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Amidst rumors of a new Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, Sony Pictures switched fan expectations when they dropped a new trailer for Morbius. The Jared Leto starrer will be released just a month after NWH's December 17 release, with a possible release on January 28, 2022.
Although Morbius' second trailer confirms the movie's timeline, it created a massive confusion over which alternate universe the film is taking place. The clip also packed a ton of references to others from Sony's acquired roster of Spider-Man characters.
Furthermore, Morbius' official trailer also establishes that Morbius and Venom are from the same universe, i.e., before the convergence of the multiverse.
Easter eggs and theories that Morbius official trailer spawned
Black Cat
In a prominent shot of The Daily Bugle newspaper featuring Dr. Michael Morbius' arrest, one masthead headline mentioned the superhero Black Cat, while another hinted at the comic villain Rhino.
Sony has been in talks to develop a movie featuring the antihero Black Cat (aka Felicia Hardy), who has also served as a romantic interest of Spider-Man. The Daily Bugle headline confirms her presence in the Venomverse MCU.
Rhino
Like Black Cat, Spiderman supervillain 'Rhino' was seemingly teased with the newspaper's headline. Although the story referred to an incident with an actual rhino at the zoo, it is likely to be an Easter egg for the character whose live-action self was last seen in 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It could be possible that Rhino would be showing up in future Marvel X Sony movies.
Jared Harris playing Emil Nikos?
While both trailers showcased Jared Harris' unnamed character as one of Michael Morbius' confidants, the character's name has not yet been revealed. According to the fan theory, Harris could be playing Morbius' biochemist best friend Emil Nikos, who worked with Michael to cure the latter's disease.
After Michael turned into a living vampire, Nikos was one of the first victims who fell to Morbius' bloodlust. In the previous trailer, a shot showcased Jared Leto's Morbius devastatingly screaming over a potential corpse. This body could be of Nikos in the film.
However, if this theory is correct, Nikos may return in the future too. In the comics, he was turned into a vampire by the antagonist Baron Blood.
Simon Stroud
Tyrese Gibson portrays Stroud in the film. In the comics, the character was a CIA agent who encountered Black Widow that made them friends. He later joined the NYPD and was also associated with the investigation and search for Werewolf (J Jonah Jameson's son John).
Loxias Crown (aka Hunger)
The character is played by Matt Smith and is expected to be the main antagonist of the movie. In the comics, Crown has similar powers to Morbius. He might be the one to have suggested this approach for the cure to Michael or might be the one pursuing it himself.
The trailer showcased a subtle hint about Loxias Crown potentially framing Michael Morbius. In the trailer, Stroud holds an origami shaped like a bat at a potential crime scene. However, it seems out of character for Morbius to leave a calling card. Thus, it can be theorized that Crown leaves the calling cards to frame Morbius.
When and in which universe is Morbius taking place?
Warning: Spoiler alert for Venom 2
The trailer left a lot of confusion regarding the universe the film is taking place in. Since there has been no hint of the events of Doctor Strange 2 or Spider-Man: No Way Home. It seems that Morbius is set in after the events of Venom 2's climax scene in the church, but before the post-credit scene of Let There Be Carnage.
From the post-credit scene of Venom 2, it can be seen that a brief time (perhaps a week or two) has passed since Venom and Eddie escaped from San Francisco. So Morbius could be taking place in between that week or two.
The Multiversal connection
After the Venom 2 post-credit scene, Morbius Official trailer confused many viewers and cast a mystery over the universe in which the film is taking place. Meanwhile, the previous trailer showcased the graffiti of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (Tobey Maguire) on a wall, with the words 'murderer' painted over it. This refers to the ending of Spider-Man: Far From Home from the main MCU.
The movie will also have Adrian Toomes (aka The Vulture) or a variant of him, who was last seen in a New York prison at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Meanwhile, the Daily Bugle logo of the newspaper is the same as seen in Venom 2.
Thus, it is inevitable that Morbius is most likely taking place in the same universe as the two Venom movies. This was also corroborated by Michael Morbius humorously using Venom's catchphrase later in the trailer.
However, the Oscorp tower seen in the trailer carries the exact logo from Andrew Garfield's The Amazing Spider-Man series. The logo even has the same stylized 'R' letter. This could hint that Sony might plan to club the two universes by setting TASM movies in this one.
However, it could also explain the different versions of the characters like Spider-Man and Adrian Toomes using the 'variants' route as seen in Loki.
Venom and Morbius being of the same universe could mean that both characters are likely to have some brief role in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which already has other multiversal characters.
