The train on Sony’s Spider-Man universe is still chugging along with no end in sight. Not long ago, Sony revealed yet another movie in their string of connected universe films. This time the spotlight is on Michael Morbius, the Living Vampire. This follows a string of other movie news revolving around the Spider-Man theme. Sony’s standalone Venom project, starring Tom Hardy, releases in October of next year. And that’s on top of the Silver & Black film on the way. Though with so few updates and fall coming to a close soon, who even knows the status of that film anymore?
Michael Morbius was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #101 in 1971. Originally a sympathetic villain, Morbius went on to become more of an anti-hero. He was a Nobel Prize winning scientist with a rare blood disease. In an effort to cure himself, he tested a special radiation procedure. Instead, he wound up essentially turning himself into a vampire. He’s worked alongside such heroes as Ghost Rider and Man-Thing.
Many Spidey fans were made aware of him by his appearances in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon. However, his origin was notably different, being much closer to Spider-Man’s, himself. In it was Peter’s rival, obsessing over curing his home country of a disease he believed was carried in vampire bats. He did his testing on the bats until he was bitten by a mutated one. And now it appears that the character will be making his big screen debut.
Still, this just brings things back to a frequently asked question. Who will the villain in the next Spider-Man film be? According to both Marvel and Sony, the MCU is completely separate from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. If that’s the case, then that rules out a number of possibilities. Venom is no longer an option and neither is Carnage. Black Cat and Silver Sable are also non-options. And aside from that, Doc Ock, Sandman, Lizard, Electro, and Rhino are unlikely because of their appearances in Sony movies. Vulture or Shocker just aren’t going to happen again so soon.
But where does that leave us? Green Goblin is up in the air. He may have appears twice before, but he’s also not an anti-hero like Venom, and is insanely popular. Failing that, Hobgoblin is a more likely option, seeing as Ned Leeds has a significant role in the new films. Scorpion was heavily teased in the previous movie, so there’s a possibility. Marvel seems adamant that Kingpin isn’t going to make the jump to the actual movies, leaving him to the Netflix crowd. But there is always the possibility of Tombstone, who had a very similar role in Spectacular Spider-Man. Then there a bunch of villains that just haven’t been touched – Chameleon, Kraven, personally I’m pulling for Mysterio. It would just make all the sense in the world. But only time will tell, who they pick for Spidey’s next outing.
Sony’s new Morbius film was written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (Power Rangers, 2017). The movie hasn’t yet announced a director, release date, or any cast.
