After the recent multiverse collision in Spider-Man: No Way Home, we’re hardly short on Spider-Man villains. But another one is set to take centre stage in the standalone Sony movie Morbius. However, according to Daniel Espinosa, who is directing the thriller movie, Morbius is more than a villain.
In recent promotional material for the film, Espinosa, who is known for directing horror and sci-fi movie Life, said that Morbius was an “anti-hero” in the same league of X-Men characters like Wolverine and Magneto.
He said, “Most great heroes are antiheroes. Most of us are resistant to accept that we are the chosen one, and Morbius is the same. The most interesting characters in the Marvel universe have always been those that have had one foot on each side: Magneto, Rogue, Wolverine, in his own way, Venom. All of these characters are the ones that are fundamentally the most fascinating for us as moviegoers and comic book readers.”
Morbius was originally introduced as a member of the Sinister Six — but like Tom Hardy’s Venom in Let There Be Carnage, this iteration of the character is being produced by Sony Pictures, meaning that it isn’t technically part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — at least for now.
Michael Morbius first appeared in Marvel comics in 1971. The character is a doctor with a rare blood disorder who ends up transforming himself into a creature with vampire-like abilities. The Living Vampire is set to be played by Jared Leto in the monster movie.
This isn’t the first time Leto has been involved in superhero movie franchises. Famously, he made a disastrous DCEU debut as the Joker in 2016 action movie Suicide Squad.
Hopefully, his second swing at the superhero genre is a little bit more successful. Catch Leto as Morbius in theatres from April 1, 2022. Meanwhile, if you want to catch some of Sony Pictures’ other anti-heroes, rent or buy Venom or Venom 2 on streaming service Amazon Prime Video.