If you thought Jared Leto was creepy as the Joker, wait until he starts sucking blood as one of Spider-Man’s most complex villains.
Jared Leto is about to tackle another comic supervillain. Photo: Warner Bros.
Yes, it’s true. Deadline reports that the Oscar-winning actor is likely to play Morbius, the Living Vampire in a standalone Sony movie, much like the upcoming Venom. Daniel Espinosa (Life) will direct. A version of the script was being written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, who penned last year’s surprisingly adequate Power Rangers movie, though we aren’t sure if that’s still in play.
First introduced in 1971’s The Amazing Spider-Man #101, Morbius is actually biochemist Dr Michael Morbius, who tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease but then turns himself into a vampire.
The character started as a Spidey villain but later became more of an antihero, which actually makes him better-suited to a standalone movie than Venom, given the symbiote’s original and important connection to Spider-Man in the comics.
As for Leto, well, what needs to be said that we haven’t said before? He’s an Oscar-winning actor who reportedly conducted himself quite oddly on the set of Suicide Squad where he played the Joker, and continued to be pretty weird during his recent film, Blade Runner 2049.
Neither of those characters were superhero vampires, though, so one can only imagine the crap he’s likely to get up to on this film. Hopefully there’s no on-set blood drinking planned!
Also, we don’t know what this means for that other villainous movie Leto has in the works:
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2018/06/jared-letos-joker-may-get-his-own-standalone-movie/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/aq8tpxtugqz6cd5duvbn.jpg” title=”Jared Leto’s Joker May Get His Own Standalone Movie” excerpt=”Since the release of Suicide Squad, the future of Jared Leto’s Joker has been up in the air. Would he return for a sequel? Will he be in a Batman movie? Isn’t Warner Bros. making other Joker movies? Well, we may finally have an idea, as Leto will reportedly star and executive producer a Joker standalone movie.”]
Whether or not this actually happens, though, is anyone’s guess. Leto was also up for Bloodshot at Sony but, ultimately, that role went to Vin Diesel. So until a release date is set, this could still be up in the air.
[Deadline]