Morbius: The Living Vampire Movie Cast, Release Date, Story, and News
Jared Leto and Matt Smith will star in Morbius: The Living Vampire, a Spider-Man spinoff movie now coming in 2021. Hopefully.
| | There’s a new Spider-Man spinoff on the way from Sony! Called Morbius, it’s set to follow the anti-hero exploits of the blood-sucking antagonist. Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) is directing the film from a script by Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway. The character’s traditional tragic anti-hero elements seem ripe for adaptation, so we’re really looking forward to seeing how this one turns out. Better than Venom? Well, here’s hoping.
If you’ve already seen the first trailer, we can confirm that your eyes do not deceive you … Morbius appears to take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man and all. Here’s everything else you need to know about the upcoming Morbius movie…
Morbius Release Date
At one time, Morbius was supposed to be released on July 31, 2020. But after the coronavirus pandemic, Sony made the extraordinary move of delaying the movie until well into 2021. The movie is now scheduled to release in the hopefully safer waters of March 19, 2021.
Morbius Trailer
Watch the first trailer for Morbius here…
Morbius Cast
Jared Leto (Suicide Squad, Dallas Buyers Club) will star in the film as Michael Morbius, the scientist whose attempts to cure his rare blood disease with a serum derived from bats results in a transformation into a bloodthirsty living vampire.
Adria Arjona (Emerald City, True Detective) joins as the female lead to play Martine, reports Deadline. The character, Martine Bancroft, debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #102, dated November 1971. She’s the fiancé of Morbius, with whom she has a relationship complicated by his bloodlust.
Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) has also been cast in a key role, according to Variety. No other details are currently available.
Tyrese Gibson is the latest acquisition to the Morbius cast, reports Variety. Nothing was revealed about the character of Gibson, the American actor who’s been a mainstay of blockbuster franchises, notably the Fast & Furious films – most recently in 2017’s The Fate of the Furious and soon to return in 2020’s Fast & Furious 9 – as well as the toy-tied Transformers films. Additionally, he recently fielded a TV run on Fox’s Star.
Jared Harris (The Crown, The Terror) also recently joined, according to Deadline. However, nothing was revealed about his character.
Morbius Story
Here’s the official synopsis:
“One of Marvel’s most compelling and conflicted characters comes to the big screen as Oscar winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero, Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. What at first appears to be a radical success soon reveals itself to be a remedy potentially worse than the disease.”
Also in the latest bit of story news on Morbius, the film underwent reshoots in Los Angeles last February. That’s where a bus advertisement on the set was spotted, further connecting the movie to the MCU. The sign read, “Where is Spider-Man?” This indicates that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has gone into hiding following the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, with his true identity having suddenly been revealed to the entire world in the film’s final moments.
Morbius, who first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #101, dated October 1971, was an intriguing character during the twilight (no pun intended,) of the Silver Age of comics, arriving just after the Comics Code Authority lifted its ban on vampires and supernatural characters. He first tangled with Spider-Man during the famous storyline in which the Wall-Crawler grew four extra arms after a failed experiment to remove his spider powers.
Dr. Michael Morbius was a brilliant biochemist suffering from a rare blood disorder, who tried to cure himself with an experimental treatment involving vampire bats. While saving his life, it turned him into a pale-white, blood-craving creature with most of the attributes of a vampire (even a weakness to daylight), minus the undead aspect, existing as a “Living Vampire.”
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Indeed, the tragic aspects of Morbius’s origin story quickly led to him being spotlighted in solo stories in Marvel’s Adventure into Fear, later occasionally popping back up in the Spider-Man titles as a rival. However, Morbius would eventually shine as a hero of sorts with the 1992 debut of his own series Morbius the Living Vampire. He’s also been famously depicted as a tragic villain in the 1990s Spider-Man animated series.
You can learn more about the history of Morbius right here.
Joseph Baxter is a contributor for Den of Geek and Syfy Wire. You can find his work here. Follow him on Twitter @josbaxter.