How does Sony’s Spider-Man Universe connect to the MCU? That’s been the question fans have wanted answered ever since Venom arrived in 2018.
Sequel Let There Be Carnage‘s post-credits scene somewhat cleared this up by establishing that it’s a separate reality, but then Morbius looks to be muddying the waters again by featuring Michael Keaton’s Vulture, implying that it’s set in the MCU itself. So what’s the deal?
Well, Morbius director Daniel Espinosa has now confirmed that Spider-Man is definitely swinging around somewhere during the movie’s events, but he can’t say whether it’s the Tom Holland version or not. CinemaBlend spoke to the filmmaker and outright asked him if Spidey exists in the Sonyverse. Espinosa replied with an unequivocal yes, although he stressed that’s because every universe contains some variant of the webhead.
Of course! I mean, in almost all Spider-Verse or, you know, the (universes) that existed in the Marvel universe, if you read the comic books, the whole idea of that kind of – the Marvel string theory, if you would call it that. It’s very related to, if you remember, the alternative Seinfelds. You have a world where you have the same characters, and it’s ALL of the characters, but they are slightly different. So in almost all verses, you have Spider-Man, or a Fantastic Four, or a Tony Stark, or a Morbius. But they will be different in tone.
Espinosa went on to indicate that Sony is thinking in multiversal terms rather than the single-timeline focus of the MCU.
That’s not quite the way that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (is) approaching the idea, but they’re remaining to some core truth,” he continued. “Then you have the second kind of legend, which is about the totem. Which is that, in all universes, there is a spider totem. Which means that in all universes, there has to be a Spider-Man. Or a Spider-Woman.
The director’s mention of the Spider-Totem aspect of Spider-Man mythology is intriguing. It seems like he’s simply referencing the concept from the comics, but it’s just possible that it’s something Sony has in mind to mine in their movies. Like Espinosa says, every universe is known to have a Spider-Totem — some kind of Spider-hero — who is linked to a mystical force known as the Web of Life and Destiny, which binds all of reality together.
It’s worth pointing out that Madame Web, set to be played by Dakota Johnson in the character’s own self-titled movie, has strong ties to the Web of Life. Given that the film is reportedly being pitched as Sony’s answer to Doctor Strange, it’s possible it could explore the Spider-Totem concept. Either way, at least we now know there’s a Spider-Man out there somewhere.
Morbius finally swings into cinemas this April 1.