Morbius star Matt Smith seems poised to bring a very different version of the Marvel Comics villain Hunger to the big screen.
In early 2019, Variety broke the news that Smith had joined the cast of Morbius in an undisclosed role. A couple months later, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the Doctor Who alum would indeed be playing the role of Loxias Crown/Hunger, giving credence to prior speculation. According to Sony Pictures, however, Smith’s villain is actually named Milo — and while he has some things in common with Loxias Crown (namely a lust for power that results in him co-opting Morbius’ abilities), there are also some major differences.
Created by Howard Mackie and John Romita Jr., Loxias Crown first appeared in 1996’s Spider-Man #76. While little is known about his background, the power-hungry Crown — an agent of Hydra — abducted Dr. Michael Morbius/Morbius the Living Vampire in order to perform experiments on him. Amid a scuffle also involving Spider-Man and S.H.O.C., Morbius attacked Crown and the two went missing after a large explosion. Crown later reemerged as Hunger, having been transformed into a Living Vampire himself, boasting powers similar to those of Morbius.
In the Morbius film, however, Smith’s Milo is a lifelong friend of Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) — possibly also making him an analog for Marvel Comics’ Emil Nikos. Sony explained in an official production release that their friendship runs so deep that “Morbius gave him his name. Born with the name Lucien and the same blood disease that Morbius has, the young Morbius renamed the boy Milo when they met as children. Their shared affliction led to a lifelong bond as brothers.”
Sony describes Lucien/Milo as the “scion of a very, very, very rich family” who has “grown into a man determined to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life while he can — mostly by spending his money to live the high life in New York.” Said Morbius producer Lucas Foster, “He’s a bon vivant, bigger than life, a delight. He’s a lot of fun — even when he’s sick, he’s still trying to live life to its fullest, squeeze every moment he can every enjoyment possible out of his last time on Earth.”
According to Sony, when Morbius “discovers the cure/curse” of vampirism, his “natural reaction is to shield his dying friend — a reaction Milo does not understand or appreciate. Milo steals the serum, transforming himself into the same monster that Morbius is.” However, whereas “Morbius is afraid of his powers, Milo embraces them.”
Smith himself explained, “They both get the same power — one goes one way, and one goes the other way… The lust for more blood, for more feeling, more power — Milo doesn’t shy away from it… The idea that Michael is trying to deny his instincts as this creature is just beguiling to Milo. Why? ‘We’ve spent all our lives hobbling around, feeling second-best. And suddenly we feel like gods. And you’re gonna throw it away because that’s the good thing to do?'”
Discussing his approach to playing the villain, Smith continued, “[Director Daniel Espinosa] encouraged me to be quite bold as an actor. When you look at the great villains, they’re allowed to be quite loud as personalities. So I tried to push Milo in that direction… Playing the bad guy is a dream come true — I’m interested in the bad guys where, at the end of the film, you go, ‘I kind of like him.’ Don’t judge him too harshly. ‘Fair enough, mate. You’ve had a pretty grim life up to now. You enjoy eating the policeman.'”
According to Foster, Milo “ends up being a cautionary tale — he’s only lived at the extremes. He can’t find a middle course and doesn’t want to. He’s been held in a cage for much of his life, and after his coming out party, he’s never going back to the way he was.”
Morbius releases in theaters on April 1.
Source: Sony Pictures
About The Author
