Director Daniel Espinosa confirms Michael Keaton's Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
The confusion over Morbius' use of Vulture seemed to be cleared up once audiences saw Keaton's Vulture in Morbius was a variant that exists in Sony's universe.
According to Morbius director Daniel Espinosa, though, that is not the case. In a surprising interview with CinemaBlend posted on Twitter, the director was asked if Keaton's Vulture from the movie was the same version audiences know from the MCU and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Espinosa confirmed that Morbius' Vulture is the same as the MCU's. This does not mean that Morbius takes place in the MCU, though, as Espinosa revealed that the multiverse events of Spider-Man: No Way Home led to Keaton's Adrian Toomes moving to Sony's universe. Here's what he said:
At the end of Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home, and in No Way Home itself, it is clearly established that it is possible for characters to transfer from one Multiverse to another. The events of No Way Home had the effect of transferring Venom and Vulture (and maybe others ) back and forth between the MCU and the Venom Universe.
This clears up any confusion over what version of Vulture Keaton is playing in Morbius, but it also makes the inclusion much more confusing at the same time. The multiverse link gave Sony an easy solution to including Keaton's Vulture as a variant. This would've been accepted by viewers based on the multiverse rules and what Spider-Man: No Way Home's ending spell established. However, Sony has now seemingly altered the details of the spell with Keaton's MCU Vulture being transferred to Sony's Marvel universe for an unknown reason.
Keaton playing MCU's Vulture in Morbius but the movie not being set in the MCU is certainly a strange decision at the end of the day. It also indicates that Sony tinkered with Morbius during its various delays to change Vulture's role, as this explanation would not be possible if the movie came out before Spider-Man: No Way Home as originally planned. This also currently means that Vulture cannot return in any MCU projects since he is in another completely different universe. Perhaps it will all make more sense when Morbius finally hits theaters next week.
Source: CinemaBlend
