Acclaimed actor Jared Leto is officially set to make his debut in the MCU as the anti-hero, Morbius. Originally slated for 2020, the film faced multiple production delays due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. After more than 2 years, Morbius is finally announced for a 2022 release date. Directed by Michael Espinosa, who previously directed Safe House with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington.
Leto will star as Michael Morbius, a gifted biochemist with a rare blood disease who ends up accidentally giving himself a form of vampirism while trying to experiment with a cure. This vampirism gives him superhuman abilities but also cursed him with a taste of human blood.
Morbius is the first-ever live adaptation of the Marvel comics character, who is originally a villain for Peter Parker's Spider-Man. Leto will be joined by Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Matt Smith, and Tyrese Gibson in the upcoming debut of Morbius. Besides the cast, Michael Keaton, who previously played The Vulture in Tom Holland's Spider-Man: Homecoming, was also spotted in the trailer, and recent reports claim that Keaton will have a major role in the film.
In a new featurette from Sony Pictures, Leto hinted at what's in store for Morbius, especially after No Way Home opened the door to the multiverse. Leto explained, "In the film version of Morbius, he's part of a much larger universe, The Multiverse has officially opened, and there's all kinds of opportunities for villains to meet up."
With Keaton appearing in the film, looks like Morbius will address the Spider-Verse that the MCU is currently crafting. Alongside Morbius, we will be introduced to potential Spider-Verse characters like Kraven: The Hunter, Miles Morales, and of course Tom Hardy's Venom, who have been seeding post-credit scenes about a future Spider-Man and Venom crossover.
While it's still unclear how Sony will connect to Marvel Studios in future projects, bridging the two worlds appears to be easier, thanks to the multiverse storyline that the MCU is currently revolving on. In No Way Home, we witnessed how any character can come back and make an appearance in the future of the MCU. Therefore, Morbius can either exist in another universe or the same one as Peter Parker.
Morbius will hit the big screens on April 1.
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