Fresh off the success of 2017’s Venom and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Sony’s Marvel Universe continues with Morbius. Starring Academy Award winner Jared Leto, Morbius tells the story of Michael Morbious’ transformation into the enigmatic antihero often associated with your friendly neighborhood you-know-who.
Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, he attempts a desperate gamble. What at first appears to be a radical success soon reveals itself to be a remedy potentially worse than the disease.
The biggest bombshell is dropped towards the end of the teaser, when Leto’s Morbius runs into Michael Keaton, who asks if the doctor is tired of being the good guy. As moviegoers know, Keaton played Adrian Toomes/The Vulture in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, which is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Assuming that Keaton is indeed reprising his role as Toomes, Morbius will then be set in the same universe as the MCU’s Spider-Man (Tom Holland) – as well as the rest of the Avengers.
How the film fits into the larger shared universe remains to be seen. However, the prospect of Sony and Marvel sharing not only the Spider-Man character, but its respective franchises, invites more questions than it answers. Will Tom Holland’s Peter Parker make an appearance? Will the Living Vampire crossover with Marvel Studios’ Blade? If a movie trailer’s sole purpose is to increase the intrigue surrounding the film, Morbius’ teaser trailer succeeded in spades.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa, Morbius is announced as part of a new shared universe of films inspired by Spider-Man characters beginning with Venom (2018), Sony was revealed to be developing one based on Morbius. Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless had written a script by November 2017, with Leto and Espinosa officially joining in June 2018. Work began in earnest at the end of the year with further casting, ahead of a production start in February 2019 in London. Filming was set to take 12 weeks and was confirmed to have been completed by June 2019.
