New Morbius trailer hints at Marvel and Spider-Man crossovers
It's been more than a year since we've had a glimpse at Sony's Spidey spinoff.
Jared Leto shows off his vamp eyes in Morbius.
Marvel vampire Morbius arrived a little late for Halloween, with a trailer for Jared Leto's upcoming Spider-Man spinoff landing on Tuesday.
The movie, which hits theaters Jan. 28, tells the spooky superhero tale of Michael Morbius, a scientist who tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease with bat DNA (what could go wrong?). Joining Leto are Good Omens' Adria Arjona as Morbius' fiancee, former Doctor Who Matt Smith as his buddy Loxias Crown, Tyrese Gibson from Fast & Furious as FBI agent Simon Stroud and Chernobyl's Jared Harris as Morbius' mentor.
Morbius isn't technically connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since Sony owns the cinematic rights to Spidey and characters that originated in his comic series (Morbius first showed up in 1971's Amazing Spider-Man #101). Disney holds the rights to most of the other Marvel characters, and is responsible for the MCU movies. Spider-Man only shows up in that universe due to a deal between Disney and Sony.
However, the previous trailer hinted that Morbius may cross over to the MCU through the appearance of Michael Keaton's Vulture (last seen in the MCU-set Spider-Man: Homecoming), getting fans excited for the prospect of future Spidey crossovers. Since then, the post-credits scene in Venom: Let There Be Carnage opened up possibilities even more.
Tuesday's trailer sees Morbius jokingly referring to himself as Venom, and the Daily Bugle (a newspaper seen in the Spidey movies) appears in one shot. It features the same masthead as the version seen in the Tobey Maguire trilogy and includes references to Spidey villain the Rhino and frenemy the Black Cat -- Andrew Garfield's subplot-laden Amazing Spider-Man 2 included both of these characters.
In the MCU, the Bugle and fiery publisher J. Jonah Jameson showed up in Spider-Man: Far From Home, but as an online news outlet. It's unclear if there's a print edition.
Since the Maguire, Garfield and Tom Holland movies are set in different continuities, the paper's presence in Morbius might hint at the suspected multiversal crossover coming in this December's Spider-Man: No Way Home. Or it might just be a fun Easter egg in a vampire antihero movie.
