In the final moments of Morbius, Michael Keaton’s Vulture hops across the multiverse and into the Sonyverse to declare revenge on Spider-Man, which opens up the opportunity for another old villain’s revival. This multiversal jumping begins in the first Morbius end-credits scene, which showcases the Vulture looking remarkably unsurprised to be thrust into a new world. The second end-credits scene follows directly on from this, showing Michael Keaton’s character meeting with Morbius for the very first time and explaining how he believes his arrival has “something to do with Spider-Man.”
It is likely that this vague explanation is an allusion to the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which every person who knows that Peter Parker is Spider-Man is dragged across the multiverse in an almost reality-breaking finale. This plot point is seemingly utilized by the widely criticized ending of the Morbius movie to set up a hopeful future for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. It implies that the Vulture could go on to be a villain yet again and perhaps even form a team of his own made up of villains from Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery, much like the Sinister Six.
With this in mind, it is now the perfect time to bring back Michael Mando’s Scorpion using the same universe-hopping cheat that might give the Vulture a new lease of life. So far, Michael Mando has been wasted in all Marvel movie properties. In the Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s end credits scene, he too declares his revenge on Spider-Man, but he does this as regular Mac Gargan when the character is yet to discover his alter-ego as the Scorpion. It has been years since this Spider-Man: Homecoming end-credits scene premiered in theaters, but not much about the characters has been revealed since. In turn, this wastes all the best bits of one of Spider-Man’s most iconic villains and demotes him to merely a regular thug in a cell.
Why Michael Mando’s Scorpion Needs To Return
Michael Mando is an incredible actor whose performance as Nacho Varga in Better Call Saul has garnered him the status as a fan favorite of the series. Undoubtedly, he would do justice in portraying the bitter Mac Gargan on the hunt for Spider-Man. Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has already announced that certain characters, such as Madame Webb, will be introduced in the near future. This means that it wouldn’t be ridiculous to suggest that pre-prepared characters like Scorpion are just around the corner. It would only be fitting to give Michael Mando another chance at this.
In fact, right now would be the perfect time to bring the Scorpion back for his own villainous reign in a new Spider-Man movie. After fighting across both space and the multiverse in Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home, it would make sense for Marvel Studios or Sony to make a film that brings the web-slinger back to his roots as just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Scorpion provides this opportunity: he is a low-level villain, but he still poses a deadly threat to Spider-Man that he alone must deal with. After all, Mac Gargan’s desire for revenge isn’t against the Avengers but against Spider-Man himself since it was him that threw Mac off a boat and sliced his face open. Peter Parker would therefore have to face this threat on his own, and the scale of the film’s conflict could be brought down to a smaller scale whilst still being high-stakes. This is not to say that the scale should be brought down forever; the Scorpion could even be used to open Spider-Man up to much larger-scale threats such as the Dark Avengers in the future.
It is clear to see, then, that Michael Mando’s Scorpion both could and should be brought back to face Spider-Man again. This could happen in any universe thanks to the Vulture’s universe-hopping cheat from Morbius, and it is not out of the question to suggest that he could even appear fighting the likes of Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man. No matter what form it takes, one thing is for sure: Michael Mando’s opportunity to portray the Scorpion and do justice to this wasted character is right now.
