The new Morbius trailer gave a deeper look at the world inhabited by Jared Leto’s living vampire and one of the most puzzling aspects about it is figuring out exactly in which universe it all takes place, especially due to the way the film appears to be linked to Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
To make things even more exciting for fans, Morbius is already teasing a few Spider-Man connections too, and just like No Way Home, it seems to be borrowing a little from each Spider-Man film series out to date. After watching the trailer it really is inevitable to imagine Sony' Spider-Man Universe and the MCU are bound to intercept again at some point.
Morbius’ Transformation And Powers
The trailer teases what’s likely to be a big part of the movie’s first act when Dr. Michael Morbius transforms from a brilliant disabled man who’s been struggling with a rare blood disease his entire life into the scarier Morbius the living vampire. What follows his transformation is taken straight from his comic book origin story as the boat attack is the first time he loses control over his newly gained powers, and also what first gets him notoriety and the watching eye of authorities.
Overall, the trailer works mostly as a showcase for Morbius’ powers, which include the usual enhanced strength, agility, speed, and senses, plus unique vampiric traits such as a bat-like sonar, flying, and menacing fangs and claws. Naturally being a vampire has its drawbacks, mainly the thirst for blood and “need to hunt”, much like a certain famous symbiote.
Venom References
Toward the end of this preview, Morbius refers to himself as Venom when confronting another man, and though he jokingly says he's just messing around this is further proof that people in this version of New York are very much aware of Venom. This is again highlighted when some of the dialogue mentions the “events in San Francisco”, a definitive nod to Let There Be Carnage.
Although Morbius was originally meant to come out before the Venom sequel, the latter possibly got moved up ahead to take better advantage of its proximity to Spider-Man: No Way Home, speaking of which…
The Amazing Spider-Man’s Oscorp Enterprises
Above all, it’s clear that Sony wants to keep those Spider-Man easter eggs on the forefront and the first one to pop up is the Oscorp logo from Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man movies. While this is supposed to be the Venom universe, Let There Be Carnage already featured a couple of shots of the printed Daily Bugle from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and that ended up with Venom getting closer than ever to Peter Parker.
The Daily Bugle
Of course, Sony decided to have some fun with another Daily Bugle from the Tobey Maguire era carefully placed in Morbius, only that this one may have some useful info. The newspaper’s front page features headlines such as “Black Cat: Friend or Foe?” and “Rhino On the Loose”, and even if second looks like simple wordplay, the enigmatic Black Cat reference does sound like a J. Jonah Jameson headline for another character Sony has plans for in the future.
Spider-Man: The Animated Series already featured a few episodes where Spider-Man, the Black Cat, Morbius, and Blade teamed up for some vampire hunting so even if that sounds too hopeful for now, the future might see a few parts of that equation fighting on the same side, though Kraven the Hunter might be closer than that.
Spider-Man Graffiti
This one is rather old since it had been available for over a year now, however, its meaning becomes more mysterious now that it’s obvious Morbius includes nods to other Spider-Men besides Andrew Garfield. The way things are going, it would not be that far-fetched for Morbius to end with a post-credits scene similar to Venom’s bringing both closer to Tom Holland's Spider-Man.
The Vulture
Again, while it had been known for quite some time that Michael Keaton would appear in Morbius, in what capacity that will be is an entirely different ordeal. Here, Adrian Toomes can be spotted wearing the same prison jumpsuit from Spider-Man: Homecoming, becoming acquainted with Morbius, and apparently being quite keen on not losing touch with him.
The most likely explanation is that this is just The Vulture from this universe, but the way things are moving in Marvel’s different realities, Toomes could even join the Sinister Six lineup No Way Home is putting together.
The Villains
Lastly, Morbius needs some proper villains to fight and in this case, it looks like FBI agent Simon Stroud (Tyreese Gibson) and Loxias Crown (Matt Smith) will be hunting down the vampire doctor.
Tyreese is under contract for three movies, meaning his Stroud should be chasing Morbius far beyond this first movie which already has him sporting some tech that looks straight out of Oscorp. Meanwhile, Loxias Crown will probably be the main antagonist after he gains similar powers to his friend Morbius but settles on a darker path than the titular anti-hero.
Morbius will release exclusively in theaters on January 28, 2022.