Spider-Man Spinoff ‘Morbius’ Delayed Yet Again
Poor, cursed Michael Morbius. Not only is he a bloodsucking vampire, he cannot get his movie into theaters.
Morbius, one of the most delayed movies of the pandemic era, has been delayed yet again. Originally intended for July 2020, the film — which stars Jared Leto as Marvel Comics’ living vampire — was bumped to March 2021, then October 2021, then January 21, 2022. Then the Omicron variant of Covid-19 emerged, throwing the short-term future of movie theaters into doubt once again. Today, Sony announced they were pushing Morbius from January to April 1, 2022. Once upon a time, Morbius was supposed to open a year and a half before Spider-Man: No Way Home. Instead, it will open at least four months after Spider-Man. That may well have been one of Sony’s considerations. With Spider-Man continuing to perform well in theaters in spite of the pandemic, all Sony was doing by releasing the movie now was competing with itself. They’re better off waiting.
The film, which was shot all the way back in the spring and summer of 2019, features Leto as the longtime Marvel antihero, who was first introduced in the pages of 1971’s The Amazing Spider-Man #101. Rather than getting bitten by a bat or another vampire, Morbius is a scientist who turns himself into a bloodsucker in a science experiment gone wrong. The film also stars Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Tyrese Gibson, and Michael Keaton reprising his role as Adrian Toomes from Spider-Man: Homecoming. A Spider-Man cameo appears highly unlikely but trailers for the movie feature appearances from the Daily Bugle and graffiti of Spidey.
Hopefully the film finally sees the light of day in April. If you were planning on going to Morbius in a couple weeks, well, you can go see Spider-Man: No Way Home again instead.