Despite forming a highly successful and lucrative partnership with Disney and Marvel Studios for the current generation of Spider-Man films, Sony Pictures is still making full use of the IP that they still own the rights to without the assistance of Kevin Feige. With the financial success of both Venom movies (though the critical reception was mixed at best), it makes sense that Sony would want to give another Spider-Man villain his own standalone film.
This time the lucky anti-hero is Dr. Michael Morbius, the Living Vampire. Directed by Life director Daniel Espinosa, Morbius will be the first Marvel film since the Blade trilogy to focus on the infamous bloodsuckers, telling the story of a desperate doctor who meddles with the laws of nature to find a cure for a debilitating disease. Seemingly taking inspiration from the classic monster movies of cinema's past, Morbius may be taking more of a horror focus to a Marvel IP, which would be an exciting change of pace after the film's numerous delays.
Being new to the big screen (unless you count a deleted scene from the first Blade film), Morbius's bloody cinematic adventure is bound to introduce a wealth of new characters to whatever universe it takes place in. New characters may lead to new interest in their comics' source material, so here's a comprehensive guide to the cast and characters of Morbius.
Just keep in mind that as of this writing the movie has yet to be released. The information here is based mainly on speculation from marketing material as well as the comics source material. In other words, the character descriptions either may not be representative of the final product or may potentially spoil particular details to those not familiar with the comics the film is based on.
Jared Leto as Morbius
Given that his controversial version of the Joker is unlikely to appear in a future DCEU project any time soon, Jared Leto is taking another stab at the comic book genre, this time as the title character. The Oscar-winning star of Dallas Buyers Club will be the main protagonist, Dr. Michael Morbius, a brilliant biochemist who pays the ultimate price for what he wants most.
Morbius ironically suffers from a rare blood condition that is slowly but surely killing him, leading the scientist to test his own DNA with that of a vampire bat. This leads to predictable results as Morbius of course receives his vampire like powers from these tests. His abilities are that of a classic vampire, including superhuman strength and reflexes, echolocation, and weaponized claws and fangs; so no sparkling here. With this also comes many of the downsides of being a vampire, such as sensitivity to sunlight and a requirement to consume human blood. However, because he acquired these abilities through scientific means rather than natural ones (i.e. bitten by a traditional vampire), Morbius is not technically a "true" vampire, thus certain supernatural elements of being a vampire don't apply to him such as a fear of crucifixes, which likely comes in handy.
Most of these details seem to be pretty accurate to what's been shown so far for the upcoming film, though it seems likely that Morbius will evolve from villain to anti-hero far quicker than he did in the comics. In the source material, Morbius initially had a very difficult time adapting to his new abilities, leading him to kill indiscriminately to satiate his bloodlust. This has led to him often coming to blows with both Spider-Man and Blade, but eventually, Morbius' conscience found its voice, and he vowed to feed upon only those who truly deserved to face death for their sins.
Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft
The Belko Experiment star Adria Arjona will be playing Martine Bancroft; a vital character in both Morbius's origin and his overall story. Bancroft was Morbius's assistant and romantic partner, helping him in any way, shape, or form she could. This obviously included any professional duties but also any health-related problems given Morbius's condition, and when he finally transformed from an empathetic scientist into a homicidal vampire, she repeatedly made every effort to help him find a cure.
Bancroft will most likely fulfill a similar role in the film, but it'll be interesting to see if her comics' storyline will be adapted in the future. Eventually in her quest to cure Morbius, Martine Bancroft is bitten by another vampire, which naturally leads her to become a vampire herself. It's a massive turning point for the character that leads to her caring less about curing Morbius and becoming more concerned with spending eternity with her true love, ultimately leading to tragic consequences.
Jared Harris as Emil Nikols
Jared Harris will have most certainly made his late great father Richard Harris proud, as he has enjoyed a more than impressive acting career with big projects such as Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows as well as the Emmy-Winning smash hit Chernobyl. With a career like that, it was only a matter of time before Harris would become involved with a massive franchise like Marvel.
Who he's playing in Morbius is a strange scenario as there's no character named Emil Nikols in the comics' continuity. There is however an Emil Nikos who has a strong connection to the Living Vampire, so we're just going to go ahead and assume that's who Harris is playing. Nikos in the comics is one of Morbius's closest friends and colleagues, being an active part in his work for a cure to his rare blood disease. Nikos was also Morbius's first victim right after he turned into a 'living' vampire, but this turned out not to be the end for him as he was later resurrected as, you guessed it, another vampire. Go figure!
Harris' Nikols seems to also be a close friend of Morbius, though rather than a college colleague, he appears to be more of a mentor/father figure. It's unknown whether he'll become an unfortunate casualty in one of Morbius' rampages, but his turn into vampire seems like it would only appear in a potential sequel or a potential post credits scene if at all.
Matt Smith as Loxias Crown AKA Hunger
The Eleventh Doctor Who himself, Matt Smith, will seemingly be bringing to life Morbius's main antagonist: a mysterious vampire psychopath named Loxias Crown, otherwise known as Hunger. "Mysterious" not only applies to his role in the film, which has only been briefly teased as his motivation is yet to be seen, but his comics' counterpart isn't really any more clear.
Crown's backstory is shrouded in mystery, first appearing as a nefarious H.Y.D.R.A. agent who went toe to toe with Spider-Man. He also happened to be experimenting on a captive Michael Morbius at his own base, which is what let to Crown getting his vampire powers. Since then, he and Morbius have been equals in both power and skill, and have come to blows with each other on several occasions.
Tyrese Gibson as Simon Stroud
While Tyrese Gibson has yet to achieve his dream role as Green Lantern, the Fast & Furious star still was able to land a role in another comic book film role, albiet in a different universe.
Simon Stroud became something of an impromptu supernatural detective in the pages of the comic books, hunting down many of mainly Spider-Man's more otherworldly foes. These included J. Jonah Jameson's son (the astronaut) after he turned into Man-Wolf and as you may have guessed, Michael Morbius. After Morbius decided to turn a new leaf and go anti-hero, he and Stroud found themselves repeatedly forming uneasy alliances for the greater good.
Michael Keaton as... Vulture?
Yes, Michael Keaton has been confirmed to have a role in Morbius, and his appearance here just raises so many questions.
For starters, while Keaton is credited in the film, the name of the character he's credited as is unusually absent as of now. The fact that this character appears to be in prison seems to strongly imply that this is in fact Adrian Toomes, AKA the Vulture, given that prison was the last place we saw the MCU villain at the end of Spider-Man: Homecoming. At the same time, if that is the case, why wouldn't Sony just announce that Keaton is playing the same character? They already showed him in the trailer after all.
If that wasn't confusing enough, the second trailer makes two direct references to Venom. With the Venom films having been explicitly established as taking place in a separate universe from the MCU by both post-credit scenes for Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Spider-Man: No Way Home, this seems to contradict the idea that Morbius is primarily set in the MCU. The only explanation one can think of is that Morbius was briefly brought into the MCU from the Venom-verse by the events of No Way Home (yes this may be a plot hole because Morbius presumably doesn't know who Spider-Man is, but neither did Tom Hardy's Venom so who knows).
Then there are even theories that Morbius takes place in either the Maguire or Garfield continuities and that is a can of worms that we're just gonna keep closed tight for now.
So is Morbius in the MCU, the Sony villain universe, or something in between? It is honestly anyone's guess, and fans will just have to see when Morbius finally sinks his teeth into the big screen starting April 1st and that's no joke.