PATIENCE is a virtue, and it is one Marvel fans will have to practice this year. The much-awaited Morbius will be making its debut on April 1, 2022 instead of the expected January 28.
Sony announced the postponement of the film, which is part of Sony’s Spiderman cinematic universe, earlier on Monday.
Morbius has encountered several delays – all thanks to the pandemic. Initially scheduled to be released on July 10, 2020, the dates shifted to July 31, 2020, then March 19, 2021, then October 8, 2021, and finally to January 21, 2022, before going back again to the original date of January 28.
With the surge in Omicron cases, it is an understandable situation and scheduling for April just makes sense.
In line with the later release, the Marvel vampire movie will be contending against Jimmy O. Yang and Tiffany Haddish’s laugh-filled Easter Sunday and Chris Pine’s The Contractor, a thriller.
Sony has been seeing massive box office successes with Spider-Man: No Way Home and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Meanwhile, the studio is also aiming to make the most of its Marvel comics characters by having another standalone spinoff based on Kraven the Hunter, a villain in the Spidey universe.
In a deal with Marvel, Sony licensed the beloved character of Spider-Man, including the rights to his many antagonists and allies. This preceded Marvel’s transition into movies and its acquisition by the Walt Disney Company for US$4 billion (RM16.7 billion) in cash and stock in an attempt to broaden its box-office appeal beyond young families.
“It was hard for me in some way, because I’m not used to playing roles that are a little bit closer to who I am, day in and day out. Dr. Michael Morbius is a little closer to the way that I talk and the way that I behave,” Jared Leto said of his character, the antihero Michael Morbius.
Morbius, Ph.D. and M.D., was first introduced in 1971’s The Amazing Spider-Man #101. He was born with a rare blood disease, and his desperate attempts to cure himself result in him gaining vampiric powers like superhuman strength, agility, and regenerative powers including a lust for human blood. It remains to be seen if Leto, too, shares these “strengths”.
While waiting for Morbius to finally hit theatres, you can whet your appetite with this exclusive scene from the movie:
