Note: This article was originally published by Charles Murphy at That Hashtag Show on October 16, 2018
The box office success of Sony’s Venom means that their planned Universe of Marvel Characters will continue. Up next for Sony is the Jared Leto-led Morbius, which tells the tale of Dr. Michael Morbius. Morbius is a biochemist who in an attempt to cure a fatal blood disease injects himself with a treatment serum derived from bats. Morbius is transformed into a creature with vampire-like traits, including super strength and reflexes and a thirst for human blood. Back in July we brought you the first details on the film’s leads, including the first descriptions of the film’s villain and Martine Bancroft. With filming projected to begin sometime in the first quarter of 2019, Sony has begun searching for its cast and we now have an update on the film’s villain!
In our July exclusive we revealed that the film’s antagonist would be a friend of Morbius’ who turned on him and that still remains true. However, at the time we speculated that friend might be Emil Nikos. While Nikos will be in Morbius (though this iteration of Nikos will be very different from his comic book counterpart), he is not the film’s villain. Michael Morbius will face off against his good friend Loxias Crown!
If that name doesn’t quite ring a bell it’s because Loxias Crown doesn’t exist in the comics…not by that name anyway. It seems as though Sony might be adapting the mutant supervillain Crown, who later went by the name Hunger and came into conflict with Spider-Man and Morbius.
Crown first appeared in 1997’s Spider-Man #76. If Sony is adapting Crown here, they’re making some serious alterations to the characters history. In the film, Loxias Crown suffers from the same rare blood disease as his good friend Morbius. Like Morbius, Loxias will be transformed by the serum that Moribus developed to cure them and the film’s main conflict will center on Morbius trying to stop the killing machine Loxias has become while also fighting off his own blood lust.
With the film hoping to start production early next year, casting for Loxias could happen at anytime, but as of now Jared Leto remains the only actor who has signed on for a role. Stay tuned to That Hashtag Show for more on this story as it develops.
