Spider-Man Spin-off Morbius Now Shooting, First Image Released From Set

The huge success of Sony's Spider-Man spin-off Venom ensured that we will be getting more movies featuring heroes and villains from the Spidey universe. Venom 2 is on the way, but next up will be Morbius. Production on the movie has now started and a first image has been released from the set.

The picture was posted on Twitter by star Jared Leto. It doesn't exactly reveal much, as Leto is largely obscured by a clapperboard. But we can see that he has the long hair and pale skin of Morbius the Living Vampire from Marvel's comic books--check it out below.

Morbius is directed by Daniel Espinosa, who previously helmed the sci-fi horror movie Life and the Denzel Washington thriller Safe House. The cast also includes former Doctor Who star Matt Smith, Stephen Dorff (True Detective), and Jared Harris (The Terror). It releases on July 31, 2020.

The character of Morbius first appeared in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man #101 back in 1971. The character was created by the legendary Roy Thomas and Gil Kane. The antihero character was originally a biochemist named Michael Morbius who was dying of an unknown blood disease. He created what he thought was a cure using the biochemisty of vampire bats; however, the side effects caused him to crave blood and become a vampire.

While Morbius is the only other Spider-Man spin-off with a set release date, here are several more in development. Tom Hardy is expected to return for Venom 2, although it was recently reported that director Rubin Fleischer might not be back. In addition, there are movies based on the characters of Silk, Kraven, Black Cat, and Silver Sable in the works.