'Morbius' co-star Tyrese Gibson says the vampire spinoff is set within the MCU; Sony seems to disagree

Clarifying earlier remarks from star Tyrese Gibson indicating that the upcoming Morbius movie will reside within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sony Pictures Entertainment has subsequently confirmed that the Spider-Man spinoff will not, in fact, be an MCU film. That's according to Comicbook.com, the original source for Gibson’s interview comments, who posted a follow up story citing a confirmation given to GameSpot that Morbius will be connected with Sony's other Spider-Man films — but that it’s not intended to connect with Disney’s wider Marvel movie-verse. 

SYFY WIRE has reached out to Sony for clarification. The original report on Gibson’s earlier remarks appears below:

With Sony continuing to build on the sticky big-screen success of Spider-Man (and a whole web of Spidey-adjacent Marvel heroes), there’s little wonder fans are hyped to see Jared Leto take a vampiric bite out of the upcoming Morbius. But according to one of its stars, the movie is shaping up to be more than simply one of Sony’s next big Spidey spinoffs.

Tyrese Gibson plays FBI agent Simon Stroud in Morbius, and he recently delivered a pretty big dose of friendly neighborhood news about the movie's overall place in Marvel’s wider constellation of interconnected superhero films. In a video interview with Comicbook.com, Gibson answered a flat “yes” when asked straight up whether Morbius will be a canonical part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then, when asked to clarify, he doubled down on the Avengers-connecting declaration.

Gibson didn’t elaborate further on his terse (but definitive-sounding) statement. But as longtime MCU fans know, seeing Sony tie its Spider-Man spinoffs to the Disney-owned slate of MCU films would be a pretty huge deal. While the Tom Holland-starring web-slinger movies (including the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home) have featured plenty of nods to the events within Disney’s Marvel movie-verse, Sony’s 2018 spinoff Venom didn’t make explicit reference to the MCU’s concurrently-running gauntlet of Avengers adventures.

From what we’ve seen so far, the upcoming Venom sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage also isn’t making any overt claim to sharing a connected lore-verse with the wider MCU. So if Gibson’s statement is accurate, Morbius would mark the first Sony movie outside a mainline Spider-Man movie to explore events and characters that, at least in theory, could also cross over into future Disney-produced Marvel films.

Maybe Gibson’s just confirming something fans already had been speculating on ever since spotting Michael Keaton, back in his role as Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), in the first Morbius trailer. After all, Vulture is technically a part of MCU canon since he’s already appeared in a mainline Spidey movie — so his showing up in Morbius really isn’t all that different from seeing Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) conducting important MCU business in Sony’s previous Spider-Man films.

In any case, it’s possible fans will be clued in further from the Spider-Man spinoffs that’re set to hit the big screen long before Morbius bares its fangs for a currently-scheduled release date on Jan. 21 of next year. Venom: Let There Be Carnage premieres this fall on Sept. 24, while Spider-Man: No Way Home comes swinging into theaters on Dec. 17, 2021. Gibson also has a date with theaters before Morbius arrives: Catch him alongside Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez when F9 premieres on June 25.