After the massive success of the Venom films, Marvel decided to tackle another Spider-Man villain and horrific anti-hero, Morbius the Living Vampire. Now, the second trailer for Jared Leto’s new supervillain film has been released, and it does a lot to tie the character into Marvel’s currently-booming Spider-Verse.
The basic story of Morbius is that Dr. Michael Morbius (Leto) suffers from a rare and debilitating blood disease that is currently gripping the world. Looking for a cure, he travels to the jungle and allows himself to be swarmed by vampire bats. When he returns, he’s cured of his disease, and has super-strength, flight, and the ability to echolocate (use sonar, like a bat)…but he also has an insatiable hunger for blood and a desire to hunt human prey.
More importantly, the trailer is full of Spider-Man and Venom references, including the following:
- A direct reference to “that thing in San Francisco,” which is Venom’s hometown.
- An actual scene where Morbius pretends to be Venom to scare somebody — only to then laugh it off as a joke.
- A poster of Spider-Man with the word ‘MURDERER’ tagged over it.
- An appearance by Michael Keaton, who plays the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming
- Morbius reading a copy of The Daily Bugle, the paper Peter Parker works for, which has stories about Spider-Man supporting characters Black Cat and Rhino at the top.
- The Oscorp building, referencing the company owned by Norman Osborn, AKA the Green Goblin.
All of which is to say that this movie will undoubtedly attempt to further expand Marvel’s Spider-Man franchise, and, according to a lot of rumors, will launch their Sinister Six film. Whether the returning multi-verse characters from Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home will be included among the villainous team’s ranks remains to be seen.
Check out the new trailer for Morbius below:
Morbius is set to drop in theaters only this January.
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Words by Chris Krovatin
