Morbius Venom MCU Connections:
The new Morbius trailer straight up shows the connections of Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters with the MCU. The events of Morbius seem to be happening after Spider-Man: Far From Home since we got to see the art of Spider-Man with the word “Murderer” painted all over it. That was a reference to the current situation that Spider-Man is in. Then all of a sudden, Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes shows up and this could directly be connected to the way Spider-Man: Homecoming ended. So clearly, Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters is letting us know that it is connected with the greatest franchise of all time.
But this connection seems to have brought up so many other questions. The MCU has not acknowledged Venom. We got to see characters & elements like Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) & the Life Foundation in Venom. These attributes could have easily been name-dropped in the MCU if Venom were to be a part of the MCU. Moreover, someone like Doctor Strange or SHIELD would definitely know of the existence of Symbiotes since Venom would’ve definitely made the news. The same goes for the Life Foundation, which was experimenting on an Alien species that found its way to Earth. Since the MCU hasn’t ever mentioned Venom, and will most likely not be addressing Morbius either, we get the confirmation that this is another Marvel Studios & Marvel TV situation.
Agents of SHIELD kept on telling us that it is a part of the main MCU. Netflix’s Defenders shows mentioned the New York battle and had so many other MCU references. But the MCU films never addressed the TV shows. In the same way, Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters will acknowledge everything happened with Spider-Man in the MCU and then use the same character to pit him with Morbius & Venom. But the MCU may not acknowledge the existence of Venom & Morbius in the MCU films other than Spider-Man. That’s because they didn’t do that earlier, and they obviously don’t own Morbius & Venom.
But even if this is the deal between Marvel & Sony, major plot holes will occur. In Venom, Eddie Brock was a reporter who suddenly comes across aliens and it surprises him. In the movie we saw, this was the first time that Earth encountered with Aliens (Symbiotes). But if Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters is the same as MCU, then Eddie Brock or rather anyone else should have known about the battle of New York. Moreover, the Snap that happened in Avengers: Infinity War should have affected this world in the same way that it affected Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Moreover, there should actually be a 5-6 year time jump between Venom & Venom 2. But it supposedly all of this won’t be touched and that makes things very incorrect.
Anyway, we do have a fix for this situation. Kevin Feige confirmed that Spider-Man will have the power to jump through Universes. So, Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters & MCU should logically be two different Universes. And that should be the plot point that both the MCU & SUMC should follow. This way, the Morbius movie could be addressing the events of Spider-Man which also exists in Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters. And these events could rather be similar to the ones that happened in the MCU with a tiny bit of difference.
For instance, in this twisted world of anti-heroes, Spider-Man might have actually murdered someone, and that’s why he is being considered as a murderer. And, since it is a different Earth in the Multiverse, it could have characters with similar faces and personas as the MCU. What I mean over here is that the Peter Parker/Spider-Man that will appear in this Universe would be different from the one we saw in the MCU, but the same actor (Tom Holland) will play him. The same is the case for Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes. He could be in a similar situation as he is in the MCU and he could be Adrian Toomes, but he’d actually be a doppelganger version of the one we’ve seen in Homecoming.
Jonah Jameson is supposed to appear in Morbius as well, and he also appeared in Spider-Man: Far From Home last year. So the same theory could be applied to his character or any other Spider-Man related character from the MCU that might show up in Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters. This way, the MCU won’t have to address Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters and they could use Spider-Man as they deem worthy. And, Sony could actually use the popularity of the MCU to their advantage by addressing similar events to have taken place in their own separate franchise.
Moreover, Sony could adhere to the contracts of certain actors much better. Imagine Michael Keaton to be contracted for 4 films. His first film was Spider-Man: Homecoming, the second one would be Morbius. The 3rd & 4th might either be in the MCU or in Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters, as Sony & Marvel deem fit. Similarly, we could next see Jake Gyllenhaal’s Mysterio show up in SUMC and not have any connection to Tony Stark (just an example). Consider the plot points of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the multiverse in the Arrowverse (whichever you may be aware of). Let’s see if this is how Marvel & Sony will tackle the usage of the same actor as Spider-Man in 2 different Universes.
If this isn’t the case, then the MCU would have to acknowledge the likes of Morbius & Venom in their Universe and fix all the plot holes. That is a pretty tough ask if you think about it. These two universes should remain separate even though similar actors are showing up.
Morbius will star Jared Leto, Tyrese Gibson, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, and Matt Smith. It comes out on July 31, 2020.
