You didn't forget about Morbius, did you? The second film in Sony's Marvel Universe after Venom is scheduled for release at the end of July, and the first trailer is reportedly coming this Monday, January 13. Ahead of the first trailer, a photo said to be of Jared Leto as Michael Morbius leaked across the web. So far, fans seem to like what they see, which bodes well if the trailer and rest of the film stay close to the Marvel Comics source material.
Morbius stars Jared Leto as a biochemist with a rare blood disease who tries to cure himself and instead becomes infected with a kind of vampirism. The character of Michael Morbius, aka Morbius the Living Vampire, debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 issue in 1971. He's more of an antihero than a villain and it'll be interesting to see how Sony introduces him into its growing Marvel Universe.
Morbius also stars Matt Smith, Tyrese Gibson, Jared Harris, and Adria Arjona. According to THR, Smith plays the movie's villain, Loxias Crown, Morbius’ best friend who also suffers from the same blood disease. Arjona plays Morbius’ love interest, with Harris as Morbius’ mentor, and Gibson as an FBI agent trying to hunt down Morbius.
Very little is known about Morbius so far, so it'll be very interesting to see that first trailer. According to FandomWire, Morbius' first trailer will drop first thing Monday morning, January 13. OK, maybe second thing after the 2020 Oscar nominations. Busy morning. Should be a busy evening too, since a new Black Widow trailer is mean to drop that night during the National College Football Championship.
Jared Leo shared a first look at Morbius in March 2019, although there wasn't much to see. In April he shared a photo of his hooded character in the street while others moved around him. He also shared why he was so excited to play a vampire. Other than that? Not much.
On the official front, there hasn't been a lot of activity for Morbius, which might be why fans seized on that leaked image Saturday morning. Marvel Comics fans have been comparing it to the source material:
Many fans do seem to like what they saw on Saturday...
...So here's hoping the movie lives up to their current expectations:
Morbius follows Venom in Sony's new Marvel Universe branching off Spider-Man characters. Venom was a huge hit at the box office, if not with critics, and fans are curious to see if Spider-Man himself will start making appearances. In the past year, things changed on that front as Sony and Marvel/Disney fought over shared custody of Spider-Man for the MCU's movies with Tom Holland. A deal was struck for another MCU movie before Sony gets control again, with Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige seeming to tease a potential crossover into Sony's own "Spidey-verse."
That might not mean much for Morbius, but Venom 2 is now in the works for an October 2020 release date, and if Morbius does well, you never know what crossovers could come later for more characters.
Morbius, directed by Daniel Espinosa, is currently scheduled to be released on July 31, 2020. Keep an eye out for that trailer. And maybe try to recall how you felt about Venom after its first look and keep an open mind?
