‘Morbius’ Confirmed to Feature Martine Bancroft as Female Lead

Sony's Spider-Man spinoff universe will kick off with Venom this fall, and continue with Morbius The Living Vampire thereafter. Jared Leto has been confirmed to play the titular vampiric anti-hero, and now it's confirmed that the film's female lead role will be Marvel Comics character Martine Bancroft.

The Hashtag Show has followed up its earlier report on the rumored casting calls for Morbius with a full confirmation that the female lead character is indeed Martine Bancroft, who is Morbius' fiancee. In the comics, Martine is a wealthy socialite who is a good match for the arrogant scientist Michael Morbius; when Morbius' experiments to cure himself of a rare blood disease transform him into a vampiric monster, it's Martine who helps him keep a connection to his humanity, and stays by his side while Michael tries to discover a cure for his monstrous condition. However, tragedy strikes when circumstances lead to Martine herself being transformed into a vampire at Michael's hand. After that, she's been a villain, a tragic victim, and killed and resurrected several times over. In short, her story is invariably tied to Morbius' own story.

No word yet on which actresses are being looked at to play the role of Martine Bancroft.

The confirmation of Martine Bancroft in Morbius is a pretty good indication that the other casting call, revealed by THS, is also probably true:

"The casting department was auditioning males, 30-40 years old for the role with actors Riz Ahmed and Rami Malek held in mind as prototypes for the role."

That male character was speculated to be Emil Nikos, who was Michael's lab partner and friend, working in secret with Michael to cure his rare blood disease. However, when Michael accidentally transforms himself into a vampiric creature, Emil tragically becomes the first victim of his friend's bloodlust.

It's not hard to see where the story arc of Morbius may be headed: The classic origin story of a desperate man trying to cheat death, who becomes a parasitic creature that must learn self control and discipline, and ends up hunting evildoers instead of innocents. To give the film a tragic and dramatic slant, Michael's selfish quest will no doubt end up cursing those close to him as well; it wouldn't be surprising if Emil became a vampiric villain due to Michael's bite, or Martine ends up being the tragic figure stuck in the middle, either corrupted by the "bad vampire" or saved from death by Michael transforming her.

That's all spitball-speculation, but it seems like something that Sony and director Daniel Espinosa would offer audiences.

Venom will hit theaters on October 5th; Morbius will be released on a date TBA.