After an unsuccessful foray in the world of comic book movies a few years ago with DC’s Suicide Squad, Oscar-winner Jared Leto has defected to Marvel. The first trailer of Morbius, the latest instalment in Sony’s Marvel Universe, has been released.
Based on the Marvel anti-hero, the film tells the origin story of Morbius the Living Vampire, a tragically flawed character who develops pseudo-vampiric superhuman abilities after a failed experiment to cure himself of a rare blood disorder.
Sony is going all out with its own universe of Marvel characters, which was set up in parallel to the record-breaking Marvel Cinematic Universe. Title cards in the trailer remind audiences that Morbius belongs to the same world as Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Venom. In fact, the three-minute trailer ends with a stinger at the end, revealing a character who was last seen in Homecoming, thereby tying the SMU to the MCU.
With Leto in proper 30 Seconds to Mars (that’s his rock band) get-up, the film also appears to be borrowing visually from X-Men 2 and tonally seems to be in the same zone as Venom — neither too lighthearted, nor as dark as Joker.
Speaking of Joker, Leto played the iconic Batman villain in Suicide Squad, in a role that was infamously reduced to mere 10 minutes of screen time. The actor reportedly had a falling out with the studio, which resulted in the several follow-ups featuring his version of the character being scrapped in favour of Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar-nominated film.
The SMU will continue with Venom 2, to be directed by Andy Serkis, and Spider-Man 3, with returning star Tom Holland. Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa, and co-stars Adria Arjona, Matt Smith, Jared Harris and Tyrese Gibson.
