With rumors surrounding Spider-Man: No Way Home taking up a majority of the attention of the comic book world, many fans are putting other upcoming movies on the backburner.
One such film is Morbius, a Sony-produced project that will feature Jared Leto as the genius-minded Dr. Michael Morbius. After the biochemist meddled in an experiment to fix his life-threatening blood disease that proved to be more dangerous than beneficial, he transformed into a living vampire with a strong bloodlust.
Morbius has already received a teaser in January 2020, introducing viewers to their first look of Leto in the role, as well as making fans somewhat familiar with the character's story. Due to the global pandemic forcing production companies into delays, the movie has almost been forgotten about, with no new content being released since the teaser.
However, an official trailer is on the way, and prior to its release, a short featurette was recently revealed that offered new shots from the movie with a voiceover from Leto. One quick shot of the new footage revealed a newspaper that Spider-Man fans will be familiar with, teasing two characters closely related to the web-slinger.
Rhino & Black Cat Teased in Morbius Featurette
In a recently released featurette for the upcoming Morbius film, a quick shot of the Daily Bugle newspaper contained headlines of two Spider-Man villains, Black Cat and Rhino.
One headline reads, "Rhino on the Loose: Zoo Hoax Fools us All," accompanied by another right beside it saying "Black Cat: Friend or Foe?"
The featurette for the film can be seen below:
The Spider-Verse is Expanding
The future of Spider-Man is unknown after Spider-Man: No Way Home rounds out the character's trilogy in the MCU. Many fans speculate that the character will stay in the interconnected franchise at Marvel Studios, while others believe that Sony will be taking him back to build a universe of its own.
Evidence for the latter seems to keep getting stronger as time passes. During the post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, viewers saw Eddie Brock get his first glimpse at Tom Holland's Spider-Man by seeing a news report on a TV screen.
Seeing how Morbius, along with Rhino and Black Cat, are all closely associated with the web-slinger only adds fuel to the fire that the character may be the center of a Sony Spider-Verse. Coincidentally, both characters of Rhino and Black Cat were seen in 2014's The Amazing Spider-Man 2, possibly elevating the Spider-Verse possibility even more.
Speculation aside, the new featurette for Morbius is likely to get many fans excited about the upcoming film. If the inclusion of Black Cat and Rhino in the Daily Bugle is only an Easter egg, it is a nice nod to Spider-Man diehards. If it leads to something more, only time will tell.
Morbius will debut exclusively in theaters on January 28, 2022.
