SUICIDE SQUAD Star Jared Leto Set To Star As MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE; Daniel Espinosa Tapped To Direct
Sony continues to build their Spider-Man universe and now, they've enlisted Academy Award-winner Jared Leto to play the titular vampire in Morbius with Life helmer Daniel Espinosa tapped to direct.
According to multiple sources, Academy Award-winner Jared Leto has signed on to star as Dr. Michael Morbius, a.k.a. Morbius the Living Vampire, in Sony's upcoming Spider-Man spinoff, Morbius.
Daniel Espinosa (Safe House; Life) will direct with a script from the writing duo of Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, whose past credits include Netflix's Lost in Space, Power Rangers, Gods of Egypt, The Last Witch Hunter, and Dracula Untold. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing alongside Lucas Foster while Palak Patel will oversee the project for the studio.
While a release date has yet-to-be-set, production is expected to begin sometime this year.
Leto, of course, is also well-known for playing the Joker in David Ayer's critically-reviled Suicide Squad and Variety notes that his role as the Crown Prince of Crime in the DC Films universe will remain unaffected by his new role in Sony's Spider-Verse. His more recent credits include Denis Villeneuve's critically-acclaimed Blade Runner 2049 and Martin Zandvliet's The Outsider.
As for his future as the Joker, Leto is currently rumored to star in at least three upcoming DC Films, including Suicide Squad 2, an untitled Joker/Harley Quinn project, and Gotham City Sirens. The status of each of those films remains up in the air, but expect to possibly get some answers next month at San Diego Comic-Con.
Morbius is just the latest Spidey spinoff confirmed by Sony, joining the Tom Hardy-led Venom, which is due out this October, and the Black Cat/Silver Sable movie, Silver and Black. However, while these films presumably take place in a universe where Spidey does indeed exist, we still have no idea whether everyone's favorite neighborhood wallcrawler will ever pop up to interact with some of the more popular characters in his rogues' gallery.