Pseudo vampire Jared Leto’s superpowers seem to be a bit out of control in the latest trailer for Sony’s “Morbius.” See the video above.
“I’d do anything to save a life. But I don’t know what I’m capable of,” Leto’s Morbius says at one point in the trailer. That’s followed moments later by Jared Harris’ character (who’s a mentor figure to Morbius) asking him, “Are you here to heal the world? Or to destroy it?” Fair question, as a good chunk of the trailer finds Morbius exploring the extent of his powers — while trying to get a hold on them at the same time.
Daniel Espinosa directed “Morbius” from a script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and Lucas Foster produced the film with Palak Patel overseeing for the studio.
Morbius (properly “Morbius the Living Vampire”) was created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane and first appeared in “The Amazing Spider-Man” issue No. 101 in 1971. In the comics, Michael Morbius is a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who is transformed into a vampire while attempting to cure a rare blood disease with a highly experimental approach involving electroshock therapy… and vampire bats.
As a “pseudo-vampire,” Morbius does not possess all the powers of an actual vampire, and isn’t subject to all the traditional limitations and weaknesses thereof, according to Marvel lore.
He must digest blood to survive and has a strong aversion to light, like most vampires. He also has the ability to fly and has superhuman strength, speed and healing abilities. But while his bite tends to be lethal, his victims do not necessarily become vampires themselves. And unlike other bloodsucking fiends, he is very much alive. Basically think of him as the electric car version of the normally undead, supernatural killing machines: probably still not all that great for the world, but if you absolutely have to them, it’s definitely the better option.
In his initial appearances, he was a horror-themed enemy of Spider-Man (during a period when horror comics were experiencing a resurgence in popularity), and was eventually retooled into a tragic antihero, with his appearances focusing on his struggle to find a cure for his condition. He also clashed with, and was even killed by, Blade (don’t worry, he came back to life later), and later became friends with Jack Russell (aka Werewolf by Night). He also has spent some time being an uneasy hero, working alongside Doctor Strange and Ghost Rider, among other heroes.
But, we hear you asking, is there any chance Morbius will show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since he is, after all, originally a Spider-Man enemy? Sorry guys, we have no idea.
The problem is in the complex deal that allowed Spider-Man to appear in the MCU in the first place — basically a custody-sharing arrangement in which Sony retained full control over a lot of ancillary Spider-Man characters firmly in Sony’s hands and not in the MCU or connected to Spider-Man movies. And that deal was so precarious that it actually fell apart completely for a couple of months in 2019, right after “Far From Home” came out.
Luckily, Marvel and Sony patched things up pretty quickly with a new deal that not only made “Spider-Man: No Way Home” possible, but also committed Spidey to an additional MCU movie. And perhaps as a result, that separation between Sony church and Marvel state might be blurring just a little bit. The post-credits scene of “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” pretty clearly suggests that the weird multiverse stuff that happens in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will bring Venom (Tom Hardy) into the MCU, at least briefly. So who knows, maybe Jared Leto will also get to dip his toes into MCU water at some point.
Morbius almost made it to the big screen before. In 2000, when Arad was president and CEO of Marvel Studios, the company entered into an agreement with Artisan Entertainment to turn at least 15 Marvel superhero franchises into live-action films, television series, direct-to-video films or internet projects. Morbius would have been among the franchises.
“Morbius,” which stars Jared Leto, Tyrese Gibson, Jared Harris and Matt Smith, is set to open in theaters on Jan. 28, 2022.