By Julie Catherine
With virtually every superhero and comic book project in the modern day come a slew of easter eggs, references, and callbacks for fans to enjoy. For some, this has become one of the most exciting parts of a new release, especially as fans hunt to find the most obscure reference in a given film. Sony’s Morbius, out now exclusively in theaters, is no different and features a long list of easter eggs.
Jared Harris’ Dr. Nikols offers to send Morbius to a “school for gifted children.” This May be a reference to Professor X’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
The Daily Bugle newspaper appears throughout Morbius, and shares the logo from Sam Raimi’s films.
A copy of The Daily Bugle features a story about a Chameleon. Chameleon is a Spider-Man villain, who is set to appear in the Kraven the Hunter film.
Another issue of The Daily Bugle features the headline: “Black Cat: Friend or Foe?” This teases the future appearance of Black Cat, a.k.a. Felicia Hardy.
Dr. Morbius works from Horizon Labs, which first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #648 from 2010.
The name of the cargo ship Morbius turns into a vampire on is called Murnau, named after F.W. Murnau, director of the vampire classic Nosferatu.
The scene on the boat in which Morbius turns into a vampire plays out very similarly to his debut appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 from 1971.
Morbius tells a thug “We are Venom.” Venom is also referenced by Detective Rodriguez, when he says, “Haven’t gotten anything this good since that mess in San Francisco.” This likely refers to the events of Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Morbius says, “You don’t want to see me when I’m hungry,” a reference to the iconic line from The Incredible Hulk, “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”
Michael Keaton appears in, not one, but two post-credits scenes. His return means Keaton’s Vulture is the first time a character from the MCU has directly appeared in Sony’s universe of films.
Keaton’s appearance teases the live-action debut of the Sinister Six, a classic team of bad guys out to hunt Spider-Man. Several years ago, Sony were developing a Sinister Six film as part of The Amazing Spider-Man series.
Check out The HoloFiles’ review of Morbius:
Morbius is in theaters now.