Spider-Man: No Way Home and The Batman have been dominating the superhero discourse for the last few months, and Morbius will be hoping to swoop in and seize the conversation for itself as the Living Vampire’s live-action debut finally enters the home stretch before landing in theaters.
Originally scheduled for release in July 2020, Morbius has been hit especially hard by the pandemic, with the current April 1 bow marking the seventh different debut Sony have awarded the project. We can say with some degree of certainty that the comic book blockbuster won’t face any more setbacks, and the marketing campaign has started to shift through the gears as a result.
Michael Morbius isn’t a particularly well-known name among casual audiences, but Sony’s official production notes (via TheDirect) find director Daniel Espinosa comparing Jared Leto’s afflicted scientist to a pair of X-Men icons.
“Most great heroes are antiheroes. Most of us are resistant to accept that we are the chosen one, and Morbius is the same. The most interesting characters in the Marvel universe have always been those that have had one foot on each side: Magneto, Rogue, Wolverine, in his own way, Venom. All of these characters are the ones that are fundamentally the most fascinating for us as moviegoers and comic book readers.
Michael Morbius is one of the most altruistic characters of the Marvel Universe. He’s one of the few that really believes in good. This good man has a horrible disease, and in his trials to save himself and the people that he cares for, he turns into a monster.”
The first full-length clip from Morbius went a long way to building up renewed levels of interest, something the project had spent the entire COVID-19 era struggling to attain. When you factor in the Venom: Let There Be Carnage and No Way Home effect, too, then the latest building block in Sony’s universe could be set for a decent haul at the box office.