Sony Pictures is going all-in on their own dark universe. With plans for this October’s Venom to lead into the Sinister Six supervillain movie, the studio has also been developing Morbius, a feature project centered on Spider-Man antihero Morbius the Living Vampire.
It was reported last November that Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, who worked on the recent Power Rangers movie and Netflix’s “Lost in Space”, wrote the script. Believe it or not, the Power Rangers movie was actually incredibly entertaining, although the duo are also credited with writing the god-awful Dracula Untold, Universal’s origin of the most famous vampire that starred Luke Evans. They also count The Last Witch Hunter and Gods of Egypt among their credits. Eesh.
Morbius is Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist who suffered from a rare blood disease and attempted to cure himself to disastrous results. He instead became afflicted with a condition that was a form of vampirism — the thirst for blood, along with fangs and super strength — and fought Spider-Man. Over time, however, he became a slightly heroic figure in his own right.
The Hashtag Show shared an early development synopsis that confirms they’ll be keeping the origins similar to that of the comics, while also pegging it as an “action-horror” movie.
“Horror action story of a scientist who, in trying to find a cure for a rare blood disease, accidentally transformed himself into a living vampire who, though disgusted by his own bloodlust, chooses to prey upon criminals he deems unworthy of life.”
Morbius was created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane and first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man #101, the first issue not written by Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee.
