Jared Leto Will Play 'Morbius' In Spider-Man Spin-Off Movie

Sony's Spider-Verse continues to weave its web. Jared Leto will star in Morbius, a Spider-Man spin-off about antihero Morbius the Living Vampire. Daniel Espinosa, the director of Life, will helm the film, with a script from the duo behind Netflix's Lost in Space reboot.

Sony is hell-bent on making their "Spider-Verse" (or whatever it's actually called) work. While they struck a deal with Marvel to bring Spider-Man into the MCU, Sony still owns most Spider-Man-related characters. This year they have Venom, featuring Tom Hardy and his big CGI tongue, hitting theaters. And now THR says they're plowing ahead with a Morbius movie. Jared Leto, who has already appeared in the DCEU as the Joker, will play the the title character.

Leto's character, Dr. Michael Morbius, is a Nobel Prize winning biochemist who, according to the Marvel wiki, suffers from "debilitating blood disease and developed an experimental treatment involving vampire bats and electroshocks. Its side effects turned him into a pseudo-vampire who needed to consume blood in order to survive, and gained typical vampire characteristics such as an aversion to sunlight, and the powers of flight, enhanced strength, speed, and healing (a healing factor). His overall appearance changed as well: he gained fangs, his nose flattened to appear more bat-like, and his skin became extremely pale. Additionally, the victims of his bite would turn into living vampires themselves."

The character first appeared in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man in 1971. Morbius started out as a villain, but over the years, the character evolved into more of an antihero (like Venom). And now Sony wants to put Morbius on the big screen! Why? You'd have to ask them! I don't want to be overly negative here, but I can't imagine who this movie is for. Is anyone clamoring for a Morbius movie starring Jared Leto? Other than Jared Leto, I mean.

Sony has been trying to get their Spider-Man-based cinematic universe off the ground for several years now. After Sony rebooted Spider-Man with The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the plan was to launch several spinoffs, including a Sinister 6 movie. Things haven't going according to plan, though. Since then, Sony struck their big Marvel deal to bring Spidey into the MCU. And yet, no one seems to be clear on what Sony's Spider-Verse is. Venom will not feature Tom Holland's Spider-Man/Peter Parker, and it's unclear if the character will appear in Morbius as well. Are all of Sony's live-action Spider-Verse movies going to be void of Spider-Man? So far, the only Spider-Verse film to feature Spidey is the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

In any case, Morbius will be directed by Daniel Espinosa, the filmmaker behind Safe House and Life (a movie that many thought was going to be a secret Venom-prequel, but wasn't). Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, the showrunners of Netflix's Lost in Space reboot, will write the script.