With just two short weeks until Morbius comes out, director Daniel Espinosa has been explaining that inspiration for a particular aspect of the character came from an unlikely source. Gotta catch ’em all?
Morbius will be the third movie to come from SPUMC – the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, following Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The upcoming Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web will continue to expand the universe, which is mostly based around Spider-Man’s rogues gallery of villains. MCU fans got excited by mention of Venom in the first Morbius trailer and Michael Keaton’s Vulture appearing in the second.
Doctor Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) has a rare blood disease and his unconventional approach to finding a cure leads to him contracting a form of vampirism. The colourful blue trails that can be seen surrounding a bus in the final trailer were apparently inspired by how Pokémon uses light and colour to express their powers, as well as the trail of purple that follows Morbius in the comic books.
Speaking to IGN, Espinosa said; “I have a daughter who is six years old, and she was really getting into Pokémon. And you know, I’ve watched Pokémon over the years. But I really adore how they use light and colours to express those powers.”
He continued; “When you watch Morbius he always has this trail of purple in the comic books and that normally is just lines that are made with a pencil. But I thought maybe if we can take that kind of Pokémon-esque idea and translate that over to the psychedelic experience, I could create a new version of how to express powers.”
While we wait to find out how exactly Morbius ties into the SPUMC and the MCU, check out our guide to Marvel Phase 4. Or, to stick with the source of the inspiration, take a look at our best Pokémon movies list.