Set photos from Morbius reveals new narrative connections to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. After Tom Hardy’s successful Venom, Sony Pictures Entertainment continues to build their Marvel spin-off franchise with the upcoming project. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, it’ll star Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius - a scientist who suffers from a rare blood disease who accidentally afflicts himself with vampirism.

The first trailer for Morbius was released last month, giving fans their first look at the new spin-off. However, aside from debuting footage from the movie, it also confirmed that it’ll somehow factor Holland’s web-slinging hero with the reference to Spider-Man (albeit an image of the hero from Sam Raimi’s trilogy, as it appeared in Spider-Man PlayStation 4 video game), and an appearance from Vulture (Michael Keaton). This in turn, also links it to the MCU. Now new set images gives the public further information as to how Peter Parker will factor in the narrative.

Morbius is currently doing some reshoots, and as part of the project’s exterior filming, a New York bus with an advertisement from the Daily Bugle teasing about Spider-Man’s disappearance has been spotted. The images were shared by Twitter fan account with the handle MorbiusUpdates. Check them out below:

Since Sony’s own interconnected film universe started taking shape, there has been confusion as to how it’ll relate to Marvel Studios’ successful film series. There were rumors that Holland was supposed to make a cameo in Venom, but that obviously didn’t pan out. And unless he’s confirmed for Morbius, these details don’t necessarily confirm that he’ll personally appear. If anything, this advertisement provides more information for Spider-Man: Homecoming 3. The idea of a missing Spider-Man after being framed for the death of Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an interesting premise for the threequel. It seems like the perfect opportunity to debut Kraven the Hunter in the narrative considering the circumstances.

What makes this particular advertisement more interesting is the fact that Morbius appears to be using Raimi’s Daily Bugle logo. The MCU is also taking a crack at the news outlet headed by J. Jonah Jameson which, incidentally, is also played by J.K. Simmons as debuted in Spider-Man: Far From Home’s mid-credits scene. However, instead of the traditional paper, its contemporary version takes advantage of the internet with Jameson reminiscent of the pundits that populate YouTube. Kevin Feige did say that despite Jameson reprising the role, this version is an entirely different character from its predecessor.

The context of the placard, as well as the graffiti from the trailer are all presumed to be referring to Holland’s Spider-Man. Couple that with Vulture’s appearance and it seems like a sure thing. However, using Raimi elements in the film may prove that otherwise. Fans wrote off the first detail slip from Sony, but this new image might imply that these are intentional creative decisions. If that’s the case, there could be more to the narrative of Morbius than simply being about Leto’s character.

More: Sony Marvel Characters Who Should Join MCU After Morbius

Source: MorbiusUpdates/Twitter

  • Morbius Release Date: 2022-04-01