Despite forming a very successful and lucrative partnership with Disney and Marvel Studios for the current generation of Spider Man movies, Sony Pictures still makes full use of the intellectual property to which it still owns the rights without assistance from Kevin Feige. With the financial success of both Venom movies (though critical reception has been mixed at best), it makes sense that Sony would want to give another Spider-Man villain his own standalone movie.
This time the lucky anti-hero is Dr. Michael Morbius, the Living Vampire. Directed by The life director Daniel Espinosa, Morbius will be the first Marvel movie since the Blade trilogy to focus on the infamous Bloodsuckers, telling the story of a desperate doctor who meddles with the laws of nature to find a cure for a debilitating disease. Seemingly drawing inspiration from classic monster movies of cinema’s past, Morbius may focus more on the horror of a Marvel IP, which would be an exciting change of pace after the film’s many delays.
Being new to the big screen (unless you count a deleted scene from the first Blade film), the bloodthirsty cinematic adventure of Morbius is set to introduce a host of new characters to the universe in which it is set. New characters can spark new interest in their comics’ source material, so here’s a complete guide to the cast and characters of Morbius.
Just keep in mind that as of this writing, the movie has yet to be released. The information here is based primarily on speculation from marketing material as well as source material from the comic. In other words, character descriptions may not be representative of the final product or may potentially spoil particular details for those unfamiliar with the comics the film is based on.
Jared Leto as Morbius
Given that his controversial version of the Joker is unlikely to appear in any future DCEU project anytime soon, Jared Leto takes another shot at the comic book genre, this time as the main character. The Oscar-winning star of Dallas Buyers Club will be the main protagonist, Dr. Michael Morbius, a brilliant biochemist who pays the ultimate price for what he wants most.
Morbius ironically suffers from a rare blood disease that slowly but surely kills him, leading the scientist to test his own DNA with that of a vampire bat. This leads to predictable results as Morbius of course receives his vampire powers through these tests. His abilities are those of a classic vampire, including superhuman strength and reflexes, echolocation, and weaponized claws and fangs; so no sparkling here. This also comes with many disadvantages of being a vampire, such as sensitivity to sunlight and having to consume human blood. However, because he acquired these abilities through scientific means rather than natural means (i.e. being bitten by a traditional vampire), Morbius is not technically a “real” vampire, so some elements supernatural about being a vampire doesn’t apply to him like a fear of crucifixes, which probably helps.
Most of these details seem to be pretty accurate compared to what’s been shown so far for the upcoming movie, though it seems likely that Morbius will evolve from villain to anti-hero much faster than he does. did in the comics. In the source material, Morbius initially struggled to adapt to his new abilities, leading him to kill indiscriminately to sate his bloodlust. This caused him to often come to blows with Spider-Man and Blade, but eventually Morbius’ conscience found his voice and he swore to feed only on those who truly deserved to face death for their lives. sins.
Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft
The Belko experience Star Adria Arjona will play Martine Bancroft; a pivotal character in both Morbius’ origin and its overall story. Bancroft was Morbius’ assistant and love partner, helping him in every way, shape or form possible. This obviously included all work duties but also all health issues considering Morbius’ condition, and when he finally transformed from an empathetic scientist into a murderous vampire, she repeatedly did her utmost possible to help him find a cure.
Bancroft will most likely fill a similar role in the film, but it will be interesting to see if his comic book storyline will be adapted in the future. Eventually, in her quest to cure Morbius, Martine Bancroft is bitten by another vampire, which naturally leads to her becoming a vampire herself. It’s a watershed moment for the character that leads him to worry less about curing Morbius and more about spending eternity with his true love, which ultimately leads to tragic consequences.
Jared Harris as Emil Nikols
Jared Harris will most certainly have made his late grandfather Richard Harris proud, like he had a more than impressive acting career with big projects such as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows as well as the Emmy-Winning hit Chernobyl. With a career like that, it was only a matter of time before Harris got involved with a massive franchise like Marvel.
who he plays in Morbius is an odd storyline as there is no character named Emil Nikols in the comic book continuity. There is however an Emil Nikos who has a strong connection to the Living Vampire, so we’ll go ahead and assume that’s what Harris is playing. Nikos in the comics is one of Morbius’ closest friends and colleagues, actively participating in his work for a cure for his rare blood disease. Nikos was also Morbius’ first victim right after he became a “living” vampire, but that didn’t turn out to be the end for him as he was later resurrected as, you guessed it. , another vampire. Go figure!
Nikols de Harris also appears to be close friends with Morbius, although rather than a college colleague, he appears to be more of a mentor/father figure. It’s unclear if he’ll become an unfortunate victim in one of Morbius’ rampages, but his transformation into a vampire seems to only appear in a potential sequel or potential post-credits scene, if at all.
Matt Smith as Loxias Crown AKA Hunger
The Eleventh Doctor Who himself, Matt Smithwill apparently bring to life MorbiusThe main antagonist of: a mysterious psychopathic vampire named Loxias Crown, otherwise known as the Hunger. “Mysterious” not only applies to his role in the film, which was only briefly teased as his motivation is not yet known, but his comic book counterpart isn’t really any clearer.
Crown’s history is shrouded in mystery, first appearing as an infamous HYDRA agent who confronted Spider-Man. He also happened to be experimenting on a captive Michael Morbius at his own base, which allowed Crown to gain his vampire powers. Since then, he and Morbius have been equal in power and skill, and have clashed on several occasions.
Tyrese Gibson as Simon Stroud
While Tyrese Gibson has yet to fulfill his dream role as the Green Lantern, the fast furious The star was always able to land a role in another comic book movie role, albeit in a different universe.
Simon Stroud has become something of an impromptu supernatural sleuth in the pages of the comics, hunting down many of Spider-Man’s more alien enemies, mostly. These included the son of J. Jonah Jameson (the astronaut) after he transformed into Man-Wolf and, as you might have guessed, Michael Morbius. After Morbius decided to turn over a new leaf and become an anti-hero, he and Stroud found themselves repeatedly forming uneasy alliances for the greater good.
Michael Keaton as… Vulture?
Yes, Michael Keaton has been confirmed to have a role in Morbiusand his appearance here raises so many questions.
For starters, while Keaton is credited in the film, the name of the character he’s credited to is exceptionally absent at this time. The fact that this character appears to be in prison seems to strongly imply that it’s actually Adrian Toomes, aka the Vulture, given that prison was the last place we saw the MCU villain at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. At the same time, if that’s the case, why wouldn’t Sony just announce that Keaton is playing the same character? They already showed it in the trailer after all.
If that wasn’t confusing enough, the second trailer makes two direct references to Venom. With the Venom the films having been explicitly established as taking place in a separate universe from the MCU by the two post-credit scenes for Venom: let there be carnage and Spider-Man: No Coming Homethis seems to contradict the idea that Morbius is mostly set in the MCU. The only explanation one can think of is that Morbius was briefly introduced into the MCU from the Venom verse by the events of No coming home (yes, it may be a plot because Morbius probably doesn’t know who Spider-Man is, but neither does Tom Hardy’s Venom, so who knows).
Then there are even theories that Morbius takes place in the Maguire or Garfield continuities and it’s a Pandora’s box that we’ll just keep closed for now.
So is Morbius in the MCU, Sony’s villain universe, or something in between? Honestly, everyone’s guessing, and fans will just have to see when Morbius is finally sinking its teeth into the big screen starting April 1 and it’s no joke.
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