Venom: Let There be Carnage finally brought Peter Parker into Sony‘s budding live-action Spider-Verse. (Kind of.) When the webbed-slinger does arrive to lead his own franchise again, he’s going to have more than a symbiote to deal with. The next Spider-Man comic book character getting his own movie is the human vampire. Now the newest trailer Morbius starring Jared Leto shows that Spider-Man’s enemies have a lot in common. They don’t know if they want to be a hero or a villain. But they do know all about one another.
This latest trailer focuses on the transformation of its titular star, who becomes a vampire after seeking out a life-saving cure for himself and others. What’s less clear from Morbius though is what kind of tone the film is going for. It seems infinitely more serious than Tom Hardy’s Venom movies. But there are still enough silly gags and visuals to give us hope the movie won’t take itself too seriously.
The more important element of this promo though is how it builds on the first trailer’s connections to the larger Spider-Verse. Michael Keaton’s Vulture shows up. There are tons of nods to Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies. And Morbius himself makes a joke about Venom, as the world is clearly learning more about the killer symbiote.
But as for the movie’s own story, the official logline also leans into Morbius dealing with his own demons.
“Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil – or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?”
This looks like Marvel’s answer to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Only if Jekyll turned into a human bat with a lust for drinking blood. (Seriously, this film won’t be too serious, right?)
This week Sony Pictures also released a new featurette for the film. In it Leto talks about what it means to be the first actor to bring a comic book character to life.
Morbius, directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), also stars Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. It flies into theaters early next year, January 22.
Whether Spider-Man or Venom shows up that day too remains to be seen. But we wouldn’t “bat” against it.
