So finally everything seemed fairly clear; the Venom films, not unlike the previous non-MCU Spider-Man movies, exist in an alternate dimension, separate from the MCU. But then came Morbius, and things, impressively, got even more stupefying. In the trailer, an FBI agent mentions “that thing in San Francisco” seemingly a reference to the events of Venom. And The Daily Bugle is an actual newspaper, not an InfoWars-esque talk show like in No Way Home. But then there’s also a poster depicting Spider-Man (who seemingly doesn’t exist in the world of Venom) and Michael Keaton shows up at one point, likely as Adrian Toomes, AKA The Vulture, last seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming – which seems like a pretty clear indication that Morbius takes place in the MCU, right?
Well … no. According to director Daniel Espinosa, “Morbius lives in the same universe as Venom.” What about The Vulture? Apparently the events of No Way Home “had the effect of transferring Venom and Vulture (and maybe others ) back and forth between the MCU and the Venom Universe.” And, really what could be more clear than that? Two mega-corporations have devised a sci-fi gimmick that will basically serve as a conduit for intellectual properties to hop from studio to studio while adhering to a decades-old legal agreement at the expense of narrative consistency and logic.
All of this seems ultimately self-defeating for Sony; the studio only began developing these live-action Spider-Man-less Marvel movies in order to build their own fictional universe. Which they could have just done with Morbius and Venom (and later Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web). But instead, thanks to the universe-shattering conceit of No Way Home, Sony is conspicuously trying to position Morbius as something that it plainly isn’t. Instead of wholly carving out their own identity (the way their animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse did so well) Sony’s tangential franchise is awkwardly trying to keep its hooks dug into the continuity of the MCU, and in doing so, is becoming the RC Cola of superhero universes.
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Top Image: Sony