Last October, Venom kicked off Sony Pictures’ own shared Marvel universe, and Morbius will keep the ball rolling next year. Morbius the Living Vampire’s cinematic adventure was announced back in November 2017, and now principal photography has finally begun, with Jared Leto playing the blood-sucking Marvel character. To commemorate finishing the first week of shooting, Leto has shared the first official look at Morbius, which you can gaze at below.
Ah, the old ‘strategically-placed clapperboard’ trick. While we can’t make out Jared Leto’s full Morbius look in this Twitter picture, his eyes seem to have a sickly quality to them. Assuming that Michael Morbius will look more monstrous as a vampire like his comic book counterpart does, then I’m guessing this particular scene takes place when Michael is still fully human and suffering from a blood disease or whatever his ailment in the upcoming movie is. It’s logical to assume that this guy won’t be running any marathons in his current condition. In any case, since there’s still a lot of time to go until Morbius wraps up principal photography, maybe we’ll be treated to an official, unobscured look at Leto vampire-ed up before the cameras finish rolling.
For those unfamiliar with Morbius the Living Vampire, Michael Morbius, a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, attempted to cure his blood disease with a treatment involving vampire bat DNA and electroshock therapy. This treatment did succeed in curing Michael of his disorder, but it also turned him into a pseudo-vampire. He obtained amazing abilities like super strength, flight and an accelerated healing factor, but he now also had to ingest fresh blood on a regular basis to stay alive. While no specific plot details about the Morbius movie have been revealed yet, it’s expected to follow this same basic premise. This movie marks Jared Leto’s second time contributing to the comic book movie genre, the first time being as The Joker in Suicide Squad.
Like Venom, Morbius won’t see the eponymous character fighting Spider-Man, though perhaps that could change later on in the franchise (though I doubt it would be with Tom Holland’s version of the Web-Slinger). Also like Venom, Morbius is expected to portray the character as more of an anti-hero than a full-blown super villain, with an unofficial plot description saying that Morbius the Living Vampire will prey on criminals he deems are unworthy of life. The cast also includes Matt Smith, Adria Ajona and Jared Harris. Life’s Daniel Espinosa is directing, and Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless wrote the script.
Morbius will be released in theaters on July 31, 2020, so keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more updates on its progress. For now, you can look through our 2019 release schedule to find out what movies are coming out this year.
