We’ve arrived in the Spider-Verse. Sony is working hard to establish the basis for its non-MCU Universe of Marvel Characters, with speculations of multi-dimensional Spider-Men appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home, the character’s rights scheduled to go back to single ownership, and two successful Venom films under their belt. Morbius is the most recent entry into that realm, with a new teaser released today.
The Jared Leto-starring vampire film, which was originally scheduled to hit theaters on July 31st, 2020, will instead be released in January 2022. It revolves around Michael Morbius, a scientist and doctor who is looking for a treatment for his own unique blood ailment. He believes he’s discovered it in bat blood, and he’s been testing it on himself with dangerously unexpected consequences. His ailment has vanished, but he’s been replaced by a new one: a bloodthirsty, nasty, flying, echo-locating living vampire.
Ok, but how this relates to Spider-Man. Intimately, it turns out. Two blatant nods to Venom appear in the new Morbius teaser, firmly placing previous Tom Hardy films in the same universe as this one. Then there’s Michael Keaton, who reprises his role as an imprisoned Adrian Toomes/Vulture, which he previously played in the MCU’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Coming from director Daniel Espinosa with a screenplay from Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, Morbius also stars Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, and Al Madrigal.