@Count:
I know all of that. And I actually supported Sony during the whole Spider-Man leaving the MCU fiasco because Sony pours a lot into MCU Spidey film production Disney and has too much of a media monopoly.
The problem here though is we don't know if the independent Spider-Man universe has actually started yet. Neither do we have any surefire confirmation on yet on Morbius being part of a shared universe. You can guess that it is because Morbius is a Spider-Man villain in the comics, but that's not confirmation and would be like saying the Joker will tie into the DCEU because Joker is known as a Batman villain. But at least with that, DC and Warner Bros went out of their way to say it's a standalone movie, which we do not have with Morbius. Only guesses and teases to, well… bait the audience into watching the movie to see if they get the confirmation from the film itself. Unless you think it's fair for people to have to risk reading spoilers online to find that out if Sony does not give official confirmation.
Before Iron Man came out, Marvel was vocal about him heading the MCU. When you watch Iron Man, the most you get is Nick Fury and don't fully comprehend how this "universe" will work. Venom was flaunted around as the first non Spidey flick that further expands Spidey's universe. Not hearsay, it was part of it's campaign. Reuben was making this clear during the press tour that this further expands the universe and that the studio has been obdurate about him leaving room for Holland to hop in when necessary. Feige (Disney/Marvel) has also spoken about the partnership and how both universes will flourish from it. Avi and Amy who are producers have talked about this universe as well after they trashed Black and Silver.
So, the independent universe has been confirmed for a while and began once Homecoming came out. Disney/Marvel's characters are just using him for as long as they can. Vulture is Sony's character, not Disney/Marvel. This was part of why Sony didn't care if Disney wants to continue or not because they have their own universe already which started with Homecoming. Outside of Happy, Fury, Pepper, and some other MCU characters, over 90% of the story and characters from Homecoming and FFH would be used.
The DCEU is different. They aren't that vocal about plans. I won't go into how their lack of transparency sucks, but yeah. It took a while for someone to confirm that Joker is a standalone. They are still being weird about Reeve's Batman. Reeves has gone between this is a standalone and being vague.
We know Sony has been trying to its own Spider-Man universe for years, and maybe wants to have Tom Holland's Spidey, in it. But what I'm emphasizing is how there is no official confirmation yet. Only rumors and speculation based on supposed teases.
So if they don't announce it prior to the movie's release, they're making viewers pay to watch the movie so they can find out if Morbius will connect to Spider-Man or Venom or Sinister Six of whatever. And people who watch the trailers will go see the movie because they'll look at the Raimi Spider-Man mural and Michael Keaton at the end going, "wait, was that Tom Holland Spider-Man and Vulture?!", even though the former could amount to nothing besides a background reference and Michael Keaton could very well be a different character.
For all we know, this movie could very well be contained to itself, like Venom was, and that's a character who is much more tied to Spider-Man than Morbius is. Sony definitely wants to start a universe, sure, but how do we know they're going to start crossing over different properties in Morbius of all movies, rather than Venom or even Kraven?
Despite whatever majority opinion and or reputation there is, or whether they're in the right or wrong of a business dispute, no corporation is your friend. Disney, Sony, or anyone else. They only care about money and have the power to take advantage of people. And if they can get away with it while seeming like they're trendy and appealing, they most likely will because it mostly helps them, not you. Giving them the benefit of the doubt that they'll give you what they seem to promise is exactly what they're counting on you to gullibly do. That's capitalism for you.
Um… of course these movies all feature MCU Cap. I'm saying that I prefer one movie's depiction of the character over the others, not implying that they're completely different characters.
I have always seen how Steve and Tony are meant to parallel each other. You are completely right about that.
But the parallel never really works for me because it's always Tony who has to be the flawed perspective. Not once have I felt like Tony had an interesting moral high ground over or even on the same level as Cap. The only times Cap falters post-gaining powers in these films is not saving Bucky (which wasn't his fault), not preventing the explosion in the beginning of Civil War (which is only used as a plot device for the Accords and not something Cap himself is actually criticized for by someone we're meant to agree with), not telling Tony about who killed his parents (which was selfish but he did it because he thought Tony couldn't handle it, and guess what, he ended up being right because Tony tried to kill an innocent brainwashed man), and failing to stop Thanos' snap (but EVERYONE failed at that, especially Quill and Thor, aside from maybe Dr. Strange).
Yet despite that, this makes me more interested in Tony as a character than Cap because Tony's flaws are at least interesting to explore even if it's obvious he's in the wrong. And Tony at least tries to alter his methods, like making robot drones evacuate and safeguard people in Age of Ultron and giving superhero registration, but those actions backfire because of his ego and/or because Marvel wants him to backfire without focusing on his merits. Meanwhile, Cap's behavior is predictable and often disingenuous with how I see his traditional SWAT team and "let's beat the bad guy up to save the day" methods turning out if they actually happened in real life without a convenient irredeemable villain puppeteering the situation the shadows. Normally I can ignore whether or not superheroes are realistic crusaders of justice for suspension of disbelief, but Civil War wants to put a magnifying glass on the issue so I have to acknowledge it.
Notice how in Civil War, Cap never really gives a solid retort or changes his approach in response to the criticism for the collateral damage that his team failed preventing in Lagos when apprehending Crossbones. All we get is him telling Wanda something along the lines of "people die, but all we can do is try our best, and if we don't act we can't help anyone." Which is a cute uplifting truism, but is so obvious and complacent that it doesn't mean anything when lives are at stake, and is reasonably not enough for governments to be okay with. It would be fine if a cop or FBI agent said that because they're adhering to the best protocol they have, but Cap follows his own rules, so he's not exempt from the criticism. The superhero registration is extreme, inefficient, and corrupt. It's not the right way (My Hero Academia does a way better job of showing that type of thing). But that doesn't make Cap's side all that agreeable either, yet the movie keeps trying to make it sound like it is. Which Infinity War emphasizes even further when the characters band together and acknowledge the Accords as being pointless, so there's no room whatsoever to see flaws with Cap from the movie's perspective.
I love great antagonists, but a superhero movie won't ride or die by solely that aspect for me. Sort of like how I only love The Dark Knight for Joker but could care less for Bale's Batman. A great hero or a great villain can carry a movie even if you find the other side lacking. But whether or not they can do that is subjective, so I can respect that.
If you didn't like Red Skull, what appeals to you about Winter Soldier, HYDRA, and Zemo in comparison? I'm not fans of any of them, but I'm always curious to hear differing opinions.
Amy and Avi have said that the Spidey verse is real. I don't get where you feel like it's a tease. I've already expounded on this with Iron Man 1. If no one says these things, i'm fully with you that it's weirdly in the air and not confirmed. When the actual producers and directors say that it's real, I have to disagree. The writer for Homecoming has said that the universe is real. The trailer for Morbius further establishes what has been said.
When it comes to the Cap films, all of them carried the same level of gravity to me. Winter Soldier captured that the best tho. The presence of Fury made it even better. The more Fury, the better. Plus the main antagonist wasn't combative and didn't fit the "formula". I love that