The success of Spider-Man: No Way Home has made Sony feel very comfortable with the Spidey characters under its control. The studio's previous spin-off film, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, also performed well enough to grant it another sequel. Everything has been shaping up for the studio and its recent Marvel releases, despite the not-so-great critical feedback the Tom-Hardy-led franchise has gotten.
Next up on Sony's slate is Morbius. The movie stars Jared Leto in the titular role as a man who accidentally becomes a vampire while looking for a cure for his degenerative blood disease.
The character has classically been a villain of Spider-Man in the comics. However, there won’t be any webhead in sight for this outing. So who will he be facing off against?
The answer to that is Matt Smith’s mystery character, Dr. Loxias Crown. In the comics, thanks to experiments done on Morbius, Crown becomes a Vampric being known as Hunger. He isn't technically a full-on vampire but shares plenty of their traits, such as increased strength, a following of bats, and teleportation.
The actor has now spoken out about the role, but instead of offering words of praise, he offered up a confused picture of what Sony is aiming to achieve with his villain.
Matt Smith Doesn’t Understand His Morbius Character's Backstory
In an interview with Screen Rant, Morbius actor Matt Smith talked about his character in the movie, revealing how confusing the whole project is for him.
The actor admitted that it was “all a bit confusing to [him]… [it’s] all a bit odd whether [his character] was Loxius [Crown] or not.”
Smith elaborated, admitting that “[he] wasn't aware of the great big history of the character in many respects,” and that he treated the actual script as his "Bible" for understanding and embodying his villain:
“The truth is, I wasn't aware of the great big history of the character in many respects. Because the script I was presented with doesn't really delve into the past of him - or indeed the future. And isn't someone else playing him? It's all a bit confusing to me, to be honest with you. I took as my Bible just the actual script, is the honest truth of it. And it was all a bit odd whether it was Loxias [Crown] or not. I'm still not quite sure, to be honest. “
Does Sony Understand Its Own Direction?
Many fans have been critical of how Sony has handled its Spider-Man characters outside the studio's partnership with Marvel Studios. There is a good chance that the Venom films are only successful because of the general desire to see that character in action, no matter what it looks like. So the quality of the projects probably has nothing to do with why the series continues to exist.
When it comes to Morbius, it’s no surprise that Sony doesn’t seem to know what they are doing. One of the previous trailers contains on-screen references to three different cinematic universes.
Michael Keaton has even filmed scenes as Adrian Toomes for the upcoming project—yet, it isn’t set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Maybe Sony is the reason why his MCU role confuses the actor.
With the movie coming out on April 1, fans don’t have to wait very long before they finally know if the project is going to end up a disaster or a surprise hit. At the very least, hopefully, Sony can clean up their act at some point—if there’s anyone that shouldn’t be confused, it’s the actors bringing the story to life.
