Wait, Is Morbius Connected To The MCU's Spider-Man Movies?

Sony has released the first trailer from Morbius, the upcoming movie starring Jared Leto as the titular Marvel character. Due to Sony owning the rights to various Spider-Man-related characters, this was--like Venom--expected to be another movie starring a Marvel character that is entirely unrelated to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But the Morbius trailer suggests some connections to the MCU that we weren't expecting, with appearances of sorts from Spider-Man and Michael Keaton.

Toward the end of the trailer, Leto's character, Dr. Michael Morbius, is seen walking down the street. In the background, we can see an image of Spider-Man with the word "murderer" spray-painted over the top of it. This could be nothing, or it could suggest Morbius will include some kind of continuation from the most recent MCU movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home. In a post-credits scene, Quentin Beck sets up Peter Parker by releasing doctored footage that suggests Parker killed Beck in cold blood--hence the graffiti. (Also of note: the Spider-Man artwork appears to be from Insomniac's Spider-Man PS4 game and feature a suit worn by Spidey in the Sam Raimi films.)

Another possible connection comes at the very end, when a character played by Michael Keaton has a brief interaction with Morbius. Keaton, of course, played Adrian Toomes (AKA Vulture) in Spider-Man: Homecoming. It's impossible to say from this Morbius trailer if he is indeed playing the same character, but we do know he's still kicking around, as the conclusion of Homecoming sees him land in jail.

It's possible that these are minor touches that won't have much bearing on the MCU, but it's still more than we expected to see. Perhaps these connections were part of the deal between Sony and Marvel/Disney that allowed Spider-Man to rejoin the MCU last year, or maybe they were always going to be included. If Keaton is playing Vulture but will go unnamed, and this is all just a cute game Sony's playing, it could lead to some confusion on the part of the audience. Whatever the case, it does raise new questions about just what is and isn't MCU canon.