Jared Harris' previously unknown role has been confirmed for the upcoming film, Morbius.
Revealed in an official production release from Sony Pictures, Harris will play the role of Dr. Nicholas. While it has been known that the character will be a mentor for Jared Leto's Dr. Michael Morbius, according to Sony Pictures, he will also serve this role for Matt Smith's Milo -- the antagonist of the film. This also marks a reunion for the two actors, being that Harris played a similar role for Smith in Netflix's The Crown.
Harris will be a parental figure to the afflicted Michael Morbius and other children who share his unique blood disease. Harris explained, "Dr. Nicholas takes in young Milo and young Michael -- they have a congenital blood-borne disease that is slowly killing them." He continued, "He runs the facility where we look after people who have these illnesses, when there is little hope of a cure."
Dr. Nicholas doesn't appear to have a direct comic book counterpart related to Morbius, though there is a Dr. Nicholas Bromwell from the Golden Age of Marvel Comics. Bromwell was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in The Amazing Spider-Man as the Parker family's doctor. If Dr. Bromwell served as the inspiration for Dr. Nicholas, it would not be the first time that a character from comics was adapted or changed to better fit into Morbius. One example is the aforementioned Milo, Matt Smith's version of Loxias Crown/Hunger.
Leto leads the cast as the titular character vampire. In comics, Morbius was originally a doctor seeking to escape death by an unknown illness. Continually failing in his pursuit of a cure, he seeks out extremely unconventional treatments. This ultimately leads Morbius to experiments with vampire bat DNA and electroshock therapy, turning him into a pseudo-vampire. This mutation grants him vampire-like abilities such as flight, enhanced strength, an accelerated healing factor and heightened senses. However, these mutations also require him to drink the blood of others to stay alive, have a sensitivity to sunlight and disfigure him into a half-man, half-bat kind of appearance.
Morbius is Sony's latest Spider-Man spinoff film. The movie joins previous releases like Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and will be followed by next year's release of Kraven the Hunter. There have been several references to other Spider-Man villains in Morbius' trailers, but it's unclear if these are foreshadowing characters to come, ones we have seen before or are simply Easter eggs for eagle-eyed fans to enjoy.
Directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, Morbius hits theatres on April 1, 2022.
Source: Sony Pictures