A new trailer for Morbius was released on Tuesday, November 2, giving fans a closer look at the superhero flick ahead of its release in January 2022.
The film follows Jared Leto's eponymous character as he develops his powers and starts to become consumed by a desire to harm others and drink their blood.
Morbius is made by Sony Pictures but was film in in association with Marvel Studios, and has links to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Here, Newsweek provides a guide as to how Morbius relates to the MCU.
How does Morbius relate to the MCU?
Dr. Michael Morbius, also known as Morbius the Living Vampire, is a key character in the Marvel Comics and is an adversary to Spider-Man.
The trailer teases that Morbius' cinematic journey may well follow its source material as he is seen conversing with Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture (played by Michael Keaton), for a brief moment.
Vulture appears to be being taken away by police when he tells Morbius that they should "stay in touch", which suggests the character may well encounter Tom Holland's Spider-Man in future.
Morbius is officially part of Sony's "Spider-Man" Universe, and the trailer showed Morbius reading J. Jonah Jameson's (J.K. Simmons) Daily Bugle and it also referenced the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The end of the film saw Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, be framed for Mysterio's murder and his real identity revealed by Jameson to the world.
Despite this, though, Morbius is said to act as a standalone feature focused entirely on its lead character, much like Venom before it.
Where does Morbius fit into the MCU timeline?
Morbius references the events of both Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man: Far From Home, so it will take place after these two films.
The film comes out shortly after the release of the third film in the "Spider-Man" franchise Spider-Man: No Way Home, but it was delayed several times because of the COVID pandemic. It was originally meant to be released in July 2020.
In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter asks Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to use his magic to help make his identity a secret again after it was revealed.
This request has dangerous repercussions, though, and appears to set into motion the opening of the multiverse as villains Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and Electro (Jamie Foxx) are expected to make an appearance.
Both characters are from the previous Spider-Man franchises: Doc Ock was an enemy of Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man, while Electro thwarted Andrew Garfield's iteration of the character in 2014.
Given the first trailer for Morbius briefly shows a mural of Spider-Man with the word "murderer" graffitied onto it, it is most likely that the film takes place before the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Morbius is released in theaters on Friday January 28, 2022.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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Roxy Simons is a Newsweek TV and Film Reporter (SEO), based in London, U.K. Her focus is reporting on the ... Read more
