Morbius Movie Explanation: Who Is Jared Leto’s Spider-Man Derivative Character?

Most of the time, vampires are the villains in Hollywood movies. They are portrayed as soulless bloodsuckers who pose an existential threat to all of humanity. But sometimes even a vampire can be a hero. That’s the case with Morbius, a Marvel hero who will be played by Jared Leto in Sony’s upcoming Spider-Man spinoff movie.

The first Morbius trailer revealed an unexpected connection to Spider-Man, and now the second trailer has arrived. Here’s everything you need to know about the man they call “The Living Vampire.”

Morbius Explained: The Basics

Dr. Michael Morbius was a respected biochemist who suffered from a rare and deadly blood disease. Desperate for a cure, Morbius performed dangerous experiments on himself using vampire bat DNA and inadvertently transformed into a “living vampire.” While he wasn’t actually bitten by one of the many vampires living in the Marvel Universe, Morbius’s condition has many of the same symptoms. He has an endless thirst for blood and must live forever apart from human society.

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Despite the cruel hand life has given him, Morbius does his best to use his vampiric knowledge and abilities for good. He has proven himself a hero many times, both as an ally to Spider-Man and as a member of teams like the Midnight Sons. But even so, his dark side always threatens to consume him.

Morbius powers and abilities

Although Morbius is not a vampire in the traditional, supernatural sense, he does have many of the same abilities. He possesses superhuman strength and speed, limited flight, and the ability to hypnotize others. He also has a Wolverine-like healing factor that allows him to heal from otherwise fatal injuries. Morbius can sometimes infect its victims with “pseudo-vampirism”, although this only occurs in rare cases.

Morbius also possesses some traditional vampire weaknesses. He has a constant need for human blood, a need that he does his best to satisfy by using serums instead of taking human victims. Morbius has developed a special formula using Spider-Man’s blood that quenches his thirst for longer periods of time. Their skin is also susceptible to burning in daylight, although not to the degree of most vampires. Morbius also lacks the traditional vampire weaknesses with crosses, garlic, holy water, etc.

Morbius: origin and background

Morbius was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane and debuted in 1971 in Amazing Spider-Man # 101. That issue was actually the first not to be written by co-creator Stan Lee.

The character was conceived after the Comics Code Authority lifted certain restrictions on the use of vampires and supernatural creatures in comics. Morbius’s status as a “living vampire” made him unique and made him more marketable as a hero. The character was inspired by Thomas’ love for classic sci-fi movies, while Kane specifically modeled Morbius’s appearance on actor Jack Palance.

Initially, Morbius was cast as a tragic villain figure. His own story became intertwined with that of the Lizard, another Spider-Man villain who inadvertently transformed into a hideous monster while trying to heal a physical ailment. However, it wasn’t long before the character branched out on his own. He became a recurring player on ’70s-era anthology series like Vampire Tales and Adventure Into Fear. The last series set up Morbius’s long feud with the vampire hunter Blade.

However, it wasn’t until 1992 that Morbius won his own solo series on Morbius the Living Vampire. That series was one of several supernatural-focused books released from a crossover called “Rise of the Midnight Sons.” During this period, Morbius’ adventures were closely intertwined with those of supernatural heroes such as Ghost Rider, Hellstorm, Jennifer Kale, and Werewolf by Night.

Following the end of Morbius’s solo series in issue # 23, the character continued to play a recurring role throughout the Marvel Universe. For example, he appeared in Marvel Zombies 3, working alongside other heroes to prevent their universe from becoming infected with the plague of zombies that had devastated other universes. He also appeared in a Punisher story called “Frankencastle”, where he helped bring the Punisher back to life as a Frankenstein-like beast after the character’s fatal clash with Daken.

More recently, Morbius played a pivotal role in writer Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man career, where it was revealed that he was secretly working at Peter Parker’s new workplace, Horizon Labs. The Amazing Spider-Man and Superior Spider-Man raided the path for another short-lived Morbius comic in 2013, written by Joe Keatinge and drawn by Rich Elson.

Morbius Movie: Beyond the Comics and More

Given his vampire attire, Morbius has proven to be a difficult character to adapt to other Marvel multimedia projects. The character made his animated debut in 1994’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series (voiced by Nick Jameson), where he was portrayed as a transformed scientist after being bitten by a vampire who had drunk Spider-Man’s irradiated blood. Due to strict censorship standards, this version of Morbius was only allowed to be depicted as draining blood through suction cups on his hands, and his dialogue emphasized his need for “plasma” rather than blood.

Morbius gets a “familiar” animated makeover.

Morbius later appeared as a recurring character in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man vs. The Sinister Six (voiced by Benjamin Diskin), where he was re-imagined as a Hydra scientist who specializes in symbiotes. Morbius eventually transformed into his living vampire form in the series, with the main difference being that he absorbed the life force of others rather than consuming blood.

Morbius has appeared in several Marvel video games, including as a supporting character in 1993’s Maximum Carnage (based on the comic book story of the same name) and in certain versions of 2007’s Spider-Man 3. He also appeared as a playable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 and Marvel Super Hero Squad Online.

Morbius has yet to appear in live-action form, although there have been rumors of a Morbius movie for most of the last two decades. At one point, the character was considered for the role of the main villain in 2002’s Blade II. In fact, an alternate version of the ending of the first film features a masked character who was destined to be revealed as Morbius.

Instead, the character will make his film debut in Sony’s upcoming Morbius film. Jared Leto stars as Dr. Michael Morbius, with Daniel Espinosa directing and Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless writing the script. The film could be set in the same shared universe as 2018’s Venom and its 2020 sequel. Thanks to the first Morbius trailer and a cameo from Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes, it appears these films also have a connection to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. somehow. We will undoubtedly learn more about Morbius and Venom’s connection to the broader MCU when the film hits theaters in January 2022.

For now, check out our exclusive interview with Leto for his thoughts on this iconic Marvel antihero.

Jesse is a personable writer for IGN. Let him lend a machete to his intellectual thicket following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.