Sony's upcoming Morbius film has had an intense uphill battle in generating interest. This was exacerbated by the fact that, unlike the iconic Venom, Morbius is C-list as compared to a lot of other heroes and Spider-Man villains. However, the film's first trailer establishes clear links between the Living Vampire and Spider-Man, which may finally generate the attention needed to make Morbius a success.
Here are the ways that the new Morbius trailer firmly plants the film in Spider-Man's world, and why it needed this to even hope to prosper.
Spider-Man: Murderer
A previously leaked still from the film had Michael Morbius walking through an alleyway, with a vandalized poster of Spider-Man behind him. Said image of Spider-Man is actually from the 2018 Insomniac Spider-Man PlayStation 4 game, but with the character wearing the suit from the Sam Raimi films. Spider-Man being seen/framed as a murderer was also a plot point established in the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. This led to some speculation as to what continuity the film took place in, and which version of Spider-Man was appearing.
However, the fact Spider-Man has a presence at all was enough to ratchet up interest in the film, as the Wall Crawler's seeming absence was one of the biggest reasons for audience ambivalence towards the film. Morbius existing in a world with an apparently established Spidey also meant that other, more overt references or appearances from him could be possible, further bolstering reasons for people to see the movie. The possible Marvel Cinematic Universe connection also instantly makes the movie a must-see for completionists. Even those with a loose or softening interest in the MCU post-Endgame may suddenly develop interest in this movie, if only to see how it relates to the ever-popular Spider-Man.
Vulture and the Sinister Six
The biggest saving grace to get people invested in watching the film came toward the end of the trailer, in which Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes/The Vulture appears and greets Morbius. This is a rather definitive connection to the MCU's version of Spider-Man. Toomes' appearance has also led some to think Morbius may set up Sony's long-delayed Sinister Six movie. This is all in addition to the rumored appearances of other key elements of the Spider-Man mythos. These obvious connections to Spider-Man help to truly set up Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters that the studio had been attempting to establish since as far back as The Amazing Spider-Man 2. They also establish a link between Morbius and the Webslinger that was missing in Venom, a film starring one of Spider-Man's most popular villains.
Morbius, on the other hand, is one of Spider-Man's lesser villains, and though his origin doesn't involve Spider-Man at all, it would definitely need him in some capacity to get the general audience to care about his movie. Without these links, the film honestly could have been a complete disaster, releasing to nary a care. It would essentially have just been a random vampire action movie from Sony with roots in a comic book and released against a lot of other higher-profile superhero films, meeting the same fate as the Hellboy reboot, which was an infamous flop. By wearing the Spidey connection on its fangs in the first trailer, Morbius finally has the necessary hook to generate the interest it had failed to drum up. Hopefully for Sony, this means Morbius can suck up some extra dollars at the box office and prove the viability of the studio's own Marvel films.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa, Morbius stars Jared Leto as the titular character, Matt Smith as Loxias Crown, Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft, Tyrese Gibson as Agent Stroud and Jared Harris in an undisclosed role. The film arrives July 31.