4 years and 6 release dates ago, Matt Smith’s role in Sony’s upcoming vamp flick, Morbius, was revealed to be Loxias Crown, a Marvel Comics’ character known as Hunger. In the comics, Crown became some sort of quasi-vampire after being attacked by Morbius, but the character is poorly-defined, having only 5 total appearances and none since 1999. So, in some regards, it’s a great character for a comic-based film because he’s open to interpretation; however, there are also problems with adapting a character with so little supporting mythology. And, according to Smith, his Morbius‘ character may suffer from the same identity crisis he had in the comics.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Smith explained that he’s not entirely sure of the nature of his character because he didn’t do any comic-based research into him ahead of time:
The truth is, I wasn’t aware of the great big history of the character in many respects. Because the script I was presented with doesn’t really delve into the past of him – or indeed the future. And isn’t someone else playing him? It’s all a bit confusing to me, to be honest with you. I took as my Bible just the actual script, is the honest truth of it. And it was all a bit odd whether it was Loxias [Crown] or not. I’m still not quite sure, to be honest.
Matt Smith
In the film, Smith plays Morbius’ childhood bestie who suffers from the same hereditary disease as his friend. When Morbius finds the “cure”, Smith’s Crown, who comes from a wealthy family, uses his big money power to uncover Morbius’ discovery and then becomes a much more villainous, cold-blooded version of his friend. That character is a FAR cry from the comics, so it’s not surprising that Smith wouldn’t have to read any background material to prep. His route to villainy sounds very similar to how Marvel Studios has traditionally developed their villains, so maybe Sony has taken a page from the successful franchise.
Morbius FINALLY hits theaters just over a week from now on April 1st, 2022…or does it?
Source: Screen Rant
