With Venom 2 already out, Sony’s focus will shift to upcoming SSU attractions, including Spider-Man: No Way Home and Morbius. While the former sells itself with little or no marketing effort, Morbius will need trailer hype and plenty more promotion. That’s because everybody knows the big No Way Home spoiler, which makes the next Spider-Man a must-see movie this year. Even without the spoiler, Spider-Man draws massive crowds at the box office.
But Morbius (Jared Leto) is a new addition to the roster of major Marvel characters that get their own projects, so it needs more advertising. That’s why Sony has released the second official trailer for the movie, which will premiere at some point in 2022, well after No Way Home. However, the trailer leaked a day early, and we know it features a mind-blowing Venom connection. Now, the new Morbius trailer 2 has officially been released.
Morbius and the SSU
Sony’s Marvel movies are part of its ambitious Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) that’s meant to replicate Marvel’s impressive MCU. And Sony is desperate to tie Tom Holland’s Spider-Man to the SSU. That’s a guaranteed way to ensure that SSU movies will get even more attention from fans, and Venom 2 is a testament to that.
The film connects to No Way Home via the post-credits scene, which practically ensures we’ll see a Venom vs. Spider-Man confrontation at some point down the line. Rumors say that we’ll see Venom (Tom Hardy) in the post-credits scenes of No Way Home. But that’s only a small taste of things to come.
The first Morbius trailer already delivered its own MCU connections. That includes an image of Spider-Man with the word “murderer” written on it, just as Morbius was running past it. Even better, Michael Keaton’s Vulture appears in the trailer. As you’ll recall, he was the main villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming.
In other words, Sony is publicly laying the foundation of the SSU. And it’s ensuring that everyone knows these Marvel characters are connected to Peter Parker. After all, Sony can only use Spider-Man heroes and villains in its SSU. It doesn’t have to rights to other popular Marvel characters.
On Monday, Sony released the following featurette in preparation for the second Morbius trailer. Now, the full Morbuis trailer 2 has been released.
The mind-blowing Venom connection
As the new Morbius trailer 2 shows, Sony is ready to move beyond linking its new Marvel characters to Spider-Man. It’s not enough to connect Spider-Man to Venom and then to Morbius. According to the new Morbius trailer, Sony plans other Easter eggs that should serve as the connective tissue of the SSU. That sort of approach worked for the MCU, so it should help the SSU in the same way.
As you’ll see in the second Morbius trailer, a terrified bad guy asks Morbius who he is. And Morbius quickly quips, “I am Venom.” He then shows his vampiric teeth before shrugging it all off and mentioning his real name. He is “Doctor Michael Morbius, at your service.”
This little Easter egg tells us that Morbius is more than aware of Eddy Brock’s alter-ego. It’s still unclear whether the events in Morbius happen in the MCU. After Venom 2, I’d say this is another alternate reality where we’ll find variants of the Spider-Man characters. That’s the easiest route for Sony to take. Not to mention that Marvel would probably not give Sony any control over characters in its MCU adventures.
That explains why Keaton’s Vulture appears in the second trailer as well. Again, each timeline in the multiverse can contain variations of the characters we already saw. They might be identical or slightly different. And the events in this reality might resemble the MCU’s primary reality. The same Avengers vs. Thanos wars could have happened in this reality. But Sony can’t really use Avengers in its SSU movies, of course.
Also of note, we can’t know whether the Venom that Morbius mentions is Tom Hardy’s Venom. But Morbius and Venom are probably sharing the same reality, so it’s a safe bet. And that’s because they’re characters that Sony controls. Not to mention that one of the police officers mentions “that thing in San Francisco,” in the new trailer.
Morbius trailer 2
Sony’s Morbius trailer 2 was released on Tuesday, after having leaked earlier in the week. You can watch the full clip below.
