The odds on Michael Keaton playing a part in not one, not two, but three major comic book franchises at the same time would have been very long to say the least. But that’s exactly what’s happened to the veteran actor, and should those Spider-Man: No Way Home rumors pan out, then he’ll have a trio of upcoming efforts all releasing between this December and November 2022.
Of course, the most notable entry by far is Tim Burton’s Caped Crusader suiting up to reprise his role as Bruce Wayne in The Flash, which is such a massive deal that it’s got every chance of overshadowing every other element of the movie in the buildup. On top of that, Keaton will return as Adrian Toomes in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters’ Morbius next January, having first appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Trying to explain all of that to someone not particularly well-versed in the ways of shared mythologies could prove to be more than a little confusing. It turns out that the man himself is in exactly the same boat, after Keaton revealed in a new interview that he’s completely clueless about the ins and outs of the two Marvel universes.
“I’m nodding like I know what the f*ck they’re talking about. I go, ‘Uh-huh’. And I’m thinking, ‘You may as well be explaining quantum physics right now to me. All I know is I just know my guy. And I know the basics’. So finally, they were looking at me, and they just started laughing. They said, ‘You don’t know what we’re talking about, do you?’. I said, ‘No, I don’t, no idea what you’re talking about’.”
Keaton making a surprise cameo at the end of the Morbius trailer provides more connective tissue between the MCU and the SPUMC, and if the Jonah Jameson chatter also turns out to be on the money, then that’s two Spider-Man alumni that will have crossed over into Sony’s separate universe in quick succession. That feat looked to be impossible just a short while ago, when the studio refused to even play ball with Tom Holland’s web-slinger.