Sony's Spiderman spinoff, Morbius will make its debut this year and we will witness Jared Leto as Morbius, The Living Vampire. While we don't have much information yet about the film, aside from it being an origin story, Morbius' director shares some details about the character and the film.
The film's plot follows Michael Morbius, a biochemist who's trying to cure his rare blood disease. But when his experiment goes wrong, he accidentally infects himself with a form of vampirism that also gave him superhuman abilities and instincts. Given his new abilities, Leto's character will struggle to maintain the balance between good and evil as his character also developed a thirst for human blood.
In Sony Pictures' official Morbius production release, director Daniel Espinosa highlighted the 'anti-hero' title for Morbius' character comparing him to X-Men characters like Wolverine, Rogue, and Magnetto.
"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.”
Balancing good and evil will be difficult for Morbius to maintain not because of his evil temptations but because of his transformation as a living vampire.
"Michael Morbius is one of the most altruistic characters of the Marvel Universe. He’s one of the few that really believes in good. This good man has a horrible disease, and in his trials to save himself and the people that he cares for, he turns into a monster.”
Espino furtherly explained that Morbius will be going through a journey of accepting his new life.
“When Morbius discovers his inner beast, he becomes afraid of it – and because he’s afraid, he’s also afraid of his powers. He’s afraid that they will take over and change him, so he’s constantly resisting them. To become the hero, he has to accept his fate: Morbius’s journey is to accept that he will still remain the person that he is, but he has to harness these powers.”
“At the end of the day, he’s a very good person. He’s using his talent, his skills, his education, his brains, in search of noble pursuits. He’s not without his faults – he’s breaking some rules, but he’s doing it to find the cure and help people like himself.” the director added.
Morbius is a complex character even in Marvel Comics. He started as a villain much like Eddie Brock's Venom but apparently evolved into a hero and developed acquaintance with Peter Parker's Spiderman.
After being delayed multiple times, Morbius will finally premiere in theaters on April 1.
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