Morbius: Is Matt Smith Playing A Villain? Loxias Crown Explained

A new trailer for Morbius has finally been released after it was pushed back several times. Originally, the trailer was meant to be released in

By Ishita Chatterjee
November 4,2021
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A new trailer for Morbius has finally been released after it was pushed back several times. Originally, the trailer was meant to be released in 2020, but then it got pushed back to 2021.

Now, the new trailer showed plenty of exciting things. One of which was a glimpse of Matt Smith’s character.

However, as expected, we didn’t really get to see how he was connected to Mobius as well as the overarching storyline. So it’s time to find out more about these two characters, and most importantly- what do they actually want with each other.

Who Is Morbius?

Morbius: Is Matt Smith

Let us begin with the titular character himself- Morbius or Dr. Michael Morbius, player by Jared Leto, is nicknamed the Living Vampire. He was first created as a villain for Spider-Man. But over time, he has transformed into a violent and conflicted anti-hero.

Morbius transformed into a pseudo-vampire after an experiment set up to cure his rare blood disease failed violently. Since he is a pseudo-vampire so he possesses a lot of the powers that vampires in the MCU have. But he doesn’t suffer from some of their traditional weaknesses.

However, he still possesses a very strong desire for human blood. So in the movie, he will surely be struggling to understand and control his new thirst and powers. In fact, the trailer pretty clearly says that he will be dealing with these issues.

However, that isn’t the only thing that he will be doing. He will obviously be dealing with other villains as well. One such villain is played by Matt Smith, who stars alongside Jared Leto.

In the trailer, he pretty much has a blink-and-you-miss-it-moment. But Marvel comics readers will know that he plays a character who receives vampiric abilities because of scientific reasons rather than due to supernatural phenomena.

So here’s everything you need to know about Loxias Crown, played by Matt Smith in the upcoming film Morbius.

Loxias Crown/Hunger’s Origin In Marvel Comics

Loxias Crown in Marvel comics
Loxias Crown in Marvel comics

Marvel comics readers will be familiar with the name Loxias Crown. However, not much has been revealed to date about his childhood. What is known is that as an adult he wanted to gain power by any means possible.

Once Crown even threatened scientists who were working on an energy generator. He said that he would hold them hostage and ensure that their generator explodes unless the scientists cooperate.

But secretly, he actually wanted that generator to blow up. Crown wanted to absorb the energy of the generator at the moment of the explosion. This would have allowed him to gain huge levels of power from it. However, his plans failed due to Spider-Man’s interference.

After failing to achieve his dreams, Crown went on to join Hydra. There he was in a relationship with Dr. Andrea Janson, who was a Hydra scientist. He later found that she was working with Morbius to find a cure for his vampirism.

During this, Morbius was unaware of her ties to Hydra. So when he finally found out, he tried to sacrifice himself to stay completely out of Hydra’s hands. But he failed and was taken a prisoner.

There Morbius was subjected to multiple experiments that eventually led Crown to become a pseudo-vampire known as Hunger.

Loxias Crown/Hunger’s Powers In The Comics

Loxias Crown has super strengt
Loxias Crown has super strength

Just like Morbius, Hunger possesses several of the same powers as vampires of the Marvel universe. He has superhuman stamina, speed, and strength. Along with this, he has a heightened sense of smell and sight along with regenerative healing.

He can also turn others into the kind of pseudo-vampire he is by using his fangs to drain their blood. Now, making vampires through this method in the Marvel universe gave him a sort of emphatic connection with his pseudo-vampires.

As such, he can feel it when they get killed. Also, the biggest advantage of creating more is that he gains strength through this method. Hunger has also been portrayed to be able to manipulate certain kinds of energy like fire.

Along with this, he can make use of his shapeshifting ability to enlarge his hands. As for vulnerabilities, he isn’t an actual vampire. So he is immune to things like crucifixes, garlic, silver, and of course, holy water.

Also, he can’t be killed by sunlight. However, this doesn’t mean that he is comfortable under sunlight. He actually has a sunlight aversion. So he will stick to being in the shade if he has to be out during the day.

This is because if he is exposed to sunlight for long, then it not only makes him uncomfortable but also diminishes his powers.

Power Levels Of Morbius And Hunger

Morbius
Morbius

In the Marvel comics universe, consuming the blood of others increases a vampire’s powers. Since Crown doesn’t seem to have any of the ethics or code that Morbius follows, so he drinks when he can and does so excessively.

Hunger truly does live up to his name since he has an almost insatiable desire for blood. As such, he seeks it out through any means necessary. He and Morbius have similar levels of strength since they are both pseudo-vampires.

But since Hunger is constantly consuming other people’s blood so it gives him an upper hand if there’s a fight between the two. In such a case, Morbius’ best option is to overcome his own bloodthirst long enough to outsmart his enemy.

Otherwise, Hunger’s raw strength might turn out to be too much for him.

Is Matt Smith Actually Playing Loxias Crown In The Movie?

Loxias Crown and Matt Smith
Loxias Crown and Matt Smith

Matt Smith is listed as Loxias Crown on the IMDb page for the Morbius movie. However, this should be taken with a pinch of salt since the site does tend to incorporate a tonne of casting rumors too.

Overall, right now, there has been no official confirmation if Matt Smith is even playing Crown. However, it will certainly be interesting to watch Smith play an uncontrolled and self-indulgent character after playing characters who are more logical.

One example of this is the eleventh Doctor in BBC’s Doctor Who. In fact, most people will know him as The Doctor. However, he also played Skynet in Terminator Genisys. Along with this, he has portrayed Prince Philip in The Crown series of Netflix.

Recently, he played Jack in the Last Night In Soho movie. His future projects involve the Game Of Thrones prequel project where he is playing Prince Daemon Targaryen. Another one is Superworm where he is the voice of Superworm.

How Loxias Crown Could Fit In The Morbius Movie?

How will Matt Smith's Loxias Crown fit in Morbius?
How will Matt Smith’s Loxias Crown fit in Morbius?

In the trailer, there’s a scene that shows a man trapped in some sort of transparent prison. So as of now, it’s safe to assume that Crown might get his vampiric powers from the experiments performed on Morbius, just like it was in the comics.

Right now, we don’t know how much Morbius is connected to the MCU since there has been no explicit or official confirmation till now. But most of us know that Michael Keaton will indeed be appearing as a potential tie-in to the Marvel Universe’s Spider-Man.

Now, it doesn’t seem like Crown will be affiliated with Hydra this soon. As such, he could simply be pursuing his own personal desire to become powerful. Also, it’s possible that he is connected to the woman who is trying to help Morbius in the trailer.

In the comics, Crown sought revenge for Dr. Andrea Janson’s death. It’s possible that something similar might happen in the movie too as a result of perhaps imprisoning Morbius against his will.

Another possibility is that Crown might fight Morbius just because of their differing approaches towards controlling bloodlust. Morbius is sure to have moral and ethical issues about drinking the blood of another.

After all, even in the trailer he is shown to be kind and want to help others who are suffering from the same blood condition as him. But Crown isn’t like that.

Right now, it remains to be seen just how Morbius will choose to establish and flesh out Loxias Crown’s story. But we do think that his origin will be closely tied to the experiments done on Morbius by the scientists when they were trying to figure out a cure for his vampirism.

Will that actually happen or not, that remains to be seen.

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