The Spider-Man universe being established at Sony is growing. We have seen two Venom movies that have introduced characters including Carnage, Shriek and Eddie Brock. Now Jared Leto is preparing to bring Dr. Michael Morbius, the living vampire, to life on the big screen and the footage in the trailer not only gives us better looks at the main character, but it includes some intriguing elements that can factor into the Spider-Man universe, at large. First, press play on the Morbius trailer above. And then we’ll pick it apart below.
One of the things that immediately catches your attention? The presence of an Oscorp tower. Though, it looks like the tower that is present in the Andrew Garfield universe of Spider-Man movies, also made by Sony. Which is odd, because in the first Morbius trailer, we saw Jared Leto’s main character walking in front of a mural of Spider-Man (looking like the Sam Raimi suit) with “Murderer” scrolled across it … and that’s the Tom Holland storyline, thanks to Mysterio.
So yeah, this is all a little confusing. When/where does Morbius take place in the grand scheme of the Spider-Man multiverse? There are references to San Francisco in the trailer, and Jared Leto makes an “I am Venom” joke. But then again, Michael Keaton appears in the trailer, and if he’s playing Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture, then that’s a direct tie to the MCU. SO MANY QUESTIONS!
Outside of the Spider-Man connections, Morbius will introduce audiences to a Marvel Comics character who attempts to cure his rare blood disease, but ends up giving himself the transformative powers of a vampire. Given the fact that Sony has access to more than 900 Marvel characters thanks to owning the legal rights to Spider-Man, choosing Morbius as a leading character seems unusual. He’s not extremely well known. Kraven the Hunter, who Aaron Taylor Johnson is preparing to play, is more recognizable. But maybe that’s what director Daniel Espinosa liked about the character. Morbius flies under the radar. Expectations are in check. People want a cool story, and some connections to Spider-Man. So far, this delivers.
Morbius arrives in theaters on January 28, 2022. We may know a lot more about the kind of universe that the good doctor is merging with when Spider-Man: No Way Home has its day in December. But all of this feels like the tip of a massive Spider-Man iceberg that’s about to cool Hollywood off.
