Sony working on Spider-Man spinoff movie for Morbius the Living Vampire

Sony is developing a film based on Morbius, the Living Vampire, a Marvel Comics antihero who first appeared in an issue of Amazing Spider-Man during the 1970s. The Hollywood Reporter says that movie, currently titled Morbius, will focus on the vampire-like character for one of the spin-off movies based on the Spider-Man franchise.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Morbius has been developed in secret at the studio. Writers Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, who have worked on Power Rangers, Dracula Untold and ... uh, Gods of Egypt, submitted a script to Sony recently.

Morbius is short for Dr. Michael Morbius, a biochemist who in an attempt to cure a fatal blood disease injects himself with a treatment serum derived from bats. Morbius is transformed into a creature with vampire-like traits, including super strength and reflexes and a thirst for human blood. He was originally presented as a foe for Spider-Man, though he later evolved into a Marvel antihero.

Morbius appeared in Marvel Comics like Vampire Tales and Adventure Into Fear in the 1970s, and later in stand-alone comic series published in the early ’90s and ’10s. Morbius was later re-imagined as a more traditional vampire in Marvel’s Ultimate universe, which has served as a source of inspiration for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. It’s not clear which interpretation of Morbius Sony will be using for its movie.

Sony already has a couple movies based on Spider-Man characters in development, including Venom, focusing on the web-slinger’s longtime foe, and one based on Black Cat and Silver Sable titled Silver and Black. Those movies, and presumably Morbius, reportedly won’t directly connect to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe continuity.