Morbius is a 2022 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Morbius, the Living Vampire, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the third film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU). Directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, it stars Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, alongside Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. In the film, Morbius and his surrogate brother Milo become living vampires after curing themselves of a rare blood disease.
There were several attempts to bring Morbius to the big screen since 1998, including joining the Blade franchise and having a solo film produced by Artisan Entertainment, neither of which ever came to fruition. After announcing plans for a new shared universe of films inspired by Spider-Man characters beginning with Venom (2018), Sony began developing a film based on Morbius. Sazama and Sharpless had written a script by November 2017, and Leto and Espinosa officially joined in June 2018. Work on the film began at the end of the year with further casting, ahead of production starting in London in February 2019. Filming was confirmed to have been completed by June 2019, with reshoots happening in Los Angeles the following February.
Morbius premiered at the Plaza Carso in Mexico City on March 10, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on April 1, 2022, after being delayed several times from an initial July 2020 date primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received negative reviews from critics who criticized its writing, visual effects, and especially its mid-credits scenes, although Smith's performance was better received.[6][7][8] It has grossed over $162 million against a $75–83 million budget, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 2022.
Plot:
At a hospital in Greece, 10-year-old Michael Morbius welcomes his surrogate brother Lucien, whom he renames Milo; they bond over their shared blood illness and desire to be "normal". Their adoptive father and hospital director Nicholas arranges for Morbius to attend medical school in New York while he focuses on caring for Milo.
25 years later, Morbius publicly declines a Nobel Prize for his work with synthetic blood. His colleague Martine Bancroft discovers he has secretly captured dozens of vampire bats from Costa Rica in the hope of splicing their genes with his own to cure his condition. After informing Nicholas and Milo of his planned illegal experiment, Morbius receives funding from them to outfit a private mercenary vessel in international waters with his equipment. While the cure works, it transforms Morbius into a vampire, who kills and drains the crew of their blood after they attack him out of fear. Once his bloodlust subsides and he regains his senses, a horrified Morbius erases all CCTV footage of his experiment before contacting the authorities and jumping overboard.
Morbius returns to New York and discovers he now has superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and echolocation, with his vampire bats treating him as a bat. He subsists on his synthetic blood until it gradually ceases to satisfy his needs. FBI agents Simon Stroud and Al Rodriguez investigate Morbius' victims and deduce his involvement. Milo learns that Morbius is cured, but becomes furious when Morbius refuses to cure him as well. While checking on a hospitalized Bancroft, Morbius finds a dead nurse, drained of her blood. Believing he was responsible, he attempts to escape before being cornered and arrested. In prison, he is visited by Milo, who offers to use his wealth to free him. Upon realizing Milo took his cure and killed the nurse, Morbius escapes to confront him. An unrepentant Milo confesses to his bloodlust-induced crime and urges Morbius to embrace his powers as he has. Unwilling to hurt his brother, Morbius flees.
Morbius meets Bancroft to explain what Milo has done before acquiring a new lab and developing an antibody against vampairism to stop and kill Milo; he also plans to use it on himself since he will become unable to resist his bloodlust. Stroud and Rodriguez find footage of one of Milo's attacks and, believing Morbius' vampirism to be spreading, release it to the media. Nicholas recognizes Milo and pleads with him to stop. Angered by Nicholas' perceived preference for Morbius, Milo wounds and forces him to call Morbius, who watches Nicholas die while Milo attacks Bancroft. Morbius returns to Bancroft, but she dies in his arms and he drinks her blood. Morbius confronts Milo and summons an army of bats to restrain him and inject the antibody. Milo dies and Morbius flies off with the bats, mourning his loved ones and embracing his identity as a vampire. Unbeknownst to him, Bancroft is revived as a vampire herself elsewhere, having ingested a drop of Morbius' blood whilst he was feeding on her.
In a mid-credits scene, Adrian Toomes finds himself transported to Morbius' universe.[a] Having deduced that his transportation involved Spider-Man, Toomes approaches Morbius and suggests that they form a team.