Is Morbius in the MCU?

Morbius is hitting the movie theaters in January 2022, and the fans are eager to see Jared Leto bring the Living Vampire to life. However, after a new trailer dropped a few weeks ago, it opened up many questions about the movie. We’ve seen hints of a connection with Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, but the main Marvel Cinematic Universe, too. So, is Morbius in the MCU?

Morbius might end up being a part of the main MCU, but we can only speculate using hints that the producers gave us in the trailers. We can’t know if they’ll tie it up in the MCU, but one thing is certain – Morbius belongs to the same universe as Tom Hardy’s Venom.

Initially, Sony Productions claimed that Venom won’t ever be a part of the MCU, but rather only the Sony Spider-Man Universe that includes stand-alone movies from Marvel’s Spider-Man supervillain gallery. However, the same studio produced Spider-Man: Far From Home, which ties with the main MCU, so it’s all blurry. Let’s break down the hints to get an answer.

Is Morbius a Part of the MCU?

When it comes to Morbius being a part of the MCU, it seems that we won’t have a clear answer until the movie premieres in cinemas in January 2022. Certain things and hints point to the Living Vampire eventually being a part of the main Marvel Cinematic Universe, while others point us in another direction.

First, let’s get what’s certain out of the way. Morbius will be a part of the Sony Spider-Man Universe featuring Spidey’s gallery of enemies, including Venom. The trailer clearly confirmed that Morbius comes from the same studios that brought us Spider-Man: Far From Home and Venom. 

That’s Sony in association with Marvel Studios, but not directly relating to the main MCU, even though Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has great ties with the MCU, including the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and others. 

If you can remember the brief 2019 drama over contract disputes between Sony and Marvel Studios, it was clear that their “universes” would be separate. 

Well, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home broke that separation, as it seems that Holland’s Peter Parker will be the guy somewhat connecting Sony and the MCU, and Morbius could be the first step towards it.

First, in the Morbius trailer, there’s a shot where he walks past a Spider-Man mural with the word “Murderer” graffitied over it. That’s the first hint towards the MCU, referring to the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, where Mysterio accused Spidey of his drone attacks on Venice, London, and other places across Europe and revealed Peter Parker’s identity.

Also, we’ve seen a similar reference to Spider-Man: Far From Home in the Daily Bugle newspapers that Morbius was reading. It shows that the events in the Morbius movie will take place after Peter Parker’s identity has been revealed – again, in the main MCU.

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However, the biggest hint we’ve got is a scene where Morbius crosses paths with Michael Keaton – the guy who played the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is a part of the MCU. 

All that points to the Living Vampire being tied to the main MCU, but the producers gave no clear statement or confirmation. In any case, we know that Morbius will be a standalone movie about the supervillain/anti-hero, but we can’t be certain what they are planning for the character in the future.

Is Morbius a Villain in the MCU?

As I said, we can only speculate about Morbius’ connections to the MCU, let alone if he’d be a villain there. However, we can peek at Marvel Comics to see how the character developed over the years.

At first, Morbius couldn’t control his newfound pseudo-vampirism, and his thirst for blood led him to behave like a villain many times. When he’s hungry, he goes manic and murders people to drink their blood. He regrets his actions, though, and hates himself for what he has become. 

So, he vows to use his powers for good as much as he can, even going out of his way to help and save innocent people. He vows only to kill and drink blood from evil people and the ones that deserve it, turning into more of an anti-hero rather than a straight-up villain. He’s similar to Venom in that regard.

That’s why I believe that if the producers decide to include Morbius in the MCU, he won’t be a villain, but rather an anti-hero, possibly even working with Spider-Man or Venom, just like in the comics.

Is Morbius in the Same Universe as Venom?

While we can’t be certain if and how Morbius will tie with the main MCU, we know certainly that the Living Vampire will operate in the same universe as Venom. Let’s look at all the hints pointing to Morbius being tied with Venom – apart from the trailer explicitly telling us just that (as if we needed more hints after that).

First, an FBI agent Alberto Rodriguez, who’s after Dr. Morbius in the trailer, says, “We haven’t had anything this good since that thing in San Francisco.” He refers to the events of Tom Hardy’s Venom, so it’s obvious that Morbius will take place in the same universe.

Also, Leto’s Morbius jokes about the Symbiote in the trailer. When a frightened person asks him who he is, he answers: “I. Am. Venom.” before saying he’s kidding and giving his real name. That’s an obvious hint from the studio that not only are the two characters in the same universe, but they also know about each other (at least Morbius has heard of Venom).

Finally, I want to address the aerial shot of NYC in the trailer, where we see the Oscorp building, somewhat tying Morbius with Norman Osborn and the Green Goblin. The character hadn’t been in the MCU so far (he was the villain before, going against Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man), but the trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home clearly shows that he’ll return to fight our dear Spidey.

That’s just another hint that we might be up for a treat where the Venom universe finally gets tied up with the main MCU despite Sony claiming the Symbiote won’t be a part of the MCU at all before the first Venom movie came out.

We only know for certain that Morbius and Venom are in the same universe and that hints are pointing towards both characters getting included in the next phase of the main MCU. How or when – we can only speculate until Morbius finally hits the big screen.

Spider-Man: No Way Home comes out before that, in December 2021, so perhaps we’ll get more info about the Living Vampire after that.