Jared Leto Explains Morbius in Japanese Trailer Intro

By now, filmgoers are familiar with many of Marvel's biggest characters, and a few of the weirdest. When it comes to Spider-Man and his family of characters, though, that sphere of knowledge makes it only as far as Miles Morales and Doctor Octopus for most. It's a good thing, then, that Jared Leto is here to introduce the latest trailer for the upcoming Spider-Man-adjacent film, Morbius.

Before you dive in, there's no new footage from the Morbius film in this trailer. What's new here is Leto's introduction. The trailer that follows is an abridged version of the trailer we've already seen.

“Hello to all you wonderful Marvel fans," Leto says. "I can't wait for you to check out my new movie, Morbius, coming your way very soon. In the film, I play a new Marvel character who attempts to cure his lifelong blood disease with an experimental science, in the process turned into a living vampire."

"It’s an exciting role in an expanding universe," Leto continues before offering a message to Japanese viewers about theaters being open for moviegoers when the movie debuts in 2021.

Comic book fans will know that Morbius isn't a new character per se, but the 2021 film will mark the first time the character has appeared in live action. Morbius the Living Vampire first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 in 1971. He was initially a villain, but became an antihero over time. Leto's description of the character is succinct and accurate. Just as Spider-Man's powers came from a spider bite, biochemist Michael Morbius gets his powers when injecting himself with modified vampire bat DNA. In other words, he can still eat Italian food and retains any opinions he had about crucifixes before he became a vampire.

Like the previous trailer for Morbius and the information Sony has already released, though, this leaves us with a lot of questions. Leto mentions joining an expanding universe in his intro. We're not ready to call it and say that Sony's films are merging with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but when we're talking about Marvel, the word "universe" definitely has implications. Further complicating this are the casting confirmations and rumors of both the Morbius film and the third MCU-connected Spider-Man film. This trailer, too, includes a cameo of Michael Keaton, presumably reprising his role as the Vulture, as he asks Morbius, "what's up, doc?" as well as the graffiti of the suit from the Sam Raimi-directed Spider-Man films, which starred Tobey Maguire.

Let's pile on top of that the confirmed casting for the third Spider-Man film. Jamie Foxx will play a version of Electro, the same character he played in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man), and just today we learned that Alfred Molina will reprise the role of Doctor Octopus, his character from 2004's Spider-Man 2. And then there's that stinger from Spider-Man: Far From Home, which featured J.K. Simmons as internet pundit J. Jonah Jameson ranting about Spider-Man before revealing his secret identity (Rude, JJ.).

Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange is said to play the role of Spidey's new mentor, and Strange's sequel is called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. While Far from Home joked about the idea of a multiverse, 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was all about the idea, and Spider-Man comics have pushed different Spider-Men into alliances in ways that would make The Flash and other dimension travelers blush with envy. The idea of a multiverse-centric live-action Spider-Man film sounds like a risky move, but it's far from implausible considering all of this information.