Are Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's versions of Spider-Man in Morbius?

What is happening in Morbius!? The Sony produced superhero flick is set to hit cinemas at the beginning of next year and yet nobody still has any idea what universe it is set in. Does it take place within the MCU with Tom Holland? Is it part of Sam Rami's original trilogy with Tobey Maguire? Or is it connected to Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man duo with Andrew Garfield? Well, it's not exactly clear.

Ever since the first teaser for Morbius, starring Jared Leto, was uploaded to the web in January 2020, speculation has been rife that a number of these universes are interconnected. This first began with the closing shot of the teaser where Michael Keaton's Vulture turns up, seemingly straight out of Spider-Man: Homecoming. He even has the same prison gear we last saw the character wearing. 

The trailer also included a shot of the Sam Rami Spider-Man suit with the word "murderer" scrawled across it, hinting that this is the Tom Holland Spider-Man that was framed for killing Mysterio in Spider-Man: Far From Home. The image used is also taken from the PS4 Spider-Man game, only to make matters more confusing.

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Now the first official trailer has dropped and it's even more perplexing. Again, both Vulture and the shot of the Rami suit still appear, but we now have references to Rhino and the Oscorp building from The Amazing Spider-Man too. Then on top of that, we get a shot of a Daily Bugle newspaper taken directly from Tom Hardy's Venom, as well as a direct reference to the character by Morbius himself.  

So what does this all mean? We know Sony wants its own universe without having to rely on the MCU, hence why it renamed its Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters (SPUMC) to Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) earlier this year. It's something we previously wrote about on why numerous clues look to be setting up Tom Holland's exit from the MCU in Spider-Man: No Way Home.  

With the multiverse now a focal point for several movies across different studios, it does seem Sony wants to tear down the walls. Will we see the three original Spider-Man actors onscreen together? It's still not entirely clear but heavy rumours suggest all three will don the Spidey suit together in No Way Home this December, even if the cast is revealing nothing. How this will play out in Morbius is anyone's guess at this point. 

Morbius is set to star Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, with Tyrese Gibson, and will release exclusively in theatres on January 28th, 2022.