Michael Keaton may not even know he’s in Morbius, but Sony really wants you know he’s there. Don’t be fooled — Adrian Toomes aka The Vulture will only be a couple of minutes to tie this together with other Spider-Man properties. What this trailer really gives us is a greater sense of Matt Smith’s villain Loxias Crown. Morbius may be an anti-hero, but of all the Marvel characters that fit this, his being so makes sense. In comics, he’s carefully called “the Living Vampire” to separate himself from others like Dracula (who might be appearing in Blade). He’s tortured. He really does want to help humanity. But he needs blood.
Now being released April 1, Daniel Espinosa’s film may work. The delays are likely more about rolling out of Spider-Man: No Way Home than problems with the film itself. Also, no studio is in the business of losing money, so they’re hoping more people will show up in theaters for this than would have last year. And Jared Leto may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but he’s the kind of actor that will bite hard into the role and chew it up, and Michael Morbius needs that.
