Sony’s Spider-Man anti-hero film Morbius now has a trailer. In it we see Jared Leto playing Dr. Michael Morbius as he searches for a cure to a rare disease that he is afflicted with. The answer, of course, is to turn himself into a vampire. That’s always the answer.
It looks like Sony is going all-in on the angsty, dark, cheesy, almost-camp slant they took with the surprisingly enjoyable Venom. The trailer seems like a pretty straightforward horror/action movie that realizes how ridiculous it is and simply goes for broke. There’s even a moment where Leto narrates his new superpowers. Say what you will about the tone and quality of this approach; at least it’s offering up something different from the MCU. In fact, director Daniel Espinosa has basically made a career directing films like this, though the rumored R rating may make this film stand out.
Joining Leto in the film will be Matt Smith as Loxias Crown, who has the same blood disease as Morbius. Jared Harris is playing Morbius’ mentor and Adria Arjona will play his fiancee, who, quite rightly, has some issues with her partner becoming an undying bloodsucker. Also in the cast are Al Madrigal and Tyrese Gibson.
Of course the major thing everyone is going to be freaking out about is the stinger at the end of the trailer, which features Michael Keaton, who played Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Coupled with the shot of a picture of Spider-Man with the word murderer graffitied across it, this ties the Sony films directly into the Spider-Man movies, which in turn ties them into the MCU. The Sony films are reportedly not “connected” to the MCU, but they’ve been given permission to make references. Obviously, pulling in an entire character is more than a reference, but the character rights are different from actually connecting to the MCU’s universe in terms of plot. It’s… complicated.
The appearance of Keaton does tracks with Sony’s years of attempts to launch a Sinister Six movie. Venom would obviously be part of that, and possibly the Madame Web film that is in development will roll into it as well. Then you’ve got the TV shows coming along with more Into the Spider-Verse films.
Morbius will release this summer, with previous reports indicating July 31, 2020.
