There’s a chance that the Marvel Cinematic Universe leaning on the Spider-Man franchise, and its connected properties, is about to open up the borders of the multiverse. While a lot of people are focused on the rumors that both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s variants of Peter Parker will be a part of Spider-Man: No Way Home, there’s actually been some clues sprinkled here and there to something greater. It seems that, in Sony’s SpiderVerse movies, those clues have been presenting themselves for some time now.
Naturally, as with anything in the MCU, what’s about to be discussed is subject to debunking. Try as we might, there’s always a chance that the theories fans dream up in their spare time are subject to the whims of what’s going on behind the curtain. But as you’ll see in the particular pieces of information on display below, especially in light of all of the recent hype surrounding the next Spider-Man film, the total package is too good to ignore as pure coincidence or fiction.
The MCU Is The Baseline Universe For Spider-Man
Before we dive too deep into the SpiderVerse of speculation, let’s establish a home base for our adventures into multiversal madness. Seeing as we’re looking at the Spider-Man saga through the lens of Tom Holland’s Marvel Cinematic Universe incarnation, that’s the obvious baseline universe for the entire franchise at this possible moment. It’s a totally sensible assumption, especially with Spider-Man: No Way Home being the supposed hinge point that all of these universes converge upon.
From this point in the MCU, we’ll see a lot of interesting activity folding into Peter Parker’s life. We’ve already seen J. Jonah Jameson return in Spider-Man: Far From Home, and with J.K. Simmons reprising the role; so familiarity from the past is already starting to leak in. Plus, whether it was a lie or not, Mysterio/Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal) already put the magic words on the table in that very same film.
Quentin Beck Raised The Possibility In Spider-Man: Far From Home
Though it turned out that Quentin Beck’s Mysterio act was nothing but smoke and very sophisticated mirrors, Spider-Man: Far From Home saw a lot of the key players in its narrative not batting an eye at the possibility of a multiverse. Even Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), in his finest Nick Fury disguise, didn’t seem shaken, and Peter Parker certainly wasn’t fighting those thoughts too hard. Yes, this was a post Avengers: Endgame world where The Blip has everyone questioning everything, but a multiverse still seems like it would cause some sort of pause.
Quentin Beck was an accomplished illusionist, and he’s probably still alive and running around in the world of the MCU. But the one thing that may have been based in fact is the existence of a multiverse, as he wouldn’t want to dive too deep into lies without something to hold onto. However, it’s our movement deeper into Sony’s side of the MCU that shows us the bigger clues that could be hinting to something greater.
The Daily Bugle Is Still A Newspaper In Venom’s Universe
When Spider-Man: Far From Home resurrected The Daily Bugle, it was reimagined as J. Jonah Jameson’s internet based bullhorn to spout his anti-Spider-Man propaganda. All materials pertaining to the MCU variant reflected this new media approach in a mode that was very different from the traditional newspaper Sam Raimi introduced in his Spider-Man movies. Now where the Venom universe fits into the grand scheme of things has yet to be seen, but the first trailer for the sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage has fans convinced that the Raimi-verse may be home base for Tom Hardy’s Spidey-adjacent symbiote.
That theory is spreading thanks to the fact that we see The Daily Bugle being operated as a newspaper once again, rather than an internet based news source. Should this be true, say hello to the entryway for Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker, as well as Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock, into the MCU. However, it should be noted that this scenario would bring up a bit of an inconsistency that we'll eventually touch upon in this rundown. Let's just say that Spider-Man 3 could find itself being treated like The Incredible Hulk in the long run.
Spider-Man Is Considered A “Murderer” In Morbius’s Universe
Much like Venom, Jared Leto’s Morbius is adjacent to the Spider-Man legacy, but doesn’t seem to have a clear place in the overall picture. However, there is an advantage that this particular corner of the Spider-Verse has over Venom, in that they actually mention Spidey outright and show his image. And if his designation as a “murderer” is any indication, there’s one of two ways this could play out.
The “safe” version would be that Morbius is somehow taking place in the MCU’s Spider-Man franchise. It’s definitely a possibility, as Sony and Marvel’s big makeup after a short term breakup probably came with some connective tissue that starts to draw their projects together in the same universe. However, this could be the way that Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man Peter Parker comes into play, as Gwen Stacy’s death could still be unfinished business almost a decade after it happened.
Somehow Adrian Toomes Is Present In The Morbius Universe
It’s the moment that stopped viewers dead in their tracks when watching the first trailer for Morbius. The appearance of Michael Keaton’s Adrian “Vulture” Toomes meeting Jared Leto’s Dr. Michael Morbius in a darkly lit alleyway, cracking wise about how the living vampire “got tired of doing the whole good guy thing” wowed the crowd and left some questions in its wake. And yet again, if we’re to interpret this as a face value moment, Spider-Man: Homecoming and Morbius are in the same universe.
But what if Dr. Morbius’s powers somehow cause him to be attuned to the presence of the multiverse? Maybe a bloodsucking habit is what someone like the good doctor would need in order to be of aid when the walls between worlds come down. If that wasn’t the case then, it certainly could be the case now, as Morbius has been delayed far enough that it’s not due in theaters until January 2022. That’s plenty of time to shoot some new scenes in light of the movie now being released after we get Venom: Let There Be Carnage, as opposed to the original plan that saw the films reversed.
Again, this is all pure speculation, and there’s plenty of multiversal hazards and continuity questions that would need to be asked and answered. Especially when, if Venom happens to be in the Raimi-verse, that means Topher Grace grew up to be Tom Hardy, and he’d already encountered the symbiote in a past adventure. At which point, you could probably assume that selective memory would be employed to pick and choose which story beats remain and which are conveniently overwritten. Kind of like how we rarely talk about the events of The Incredible Hulk, and how Mark Ruffalo is now the face of Edward Norton.
In any event, this is the multiverse, and Spider-Man is about to get a lot more complicated because of it. As Spider-Man: No Way Home cracks open the boundaries between worlds a little more on December 17, the answers to where all of the pieces lie will become a little clearer. Let’s just hope there’s room for theories such as the ones mentioned above to become verified, as the Spider-Verse is big enough for everyone to take part, no matter what Andrew Garfield says about his involvement.
