Varun Patel
Sony Pictures finds itself in a rather pragmatic position amidst the competition between the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe. It can freely develop its own fictional universe around Marvel’s beloved characters and tap into the comic book publisher’s popularity that has skyrocketed this decade with the success of its cinematic adaptations. It allows them the creative freedom to explore untapped stories and characters while giving them Marvel’s commercial edge at the same time. With the upcoming movie, ‘Morbius,’ it will attempt to continue this bid, after the success of ‘Venom.’
In fact, rumors suggest that the movie will even be connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe through a cameo appearance by Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. However, these rumors need to be taken with a pinch of salt as several such speculative reports have proven to be horribly wrong in the past. And besides, Sony purposely linking their movies to the MCU just sounds implausible after the painstaking negotiations between the two organizations regarding Spider-man. That being said, ‘Morbius’ is definitely happening, and here is everything we know about the movie.
Morbius Plot: What Is It About?
‘Morbius’ is an adaptation of Marvel’s comic book character of the same name. As stated earlier, with this upcoming movie, Sony Pictures will try to tap into the potential of both, the DCEU and MCU and find some sort of sweet spot. Its connection to Marvel is obvious, but its depiction of a darker, anti-hero like tale will resonate with DC fans, especially due to the movie’s casting (more on that later).
The story follows Michael Morbius, a man born and raised in Greece in an isolated setting due to his rare blood condition, which turned him into an ugly-looking person. Despite that, Morbius is intellectually gifted and attempts to cure himself by extracting a serum from bats’ body fluids. However, his own outlandish experiment goes horribly wrong turning him into a blood-sucking vampire. However, he is not a standard Dracula-like monster. He is a caped superhero who uses his power and hunger to feed on the blood of convicted criminals and not the innocent, making him somewhat of a vigilante. In the comics, he is also shown to be battling Spider-Man and the X-Men but as stated earlier, the portrayal of that seems unlikely.
Morbius Cast: Who Is In It?
Sony has roped in Jared Leto as the titular vampire superhero. This casting choice is another indication of how the studio will benefit from the popularity of both, the Marvel and the DC universe. Leto’s performance as the Joker in ‘Suicide Squad’ did not receive as much love as the actor would have hoped and he later became overshadowed by Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in ‘Joker.’ This could be Leto’s shot at impressing viewers of the superhero genre yet again.
Moreover, Adria Arjona stars as Morbius’ fiancé, Martine Bancroft in the movie. In the comics, Bancroft is not aware of Morbius’ transformation until he disappears. Arjona plays Anathema Device in the television series, ‘Good Omens’ and also stars in the Ryan Reynolds movie, ‘6 Underground,’ apart from ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising.’
Matt Smith plays the main antagonist in the movie, Loxias Crown. Crown, who later comes to be known as Hunger, is depicted to suffer from the same blood disease as Morbius and even undergoes the same serum treatment before turning into the titular character’s foe. Smith is best known for portraying the eleventh version of the Doctor in ‘Doctor Who’ and Prince Philip in Netflix’s ‘The Crown.’
Morbius’ mentor is portrayed by the British actor, Jared Harris. He is best known for playing Lane Pryce on ‘Mad Men’ apart from appearing in ‘The Crown,’ ‘The Expanse’ and ‘Chernobyl.’
Moreover, Tyrese Gibson from the ‘Fast and the Furious’ franchise plays Simon Stroud, an FBI agent who hunts Morbius. The American comedian and actor, Al Madrigal essays the character of Stroud’s assistant.
Morbius Crew: Who Is Behind It?
Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa. He is known for helming the successful Swedish film, ‘Easy Money’ apart from Hollywood films like ‘Safe House,’ ‘Child 44’ and ‘Life.’ The movie is written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. The duo has previously written the vampire film, ‘Dracula Untold’ apart from movies like ‘The Last Witch Hunter’ and ‘Gods of Egypt.’
The movie’s music is composed by Jon Ekstrand, who has previously worked on Espinosa’s movies like ‘Easy Money,’ ‘Child 44’ and ‘Life.’
Oliver Wood handles the cinematography for ‘Morbius.’ He is known for his cinematography work on commercially successful films such as ‘Freaky Friday,’ ‘Die Hard 2’ and the ‘Bourne’ series. Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, Arad Productions, and Matt Tolmach Productions are the studios backing it while Sony Pictures Releasing is in charge of distributing the movie.
Morbius Release Date: When Will It Premiere?
‘Morbius’ is scheduled to release on July 31, 2020. The movie has the potential to be Jared Leto’s saving grace after ‘Suicide Squad’ as he seems to fit the character of the dark, vampire superhero perfectly. Moreover, the film will also be an indication of what Sony Pictures intends to do with Marvel adaptations. It just might kickstart a parallel universe.
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