Sony’s next Spider-Man spinoff, Morbius, was shot back in the summer of 2019. But then the coronavirus pandemic hit, bouncing the movie, based on the Marvel character known as a “Living Vampire,” all over the release schedule. The film finally looks set to debut in theaters early in 2022, so here come the trailers.

The new teaser for the film is dubbed a “vignette,” with star Jared Leto explaining to the uninitiated who Morbius is and how he fits into the Marvel landscape. In the comics, Morbius debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #101, during a storyline where Spider-Man had experimented upon himself and sprouted four additional arms, making him more spider than man. That’s when he winds up meeting Dr. Michael Morbius who is himself transformed into a bloodsucking monster by another scientific experiment gone awry. (Hence the living vampire monicker; he sucks blood, but he’s not dead or undead, he’s just a dude who sort of acts like a vampire.)

The teaser does seem to evoke much of that backstory, even if Spider-Man himself doesn’t appear in it. Take a look:

Here is the film’s official synopsis:

One of Marvel’s most compelling and conflicted characters comes to the big screen as Oscar® winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed. Will good override evil – or will Morbius succumb to his mysterious new urges?

Morbius is currently scheduled for release on January 28, 2022.

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