Jared Leto is ready to sink his teeth into the role and signs up for lead in Morbius The Living Vampire.
Oscar winner and 30 Seconds To Mars frontman Jared Leto is no stranger to the comic book movie. After playing the Joker in Suicide Squad, Jared Leto is all set to get another comic character under his belt as he joins the Spider-Man family with Morbius. Hot on the heels of Tom Hardy in Venom, Leto has signed on with Sony to play Dr. Michael Morbius, AKA Morbius the Living Vampire, in their latest Marvel project.
Based on the Spider-Man antihero Morbius The Living Vampire, the movie will center around his fall from humanity and his struggle with his condition. One of Spider-Man’s pantheon of characters, Dr. Michael Morbius is the scientist who becomes the vampire known as Morbius, complete with super strength, razor sharp teeth and an unhealthy thirst for blood, after disastrously failing to cure himself of a rare blood disease.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa, who also gave us last years sci-fi thriller Life, which starred another DC/Marvel character switcher, Ryan Reynolds, the movie will be scripted by the duo behind the Lost In Space remake for Netflix, Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless and produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and Luke Foster, overseen for Sony by Palak Patel.
Traditionally known for his more esoteric and independent films, such as supporting roles in Fight Club, American Psycho and Urban Legend and that of his early work in Requiem for a Dream and more recently Dallas Buyer’s Club, for which he won an Oscar, he has begun in recent years to choose more mainstream blockbuster roles such as Blade Runner 2049 and the aforementioned Suicide Squad role, which was originally intended to be a minor cameo, but became controversially less circumspect. As well as being set to return as the Joker in Suicide Squad 2 he will also star in a solo Joker feature set in the DCEU which is currently in development. Interestingly enough Leto was also, until recently, the front runner for the role of yet another famous vampire, that of Lestat, in a reboot of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, helmed by Josh Boone who wanted Leto for the lead role back in 2016.
When the CCA finally lifted it’s ban on vampires and other supernatural characters in 1971 creators Roy Thomas and Gil Kane seized the chance and came up with the Morbius character. First seen as an antagonist to Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #101, the first issue not penned by co-creator Stan Lee, he quickly gained popularity with writer Dan Slott and went on to become more of an heroic inspired character, although due to his obvious state he was also seen to have an ongoing feud with Blade. He even frontlined his own series in 1992 by Len Kaminsky, a Legion Of Monsters special in 2007 by Brendan Cahill, before finally getting another treatment in 2013 written by Joe Keatinge.
Aside from a fanmade short in 2014, Morbius has so far only ever been seen in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and also Ultimate Spider-Man vs The Sinister Six. The short, which can be found on YouTube, was written and directed by Chaz Dray and Adam Michaels, who also played the lead. The capable if slightly dark movie is filled with geeky references and involves saving a girl (Carley Coakley) who turns out to be Shriek. Morbius was also planned to play a cameo part in the original 1998 Blade feature movie, but his cinematic debut was scrapped, as was talk of his role in the sequel Blade II.
Spider-Man himself is also pretty busy, as Tom Holland prepares for his role in the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming. Entitled Spider-Man: Far From Home revolves around Peter Parker’s junior year at Midtown School of Science and Technology with Michael Keaton returning as the Vulture and joined by Jake Gyllenhaal as the main antagonist Mysterio. Director Jon Watts will also return to oversee the project, which is being written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. Set for release 5th July 2019 the Sony and Marvel film will follow on from 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and also it’s 2019 sequel.
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