Wild as it is to believe, Sony really meant what it said when the studio announced its plans to move forward with a movie about Morbius, Marvel Comics’ most famous vampire who isn’t Blade. While Morbius might not have been the Spider-Man villain one would expect to make it to the big screen so quickly, it’s definitely happening, and there’s finally a trailer to prove it.
Though many comics fans likely know Morbius’ tragic backstory, chances are that most of the general moviegoing public is unfamiliar with the blood-sucking character, and so the trailer opens with the basics about Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius. After years of battling a blood disease, the scientist develops a treatment he believes will cure him, but things take a turn for the worst when his experimental serum instead leaves him transformed into a being with many of the same traits as a vampire.
Because of Morbius’ newly-developed monstrous appearance and his thirst for blood, it isn’t long before most of the world turns on him, and he becomes the target of FBI agents Simon Stroud (Tyrese Gibson) and Alberto Rodriguez (Al Madrigal). But when Morbius’ friend Loxias Crown (Matt Smith) goes through a similar transformation and resolves to use his powers to wreak havoc, Morbius realizes that monster or not, he’s the one person capable of saving the people he loves and, perhaps, the world.
What’s particularly interesting about the trailer are the brief glimpses we see of a poster of Spider-Man with the word “murderer” painted across it, which establishes that this movie will take place in a world in which a.) Spider-Man exists and b.) at least some people in the world see him as a bad person. Given the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, that makes a certain amount of sense, but the larger implication is that Morbius has a direct connection to the MCU. That all sounds kinda hypothetical until the final moments of the trailer when Michael Keaton shows up, making it seem as if the Vulture and Morbius are going to cross paths in the film.
Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa and also stars Good Omens’ Adria Arjona. It hits theaters on July 31.
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