Out of all of the superheroes in the Marvel universe, Spider-Man's lineup of villains is perhaps the most eclectic, intriguing, and horrifying. Morbius the Living Vampire is certainly no exception, and with a Venom movie due out this October, the studio is wasting no time developing other characters in Spider-Man's cinematic universe, with Jared Leto reportedly now taking on the role of Morbius in a movie of the same name.
Multiple sources, including Variety, report that Leto will play the titular character in a Morbius movie directed by Daniel Espinosa (Life, Safe House). Leto has reportedly been interested in bringing the character to life on screen for a while, but wanted to make sure that he was on the same creative page with whoever directed the project. Espinosa and Leto had a meeting, their creative visions gelled, and now they are both moving forward on the film.
Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Lucas Foster will produce Morbius, with Palak Patel overseeing the film. Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (whose writing credits include Dracula Untold, The Last Witch Hunter, and the new Lost in Space reboot series) wrote a screenplay based on Morbius the Living Vampire, aka Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist who accidentally transformed himself into a bloodthirsty creature of the night. Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Morbius made his paneled page debut in Amazing Spider-Man #101.
With a new Venom movie starring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock on the way, Sony is developing feature films focused on characters in the Spider-Man universe who aren't Peter Parker, as Marvel is currently keeping the web slinger busy in their own films as part of an agreement between Sony.
We'll keep Daily Dead readers updated as more details are revealed. In the meantime, what do you think of Leto playing Morbius, and what other characters from the Spider-Man universe do you think deserve a movie of their own?
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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