With Venom a hit at the box office, Sony is now looking to push full steam ahead with its plans for its Universe of Marvel Characters, beginning with the Jared Leto-headlined Morbius, the Living Vampire solo movie.
According to producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach, filming on Morbius is set to get underway “more or less” in February of 2019, with Daniel Espinosa (Life) directing, and now it seems we may have word on the villain who’ll be squaring off with Leto’s Dr. Michael Morbius.
That Hashtag Show is reporting that the movie will feature an original character by the name of Loxias Crown. The antagonist will allegedly start out as a friend of Morbius who happens to suffer the same rare blood disease, and also finds himself transformed into a vampire by the serum that the doctor creates to cure them. The main conflict in the film will then revolve around Morbius’ efforts to stop Loxias, while fighting off his own blood lust.
As the site points out, there is a Spider-Man villain by the name of Crown, who first appeared in 1997’s Spider-Man #76 and has battled Morbius in the past, although the character doesn’t seem to share any other similarities with the movie’s Loxias Crown.
As always, treat this as rumour for the time being, but with Morbius slated to begin production in the next few months it shouldn’t be too long until we get some official news and casting announcements.
Originally published October 18, 2018. Updated December 5, 2022.
