Morbius, the upcoming movie from Sony Pictures and starring Jared Leto in the lead role as the vampiric anti-hero, has been delayed yet again – and it looks like that pesky Spider-Man may be to blame.
The Marvel movie, which follows a scientist-turned-vampire in the same universe as Tom Hardy's Venom, was previously scheduled to release on January 28, but it looks like fans will have to wait until April 1 for its arrival. And no, that's not an April Fool's joke. We hope.
One possible reason for the delay (per Deadline) is the phenomenal success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, a multiverse-hopping, spell-casting, cameo-burdened fun-fest that saw plenty of old faces from past Spider-Man movies return.
No Way Home released on December 15 in the UK (it launched on December 17 in the US), but the movie's incredible popularity – it's already grossed over $1 billion worldwide, and is set to be one of the highest-grossing films ever made – means it's sure to be entertaining cinemagoers well into this month.
Given Morbius – like Venom – is a character generally associated with Spider-Man, it makes sense that Sony doesn't want similar properties competing for fan attention at the same time. A pushed-back release date helps with that, even if it moves Morbius closer to the May 6 debut of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Though, given that it's currently unclear how Morbius fits into the wider Marvel Cinematic Multiverse (MCM), that may be no bad thing.
Spider-Man, meet Spider-Man
Warning: spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home follow.
With both Marvel and Sony collaborating on bringing Spider-Man characters to screen, we're entering something of a glut of Spidey and Spidey-adjacent films.
2021 saw Venom 2 and No Way Home arrive exclusively in theaters, while 2022 will see Morbius, animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One, and any other MCU movies that feature Tom Holland's iteration of the webslinger, even in passing.
No Way Home, of course, featured three Spider-Men from different timelines – Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield reprising their roles from Sony's two other live-action webslinger film series – whereas the studio's second Spider-Verse movie could include many more beyond that.
Death by Spider-Man? Gauging by the sales success of pretty much every Spider-Man property these days, it's everything a Spider-Man fan really wants. Some film aficionados may think it's overkill at this point, much like the slew of other Marvel Studios productions currently in the works. But, for superhero film fanatics, the plethora of upcoming films, particularly Spidey-based ones, is something to revel in.
And, as long as they keep making Sony (and Marvel) tons of cash along the likes seen with No Way Home and Venom's two films, they'll keep coming.
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