So far, the SSU movies have been mostly standalone affairs with only minimal connections to one another — even if they’ve made a tenuous link to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Morbius,” for instance, only featured a pair of offhand references to the “Venom” movies, although its mid-credits scene did feature “Spider-Man: Homecoming” baddie Vulture, played by Michael Keaton. Neither of the “Venom” movies teased the impending arrival of either Morbius or Kraven the Hunter, although “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” referenced the MCU Spider-Man played by Tom Holland.
“Madame Web” takes a cue from those titles in also being a standalone enterprise, though one innate quality of its story made that inevitable: “Madame Web” takes place in 2003, years before “Venom” and “Morbius” occur. There was no way (outside of time-travel shenanigans) that these characters could interact with one another.
The closest connection to other SSU titles is simply through background details, namely the recurring presence of The Daily Bugle newspapers and trucks, which have previously appeared in both “Venom” titles and “Morbius.” Those Easter eggs are largely planted before the finale, which focuses squarely on the “Madame Web” characters. Even removing an explicit name-drop for Mary Parker’s son allows the “Madame Web” ending to play things surprisingly standalone. So far, that seems to be par for the course for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, a shared continuity that, thus far, isn’t very interested in mixing together comic book characters.
