Vampires and Spiders and Vultures, oh my! The first trailer for Sony’s Morbius has dropped, so naturally, the theories are pouring in, and not all of them are great. The second film due to be released in the SUMC (Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters) is Morbius. The first trailer has dropped revealing some tantalizing details about its plot, characters, and possible connections to a certain Spider-person. Following Tom Hardy’s Venom is Jared Leto’s interpretation of Morbius the Living Vampire, fans have their fingers crossed for a better adaptation than his run at the Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad.
The trailer seems to be designed to spark speculation but interestingly enough most aren’t entirely fussed about the events of the film itself. Instead many are speculating about who might actually appear and within what universe Morbius is actually set. Not all of the theories floating around are winners, some miss the mark, so here’s a nice mix of both.
Good - Setting Up The Sinister Six
Micheal Keaton will be reprising his role as The Vulture/ Adrian Toomes, last seen in Spider-man: Homecoming. During his last appearance, he was seen face to face with Michael Mando’s Mac Gargan, hinting at the Sinister Six movie that Sony has been trying to make for what feels like a decade.
We could see Keaton inviting Leto’s Morbius to join a possible Sinister Six Line-up, whether or not he accepts said invitation doesn’t seem likely though. Along with Hardy’s Venom, the two characters have been set up as anti-heroes as opposed to villains, plus neither really has a problem with Spider-Man in these incarnations, not yet anyway.
Bad - Set In The Raimi-Verse
About midway through the trailer, Letto’s Morbius can be seen fleeing the police in a blanket and his fetching orange jumpsuit, he passes an interesting piece of graffiti depicting Spider-Man and the word “murderer”. Some perceptive fans have noticed this particular Peter Parker is that of Tobey Maguire’s version portrayed in Sam Raimi directed Spider-Man trilogy, leading some to speculate that Morbius is set within that universe or at least a variation of it.
While the nod is nice, this is far from likely. The return of Keaton suggests this is at least attempting to be apart of the MCU. This plus Spider-Man being framed for the death of Jake Gyllenhaal Mysterio at the end of Spider-man: Far From Home, matching the graffiti, makes this theory pretty easy to write off.
Good - Loxias Crown Will Be The Main Antagonist
We don’t see much of Matt Smith in this trailer, just a single shot in which he’s looking pretty menacing. This might not seem like a lot to go on but it has been revealed that Smith will be playing a character by the name of Loxias Crown. Originally appearing in Spider-Man #76, Crown is just one alias of a villain known as The Hunger. In the comics he’s not really related to Morbius’ origin at all, but instead Morbius’ bite turned Crown into a Living Vampire.
It’s already been reported by thathashtagshow.com that in the film adaptation Crown “suffers from the same rare blood disease as his good friend Morbius.” Going on to explain the central conflict as Morbius trying to stop the killing machine that Crown becomes upon taking the cure for their shared disease while fighting his own bloodlust. Doctor Who fans will know Matt Smith’s range from his days as The Doctor, and as a result, this is a theory that holds water… or blood!
Bad - Spider-Man Will Appear
Following the mending of Sony and Marvel’s disagreement over Spider-Man, the new deal has yet to be made clear. The only details publicly known are that Spider-man will appear in one more solo outing, a sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home, and one more team-up movie.
Due to Morbius being in production during these negotiations the film will likely adhere to the same restrictions placed on Venom, lacking Spider-Man in an origin film for a character intrinsically tied to the web-slinger.
Good - Morbius Still Isn’t Undead
It may seem like a fairly obvious statement for the well versed in Marvel’s vampire lore, but strictly speaking Morbius isn’t a vampire proper. In his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #101, Morbius was a Greek Biochemist that experimented on himself to find a cure for his blood-disease and in doing so gained all of the powers and hindrances typically associating with vampires, he can even convert others with a bite, but he was still a Living Vampire.
The difference between Living Vampires and the regular breed may seem arbitrary, (and that’s because it is, the only difference being that Morbius was born of science and not the super-natural) but it’s a detail that has been adapted faithfully to the film.
Bad - Kraven Will Play A Role
Sony already has an interesting line-up of Spider-related solo films announced and fast approaching, including; Venom 2, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 2, Silver & Black, and among others a Kraven the Hunter film. What’s interesting about Kraven is the theories that span out of a Reddit post made by u/damundio. The post contained a set photo taken in Manchester and showed-off a truck with the text “Kraven Productions” on its side.
This means that Kraven is to appear in Morbius, right? Unfortunately not, it’s been rumored that the SUMC version of Kraven will be a reality TV star, hence the production truck. Making this an easter egg due to appear in the background and nothing more.
Good - Morbius Will Fold Itself And Venom Into The MCU
Spider-man graffiti and the return of Micheal Keaton’s Vulture can only really mean one thing, Morbius is set in the MCU, or is at least an offshoot of it. The prevailing theory is that Venom will show up or be mentioned in some capacity, retroactively tying the character into this yet to be defined bubble universe.
Maybe Tom Hardy will show up in an end-credits scene, maybe he’ll just be name-dropped, but one thing is for sure; Sony won’t miss the opportunity to get fans excited for a team-up.
Bad - Blade And Other Vampires
Blade has been officially announced to be apart of Marvel Phase 5. A half-vampire that hunts other vampires, it would make sense that Morbius the Living Vampire would attract the attention of Mahershala Ali’s Blade. However it’s unlikely that the two will ever cross paths.
As awesome as it would be to see Blade and Holland’s Spider-Man teaming up in the future to fight a vampire threat caused by Morbius or even Loxias Crown, it’s not likely given the previous occasions when Marvel has kept its toys far away from Sony. The trailer even kicks off with the “in association with Marvel” logo, as opposed to the real deal.
Good - More J. Jonah Jameson
One of the most crowd-pleasing moments from Spider-Man: Far From Home came in the form of a mid-credits scene in which J.K. Simmons reprised the role of J. Jonah. Jameson. According to CinemaBlend, the cameo was kept so secret by being shot in a Marvel briefing room at the last minute.
After all the work that went into bringing him back, it would be a crying shame if Sony didn’t keep using him. With Morbius already looking stuffed with cameos and returning characters, it’s more likely that we’ll see the new Alex Jones-like interpretation pop up in a news report than having a major role.
Bad - Morbius Will Be A Villain Going Forward
Sony seems intent on re-purposing Spider-Man’s impressive rogues’ gallery for solo film origin stories, a side effect of this is a change from villains to anti-heroes. Morbius and Spider-Man’s relationship in the comics isn’t always black and white, good and bad, but making Morbius a sympathetic anti-hero will likely make the transition from leading man to Spidey villain a difficult one.
It’s likely that Sony will just change the dynamic going forward, meaning that any hopes to see Morbius up against Holland’s Spider-man are ill-placed.
