This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.In the wake of the massive success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, there’s been an influx of renewed interest in the Spider-Man movies, with many fans even expressing their desire for a revival of the previous film series starring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. However, there’s one Spidey-related film that’s still inviting more confusion than excitement — the upcoming Morbius motion picture.
Morbius, starring Jared Leto (also known as the Joker in Suicide Squad and Zack Snyder’s Justice League) as the title character, is slated as the next release in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, the same shared universe as the Venom films starring Tom Hardy. The film centers around Dr. Michael Morbius, aka Morbius the Living Vampire, who was originally a Spider-Man antagonist before spinning off into his own stories. But despite their shared comic history, it’s currently unclear how the cinematic Morbius relates to Spider-Man.
Despite Morbius not being a Marvel Studios production, much of the film’s marketing plays up its Marvel origins — the most recent trailer proudly proclaims that this movie is by “the studio that brought you Spider-Man: Far From Home and Venom”, while one poster declares “A new Marvel legend arrives”. Both trailers so far have also prominently displayed the film’s Spider-Man connections: in one shot, Morbius walks past a mural of Spider-Man with the word “MURDERER” spray-painted on it, in a seeming reference to Peter being framed for Mysterio’s death at the end of Far From Home. The second trailer even doubles down on the references, featuring shots of an Oscorp building and a Daily Bugle newspaper. And of course, there’s Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture, who created quite a bit of buzz when he appeared at the end of the original teaser trailer.
Obviously, the marketing for Morbius wants people to think that it takes place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — unlike the Venom movies, Spider-Man is clearly shown to exist within this world. And with Michael Keaton reprising his role as Vulture, the natural assumption is that this film takes place within the mainline MCU, even if Marvel Studios isn’t involved in the production. However, after the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, these seemingly clear MCU connections have suddenly gotten much more complicated.
While the Oscorp and Daily Bugle easter eggs from the second trailer were clearly intended as hints towards ties to the mainline Spider-Man films, they only end up creating more confusion after some minor revelations in No Way Home. In the scene where Norman Osborn talks to Peter and Aunt May at the F.E.A.S.T. Center, he mentions that he looked for Oscorp in the MCU, but found no trace of its existence — or his own, for that matter. As such, this means that Morbius cannot possibly take place within the main MCU timeline.
Likewise, the Daily Bugle newspaper seen in the trailer has some references that don’t mesh with the events of No Way Home. The Spider-Man characters Rhino and Black Cat are mentioned by name, but said characters are also briefly featured among the several multiversal visitors shown in silhouette during No Way Home’s climax. While it’s possible that local MCU variants of Black Cat and Rhino could already be active, all of the other extradimensional characters featured in the film seemingly have no MCU counterparts.
Even the Spider-Man mural featured in the trailers doesn’t necessarily mean that Morbius takes place in the mainline MCU: after all, No Way Home prominently features the previous movie Spideys, who both exist in the wider Marvel multiverse. In fact, on closer examination, the mural doesn’t depict Tom Holland’s Spider-Man at all — rather, the suit is that of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, using art taken from the PS4 Marvel’s Spider-Man game from Insomniac Games. While the “MURDERER” graffiti still seems to imply a connection to Far From Home, it’s unclear why art of the Raimi-verse Spidey would be used in the first place. After all, Morbius was originally slated to premiere in July 2020, while No Way Home was still in production, so it’s unlikely that the mural was intended as a nod to Tobey’s appearance in the MCU.
In the end, No Way Home has only raised further questions when it comes to Morbius’ place in the MCU. In fact, while the ending of Venom: Let There Be Carnage led many to believe that Sony would be folding its Marvel-based films into the main MCU continuity going forward, the post-credits scene of No Way Home dashed this theory by sending Tom Hardy’s Venom back home thanks to Doctor Strange’s magic. And with the film’s easter eggs sending mixed messages as to which universe the film takes place in, it’s tough to get a clear read on the matter.
It’s possible that some of the background references were only added for the trailer to drum up hype, and that the final film will definitely take place either in the main MCU or in another timeline in its multiverse. As for Vulture, it’s always possible that the Toomes featured in Morbius could be a variant, rather than the same one featured in Homecoming. But for now, with all these questions still up in the air, it’s beginning to seem like Sony’s Spider-Man Universe may not really be the shared universe it’s touted as.
