Actor and musician Jared Leto has been looking for his own superhero property for a long time. His exploits to secure the role of DC’s The Joker and his subsequent on set antics are now Hollywood legend. But Joaquin Phoenix and his take on the character in Joker (which looks like it’s about to win an Oscar) ended that dream.
Nevertheless, Leto is getting another chance at the comic book realm thanks to a renowned Marvel character called Morbius.
Known as “Morbius: The Living Vampire” in the comics, most fans were first exposed to him through the Spider-Man series of comics. The character Morbius, aka Dr. Michael Morbius, is a man afflicted with a blood disease who went to extreme measures to try to cure himself. After a mishap with vampire bat DNA, Morbius is transformed into a pale, bat-faced creature with the strength, vulnerability to light, and thirst for blood common to vampires of lore.
It’s not clear which side of the superhero spectrum Leto’s take on the character will fall, but we do know that the common shifted the character between evil and tragically heroic at times. Basically, this is Leto’s big chance to completely change his comic universe trajectory if the movie lands well (his acting chops aren’t in question, just harken back to his work in Fight Club and Dallas Buyers Club)
The film is set to hit theaters summer 2020.
Cover image via Sony/YouTube
