Jared Leto terrifies in frightful new Morbius trailer

Morbius the Living Vampire is leaping into the spotlight soon with his first standalone film. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, Morbius will take us into the world of Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), a brilliant scientist with a dangerous blood disease.

Desperate to find a cure, the doctor turns to unorthodox methods that lead him to become a vampire vigilante with impressive powers and a whole ton of anger to take out on criminals.

Morbius is coming to theaters this January, and as such, Sony has released a new trailer for the project. Take a look:

Watch the New Morbius Trailer

The Living Vampire is an inherently dark character due to his tragic backstory and… well, gruesome abilities. As this trailer shows, however, Morbius will add a touch of humor to its titular antihero, similar to what Venom with Eddie Brock.

Of course, the film’s dramatic and darker elements are still there. After all, the heart of the movie seems to be Michael’s fight to save himself and regain his humanity.

Building a New Cinematic Universe on Unknowns

Morbius may be well-known to some of us comic-book aficionados, but to mainstream audiences, the blood-thirsty doctor is quite an obscure dip into Marvel’s catalogue.

As such, when Morbius was initially revealed to be in development, the sentiment about it on social media was that focusing on such an unknown character was a misstep for Sony.

In reality, the studio’s approach to building a cinematic universe is quite clever. In fact, it somewhat mirrors what Marvel Studios did when it started the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Shining a spotlight on unknown characters.

It’s probably difficult to fathom now, but before 2008, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor were basically complete unknowns. Nevertheless, the House of Ideas banked on that fact, creating stories that didn’t rely on their protagonists’ popularity, but on the protagonists’ ability to resonate with audiences.

Sony is similarly focusing on obscure characters to build its brand, evident by its upcoming slate, which includes solo projects for Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web, Silk and, of course, Morbius. Admittedly, this approach mostly stems from necessity, given the studio’s relatively limited character roster (Sony can only produce projects based on characters from Spider-Man’s world).

However, even if Sony’s franchise plans originated from a need rather than a choice (which, coincidentally, is the same situation Marvel Studios found itself in when first crafting the MCU), it looks like the studio has its creative efforts on the right track.

There’s no denying that Morbius, Kraven and others aren’t household names, but they do have backstories that are interesting enough to warrant entire features dedicated to them. At the end of the day, having characters worthy to have projects based around them is essential when creating a sustainable film franchise. If handled properly, these “obscure” characters could prove to be a big success for Sony.

Morbius will arrive in theaters on January 28, 2022.

What did you think about the new Morbius trailer? What was your favorite moment from it? Let us know in the comments!