Morbius; Jared Leto Becomes a Blood Sucking Vampire

Morbius is a 2022 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics that stars Morbius, the Living Vampire and is co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Marvel. It is the third film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, and it is distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing (SSU). It stars Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, along with Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson, and is directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. 

Jared Leto plays the Pale Knight in Morbius, a serious-minded, soft-spoken biochemist with a ponytail who wants only one thing: to find a cure for the rare blood disorder that he and a few others suffer from, a disease that renders him too weak to walk without crutches and necessitates multiple transfusions per day. Michael Morbius of Leto believes that the key to a cure may be found in blood-sucking bats, which gorge themselves on the red stuff and somehow manage to process it just fine.

He creates a serum from their intestines and agrees to be used as a guinea pig, but the experiment goes awry: while the secret formula grants him superhuman speed and strength, it has also transformed him into a vampire of sorts, a drawn, noseless creature with pointy teeth and talonlike long nails. He needs blood to function, and while artificial blood—which he also invented—works for a while, only human blood can provide a long-term solution.

Michael Morbius doesn't want to be a bad guy, but his irrational desires keep pulling him in that direction. It doesn't help that his childhood best friend, quiet rich guy Milo (Matt Smith), suffers from the same disorder and wonders why he can't be healed like Morbius. Leto is capable of believable anguish and cautious tenderness, especially in his scenes with Adria Arjona's Dr. Martine Bancroft, the fellow doctor  he has "feelings" for.

Morbius premiered on March 10, 2022, at the Plaza Carso in Mexico City, and is set to be released in the United States on April 1, 2022, after being delayed several times from an initial July 2020 release date, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Critics panned the film, with many calling it uninspired and dated, though Leto's performance received some praise.