Sony Pictures has a long history with Spider-Man and other Marvel Comics characters the studio owns the big-screen rights to, and plans for an interconnected universe featuring those characters shifted into high gear in recent years. After the success of 2018’s Venom, Sony announced plans for more movies based on Marvel Comics characters, beginning with Morbius, the Living Vampire.
Morbius is set to star Jared Leto as the titular, blood-craving antihero. Directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House, Life) the film is scheduled to hit theaters on April 1, 2022. Here’s everything we know about it so far.
Full Vampire
In a new scene teasing Morbius, Jared Leto goes full vampire.
New trailer
The newest Morbius trailer sees far more finished visual effects and explores the titular character’s vampiric journey while toeing the line between hero and villain.
A Venom crossover
Director Daniel Espinosa all but confirmed that Tom Hardy’s Venom appears in Morbius while speaking with the Swedish website MovieZine. “It usually feels strange before the day begins, when you look at the schedule and stand on the set yourself,” he said. “When you walk around there, the recording looks just like a Swedish production, but then when you look at the schedule and read names like Michael Keaton, Jared Leto, Tom Hardy, then it feels cool and very exciting. But once you start working, it’s exactly the same thing. An actor wants a director and actors want to be directed.”
If Tom Hardy is in Morbius, there’s only one character he could be.
Release date
Marvel’s living vampire’s ultimate truth to this point is constant delays. It was originally planned for a July 2020 premiere, but Sony Pictures pushed Morbius to March 19, 2021, due to nationwide, pandemic-related theater closures. In January 2021, the studio pushed the film again to October 8, 2021, before moving it once again to January 21, 2022. In May 2021, it was pushed one more week, to January 28, 2022. Finally, just a few weeks before the January release date, Sony moved the film again to an April 1, 2022, release.
Japanese trailer
Jared Leto introduced a new Japanese trailer for Morbius in one of the latest updates on the film, which is now scheduled for an April 2022 premiere. Japan’s movie theaters are currently open, unlike much of the rest of the world, so it appears to be all systems go to release the film in theaters on schedule.
New teaser photo
A new teaser photo for the upcoming Marvel movie was released in Comic-Con Magazine. Check it out below:
#Morbius Comic Con Magazine. pic.twitter.com/wD0s11WuaY
— MORBIUS 🦇 (@MorbiusUpdates) March 26, 2020
MCU connection
A bus on the set of Morbius has an ad that reads, “Where is Spider-Man? Find out in The Daily Bugle.”
These leaked images are from Morbius, this week Tyrese confirmed that they were filming more scenes. pic.twitter.com/GiqcyR5A8b
— MORBIUS 🦇 (@MorbiusUpdates) February 9, 2020
This appears to be a direct tie-in with the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home and is part of continuing efforts to establish a connection between Morbius and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since J.K. Simmons is confirmed to reprise his role as The Daily Bugle editor-in-chief and Spider-Man hater J. Jonah Jameson, perhaps this film will spend some time furthering the storyline of Far From Home.
The first trailer
The first trailer for Morbius (see above) premiered on January 13, 2020, and not only provided a synopsis of the events that lead to scientist Michael Morbius becoming the film’s vampiric antihero, but in a surprising final scene, also linked the film to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
After running through a series of scenes that hint at how Leto’s character acquires his powerful abilities (and thirst for blood), then showcasing some of those abilities, the trailer features a scene with Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, the villain from Spider-Man: Homecoming. How that MCU film will connect to Morbius remains unclear, but the film’s connection to Marvel’s movie universe in addition to Sony’s Spider-verse is certain to generate a lot of speculation.
The story
In Marvel Comics lore, Morbius was a brilliant biochemist whose efforts to cure his own rare blood disorder result in him acquiring powerful abilities along with an insatiable hunger for blood. He first appeared in a 1971 issue of The Amazing Spider-Man and is the creation of Roy Thomas and Gil Kane — giving him the distinction of being the first Spider-Man villain not created by Stan Lee.
The film casts Jared Leto as Michael Morbius and appears to follow the character’s Marvel Comics origin story relatively close, with the first trailer showing Leto’s character desperately attempting to cure the blood disease afflicting him. His efforts push him toward potential treatments involving bats, and the rest is, well, vampire superhero history.
Over the years, Morbius fought against and alongside Spider-Man at various points in Marvel’s comics, often while struggling to control his vampiric hunger. It’s unknown exactly where his moral compass will point in the film, and the Morbius trailer doesn’t seem to offer many clues. Like Venom, Morbius spent a considerable amount of time as a violent vigilante in the comics, often using criminals to sate his cravings for blood.
The star
Jared Leto didn’t exactly win over comics fans with his supporting performance as Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad, but he’s getting a second chance with the lead role in Morbius.
An Academy Award winner, Leto was cast in the film’s lead role in June 2018. Nearly a year later, we got our first look at him on the set of the film, courtesy of an animated image he posted on Twitter.
Because no one else will walk this path…this place of shadows, where we do what must be done, no matter the cost. #MORBIUS pic.twitter.com/kyZUXQkira
— JARED LETO (@JaredLeto) April 4, 2019
The photo was accompanied by a cryptic caption that hinted at the film’s dark tone: “Because no one else will walk this path … this place of shadows, where we do what must be done, no matter the cost.”
The supporting cast
Joining Leto in the film’s cast will be a host of familiar faces. Good Omens actress Adria Arjona will play Morbius’ love interest.
Former Doctor Who star Matt Smith (pictured below) will play Loxias Crown, an established Marvel Comics character who’s had his history tweaked for the film, and will now reportedly be a former friend of Morbius who suffers from a similar blood disorder. He’s joined by Chernobyl actor Jared Harris, who will play a mentor role to Morbius, as well as Tyrese Gibson, who will play FBI agent Simon Stroud.
As revealed in the Morbius trailer, they’ll be joined by Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, the villain he played in Spider-Man: Homecoming. It’s unknown how much of a role Keaton will have in the film, as it’s entirely possible that he’ll simply have a cameo that serves to link Morbius to the greater Spider-verse and MCU.
The universe
Morbius will be set in the same universe as Venom, making it likely that the events in the latter film could be referenced in the former, and that the upcoming Venom sequel could also connect both films in one way or another.
The first trailer for Morbius offered a clear indication that elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will also exist in Sony’s Spider-verse, with Michael Keaton reprising his Spider-Man: Homecoming role for the film. A scene in Morbius also features Leto’s character walking by a poster of Spider-Man — the first, official acknowledgment of the MCU superhero in Sony’s Spider-verse so far.
Along with Venom and Morbius, Sony also has several other film projects in the works based on Spider-Man’s allies, enemies, and supporting characters. These include the villain team-up movie The Sinister Six, as well as films based on the character Madame Web, Black Cat, Silver Sable, and Kraven the Hunter, among others.
Although Sony owns the rights to Spider-Man and all of these characters are connected to the famous web-slinger, it’s unknown whether Spider-Man will ever appear in any of the films. However, the brief feud between Sony and Disney-owned Marvel Studios that saw Spider-Man temporarily leave the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as the introduction of the “multiverse” concept in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the link to the character in the Morbius trailer, all suggest that Sony’s vision for the wall-crawler could bring him into that universe at some point.
