Is it a Morbius trailer, or is it a small treasure trove of references to Venom and Sony’s Spider-Man films? The answer, of course, is both. Almost two years after the first Morbius trailer, we’ve got a followup—and it’s the kind of trailer that may leave you wondering how much more story could possibly be in the movie.
There will probably be more Spider-Man references, though.
Morbius is the tale of one Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), who, in the quest to heal his rare blood disorder, turns himself into a vampire. He does this through the not-so-careful application of bats, and winds up with some bat skills (echolocation, or as Morbius puts it, “Some form of bat radar”) and some vampire problems (the desire to drink blood). Also he can fly.
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Michael Keaton is here, which is a clear nod to Spider-Man: Homecoming. But we also have a return of the image of the word “murderer” scrawled over some street art of a different Spider-Man. The Daily Bugle gets a cameo, along with two even more overt nods to Venom: One guy says “We haven’t had anything this good since that thing in San Francisco,” which can only mean “That time Tom Hardy and his alien symbiote fell in sweet, sweet love.” Also, Morbius says “I. Am. Venom,” to a fellow he’s menacing. He’s just kidding.
But is he here to heal the world, or to destroy it? Jared Harris (who says he is not playing Doctor Octopus) gets to ask this question, because Jared Harris is very good at intoning melodramatic questions in a way that sounds incredibly sincere. Morbius also stars Adria Arjona, Matt Smith, Archie Renaux, and Tyrese Gibson—the latter of which may make it very hard for some of us not to view this movie as a distant Fast & Furious crossover. Is this Roman’s retirement from a life of fast cars and magnets?
Morbius vamps into theaters January 28th, 2022.
