In case you forgot, Sony is producing a Morbius movie starring Jared Leto! It started production before COVID-19 shut everything down and it has been flying under the radar since then. Initially slated to be released in July 2020, the new release date is January 28th 2022! So just over 2 months away from theatrical release.

Morbius exists in the Marvel Spider-Man universe and was initially a villain for Spider-Man. Michael Morbius is a biochemist with a rare blood disease. As he attempts to find a cure for his disease he ends up doing tests on himself and ends up changing into a person with vampire-like abilities. Initially a good man, Morbius is now fighting to control a dark side that is emerging due to his new abilities.

Jared Leto plays Michael Morbius and the cast includes other great actors too! Also cast in the movie are Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson.

Sony first released a vignette featuring Jared Leto talking about the film intermixed with clips from the film. The next day, a full trailer was released with more scenes and reveals. We see Morbius as a sick man trying to fend off the disease by going deep in the jungle to find a cure. We see Morbius with his new powers and as this is an origin story, he has to learn how to use them. There are also some nods to the already recently established villains of the Spider-Man universe. There is some dialogue recognizing the Tom Hardy Venom films, then we get a cameo of Michael Keaton’s Vulture speaking directly to Morbius as they pass each other in the movie.

Check out the new trailer and vignette:

If you’re wanting to know more about Morbius - check out the vignette.

A couple of years ago when Sony and Disney were in talks about the future of the Spider-Man movie franchise, it was unclear which direction they would be going in. With Sony owning the Spider-Man movie rights and the character essentially being on loan to Marvel for the Avenger’s movies, there needed to be some clarity added to Spidey’s future. I’m still not sure what direction the two studios are taking the character and I think after Spider-Man: No Way Home we’ll have a better idea. Which will be good because after the after credit scene from Venom 2 and the mentions of these other characters in the Morbius trailer, it’s clear that they are trying to merge the Sony-verse and Disney’s MCU. But does that include just Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, or with the all but confirmed inclusion of Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfiled’s Spider-Men and the confirmed inclusion of their villains (Doc Ock and Electro), does it include all iterations of Sony’s Spider-Men?

I think Spider-Man and his Universe has a lot of potential. I hope that Sony and Disney are able to share these characters and play together in the Spider-Man sandbox to include all of the characters and ultimately produce great stories for the fans.

We will know more after December 2021’s release of Spider-Man: No Way Home and January 2022’s release of Morbius. I’m thinking that there is a reason Morbius is being released AFTER No Way Home instead of during the Fall of 2021. There is probably some financial incentives, as the movie theaters are still slowly producing more revenue, but from a storytelling perspective I would bet that these two movies play off of each other and in a chronological story timeline Morbius makes more sense after No Way Home.

I believe all of these questions will be answered and a clearer direction will be known after these two movies are released. I can’t wait and I am more excited about this corner of the Marvel Universe and what it has to offer than what I’ve seen with the overhyped Eternals so far.