Morbius release delayed; Marvel film with Jared Leto pushed 7 months

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Originally set to reach theatres in July of 2020, Sony's Marvel Comics adaptation Morbius was moved to a March 2021 release when the pandemic hit – and apparently Sony doesn't feel that March is going to be a good month for a theatrical release, either. They have pushed Morbius back again, this time to October 8th.

Morbius is not a Marvel Studios production; Sony was able to make this movie because they have access to any characters introduced in the pages of Spider-Man comics, and Morbius made his debut in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 back in 1971. Created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane, the character is 

Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist who suffered from a rare blood disease and attempted to cure himself to disastrous results. Instead of being cured, he became afflicted with a condition that was a form of vampirism — the thirst for blood, along with fangs and super strength.

Jared Leto plays Morbius in the film, and is joined in the cast by Jared Harris as his mentor, Tyrese Gibson as "an FBI agent trying to hunt down the living vampire", and Adria Arjona as Morbius' fiancee Martine Bancroft, who

could be said to be accidentally responsible for Morbius’ transformation into a vampire-like creature, as it’s the human Morbius’ love for fiancee Martine that drives him to experiment on himself.  

Matt Smith plays the film's villain, Loxias Crown. According to ThatHashtagShow, 

Crown suffers from the same rare blood disease as his good friend Morbius. Like Morbius, Loxias will be transformed by the serum that Moribus developed to cure them and the film’s main conflict will center on Morbius trying to stop the killing machine Loxias has become while also fighting off his own blood lust.

Morbius will tie in to the recent Spider-Man movies, which are part of Marvel Studios' official Cinematic Universe. The story picks up after the events of Spider-Man: Far from Home and Michael Keaton makes an appearance as his Spider-Man: Homecoming character Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. The Vulture.

Directed by Daniel Espinosa from a screenplay written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, Morbius was produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Lucas Foster.