Will Jared Leto’s ‘Morbius’ get kicked to streaming? See its new release date
If Batman, Dr. Strange, and Blade (we’ll get to him later) were thrown into a blender, you’d get Marvel’s Morbius, a vampiric superhero who’s the next comic book hero – in this case, antihero – to get the movie treatment. One of the last Marvel names Sony still owns, the Morbius movie was slated to star Jared Leto (The Joker in Suicide Squad), bring back Michael Keaton’s Vulture villain, and give comic fans a real treat.
Alas, the trailer dropped in 2020 two months before COVID-19 shut down everything, including theaters, in March in the U.S. Like many releases, studios saw the writing on the wall and pulled their releases back, including Morbius.
So, when can we see Jared Leto get his vampire on and helm the role of Michael Morbius? When will he find out if it’s better or worse than his take on the Joker a few years back? Let’s take a look.
Origin story
Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) is born with a rare blood disease that affects his mobility. He’s dedicated his life to studying this disease so he can eradicate it in himself & others. Then, he finds a possible cure. The downside (or upside, depending on your perspective) is that he essentially becomes a vampire: he has super strength, echolocation like a bat (think super-senses), can teleport into a cloud of smoke, and has a thirst for blood.
The movie covers this origin story, introducing Morbius to a wider audience. In superhero origin fashion, his new powers spark the ire of the U.S. government, who begins a manhunt for Morbius. During his evasion from capture, Morbius runs into a familiar face: Vulture. Once Michael Keaton’s smiling mug appears on-screen in the trailer, fans know the villain from Spider-Man: Homecoming is back.
Plus, with Morbius coming to the silver screen, and Vulture already there, many fans are completely convinced that the Sinister Six will come to the MCU.
Joining the MCU
Per Screenrant, Morbius was supposed to fit into Marvel’s Phase 4, as were other Sony antiheroes like Venom. According to their article, the Spider-Man movies are supposed to be the gateway for Marvel’s darker side to join Disney’s lighter & softer franchise. As we detailed before, Peter Parker’s going to need a dang good lawyer after he’s been outed as Spidey, most likely hiring Matt Murdock to represent him.
Morbius could also be a gateway to introduce Blade into the MCU. The daywalker vampire hunter got the movie treatment in the late 90s with Wesley Snipes helming the titular role. The first two movies were awesome, with a rare instance of the sequel arguably being better than the first. The less said about the third movie, the better, though your mileage may vary.
The new Blade movie was announced with a release date in 2022 and will star Mahershala Ali. Blade is also planned to be a Phase 5 movie, so won’t be coming into theaters (or on streaming) until at least 2023 now that production’s pushed back.
Moved back, and back, and back . . .
The first trailer dropped in January 2020, promising eager fans & comic movie junkies they’d see this superpowered antihero leap into theaters in the summer. Since it was 2020, the year that took Murphy’s Law to a whole new level, summer came & went with no Morbius in sight.
So what will studio execs do with a movie that’s finished, but with movie theaters dead, won’t rake in the big bucks needed to keep the massive MCU franchise on track? After all, sequels & spinoffs need successful movies to move forward. If a movie tanks, it could possibly derail the entire MCU franchise.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Morbius is being pushed back again. With uncertainty around COVID-19, its new release date will be October 8th. Originally, fans could see Jared Leto in the titular role in March, but with uncertainty about COVID still looming, Sony’s waiting until the vaccine’s rolled out, until COVID plummets, and until we get back to a semblance of “normal”.
Will it go to streaming?
If it gets pushed back further, maybe. After all, Disney released Pixar’s Soul to its streaming service & in theaters on Christmas and made subscribers pay a premium to see MCU’s latest film, Black Widow. Morbius being suited for a Halloween release given its horror elements aside, if it gets pushed more, it might just go to streaming.
Also, Sony is producing this movie, not Disney. What’s stopping them from releasing Jared Leto’s smiling face on our TVs if the release gets pushed back more. Contracts, probably. Either way, only time will tell if Morbius goes to theaters in October, or if we’ll have to wait indefinitely for Leto’s take on the titular character.
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Are you excited to see Morbius on the big screen? Do you think there’s a chance we’ll see Jared Leto as the vampire antihero on streaming instead? Let us know in the comments!
