Sony’s attempt to desperately cling to the Spider-Man cinematic universe continues today as it released the first trailer for Morbius, the comic book film about Spidey villain Michael Morbius. Morbius is a doctor who suffers from a rare blood condition and seeks a dangerous method to cure it but, wouldn’t ya know it, he ends up becoming a vampire. And I bet the vampire transformation isn’t even covered by his insurance.
The trailer shows a lot of Jared Leto as the titular character, along with plenty of bats, a bit of Matt Smith, Jared Harris and Adria Arjona. You hardly see Leto in full-blown vampire mode but you definitely catch a glimpse of him as the blood sucker right at the end of the trailer. You also see a cameo from none other than Michael Keaton as fellow Spider-Man nemesis Vulture. That confirms that Morbius WILL be connected to other Spider-Man films and the MCU.
All in all, the trailer is fine but just fine. It doesn’t feel particularly exciting, unique or even the least bit scary. That’s a shame because some hoped Sony would have seen Morbius as their chance to inject a bit of horror in the superhero genre, the dude is a vampire after all. But no, this feels very similar to Venom: silly, big and essentially an origin story that will lead to a sequel and a Spider-Man crossover. Like Venom, Morbius has a good chance at making a lot of money and silencing any critics like myself.
I wanted Morbius to feel fresh or take a different approach to the material and the cinematic universe it’s entering. I wanted a lot from Morbius and instead this trailer promises me something that is just the bare minimum. Oh well.
Morbius opens July 31.
