Having been delayed from its intended release dates, Sony’s upcoming Morbius is finally getting closer to its theatrical debut. With the success of the Venom sequel, it’s no mystery as to why Sony wants to continue making films based on Spider-Man’s villains. For a long time, how these three films connect to the Webslinger has remained ambiguous. Luckily, the newest trailer for Morbius answers this question… kind of.
The second Morbius trailer is littered with references to both Venom and Sony’s other Spider-Man movies, making its continuity even more questionable. Given one of the trailer’s Easter eggs, however, these villain films may take place within one pre-existing continuity. Here’s how Morbius may expand, or at least explain Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.
Morbius’ Trailer Includes Numerous Spider-Man and Venom References
As seen in both the first and second trailers, Morbius has at least one scene featuring Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. the Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming. It’s unknown if this is the same version of that character, but it certainly makes things interesting given all of the other Easter eggs. Of course, there’s the graffiti of Spider-Man himself that was also revealed in the last trailer, notably with the word “murderer” written over it.
Then there’s a Daily Bugle newspaper clipping that likely appears at the end of the film, with Morbius being labeled a “vampire.” At the top of the paper, clear references are made to both the Rhino and the Black Cat, suggesting that they’re already firm parts of this world. Likewise, another scene has one character mentioning “that thing in San Francisco,” a clear reference to the events of at least one of the Venom movies. Morbius himself even mentions Venom by name, who seems to have an established presence of some sort. An Oscorp building is also seen, with the logo resembling the version from The Amazing Spider-Man duology. This seems to make the movie a potential mishmash of continuities, but it could suggest one continuity will soon become Sony’s playground for Spider-Man and his amazing foes.
In Which Spider-Man Continuity Does Morbius Take Place?
The Rhino was notably present in the second and final Amazing Spider-Man movie, with Peter Parker coming out of his sadness to face the villain. Felicia Hardy was also in that film, and she could’ve become the Black Cat later in that continuity. This all hints that Morbius, and, by extension, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, is set within the same continuity as The Amazing Spider-Man.
This would make sense, given that Andrew Garfield’s Spidey still had a lot of mileage potential. Likewise, Morbius could fit into the continuity of those films and be set years afterward, thus explaining why Rhino and Black Cat are such established figures. This could also explain why the Daily Bugle and Oscorp resemble the Amazing Spider-Man versions. At the same time, this doesn’t explain Vulture or jive with the ending of Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
One possible explanation is that after the events of the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home, Sony’s take on the Wall-Crawler will be firmly established as Andrew Garfield’s version, which now has its own version of Keaton’s Vulture. This continuity could mostly pull from Garfield’s films while also taking in elements of the other Spider-Man movies, creating an amalgam universe that Sony could use for years to come. Where Morbius himself will end up fitting in all of this remains to be seen, but for right now, Sony has certainly spun a tangled continuity web.
To see which continuity it fits into, Morbius arrives in theaters on Jan. 28, 2022.
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