This summer’s Morbius is slated to become the second film in the so-called Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters franchise populated by the studio’s roster of Spider-Man characters, and the first trailer is now set to debut at 6am PST on January 13th, the same day that Black Widow‘s exclusive new look is scheduled to premiere during the College Football Playoff National Championship.
The film, like its 2018 predecessor Venom, seems less superhero movie and more antihero movie, focusing on the struggle of biochemist Michael Morbius (portrayed by Jared Leto) to cure himself of a degenerative blood disorder through desperate experimentation that unexpectedly results in him contracting vampirism instead. For those unfamiliar, the character debuted in October of 1971 in Amazing Spider-Man #101, where he confronted a six-armed Spider-Man and battled Dr. Curt Connors in the form of the Lizard. His backstory was revealed in the following issue, as was his fiancé Martine Bancroft, who’s set to be played on-screen by Good Omens actress Adria Arjona.
Along with the film’s protagonists, this initial trailer will likely feature our first glimpse at the former Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, in the villainous role of Loxias Crown, also known by the alias of Hunger, a role he accepted in part due to the persuasion of his Doctor Who co-star Karen Gillan, who’s played various iterations of Nebula across four movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Crown first appeared in January of 1997 in Spider-Man #76 and has ties to Hydra as well as the international criminal organization The Maggia, which may hint that the group could potentially be set to play a larger part in the future of Sony’s franchise.
The film, written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (who also co-scripted the 2014 vampire pic Dracula Untold) and directed by Daniel Espinosa, will also feature performances by Jared Harris (who brilliantly played Professor James Moriarty in the 2011 sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) as Morbius’s as-yet-unnamed mentor, Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal as FBI agents Simon Stroud and Alberto Rodriguez respectively, and a reported cameo by the trans-franchise guerrilla journalist J. Jonah Jameson.
Morbius lands in theaters on July 31st, 2020, and as soon as that first trailer arrives, we’ll be sure to let you know, so stay tuned.