What Marvel villain is Matt Smith playing in the Morbius movie? The trailer for the Sony film, which was originally meant to release in 2020 before being pushed back to 2022, briefly showed Smith's character, but did not explain his relation to Morbius or the overarching story. So who are these characters and what do they want with each other?
The Living Vampire, Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), was first created as a Spider-Man villain and has since become a conflicted and violent anti-hero. Morbius transformed into what is called a pseudo-vampire after a failed experiment to cure his rare blood disease. Being a pseudo-vampire grants Morbius many of the powers of supernatural Marvel vampires without some of the traditional drawbacks, but he still possesses a strong desire for human blood. Struggling to understand and control his new condition will likely be the primary focus of the Morbius movie, but the vampire will have to deal with other villains beside himself.
Starring alongside Leto in Morbius is Matt Smith, who only appeared for a single scene in the film's trailer. Smith will be playing another character who receives vampiric abilities through scientific, instead of supernatural, means. Here's everything you need to know about the villain named Loxias Crown in the movie Morbius.
Loxias Crown, aka Hunger's Origin In Marvel Comics
Not much has been revealed in Marvel Comics about Loxias Crown's childhood, but as an adult he nurtured a great obsession with gaining power by any means necessary. In the comics, Crown once threatened scientists who were working on an energy generator; he claimed he would hold them hostage and let the generator explode unless the scientists cooperated, but secretly, he wanted the machine to blow up. Crown hoped to absorb the generator's energy when it exploded, thus gaining enormous power from it, but his plans were thwarted by Spider-Man's arrival.
With his dreams seemingly derailed, Crown decided to Hydra and pursue a relationship with a Hydra scientist named Dr. Andrea Janson who, he later discovered, was working with Morbius to try to find a cure for his vampirism. Morbius was unaware at the time of the pair's ties to Hydra, but when he figured this out, he tried to sacrifice himself to stay out of Hydra's hands. His efforts failed, and Morbius was instead taken prisoner. Experiments performed on Morbius eventually allowed Crown to become a pseudo-vampire himself known as Hunger.
Loxias Crown aka Hunger's Powers In Marvel Comics
Like Morbius, Hunger possesses many of the same powers as vampires in the Marvel Universe such as superhuman strength, speed, and stamina, along with regenerative healing and a heightened sense of sight and smell. Hunger can also turn others into a kind of pseudo-vampire like himself by using his elongated fangs to drain their blood. Making vampires in Marvel's universe this way gives him an empathic connection with all of his creations. He gains strength by creating more of them, and can feel their deaths whenever they are killed. In the comics, Hunger can also manipulate certain types of energy, such as fire, and utilize a shapeshifting ability to enlarge his hands.
As a pseudo-vampire, Hunger does not have all of the same limitations as a typical Marvel vampire. He lacks traditional vulnerabilities such as garlic, holy water, crucifixes, and silver, and can also not be destroyed by sunlight. He does have an aversion to the sun, however, and will try to stick to the shade if he has to be out during the day. Extended exposure to it can be uncomfortable and will greatly diminish his powers.
How Powerful is Hunger Compared To Morbius?
Consuming others' blood greatly enhances a vampire's powers in Marvel Comics, and since he does not seem to possess any of the moral conflictions about it that Morbius does, he can and will do so excessively. Hunger lives up to his name by having an insatiable desire for blood and will seek it out by any means necessary. Since both he and Morbius are pseudo-vampires, their strength levels are about the same, but constantly consuming others' blood would give Hunger the upper hand in a fight. Morbius' best chance for defeating him would be by overcoming his own bloodthirst long enough to outsmart his foe. Otherwise, Hunger's strength may be too much for him to counter.
Is Matt Smith Playing Loxias Crown In Morbius?
The Morbius movie lists Matt Smith as playing Loxias Crown, but the website tends to incorporate casting rumors as well as official notices, so it's unclear if Matt Smith is indeed playing Loxias Crown or if it's just a widespread rumor. It will be interesting to see Smith play a more self-indulgent, even uncontrolled, character since he has often played characters who had to act more with their head than heart, such as the eleventh Doctor in BBC's Doctor Who and Skynet in Terminator Genisys. Smith has also played Prince Philip in Netflix's The Crown and Jack in Last Night In Soho. His future projects include playing Prince Daemon Targaryen in the Game Of Thrones prequel series House Of The Dragon and as the voice of Superworm in Superworm.
What Loxias Crown's Story As Morbius' Villain Could Be
Since one of the scenes in the Morbius trailer clearly shows the man trapped in some kind of transparent prison, it's a safe assumption that Crown gains his vampiric abilities from experiments on Morbius, just like in the comics. It's unclear how much of Morbius is connected to the MCU because even though Michael Keaton is appearing as a potential tie-in to the MCU's Spider-Man, Crown is likely not d with Hydra. Instead, Crown could just be pursuing personal research in a desire to become stronger, and is perhaps even connected to the woman shown in the trailer helping Morbius with his work.
If something were to happen to her, maybe as a result of imprisoning Morbius against his will, Crown may want to seek revenge, just as he sought revenge for Dr. Andrea Janson's death in the comics. Crown may also simply clash with Morbius because of their differing approaches to handling their bloodthirst—Morbius likely has moral qualms about drinking another's blood that Crown does not. Only time will tell if the Morbius movie tries to flesh out Crown's backstory, but his origin as Hunger will almost certainly tie into Morbius' imprisonment as scientists try to figure out a way to fix his vampirism.
