After the huge success achieved by Venom (2018) now the executives of Marvel are working on a new Spider-Man spin-off. Now it will be the turn of Morbius: The Living Vampire, which appeared for the first time in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October 1971). Created by writer Roy Thomas and originally designed by penciler Gil Kane, Morbius, a.k.a. Dr. Michael Morbius, is a character that went on to become a brooding and gritty, albeit heroic and tragically flawed antihero in his own series and other titles. Imbued with pseudo-vampiric superhuman abilities and physical traits stemming from a failed biochemical experiment which was intended to cure his rare blood disorder, as opposed to supernatural means, with the rest of his appearances featuring his struggles with his inhuman-like vampiric persona, his insatiable lust for human blood and his subsequent efforts to cure his horrific condition, along with his eventual stint as a brutal and nightmarish vigilante.
In 2019, Sony announced that the movie based on Morbius: The Living Vampire was in pre-production as part of Sony‘s Marvel Universe. Sweden-born filmmaker Daniel Espinosa, responsible for the movies Safe House (2012), Child 44 (2015) and Life (2017), has been the one chosen to direct the film adaptation. The screenplay is authored by the tandem formed by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, of The Last Witch Hunter (2015), Gods of Egypt (2016) and Power Rangers (2017) fame.
Jared Leto abandoned Warner Bros./DC Comics where he played The Joker in the disappointing Suicide Squad (2016) to incarnate Dr. Michael Morbius himself. Adria Arjona, known for Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) and The Belko Experiment (2016), and Matt Smith, star of Doctor Who (2005– ) from 2010 to 2017, are also starring.
Morbius will begin shooting next February and is expected to to be released on July 31, 2020.
