Spider-Man: Brand New Day Draws on 1971 Morbius Storyline

Spider-Man: Brand New Day revisits the divisive Morbius origin despite the 2022 film's poor reception. Jared Leto's Morbius flopped at the box office and left the so-called villain-verse effectively dead, but Brand New Day still mines that material as it follows on from 2021's No Way Home.

The new movie clearly borrows from the 1971 Marvel Comics run known as the Six Arms Saga, which first introduced Morbius. In the original arc, Peter's attempt to remove his powers accelerates his mutation, he grows extra arms, and an enzyme in Morbius' blood becomes key to reversing the change; Brand New Day draws on that storyline without being a direct adaptation, and Morbius himself has been stripped out of the film's version of events.

The Six Arms Saga was previously adapted in 1996's Spider-Man: The Animated Series, widely regarded as the most faithful screen take.

spider-man, brandnewday, morbius, jared leto, villain-verse, six arms, 1971, animated series, 1996, blood enzyme