The future looks pretty good for Sony’s Spider-Man-less universe. Venom turned out to be a bigger hit than expected, despite critics panning the film. So instead of going back to the drawing board to figure out what to do with these characters, the studio is pushing forward on some already announced titles. Morbius: The Living Vampire and Kraven the Hunter are among the two characters connected to Spider-Man lore who are getting their own films. And now, we are getting a few surprising updates on them.

For Morbius, that will be the next film to go into production. For Kraven the Hunter, well, we might see him go up against a certain webslinger. More on these reports, below.

The Morbius report comes to us from Collider, who had an extensive interview with film producer Avi Arad – who has been connected to the Spider-Man films since Sam Raimi’s take – and Matt Tolmach. Jared Leto is set to play Michael Morbius, a scientist who does an experiment with vampire bats in order to cure his blood disease. However, the experiment has a dangerous side effect and turns him into a vampire bat and human hybrid, and imbued him with a thirst for blood.

But Morbius: The Living Vampire is not all villain. In fact, he is more of a horror-based tragically flawed hero.

The interview revealed a couple of things. First, Arad and Tolmach confirm that Leto will be playing Morbius, so do with that what you will. Second, the film is scheduled to begin production in February of next year. Third, the film could get an R-rating, but it all depends on the story.

On that note, they recognize some of the limitations that a PG-13 may have. Here’s what they had to say:

The full interview goes into how they have to justify making a PG-13 Venom. And, quite honestly, Arad does bring in some pretty valid points.

Moving onto Kraven the Hunter, which we found out Sony was developing in August, screenwriter Richard Wenk spoke to Discussing Film about the possibility of having Spider-Man in the film:

Well, Wenk does admit he has just started writing it. So things could very well change in the future. The genesis of a script does not end up in the final cut of the film without a few adjustments. And with Spider-Man belonging to Marvel Studios, for now, it’s not likely we will get to see Spider-Man evade Kraven the Hunter. However, should this be a Spider-Man-less universe where supporting Spidey characters co-exist, there is a chance that Venom could be a target of that hunt. But that is just speculation on my part.

But it appears that the grounded character of Kraven is what drew Wenk to write the script. Indeed, Kraven doesn’t have a goblin formula coursing through his veins. He doesn’t have an extra set of arms. He doesn’t have a poisonous tail. All he has are his predatory instincts.

The thing is, we have a character who is tied directly to Spider-Man. Making it that much harder for a film about a Spider-Man villain to exist. Maybe Venom was a fluke. Or maybe it will set the standard of how to create a character film without the superhero who inspired or created the villain. But if Venom can be that much of a draw, maybe Kraven and Morbius films can work. We just have to wait and see.

[Source: Collider | Discussing Film]