Los Angeles, California - Jared Leto wasn't a big fan of comics as a child. But the Hollywood actor has now found himself playing the lead in a Marvel film. As Morbius hits movie theaters this week with the story of a vampire-like superhuman, Leto let fans in on what his own superpower would be.

Jared Leto says he would have happily stolen comic books as a child if he'd had the chance.

It's perhaps fitting that someone playing the bloodthirsty antihero of Marvel thriller Morbius has a hint of a bad attitude. And yet, comic books weren't of much interest to the latest lead actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"I know comics were pretty cheap, but we didn't have extra money to buy things like that," Leto told the dpa ahead of the film's upcoming cinematic release on April 1. "I suppose I would have stolen them if there was a good comic book store close. But there wasn't."

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His enthusiasm for comic books before Morbius was limited, he admitted. "I wasn't into comic books that much, I did get a box of comics given to me by a family friend, to me and my brother and we kind of devoured them.

"But it was a short period of time and it didn't really stick." Instead, Leto had a strong interest in Greek mythology as a child.

As an adult, however, comics are definitely playing a huge role in his life.

In the latest addition to the Marvel universe, Leto plays the eponymous Morbius - a doctor who suffers from a rare blood disease and transforms into a vampire-like antihero while seeking a cure.

He says his character lives in the space "between good and evil and he has to battle his primal impulses."

"I think that is a compelling part of the story, that battle between good and evil, the Jekyll-and-Hyde element," the 50-year-old said.

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Even though he's not a comic book fan, Leto still appreciates the dream of having superpowers.

"I like Mobius' power of echolocation, the fact that he can see with sound." It's an interesting and unique ability, Leto said - but not Leto's own dream superpower.

That would be flying, if he had to pick. "Where would I fly? All over the world," Leto explained. "But the problem is that you have to be pretty strong, because if you are going a couple hundred miles per hour and you hit a bug, man, it will take your teeth out."

What appeals to Leto most about his leading role is that he is the first actor to get to play Morbius.

"One of the reasons I made this film was because this character has never been on the screen before," said the actor, who won an Oscar for his supporting role as a trans woman with AIDS in the 2014 drama Dallas Buyers Club.

"I mean, it is a chance to have some ownership and to really develop this character."

And a chance, at least on the big screen, to live out the superhero dream.