Morbius, the Living Vampire: All you need to know

From Digital Spy

Sony is steadily building its Marvel universe after a failed attempt to launch one with The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Following the release of Venom (which has been a box office hit, despite negative reviews) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the next outing in Sony's Universe of Marvel Characters (SUMC) – official name – is looking like it will be Morbius, the Living Vampire starring Jared Leto as the titular character.

Michael Morbius is a biologist who attempts to cure his rare blood disorder with vampire-bat DNA which instead – surprise, surprise – transforms him into a vampire-like being forced to drain the blood of others to survive.

Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane in 1971, Morbius started off as a villain in the Spider-Man universe, but morphed into an anti-hero – and sometimes selfless hero – in the Marvel Comics world.

But what can we expect of his big-screen debut? Here's everything you need to know about the Morbius, the Living Vampire movie.

Morbius movie release date: When can we expect it?

The movie will be directed by Life's Daniel Espinosa and has been written by Lost in Space reboot writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless.

Despite Sony scheduling in 'Untitled Sony/Marvel' for July 10, 2020 which had many fans guessing that would be the likely release date, Sony has now confirmed the actual release date is a little later, on July 31, 2020.

Filming started on the spin-off in February 2019.

Morbius movie cast: Why Jared Leto?

Jared Leto hardly gained critical acclaim for his portrayal of the Joker in the much-derided Suicide Squad, so it could be seen as a tricky prospect to hang an entire movie on him.

But apparently, much like Tom Hardy with Venom, Morbius is a character that Leto loves and wants to do justice to. "This is the great thing for us now, that an actor like him, and an actor like Tom wanted to have their own character. But the character they love," Arad told Collider.

He prepared for the role by shaving off his beard. And our first (slight) look at Leto in character was released on March 5 to mark the end of the first week of filming.

Leto will be joined in the movie by True Detective's Adria Arjona as Morbius's love interest Martine Bancroft (who's engaged to the scientist in the comics) and Doctor Who's Matt Smith as the villainous Loxias Crown who suffers from the same blood disease as Morbius.

And because one Jared isn't enough, Mad Men's Jared Harris will also feature as Morbius's mentor, while Fast & Furious star Tyrese Gibson will play an FBI agent trying to hunt down the living vampire.

Morbius movie plot: Will we see Spider-Man?

For now with nothing known about the plot, we'll have to assume that the movie will be an origin story for Morbius, much like Venom turned out to be.

Anyone hoping that Morbius will feature a Spider-Man cameo from Tom Holland may be disappointed, though, as Spidey is still currently very much a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Spider-Man: Far from Home scheduled for release on July 5, 2019.

As far as we know from watching the movie, Venom exists in a continuity separate from the MCU and potentially as part of the wider Spider-Verse instead, meaning that it's likely Morbius will exist within the same timeline and that, therefore, would mean no appearance from Holland.

That means that the most likely cameo at this point would be Tom Hardy as Venom or even from Woody Harrelson as Carnage, given that in the comics, Spider-Man, Venom and Morbius team up to take on Carnage.

We think it's unlikely though unless, for some reason, Venom 2 arrives before Morbius.

Who knows, maybe some of the voice actors from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse could reprise their roles, only in live-action, for Morbius.

At this point, it's anyone's guess.

Morbius movie trailer: When will it land?

With filming underway, we'd be surprised if we didn't see something from the movie at this year's Comic-Con in July.

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