Morbius the Living Vampire to Join Sony’s Spider-Verse of Movies
Sony continues to make plans to build an entire universe around its flagship Marvel hero, Spider-Man, in the wake of Spider-Man: Homecoming‘s $880 million worldwide take. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) is currently directing Venom starring Tom Hardy and a Black Cat and Silver Sable movie is in development for Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights) to direct.
Now, another Spider-Man anti-hero is leaping from the printed page to the silver screen. According to THR, Sony has greenlit a movie about Morbius the Living Vampire after accepting a script written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (Power Rangers) during a “secret development process.”
The character of Morbius was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane and first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #101. While not a true vampire, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Dr. Michael Morbius developed vampire-like features and abilities after experimenting on himself with serums derived from bat fluids and electricity in an effort to cure his rare blood disorder. His efforts to feed himself and to find a cure put him into opposition with Spider-Man, but Morbius became a more heroic character over time.
The studio has not revealed any information about the direction of the Morbius movie. There is still no word on how Spider-Man: Homecoming fits into a universe centered around Spider-Man, but not as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Venom is tentatively slated for an October 2018 release.
