In ‘Morbius’ trailer, Jared Leto sinks his teeth into Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Verse
Jared Leto is officially sinking his teeth into another comic book character.
Leaving the DC Extended Universe behind, the Oscar-winning star takes another turn for the sinister in Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Verse as enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius. The “Morbius” trailer arrived Tuesday from Sony Pictures Entertainment.
“Meet the brilliant Dr. Michael Morbius and his powerful alter-ego, straight from the 50th anniversary of his Marvel comic debut to his first ever big screen appearance,” Leto wrote Monday ahead of the trailer’s release.
Leto, who famously played the Joker in Warner Bros.’ 2016 “Suicide Squad,” now plays a physician dangerously ill with a blood disorder in Sony’s Spider-Man universe.
He’s determined to save others from his fate and takes a batty gamble to do so. After going missing for two months, he turns up on a container ship washed up off Long Island. Morbius — a “Living Vampire” in the comics — gains the abilities of “increased sense and speed, some sort of bat radar” and ... he can fly. Take that, Batman.
“I went from dying to being more alive than ever,” Morbius says, adding, “There’s something inside of me. I love to hunt ... and consume blood.”
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Then, of course, as Tyrese Gibson’s FBI agent points out in the trailer, half the city wants to kill him while the other half wants to control him. The spooky, horror-laden trailer also makes major references to the studios’ latest team-up, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” starring Tom Hardy, or as another investigator puts it: “that thing in San Francisco.”
Leto’s Morbius finishes the trailer with a more direct reference, however.
The trailer also includes a Spider-Man mural with “Murderer” scrawled on it and an appearance by Michael Keaton reprising his Vulture role from “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”
“Morbius,” due in theaters in January, is directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. In addition to Leto and Gibson, it stars Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris and Al Madrigal.
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