Tyrese Gibson joins 'Morbius' spinoff

"Fast and Furious" star Tyrese Gibson is in talks to join actor Jared Leto in "Morbius", a film based on the Spider-Man villain of the same name.

"Safe House" filmmaker Daniel Espinosa will direct it. Matt Smith is also on board to appear in the film, reports variety.com.

Details about Gibson's character are still under wraps.

Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, who co-created the Netflix series "Lost in Space", have penned the script. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing "Morbius" with Lucas Foster.

Writer Roy Thomas and artist Gil Kane created Morbius in 1971 for "The Amazing Spider-Man #101". The character was a scientist who tried to cure himself of a blood disease, with tragic results. He became afflicted with vampiric traits such as fangs and a thirst for blood - and wound up battling Spider-Man.

Morbius appeared sporadically in Marvel Comics in the subsequent years and was revived in the 1992 series "Morbius, the Living Vampire", which had a 32-issue run through April of 1995.

Gibson was just announced to star in and produce the upcoming feature biopic on famous Philadelphia-born R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass. He is also currently shooting "Black & Blue" for Screen Gems and will soon begin filming the ninth instalment of the "Fast and Furious" franchise.

--IANS

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