Why Jared Leto Would Make a Great Big-Screen Morbius

Lawrence Yee
Movies Marvel
Movies Marvel

When news broke yesterday that Jared Leto would be bringing the Marvel character Morbius to the big screen, reactions were mixed.

Morbius is a lesser-known character from the Spider-Man universe, especially when compared to Venom, the subject of the next standalone Spider-Man film starring Tom Hardy. It’s hard for even the most ardent comic book fans to get excited about an obscure character.

Others were still disappointed by Leto’s screentime (or lack thereof) in Suicide Squad. Although featured prominently in marketing materials for the DC film, his Joker was missing for most of the movie.

The starring role as Morbius solves the latter issue — Leto is guaranteed plenty of screen time. But will fans be drawn to Morbius, a character whose heyday was the early ’90s?

With the right script (from Dracula Untold scribes Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless) and Leto’s magnetism, Morbius might be a success.

The Look

Suicide-Squad-Jared-Leto
Jared Leto has gone all-white before.

In the comics, Morbius has pale skin (a result of his sensitivity to the sun), intense red eyes, dark hair, and a goatee.

Leto has already proven that he can handle all-white body make-up, which he had in Suicide Squad.

As for the facial hair, Leto sported a similar look in Blade Runner 2049.

Leto has mastered the brooding look.

And the actor has always had a lean, muscular body. He meets the physicality of a comic book character.

The Chops

Dallas Buyer's Club Jared Leto
Leto portrayed a diseased addict in 'Dallas Buyer's Club.'

More importantly, Leto has the acting experience to bring the “pseudo-vampire” to life.

Dr. Michael Morbius was born with a rare blood disorder and tried using electrical and chemical treatments to cure his lust for human blood. The treatments only exacerbated his condition and made him more monstrous. He became an anti-hero, feeding on criminals and working alongside Spider-Man during the Maximum Carnage crossover.

Leto has portrayed addicts twice, first in Requiem of a Dream and later in Dallas Buyer’s Club, for which he won an Oscar. Both of those characters were intravenous drug users, whereas Morbius has an addiction to blood.

Moreover, his character Rayon in Dallas Buyer’s Club was HIV-positive and struggled with the disease on a physical and psychological level, which forces her to act out violently at times.

Writers Sazama and Sharpless have created dark antiheroes before (Dracula, the titular character in The Last Witch Hunter), and Leto may be the vehicle for their most complex character yet.

There’s no release date for the Morbius movie.

Lawrence Yee
Lawrence is Editor in Chief of FANDOM. He grew up loving X-Men, Transformers, and Japanese-style role playing games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. First-person shooters make him incredibly nauseous.