Last Updated: June 12, 2020

Sony's Morbius will be the latest film created by the studio which adapts the story of a Spider-Man villain for the big screen. Starring Jared Leto, Morbius will be Sony's second effort to make a comic book villain the center of their own story in addition to VenomSony clearly sees a lot of potential in taking this approach to comic book films, especially with Venom's worldwide box office total hitting more than $855 million by the time it left theaters. Given this, it seems the studio is game to keep developing other sidelined comic book characters, making for a truly unique cinematic universe.

First appearing in Amazing Spider-Man #101 in 1971 and the first Spider-Man villain not created by Stan Lee, Morbius the living vampire is an interesting character. Morbius spent most of his life with a genetic blood disease which left him too weak to do much of anything. In search of a cure, Morbius accidentally turns himself into a living vampire, or as he calls the condition, "pseudo-vampirism." Morbius's powers are unique. In addition to craving blood, he is also incredibly fast, agile, and able to heal from any wound within hours. He also has the power of night-vision, a heightened sense of smell, the ability to hypnotize others, create other pseudo-vampires, and he has the power of flight. Unlike traditional vampires, Morbius is immune to magic, garlic, Christian crosses, and other objects or symbols thought to ward off vampires.

Related: MCU Theory: Morbius Was Hidden In Spider-Man: Homecoming

With Morbius less than a year away from hitting theaters, there's plenty of information known about the film worth refreshing oneself on in order to properly prepare. Here's what has been confirmed thus far for Morbius.

Morbius Release Date

Morbius the Living Vampire

Morbius was originally planned to release in summer 2020, but was eventually delayed to March 19, 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Morbius was one of many, many movies delayed from 2020 to 2021, as the situation regarding the virus continued to escalate, and remained unpredictable. There currently isn't any other major competition releasing that week.

Morbius Director

Jared Leto eyes as Michael Morbius in Morbius

Daniel Espinosa is directing Morbius. This is Espinosa's first time directing a film based on a comic book character. Since earning attention for the 2010 Swedish-language crime/action film Easy Money starring Joel Kinnaman, Espinosa has gone on to direct films primarily in that vein. Past credits include Safe House starring Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds; Child 44 starring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, and Noomi Rapace; and Life starring Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Rebecca Ferguson.

Morbius Plot Details

Morbius roaring on the cover of his comic book

Morbius has never been mentioned before in an MCU, Sony, or Fox film before now so he's largely an unknown quantity to a large portion of potential audiences. As such, Morbius' debut movie will be an origin story for the character. Based on what's known so far, Morbius the character appears to be mostly comic accurate, with Michael Morbius becoming a living vampire while trying to cure his rare blood disease. The villain of the film is Loxias Crown, aka Hunger, another living vampire with similar abilities to Morbius, with a secondary antagonist being the FBI agents on the hunt for Michael after his transformation.

Jared Leto Leads The Morbius Cast

Jared Leto as Morbius the Living Vampire

The Morbius cast will be led by Jared Leto, who will play the titular Dr. Michael Morbius. This is the second time Leto has played a comic book character, memorably bringing The Joker to life in 2016's The Suicide Squad. He was the first actor to be cast in the film and was in talks for the role as early as spring 2018 (he was later confirmed for the role in June). It was confirmed at the same time of Leto's casting that playing Morbius would not affect his future as The Joker in other films.

The Morbius Cast Includes Familiar Faces

Morbius Adria Arjona Martine Bancroft SR

Good Omens star Adria Arjona will play Martine Bancroft, Morbius' fiance. Doctor Who alum Matt Smith joined the cast shortly before filming began and will play Loxias Crown. This version of Hunger has been tweaked slightly so that he will be established as Morbius' former friend and a man who suffers from the same blood disease as him tooChernobyl star Jared Harris joined to play Morbius' mentor and Tyrese Gibson is set to play an FBI agent tasked with hunting Morbius down.

Morbius Is Set Within the MCU

Morbius raises Spider-Man over his head in Marvel Comics.

Following the resolution of Marvel and Sony's battle over Spider-Man's movie rights in 2019, Morbius, Venom 2, and possibly other future entries in the now dubbed Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters now take place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To that end, Michael Keaton's Spider-Man: Homecoming villain Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture, will play a role in the film, although how big it will be remains to be seen. Spider-Man is also confirmed as being referenced onscreen, including the ending twist of Spider-Man: Far From Home. It's unclear if Tom Holland will appear in-person as Peter Parker though.

Morbius Trailer

In Januay 2020, Sony released what it calls a teaser trailer for Morbius, although at nearly three minutes, it's longer than many full trailers. This made sense when the film was set for release in July 2020, but now that it's been delayed to March 2021, fans should probably prepare to wait quite some time before the second trailer hits the web. An official poster for Morbius has also yet to be released.

Next: Every Spider-Man Movie In Development: MCU, Villain Universe & Animated

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