Sony Developing Spider-Man Vampire Spin-Off ‘Morbius’

Sony is so thirsty for it, they’re gonna suck your blood. But really, the studio is dead set serious on creating that Spider-Verse they’d been hoping to launch back when Marc Webb was directing and Andrew Garfield was “The Amazing Spider-Man.” That plan didn’t work and Sony scrapped the whole world they were building including designs on a “Sinister Six” villain-based movie. However, Sony held onto all their ideas and are planning on applying them to their “Spider-Man: Homecoming” iteration of the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Next up? A “Morbius” Spider-Man spin-off from the writer of “Power Rangers.”

Morbius, the Living Vampire as he’s known in the comics, first appeared as an antagonist in The Amazing Spider-Man series in the 1970s. The character eventually went on to become a tragically flawed protagonist in his own series and other titles. Wikipedia says, “Morbius is a man suffering from vampiric abilities and physical traits resulting from a biochemical experiment, as opposed to supernatural means.” The character was also a member of Midnight Sons, A.R.M.O.R., Legion of Monsters, and S.H.I.E.L.D. in the comics too.

The script, written by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (“Power Rangers” and the more fitting “Dracula Untold”) has already been written and submitted to the studio after a “secret development process” according to THR. It’s unclear what shape or form Morbius will take in the movies and how close to Spider-Man the character will be connected. It’s easy to conceive of this world as a stand-alone.

After the success of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” under the Marvel imprimatur, Sony is very keen on developing their own world outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Spider-Man” as played by Tom Holland, will do three movies over at Marvel and then the character will return to the Sony-verse proper.

Various spin-offs are already in production. A “Venom” film is already shooting starring Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams. Directed by Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”), it comes out in October 2018 and will be the first film from the Spider-verse. “Venom” is also said to be standalone and separate from “Spider-Man.” Following that picture will be “Silver and Black” centered around characters Silver Sable and Black Cat. The female superhero duo picture will be directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood and presumably more connected to “Spider-Man” given how closely the Black Cat is to the web crawler’s world. An animated “Spider-Man” movie centered around the African-American version of the character, Miles Morales, is on the way too. Presumably “Morbius” won’t be the last movie announced in the ever-expanding Spider-verse.