomes no longer has any personal elements to it, at least from the villain’s point of view, and Morbius‘ new-look Vulture risks losing much of what had made him so interesting in Homecoming.

In terms of the story, Doctor Strange’s spell also caused Vulture to lose his only ace up his sleeve for a possible confrontation with Spider-Man. Even if Toomes was never going to hurt Peter, he was likely planning to play that card whenever he ran into superhero problems. That possibility is now ruled out, and Vulture’s best chance against Spider-Man is to put together the best Sinister Six he can.

Morbius‘ post-credits scenes are confusing for more than just one reason, but at least one of the pointed plot holes can be explained by Spider-Man: No Way Home. The crafting of Sony’s Spider-Man universe has been turbulent, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that the studio is heading towards a Sinister Six sort of assembling event. It remains to be seen what the new relationship between Vulture and Spider-Man will be like in that new context.

About The Author

Marcelo Leite
(193 Articles Published)

Marcelo Leite is a senior writer for Screen Rant with years of experience in creative and academic writing. Although his chosen field was structure engineering, there is nothing he likes better than writing about the things he loves.

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