How to solve Sony's new conundrum? Set Venom and Morbius in the 'Amazing Spider-Man' universe

Sony has created a pretty great problem with Spider-Man: No Way Home — and we have an idea or two on how to fix it.

The events of No Way Home served as a greatest hits compilation through two decades of big screen Spider-lore. The Endgame-rivaling box office shows fans are understandably psyched, but opening up the multiverse may have accidentally created a bit more clamor than even Sony had anticipated when it comes to a mostly abandoned corner of the Spider-Man saga.

**SPOILER WARNING! Spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: No Way Home**

As we all pretty much know by now, the latest Spider-Man film didn’t just bring back the fan favorite villains from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy and Marc Webb’s two Amazing Spider-Man films, it also brought back the Spider-Men themselves. Both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprised their versions of Peter Parker from those previous film series, giving fans a welcome check-in with those former heroes, and providing some long-deferred closure to their respective story arcs along the way.

The return was especially significant for Garfield’s version of Peter Parker, who had his story cut short after Sony abandoned plans for additional Amazing Spider-Man sequels and instead rebooted the character into the MCU with Tom Holland. We got to see Garfield's Parker finally redeem himself in regards to the death of Gwen Stacy, and receive some cathartic bonding time with the other Spider-Men. He opened up about how he’d become angry after Gwen’s death, and after a while stopped pulling his punches — even though he still tries to live up to the “friendly neighborhood” moniker that would make Gwen proud.

It made for some great moments in the movie, but the hype has carried over onto social media and the wider world at large in the days since the movie’s opening, with fans trending campaigns on social media demanding Sony (pardon the phrase) restore the Amazing Spider-Man-verse, so to speak. No Way Home reminded fans of the unrealized potential that still lies in Garfield’s version of the character, and fans want more of it. Now.

So what could Sony do to make fans happy, while still making sense of its fun but complicated alternate Spider-Man movie universe populated with character like Venom and Morbius? The answer is an obvious one: What if those movies turned out to be set in the Amazing Spider-Man universe all along?

It sounds a bit crazy, but hear us out, it could work. Heck, some fans are already theorizing about it on social media.

The world Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock inhabits is clearly a bit darker and grittier than the MCU, and feels… well, more akin to the vibe of the first Amazing Spider-Man film. We haven’t seen Morbius yet (it doesn’t hit the big screen until Jan. 28, 2022), but it also looks like a darker, creepier world more in line with what we’ve been seeing in the first two Venom films.

Looking at the canon, the connections also makes some sense. We already know Tom Hardy’s Venom is not in the MCU — since we see him transported to the MCU and back again via those post-credit scenes in Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home due to Doctor Strange’s spell. So it’s confirmed he’s from somewhere else.

We also know the spell pulled characters from two other realities, with Lizard and Electro from the Amazing universe; and Doc Ock, the Goblin, and Sandman from Raimi’s trilogy. What if Venom was the third villain from the Amazing universe, and he just didn’t make it to New York City?

The footage we’ve seen from the Morbius trailers also offers some hints that could make a lot of sense for it actually being in the Amazing universe. The trailers already showed a poster of Spider-Man in the background with the phrase “murderer” written over the top. We assumed that was in regards to Mysterio’s death in Spider-Man: Far From Home, but what if it’s a reference to Garfield’s Spider-Man after he has “stopped pulling his punches” and put himself in the city’s crosshairs in the years since Gwen’s death?

Then there’s the Oscorp connection. Spider-Man: No Way Home made it fairly clear that Oscorp doesn’t exist in the MCU, as no one had ever heard of Norman Osborn, and Osborn himself notes that Oscorp isn’t a part of this world. But the Morbius trailer showed the Oscorp building shining bright in the New York skyline — so we know it fits into that film’s continuity. Another reality where Oscorp is a major player? That’s right — the world of Amazing Spider-Man. Then there's the extremely obvious gag at the end of the Morbius trailer where Jared Leto's Morbius makes a joke that he's Venom — making it extremely clear both Venom and Morbius do exist in a shared universe.

Obviously there is one confusing bit of continuity this theory doesn't explain: the appearance of Michael Keaton’s Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming in Morbius. He really has no business being in the Amazing Spider-Man universe if that's where it is, since he’s an established MCU baddie. He also shouldn't be in a world with Oscorp, either. Who knows? Maybe he’s actually a variant of the Vulture we've met?

But the point remains: Merging the worlds of Venom, Morbius, and Amazing Spider-Man into one continuity would give Sony instant juice with fans begging to see more of Garfield’s Peter Parker and his world. It would also give Sony a fresh slate to have a different version of Spider-Man all their own running around interacting with all these side-universe characters, and the freedom to do whatever they want without mucking up the larger MCU continuity — all with the legitimacy the character scored via No Way Home's revival. Put simply, demand for Garfield's Spider-Man has never been as high as it is now.

It’s a win-win. We'd get more Spider-Men, more adventures, some Spider-Man face-offs (or team-ups?), and more Garfield. It could be a positively (ahem) amazing move.