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Dr. Michael Morbius ( Jared Leto ), the title character of Columbia Pictures’ MCU-adjacent semi-horror movie “Morbius,” is a “living vampire.” What, you might be thinking, does that mean? Did the good doctor become a vampire without having to die first? Why, yes—he fused his DNA with vampire bat DNA in an attempt to cure the rare, fatal blood disease that’s been plaguing him since childhood. (What disease, you ask? You sweet, innocent child.) The fusion gave him super speed, super strength, echolocation abilities, and an appetite for blood that’s only partially sated by the artificial substitute for which Morbius rejects a Nobel Prize at the beginning of the film. (Why? Again, you’re asking too many questions.) In short, he’s a science vampire . (So, like if Batman was a doctor, then? Wrong universe, but close.)

So that means the usual rules of vampirism don’t apply, right? Yes and no. Loxias Crown ( Matt Smith ) Morbius’ best friend turned greatest adversary, does turn himself into a vampire using Morbius’ formula. But we don’t know if he died in the process. That sequence is left off screen, for reasons presumably tied to the many reshoots and delays that hampered “Morbius” on its journey to the big screen. And other characters die and come back to life after tasting Morbius’ blood, a supernatural transformation that doesn’t involve—as Morbius himself puts it at one point—"science stuff" at all. In short, the nature of Morbius’ affliction is messy and contradictory and not worth thinking about for more than a few seconds, a quality that extends throughout Daniel Espinosa ’s misbegotten superhero/horror hybrid.

All the greatest metaphorical hits are present in Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless ’ script, as well as in Leto’s performance: Vampirism as illness? Check. Vampirism as addiction? Yup. Don’t ask for much in terms of actually developing these themes, however, as the film’s approach is to point and yell, “look over there!” whenever things get complicated. A superhero whose murders are the direct result of his attempts to help people presents a complex moral dilemma. But you wouldn’t know it from this film, which takes any intriguing elements of its title character’s story and flattens them into clichéd grandstanding about the obligation of the privileged few to protect the unsuspecting many.

The basic thrust of the plot is that Morbius—a celebrity scientist whose lab is funded by Crown’s family fortune—is conducting experiments ethically questionable enough that all involved think it best to pursue them on international waters. That’s no problem, given Crown’s vast wealth. But the aftermath of the experiment’s first human trial leaves eight sailors dead, and soon their bodies are discovered on a ghost ship much like the one that harbors Count Dracula at the beginning of Bram Stoker ’s novel. (That’s not “Morbius’” only reference to other, more coherent vampire narratives: The ship is named the Murnau, after the director of “ Nosferatu .”)

From there, Morbius—who, as you may have already guessed, was turned into a “living vampire” during the experiment—is ostensibly under investigation by the FBI. But Agents Rodriguez ( Al Madrigal ) and Stroud ( Tyrese Gibson ) do a terrible job tracking him, given that he returns to his lab with his colleague and love interest Dr. Martine Bancroft ( Adria Arjona ) within hours of the crime. This is a front-page story with an escalating body count, and the prime suspect is wandering around unnoticed by doing little more than putting up the hood on his sweatshirt. But no matter. On to a more important question: Is the vampire stuff cool?

Sadly, not really. Like most superhero movies, “Morbius'' is rated PG-13, which limits the blood to the sanguine juice boxes Morbius chugs throughout and the occasional rusty stain across a character’s throat. And although prosthetic artists are listed in the film's credits, their contributions are difficult to make out amid the heavy-handed CGI. “Morbius” is not an MCU film: It belongs to the so-called “Spider-Verse,” coming from the same studio as “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” But it shares an Achilles’ heel with the MCU, in the sense that you can’t tell what’s going on in any of the film’s action sequences.

If it’s not the wavy, sketchy CGI trails that follow in Morbius’ wake—picture a combination of psychedelic tracers and the soot creatures from “My Neighbor Totoro”—cluttering up the screen, it’s those damn bats. Earlier action sequences aren’t much better, to be clear. But it’s almost impossible to follow the film’s climactic battle, thanks to a colony of vampire bats that swoop in at the last minute to help Morbius clean up the bloodthirsty mess he’s made. Espinosa seems to know that it’s difficult to make out what’s happening, pausing for a midair slow-motion shot in nearly every action sequence. The problem there is, lingering on these moments reveals how obviously phony they are.

But the film’s over-reliance on digital effects isn’t terribly surprising in a modern superhero movie. Neither is Smith’s sympathetic-to-a-point villain. Nor, for that matter, is Leto’s bland hero, whose most distinctive aspect is the demanding physical transformation the actor underwent for the role. No, the only really surprising—and, therefore, the most disappointing—thing about “Morbius” is the fact that it’s an honest-to-goodness horror film. But only for a few seconds.

Midway through the film, a nurse walks alone down the creepy, abandoned hallway of a hospital late at night, triggering a series of motion-activated sensors as she goes. Suddenly, a light flashes further down the hall, drawing the eye to the point where it disappears into the horizon. A shape! The nurse spots the intruder and runs, bulbs flashing as she goes. She stops to catch her breath, and a monstrous hand pops up from the bottom of the screen. She screams. The camera pulls back, lingering as each isolated puddle of illumination blinks out until only the woman’s prone body—and the shadowy form hunched over her—can be seen. Finally, that light goes out as well, bathing the screen in darkness.

Enjoy the gasp as it escapes from your throat, dear viewer. Because you’re not going to get another one, at least not from this movie. Better luck next time with the actual undead, we suppose.

"Morbius" is available only in theaters on April 1.

Katie Rife is a freelance writer and critic based in Chicago with a speciality in genre cinema. She worked as the News Editor of The A.V. Club from 2014-2019, and as Senior Editor of that site from 2019-2022. She currently writes about film for outlets like Vulture, Rolling Stone, Indiewire, Polygon , and RogerEbert.com.

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Film credits.

Morbius (2022)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, some frightening images, and brief strong language.

104 minutes

Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius

Matt Smith as Milo / Lucien

Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft

Jared Harris as Dr. Nicholas

Al Madrigal as Agent Alberto Rodriguez

Tyrese Gibson as Agent Simon Stroud

Charlie Shotwell as Young Michael

Daniel Espinosa

Writer (Marvel comics)

Writer (screen story).

Matt Sazama
Burk Sharpless

Cinematographer

Oliver Wood
Pietro Scalia
Jon Ekstrand

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‘Morbius’ Review: The Other Bat, Man

Jared Leto bares his teeth as a neo-vampire who walks by day and tries to keep his monstrous thirst at bay in the latest Marvel adaptation.

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By Manohla Dargis

My, what sharp teeth he has — and what lovely skin, too. One of the revelations of “Morbius” — the latest movie to take a marginal Marvel character out of mothballs for his blockbuster close-up — is that regular blood smoothies do wonders for the skin. To judge by the chiseled planes of Morbius’s arms and torso, pounding shots of the slurpy stuff also builds muscles much faster than mainlining anabolic steroids can.

Still, the bigger surprise about “Morbius” is that it doesn’t suck, at least as a movie. Against the odds and despite the insufferable persona that its star Jared Leto has cultivated, it provides all you want from a diversion about a brilliant scientist with bottomless financial resources (as well as a hot but smart assistant) who, after refusing his Nobel for his genius scientific invention, secretly develops a serum that turn him into a batlike creature with razor nails, great powers and a hunger for human blood. It also runs under two hours, i.e., a full hour less than that recent slugfest “ The Batman .” I mean, what’s not to like?

As usual, it opens with some temporal scrambling in the present-day Costa Rica, where the adult Morbius (Leto) swoops in on a helicopter, a darkly romantic vision with a curtain of jet-black hair, billowing clothes and hired guns. There, he embarks on a close encounter with vampire bats, as one does when swimming with dolphins has become too pedestrian. Slicing open his palm, he draws first blood and is inundated by a cloud of bats. After a leisurely flashback to his sad childhood, Morbius is back in his New York lab, experimenting and knitting brows alongside a colleague, Monica (Adria Arjona).

Like “The Batman,” “Morbius” is a classic American tale of personal trauma, existential agony, regenerative violence … and bats. Once again, the trauma reaches to childhood, though in this case it involves the young Michael Morbius being treated in a Greek children’s hospital for a rare blood disease. (Why Greece? I have no idea.) There he had a sympathetic doctor (Jared Harris) and befriends a boy he calls Milo, who has the same disease. Milo grows up to become a louche moneybags played by Matt Smith, who’s best known for playing Prince Philip in “The Crown,” a bit of casting history that gives his role here amusing tang.

The movie’s first half is better shaped than its second, and there are narrative lacunae here and there that suggest some late-breaking editing busywork. Even so, as a neo-vampiric tale of dread and desire, the entire thing more or less makes sense on its own improbable terms. The characters are similarly coherent, not just sketches that are designated to be filled out in successive franchise chapters. This modulation also extends to the visuals, despite the overall Goth gloom; here, lights are actually turned on and sometimes the sun even shines, if only to explain that Morbius isn’t your granny’s Dracula.

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Cast & crew
User reviews

Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead. Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead. Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.

Daniel Espinosa
Matt Sazama
Burk Sharpless
Adria Arjona
2.2K User reviews
267 Critic reviews
35 Metascore
3 wins & 4 nominations

Top cast 98

Dr. Michael Morbius

Martine Bancroft

Dr. Emil Nicholas

Agent Simon Stroud

Agent Rodriguez

Adrian Toomes

(as Joe Ferrera)

Young Michael

Ringleader Bully
Gang Member

Finance Bro (Pub)

All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Superheroes In and Out of Costume

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Did you know

Trivia Jared Leto committed to capturing Michael Morbius' limping state and used crutches even off-camera. This proved to be troublesome for the crew, at times, when the actor reportedly took 45-minute treks to the bathroom. Pushing him in a wheelchair was a loophole solution around these delays.
Goofs A doctor (but probably not a Hollywood screenwriter) would know that the palm of one's hand is a very stupid area to cut one's skin for blood; many tendons and muscles run there and are obviously very important for daily activities of life.

[speaking to a thug he's threatening]

Dr. Michael Morbius : I... am... Venom!

[hisses at thug; then visibly brightens and smiles]

Dr. Michael Morbius : I'm just kidding! Dr. Michael Morbius, at your service.

Crazy credits A first post credit scene introduces a Vulture from another Universe.
Connections Featured in Geeks + Gamers: Jared Leto Much Better Fit For Morbius Than Joker Morbius Trailer Review (2020)
Soundtracks Festive Overture, Op. 96 Written by Dmitri Shostakovich (as Dmitrij Shostakovich) Performed by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Courtesy of Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Ltd.

User reviews 2.2K

Apr 2, 2022
How long is Morbius? Powered by Alexa
Is this movie part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Will the movie be available as 4DX?
With Morbius having connection to Spiderman, will this movie also have connections to Blade?
April 1, 2022 (United States)
United States
Northern Quarter, Manchester, England, UK
Columbia Pictures
Marvel Entertainment
Avi Arad Productions
See more company credits at IMDbPro
$75,000,000 (estimated)
$73,865,530
$39,005,895
Apr 3, 2022
$167,460,961

Technical specs

Runtime 1 hour 44 minutes
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Digital

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Morbius Reviews

It's a horrific mish-mash of other films that ends with two CGI monsters punching each other into walls while screaming about “ultimate power”.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 4, 2024

The best part of “Morbius” were the opening and closing credits. It had a James Turrell color aesthetic with a dash of Nicholas Winding Refn’s “The Neon Demon” (2016).

Full Review | Jun 9, 2024

After multiple delays, Morbius, the “highly anticipated” new entry into Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, arrives with some of the worst world-building we have seen in a long time.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 24, 2024

Morbius is a thin piece that lacks any reason to entice comic book fans, genre fans, or action fans.

Full Review | Sep 17, 2023

I can't even comprehend how they thought this was worth putting out. Worst of all, it connects itself to an actual good Spider-Man villain.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2023

A terribly dull movie that takes you back to the worst CBM’s in the 2000s. Jared Leto brings dedication, Matt Smith brings charm & is having the time of his life…. But god the script, the editing, the pacing was all terribly brought together

Full Review | Jul 25, 2023

It’s not that Morbius is bad, but that it is so bad that it’s almost unwatchable. Matt Smith is a waste of great talent in a role that sees him go from practically paralyzed to supervillain in a matter of seconds.

From the predictability and zero creativity of the main plot to the heavy reliance on uninteresting, unnecessary exposition, Daniel Espinosa finds his most significant problem in the blatant lack of care in the treatment of the characters.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Jul 25, 2023

It comes as no surprise that the extremely delayed Moribus is not the finest superhero movie ever released. The film lacks depth and intrigue. It’s a slow-moving exploration of a character that barely makes the case for its existence.

Rumours circulating about Morbius made me apprehensive about attending the press screening, to begin with. But I went into it hoping for better. Unfortunately, the movie ended up being even worse than the rumours led me to believe.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/10 | Jul 20, 2023

In the end, there’s a reason why Gen Z decided that the funniest thing they could say about it was that it was good, with their almost supernatural grasp of irony they can see that of all the things this movie is, good is not even remotely one of them.

Full Review | Jul 16, 2023

Sony Pictures has proved one thing: Morbius succeeds as a vampire film as it drains life from itself.

Full Review | Feb 23, 2023

Honestly, this is probably almost as good a Morbius film as you're going to get where it has a PG-13 rating and no Spider-Man involvement. Changing either of those things would have made it better.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 5, 2023

Morbius is neither as dire as you have heard nor is it incredibly good. It’s mid-tier Marvel, not particularly inspired but not the worst thing I’ve ever sat through. If anything, it kind of reminds me of the Underworld series.

Full Review | Dec 28, 2022

It’s a throwback in form, but not in personality. There’s nothing weird or dated about this movie; it’s just filling a superhero quota.

Full Review | Oct 21, 2022

The movie is only bland and unpersuasive, and would have disappeared without a trace if not for the jolly internet memes that snarkily celebrated it, as though it were a lovably inept thing to be cherished, not chastised, for its flaws.

Full Review | Original Score: D | Aug 24, 2022

Leto is certainly up for the role, and I can see where he could have done something special with a better script and more focused direction.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Aug 16, 2022

The enjoyment of the film is certainly lessened by the film's darkness, and I don't mean its tonality.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 9, 2022

Even if you take the poor quality and bland performance from Leto out of consideration - Morbius barely feels like a movie.

Full Review | Jul 9, 2022

There are no interesting characters, no clearly defined rules or powers, no exciting action setpieces, no eye-widening visual spectacle, and none of the sense of danger, addiction, or damnation you might assume would give something like this a spark.

Full Review | Original Score: F | Jul 8, 2022

Morbius Review

31 Mar 2022

Superheroes are getting moodier. The idea of ‘dark’ comic-book adaptations isn’t exactly new, but lately they’ve stepped up a gear, with Matt Reeves ’ extraordinarily emo The Batman , and Marvel’s venture into the murky morals of Moon Knight . Sony’s latest MCU-adjacent Spidey-villain spin-off attempts to jump on this tone-shifting bandwagon, focusing on their most bloodthirsty of anti-heroes: a living vampire.

Unlike the hapless Eddie Brock, the other anti-hero of a franchise once unfortunately named the Sony Pictures Universe Of Marvel Characters (or ‘SPUMC’), Dr Michael Morbius is actively looking for his superpower. A medical savant, Nobel Prize rejector, artificial blood creator and terminal blood-disorder patient, he uses the super-important anticoagulants in the blood of vampire bats (don’t think too deeply about the science stuff; Morbius ’ script certainly doesn’t) to develop a cure, which transforms his emaciated, fragile body into a powerful, muscular one. Just one problem — he now needs human blood to survive.

Morbius’ core concept is strong – unfortunately, it’s not properly supported by any other element of the film.

It’s saying something when your most grounded performance in years is as a superhuman vampire, but that is strangely true of Jared Leto , here finding a quiet sincerity that’s far less showy than the distracting accents ( House Of Gucci ) and messianic tendencies ( WeCrashed ) of more recent roles. The main trio of him, Matt Smith (Morbius’ pal Milo) and Adria Arjona (playing fellow doctor Martine Bancroft) are woefully under-developed; outside of their relationship to Morbius, Milo and Martine’s character-development is non-existent. He is forced into the mould of cartoonish villain (the kind of which Smith can do in his sleep, but still proves unsatisfying); she ends up nothing more than a disposable love-interest.

Visually, Morbius does some interesting things with its titular hero’s powers. His superspeed is signified by a trailing haze around him, which doesn’t entirely work, but the use of slow-mo to pick moments out of the hectic set-pieces is effective — an extended fight and flight through a subway station being a particular standout. Seeing his echo-location powers ricochet off walls, ripple across New York City and pump through the air as he tracks a heartbeat is also cool. It’s just a shame we didn’t see him get to grips with it all — instead, his abilities are explained through an exposition dump, and seemingly mastered instantly. All of this falters in a nosedive of a final act, during which any sense of climactic action is masked completely by incessant swarms of bats, poorly rendered breaking glass and blurry, crumbling buildings.

Morbius ’ core concept is strong — two friends close enough to be brothers, bonded by their shared suffering, who’ll do anything to spend one day feeling truly alive rather than at death’s door. Unfortunately, it’s not properly supported by any other element of the film, with messy action, wafer-thin characters and an even slighter plot letting down what could have been a lean, dark, interesting instalment in the SPUMC. And don’t even get us started on those unforgivable post-credit stings.

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Fighting and biting in by-the-numbers superhero movie.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Movie struggles with whether the serum is a gift o

Michael Morbius is arguably the hero, or perhaps a

All diverse representation is in supporting cast,

Biting, slashing with claws. Some blood shown, inc

Kissing. Shirtless males.

A few uses of "s--t," plus "hell," "crappy."

Main character uses a Casio digital watch. Coca-Co

Background social drinking (cocktails). Shots cons

Positive Messages

Movie struggles with whether the serum is a gift or a curse: It provides great power but also requires a high price. Eventually both hero and villain partake, with no real consequences either way. In the end, everything thorny that the movie brings up is merely ignored or smoothed over.

Positive Role Models

Michael Morbius is arguably the hero, or perhaps an anti-hero, but the fact that he kills a bunch of people is largely overlooked. Ultimately, it appears that he plans to keep on going, presumably drinking real blood to survive.

Diverse Representations

All diverse representation is in supporting cast, as movie focuses on two White men. Black and Latino police officers, a Latina doctor who assists Morbius, a helpful nurse who's a woman of color (no specifics of her background are given), and a young Black girl who's one of Morbius' patients (though she's put into a coma and forgotten about for the rest of the movie).

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Biting, slashing with claws. Some blood shown, including spatters. Gurgling noises. Characters die, dead bodies. Guns and shooting. Bullies kick a child. Child hits bully in the head with crutch. A woman is shoved; she hits her head and is knocked unconscious. Jump scare.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Main character uses a Casio digital watch. Coca-Cola sign in background.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Background social drinking (cocktails). Shots consumed in a bar. Hypodermic needles used to inject formula.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Morbius is a comic book movie based on a Marvel Comics character who first appeared as a Spider-Man villain. It takes place in the same universe as Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage , and, like those films, is rather flat and uninspired. Violence can be intense and includes monsters biting, slashing with claws, and fighting. Characters are killed, blood is shown, and there's gun use. Bullying kids try to beat up a young boy: They kick him, and he hits one of them in the head with his crutch. A woman who's shoved hits her head and is knocked unconscious. Language includes a few uses of "s--t." People kiss, and shirtless males are seen. Social/background drinking is shown: Adults sip martinis and drink shots in a bar. Characters also use hypodermic needles to inject a secret formula. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

Parents say (17)
Kids say (45)

Based on 17 parent reviews

Better than what critics are saying

It's morbin' time, what's the story.

In MORBIUS, Dr. Michael Morbius ( Jared Leto ) suffers from a rare blood disease and has spent his life looking for a cure. In the meantime, he's invented artificial blood that's saved countless lives. For a new experiment, he incorporates vampire bat blood. When he tests it on himself, the result is superhuman strength, speed, and other powers -- but also an unquenchable thirst for blood. The artificial blood slows the cravings, but it won't work forever. Meanwhile, Michael's childhood friend Milo ( Matt Smith ), who has the same disease, wants to take the cure despite Michael's warnings. Then a spate of killings sweeps the city: The victims are all drained of blood, and Michael is blamed. Can he set things right?

Is It Any Good?

Humorless and as flat and as uninspired as the Venom movies were, this by-the-numbers comic book action movie seems to be operating entirely on autopilot, ticking off plot boxes as it goes. Even the actors seem to be sleeping through their lines in Morbius -- not that there's anything worth hearing, anyway. What might have been deep discussions about life and death, good and evil, or power and weakness are kept strictly on the surface and solved without much bother or meaning. Moral implications are simply ignored. Action scenes are complicated by the strange decision to show vapor trails following the characters as they leap or are thrown across buildings, alleys, and subways.

The choice makes everything look smeary, like a cover-up for potentially underwhelming effects. (Occasionally the movie pauses for a nifty Matrix -like slo-mo shot, which helps clarify things.) While Leto and Smith have the lion's share of Morbius ' chunky-sounding dialogue, and while they try to keep hysterics to a minimum, it all comes off sounding more like reading than speaking. The rest of the cast has so little to do that they're barely worth mentioning. And a "surprise" that comes at the end is hardly that, given that the actor in question has been featured in trailers and in the film's credits. Its promise of more "Morbius" to come is less of a promise and more of a warning.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Morbius ' violence . How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?

Is Morbius a monster? A villain? A hero? An anti-hero? Why?

Would you risk taking Morbius' formula in exchange for superpowers? What are the upsides? What are the downsides?

How does Morbius compare to other movie vampires? Is this a horror movie in any way? Is it scary ? Why, or why not?

Movie Details

In theaters : April 1, 2022
On DVD or streaming : June 14, 2022
Cast : Jared Leto , Adria Arjona , Jared Harris , Tyrese Gibson
Director : Daniel Espinosa
Inclusion Information : Latino directors, Female actors, Latino actors, Black actors
Studio : Columbia Pictures
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : STEM , Superheroes , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
Run time : 108 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : intense sequences of violence, some frightening images, and brief strong language
Last updated : July 5, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

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Everything We Know

Everything we know about morbius, with a new trailer finally released, we break down everything from its comic book origins to the talent involved to potential multiverse implications and even "some kind of bat radar.".

TAGGED AS: comics , Film , films , marvel comics , movie , movies , Sony Pictures , spider-verse , Superheroes

The superhero movie machine is still playing catch-up. As evidence: Morbius , the next chapter of Sony’s Marvel sub-universe, is still awaiting its moment in the movie theater spotlight. It even had an October release date at one point, but moved once again to 2022 – a full two years after it released its first teaser.

Beyond its distribution problems, though, the film is interesting as the first true attempt on Sony’s part to spin its nascent Spider-Verse, which it now calls “Sony’s Spider-Man Universe,” into a true multi-film franchise. Is Morbius the Living Vampire a strong enough character to pick up the baton left by Venom? Let’s take a look at everything we know about Morbius to see if the film will continue the momentum of Sony’s Marvel mechanism.

The Living Vampire

(Photo by ©Sony Pictures)

Created by Roy Thomas and Gill Kane in 1971, Michael Morbius was meant to be a new villain for for Spider-Man, but soon evolved into a tragic anti-hero. Suffering from a rare blood disorder, the brilliant doctor theorized a way to reverse the course of his condition and underwent an experimental treatment. The process certainly saved his life, but it also made him something between human and vampire, with an appearance to match.

It also gifted him many of the enhanced abilities associated with the mythical creatures with few of their drawbacks, beyond a taste for human blood. In the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man and other Spider-books, he would continue to work on a way to remove the side effects while he battled it out with (and occasionally helped) Spidey. The character appeared throughout the Marvel Universe – and starred in Adventure Into Fear in the mid-’70s – before finally getting his own solo title in 1992.

From the teaser released nearly two years ago – and the trailer that dropped on November 2 (see above) – it appears the character will try to use a more direct form of vampirism to cure his disease, and he’ll suffer from the same ill effects. In the new trailer, Morbius explicitly mentions enhanced strength, speed, and “some form of bat radar” as some of the powers granted to him, and we watch him discover he can fly. It remains to be seen, though, if he will use his abilities to be an ally of good, a villain in the grander scheme, or someone like Eddie Brock ( Tom Hardy ) – a reluctant member of a growing band of anti-heroes. The 2021 trailer heavily implies Morbius will wrestle with that very question, as it claims the film will blur the line between hero and villain.

Where In The Multiverse Will It Take Place?

The setting of the film is a far more interesting question than one might expect. The older teaser made it clear the film exists in a world where Spider-Man not only exists but is wanted for murder, and the Vulture ( Micheal Keaton ) is looking to befriend the title character. Since the images of Spider-Man in the teaser resembled the character’s design in the PlayStation 4 Spider-Man game or the Raimi Era costumes, it was easy to assume Morbius’s adventure took place in its own, discrete world apart from the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the one seen in Venom . That said, a reference to “that thing in San Francisco” and Morbius claiming to be Venom in the 2021 trailer pretty much tie the two film worlds together.

But is it possible that this is, in some strange way, the MCU? Originally meant for release well before Spider-Man: No Way Home , Morbius will now come after it, so the original intention may end up massaged in light of the altered schedule. Indeed, there were reports of reshoots occurring as late as February of this year. Also, the Venom: Let There Be Carnage stinger scene clearly positions Eddie and Venom in the MCU. All that taken into consideration, it is possible the film takes place in the MCU – a move which would have been unthinkable in 2019 – or, at least, in the Sony Spider-Man Universe resulting from the events of No Way Home .

Of course, it could still take place in its own universe, with Morbius moving to the same plane of existence as Eddie and Peter Parker ( Tom Holland ) during the closing credits. Based on a shot of the Daily Bugle analyzed by eagle-eyed denizens of the internet, it does indeed appear to take place in its own reality. And, as it happens, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has said it is possible for Sony’s Spider-Man Universe characters to “cross cinematic universes” and play in the MCU, so you never know when the Living Vampire might show up. If only Marvel were planning a film about a vampire hunter…

The Stars Of Morbius

Jared Leto stars as Michael Morbius. The actor was said to be drawn to the moral implications of an anti-hero with a bodily requirement to drink blood, but it remains to be seen exactly how that will translate to the screen. Just look what he did with the Joker back in 2017’s Suicide Squad or the mysterious replicant manufacturer Niander Wallace in Blade Runner 2049 . Dedicating himself to characters to an almost absurd degree, Leto seeks out these big genre projects; perhaps Morbius is the fit he’s been looking for all this time.

Matt Smith makes his Marvel-ish debut in Morbius as Loxias Crown – aka The Hunger – a man who suffers from the same condition as Morbius and, presumably, is very interested in the result of the doctor’s self-inflicted human trial. The character, created by Howard Mackie in the 1990s, was a Hydra agent intending to experiment on the Living Vampire. Instead, Morbius fed on him and left him with similar abilities, which he used to create a vampiric horde in the New York sewers. We’re going to assume Crown is getting elevated to archvillain status in the film as his superhuman abilities offer a mirror to Morbius; a common trait in Marvel movie villains.

Other cast members include Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft, Morbius’s fiancée; Jared Harris as the doctor’s mentor; Al Madrigal as the FBI agent tasked with locating and minding the Living Vampire; Michael Keaton as The Vulture; and Tyrese Gibson as Simon Stroud, a CIA agent who eventually joins the NYPD under mysterious circumstances (well, in the comics anyway). According to Gibson, the character is more of a tech-infused superhero, and considering Stroud’s comic book tendency to hunt creatures like Morbius, it isn’t impossible for him to be heroic; we just imagine Morbius will have a different point of view on the matter.

The People Behind Morbius

(Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

Behind the camera, Swedish filmmaker Daniel Espinosa serves as director. His previous films include Easy Money (with Joel Kinnaman), Safe House (with Ryan Reynolds) and 2017’s Life . The script comes courtesy of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless , the duo behind such films as The Last Witch Hunter and Gods of Egypt . They also served as showrunners on Netflix’s Lost in Space remake and are part of the development team behind Sony’s Madame Web film, also based on a Marvel Comics character.

Other talent includes director of photography Oliver Wood ( Face/Off , The Bourne Ultimatum ), production designer Stefania Cella ( Moon Knight ), composer Jon Ekstrand – a longtime Espinosa collaborator – and producers Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Lucas Foster.

A Release Date Years In The Making

(Photo by Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Barring any further changes to the schedule, Morbius will finally bow on January 28, 2022 – two years after the release of that first trailer. It will still serve the purpose it was meant to when it was originally planned for a July 2020 release: build on Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and establish another deadly foe for the webslinger. From what we can tell, Morbius will need to go on a journey before he can really take a seat in the rogues’ gallery or, perhaps, join a cinematic Sinister Six. And should Spider-Man really transfer to the Sony universe in the wake of No Way Hom e , Morbius will present just one of the threats waiting for him.

Morbius releases in theaters on January 28, 2022.

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Morbius Reviews Are Finally Here, See What Critics Are Saying About The Jared Leto Comic Book Movie

The Jared Leto-led blockbuster hits theaters April 1.

After years of development, and, of course, COVID-driven delays , Morbius is finally set to make its theatrical debut. Starring Jared Leto as the titular living vampire, the new coming book movie has connections to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe , playing out in the same canon as Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage . Critics have had the chance to screen Morbius, and their reviews are here to give us an idea of what to expect.

Daniel Espinosa is directing, and alongside Jared Leto's eponymous doctor/vampire, the film also stars Matt Smith , Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal and Tyrese Gibson . Will we see Spider-Man? If so, which version? Fans are about to find out, as the Marvel blockbuster hits theaters on Friday, April 1.

Let’s take a (SPOILER-FREE) look at what the reviews are saying about Morbius , starting with CinemaBlend ’s own Eric Eisenberg. It's a pretty rough start, with Eisenberg rating it just 1 star out of 5, saying he didn’t think they made comic book movies this bad anymore. He says not a single scene in the movie gives insight into the characters’ personalities, noting that the script “coldly” navigates between plot points:

There is no fun to be had here; there isn’t any ironic or 'so bad it’s good' enjoyment. It’s soulless. It’s oozing, tar-like gunk that has been spit out of the Hollywood machine, and you should avoid stepping in it.

It isn't quite so bad in the opinion of critic Anna Smith of Deadline . She says Jared Leto tries to bring humanity to the character but doesn't get any help from the script:

This movie isn’t terrible. Leto is good, the VFX work is slick, and there’s modest entertainment to be had here and there. But it seems unlikely to please crowds like Spider-Man: No Way Home — and the mid-credit scenes are more baffling than exciting.

Chris Evangelista of SlashFilm rates Morbius a 4 out of 10, calling it an absolutely dreadful piece of "pre-packaged junk" that can't even be saved by its special effects:

This is an ugly film, staged in non-descript rooms and sterile labs. Everything is awash in a Windex-like blue tint. There's no sense of scale — or place. If it weren't for several establishing shots of the New York skyline, we'd have absolutely no idea where Morbius is set. As for how, or why, this film connects to the larger Sony Spider-Man Universe, well, I'll leave that for you to discover, reader. Just know the results are about as dumb and disappointing as everything else that goes on in this puddle of garbage juice disguised as a movie.

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter says he doesn't think Morbius is bad, but it's kind of forgettable. He says it seems to serve the purpose of laying the groundwork for other (and better) stories to come:

It’s just a shame this opening salvo takes itself too seriously to have much fun with the mayhem, despite the potential in [Matt] Smith’s devilish turn for amusing interplay between the antagonists. [Adria Arjona] carries herself with confidence but her character also gets a little lost in the carnage; perhaps the late-breaking romance between Martine and Michael will acquire more of a heartbeat in the next round. Leto certainly broods up a storm behind his veil of rock-star hair, but the movie has too little to distinguish it from the second-tier Marvel pack, ending up as more of the same.

Kate Erbland of IndieWire grades Morbius a C-, saying this vampire movie sucked more than blood. She also calls the movie "forgettable," writing that its basis is incomprehensible, its action sequences are scattered, and its hazy timeline makes it feel chopped up:

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Morbius mostly surprises because of how very dull it is. (How do you make a Jared Leto vampire superhero movie dull? In this economy?) Case in point: After Michael’s bad deeds become publicized, local news teams term him 'the Vampire Murderer,' an uninspired nickname that serves as a microcosm of everything Morbius is: mostly unnecessary, oddly unoriginal, and soon quite forgettable indeed.

Another critic who thinks the movie takes itself too seriously is Matt Donato of IGN . He rates it a "Mediocre" 5 out of 10, saying this vampire film lacks bite and is marred by shoddy digital effects-driven fights:

Morbius is unspectacular in ways that waste the potential of what could be an intriguing hybrid of sinister horror and superhero thrills. One single scene recalls David F. Sandberg’s Lights Out for a suitable fright, but otherwise horror accents are limited to cheesy jokes about Dracula. That’s the approach the whole film takes, in fact. Everything feels superfluous and uninterested in thoughtful storytelling because the mission at hand is to get to the end credits where the meat exists. Morbius is so focused on building Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and hopeful sequels — which could very well be better now that the foundation exists — that it forgets about enthusiastically engaging its audience from the start.

Well, the critics don't seem all that pleased about the latest comic book blockbuster, but if Jared Leto's living vampire sounds like your cup of blood-spiked tea, you can check Morbius out for yourself in theaters on Friday. Also be sure to look over what other upcoming superhero movies may dominate the box office next, as well as our 2022 Movie Release Schedule so you can start planning your next movie night!

Heidi Venable is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend, a mom of two and a hard-core '90s kid. She started freelancing for CinemaBlend in 2020 and officially came on board in 2021. Her job entails writing news stories and TV reactions from some of her favorite prime-time shows like Grey's Anatomy and The Bachelor. She graduated from Louisiana Tech University with a degree in Journalism and worked in the newspaper industry for almost two decades in multiple roles including Sports Editor, Page Designer and Online Editor. Unprovoked, will quote Friends in any situation. Thrives on New Orleans Saints football, The West Wing and taco trucks.

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Morbius review: Sony's high-gloss vampire superhero film isn't really a full movie, but it's fun

Jared Leto is a new kind of bat, man.

Branding aside, Batman has never really done bat things . He may have the swag and the color scheme, but there's no real communion, if you will, with the small winged mammals that gave him his name. Not so Marvel's Morbius, the dark hero who finally gets his due in the titular film hitting theaters this Friday. The fact that it's really only half a movie — much like Dune , its entire plot is essentially the preamble to a larger story — only partly diminishes the lizard-brain fun of watching Jared Leto zip around for 100-plus minutes like a you-know-what out of hell, sucking the blood from hired thugs and finance bros and then feeling really bad about it.

He's a killer with a conscience, you see: Dr. Stephen Morbius, a world-renowned scientist so gifted and so principled that he can casually turn down a Nobel Prize. His sole aim in life is to cure the disease he was born with, some kind of rare disorder that leaves him in a permanently weakened state. He's not alone in his misfortune; there's a childhood friend who shares his illness, Milo ( Matt Smith ), and the kindly man who cares for them, Nicholas (Jared Harris), both established in early flashbacks. In the present day, there's also Martine (Adria Arjona), the fellow researcher who is, by the laws of Hollywood, both improbably hot and remarkably amenable to sudden startling alterations in Stephen's DNA.

It turns out that a scouting trip to a well-stocked cave in the wilds of Costa Rica has borne fruit for the good doctor; after a little tinkering in the lab, a syringe of precious bat-liquid gives him the life he's never had. With each infusion his withered legs grow strong, and his concave chest turns to Men's Health marble. He can run, leap, fly! He also can't stop draining humans like they're Capri Suns, feeding on the pints of hemoglobin that instinct tells him he needs to survive.

Naturally, this behavior attracts the attention of law enforcement, largely in the form of two nonplussed FBI agents ( Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal) who try their mortal best to keep him contained. But handcuffs and stern lectures are hardly a match for Morbius; it's only Milo — the friend who burns for a cure as badly as he does, only without a moral compass — who presents any real threat. Smith, a former Dr. Who, excels at the poor-little-rich-boy villainy of his character, a tragic aristocrat whose eyes gleam with mania. His Milo has been waiting for this moment for a long time. (Leto too, fresh off a Razzie for his molto Italiano turn in House of Gucci , hits the right notes of fear and longing in a surprisingly restrained performance, though his aggressively ageless beauty at 50 suggests its own kind of blood bargain.)

Swedish-Chilean director Daniel Espinosa ( Life ) gives it all a dark sheen, and shoots the pair's inevitable confrontations less like traditional comic-book clashes than something from The Matrix . The air around them moves like liquid ribbons, and even in peak CGI, their fights looks like something between jet propulsion and underwater ballet. Logic and plot flow are generally treated like civilian casualties, but the movie, with its canny mix of whiz-bang violence, goth atmosphere, and high camp, feels pleasingly pulpy and urgent up until its last minutes, when the narrative doesn't so much wind down as run smack into the final title card.

This being adjacent to the MCU, of course, it's not really over; there's one telling post-credits scene, and then another, featuring a famed alumnus some will undoubtedly have already predicted, and others will soon have spoiled for them by the internet. Whatever elaborate offshoots and cross-pollinations those last moments promise, though, this particular bat man's future is most likely in fans' hands. Because there's still one superpower Morbius doesn't have: the license to green-light a sequel. Grade: B

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DVD & Streaming
Action/Adventure , Horror

Content Caution

In Theaters

April 1, 2022
Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius; Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes; Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft; Jared Harris as Emil Nikols; Matt Smith as Milo; Tyrese Gibson as Simon Stroud

Home Release Date

May 17, 2022
Daniel Espinosa

Distributor

Columbia Pictures

Movie Review

Michael Morbius isn’t any ordinary doctor. He’s a brilliant Nobel prizewinner who’s spent his whole life as a crippled victim of the very blood disorder that he so desperately wants to cure. And he’s always worked in the face of a ticking clock.

Michael’s body is ravaged and frail. At times he can barely hobble around on his ever-present crutches. It doesn’t take a genius to recognize that his time is running out.

However, it’s then that his efforts to combine human DNA with that of a resilient animal species—the vampire bat, for instance—is met with a breakthrough.

Now in most cases, a study of this sort would require years of careful observation, closely regulated tests and evaluations. Anything less would be unethical and borderline illegal.

But Michael doesn’t have that kind of time. And besides, indications are that this DNA concoction might cure all sorts of other human ailments. What do laws and scientific rules matter when humanity is at stake?

So, Michael gets financial backing from his childhood friend Milo—who also suffers from the same crippling disease—and makes arrangements to continue his work on a secluded ship in international waters.

Then, Michael injects himself with the vampire bat-derived drug.

After painful convulsions, agonizing physical torments, Dr. Michael Morbius rises up … a new man! He’s miraculously fit. Incredibly strong. Stupendously fast. Why he’s virtually a superhero . It’s amazing!

And then it isn’t.

At the peak of his heightened state, the good doc realizes that he’s no longer very good. That’s because he’s now driven by an undeniable thirst for human blood . Shortly thereafter, he loses control of his mind and body and literally kills and consumes all of the hired security men onboard the ship.

When Michael regains control of his faculties, he frantically begins searching for a new solution: a way to stabilize his condition. For the time being, he can rely on his own invention to—an award-winning artificial blood mixture—to curb his hunger. But what happens when that artificial substance no longer suffices? And, for that matter, what happens if this work finds its way into the wrong hands?

Yes, Michael’s discovery is a miracle. But it’s also a horrible curse. And it’s only a matter of time before someone else uses it to unspeakable ends. It’s only a matter of time before he might use it to unspeakable ends.

The clock is once again, ticking.

Positive Elements

Michael is very close with a female doctor named Martina. Their relationship slowly progresses from a professional one to a romantic one. And after Michael’s work puts Martina in danger, he goes out of his way to protect her. She, in turn, is ready to give up everything for his wellbeing.

There is a sense that Michael’s work is a bit self-serving. Still, he’s obviously passionate about helping others with his disease. He rushes to help patients under his care. And he proclaims, “I should have died years ago, Martina. Why am I still alive if not to fix this?!”

A doctor notices Michael’s brilliance at a young age and takes steps to help the gifted boy get the education he’s too poor to obtain on his own.

Spiritual Elements

The presupposition of evolution is foundational of Michael’s genetic work. He believes he can accelerate the evolutionary process that, on its own, would eventually eliminate mankind’s maladies. In fact, someone else who takes Michael’s vampire DNA concoction marvels at his improvement. “We’ve evolved,” he tells Michael. He also cries out, “I am the resurrection!”

When it’s discovered that Michael is very possibly a vampire, a detective enters into an interview room with a vial of holy water for protection.

Sexual Content

Martina wears a formfitting tank top while lounging around at home. She and Michael also embrace and kiss passionately.

After they go through a drug-induced physical conversion, both Michael and another man take the time to admire their bare ripped and toned torsos (from waist up) in their home mirrors.

Violent Content

Early on, Michael slashes his palm with a large knife and draws out a cave full of swirling vampire bats. He later uses his power over those bats to attack and slash at an opponent.

Once Michael gains his newfound abilities—which give him amazing strength, speed and hearing, along with razor sharp claws and teeth—he leaps into superfast, time-slowing battles. (He and his vampire opponent both take on a snarling part-bat/part-human visage with bloody eyes and savage-looking, needle-point teeth.)

Michael brutalizes a large group of men with guns, slashing their abdomens and throats and throwing bodies around like dolls. He also feeds on several men—though the neck flesh tearing is kept just off camera. Another vampire-charged attacker rips at groups of men and police officers, too. We see him very quickly slashing people in real time and sometimes in slow motion.

We’re told that the human victims are drained of most of their blood. We see a couple stalking attacks from a distance as a vampire takes the time to feed on his victim. And we’re shown the neck wounds, bloodied clothes and some small pools of blood near the victims. For all of that, however, the movie mostly spares us from the full gore of the attacks.

Michael and his vampire foe have several building-jumping and subway-station battles. They smash through walls and slam one another up against concrete columns and large metal pipes. Michael kills someone by ramming a needle full of something poisonous into his chest. Martina is attacked and wounded. She has her neck ripped open and drained. Michael torturously breaks the bones in a street thug’s hand.

Police and others shoot at the vampire attackers, but bullets seem to have no effect or are dodged with superspeed.

We see victims of a crippling blood disease. Children are hooked up to blood transfusion machines. One boy almost dies when one of those machines blows a fuse.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear one f-word, four or five s-words. A few other crudities include uses of “crap,” “h—” and “a–.” God’s name is misused once or twice.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Michael asks Martina to inject him with an experimental drug. He then drinks multiple bags of a light-blue artificial blood. (He also drinks a bag of human blood.)

Milo throws back multiple shots of tequila in a bar. (Along with lots of other drinkers.) We also see his room littered with open prescription containers and bottles of wine.

Other Negative Elements

While on the run from authorities, Michael crosses paths with a group of counterfeiters. He runs them out of their lab and uses it for his work (with the movie obviously seeming to justify his actions).

Morbius may technically be a Marvel superhero/horror hybrid (albeit one that Sony has the legal rights to these days), but star Jared Leto and crew do everything they can to help you forget that movie lineage. The film itself is, ironically, fairly lifeless, with a barely serviceable storyline and charmless characters.

At the same time, it’s kind of gruesome feeling, even if it keeps the blood and guts to a relative minimum. Still, it’s safe to say kids sure won’t want to wake in the middle of the night to see this hero gazing at them from their bedroom wall, let me tell ya’.

I can say that there are a few nice action-focused special effects and cinematography shots mixed in with other more muddied bits. But everything else feels completely predictable and … meh.

Think of every “good guy” vampire trope you can dream up (minus any sparkling skin or intense teen angst), and that’s pretty much what you get with Morbius. The only thing that’s missing is a coffin for the reluctant blood sucker to crawl into. Maybe the filmmakers were saving that space for your expectations.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Morbius Ending Explained and Post Credits Scenes Breakdown

Looks like we're getting closer to that sinister six movie..

Warning: Full spoilers follow for Morbius. Do you want to know if the movie has a post-credits scene? We’ll tell you right here: It has two mid-credits scenes. Read on for all the details.

After years of COVID-related delays , Sony and Marvel’s Morbius is finally upon us. And while the film largely serves as a standalone entry for the Living Vampire, the ending nevertheless sets the stage for what might come next in Sony’s live-action Spider-Verse – while also leaving it vague whether Spider-Man even exists in the universe Morbius inhabits.

IGN recently spoke to both Morbius director Daniel Espinosa and star Jared Leto about the ending and which Marvel film universe it exists in , so if you haven’t seen Morbius yet fly away like a bat outta hell because we are about to SPOIL this whole movie to death!

Morbius Ending Explained

In the climactic battle in New York City, Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) ultimately must kill his best friend-turned-vampiric enemy Milo (Matt Smith) using a chemical injection of his own creation. While vampires exist as part of this reality’s pop culture, they are not real so folkloric methods such as crosses, holy water and sunlight have no effect on the likes of Morbius and Milo since they’re Living Vampires and not the supernatural undead .

Milo goaded Morbius into this final conflict by attacking and mortally wounding Michael’s colleague/love interest, Dr. Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona). Morbius attempts to stop Martine from dying by letting a drop of his blood fall into her mouth.

Thanks to this bloody kiss, Martine survives — but has Michael Morbius saved her or cursed her by turning into a fellow Living Vampire?

Martine also became a vampire in the Marvel Comics so any potential sequel will likely explore her character’s transformation from a life-saver to someone who now craves human blood.

In a recent interview with IGN, Arjona expressed her hopes for what might be in store for Martine should there be a sequel. “I really love the idea of Martine going through this battle within herself as well. Being bloodthirsty is something and then being a human is completely just something different. And I think Martine is such an anchor and has her moral compass very well placed. That being shifted for her, that would be really interesting to see,” Arjona said. “I would like her to go so far [to] one side that it's a hard journey to come back to that moral compass. I think that'll be fun to play as an actor and I think it'll be fun for people to see that. I also want to see them together. What does that mean? How does Michael help her come back? I think that would be really interesting.”

The film ends with Morbius leaving a revived Martine behind on a rooftop, flying off into the night sky. He remains a fugitive accused of murders that Milo actually committed. As Morbius flies toward the camera the screen cuts to the movie’s purplish logo. But there’s still more story left to tell…

Does Morbius Have a Post-Credits Scene? Morbius Mid-Credits Scenes Explained

Morbius has two mid-credits scenes, the first of which directly ties into the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home . But before we move forward we must remind you that Sony controls the screen rights to Spider-Man and his ancillary characters and that Spidey has only been a part of the MCU thanks to very complicated sharing deals struck between Sony Pictures and Disney-owned Marvel Studios .

Those deals are not meant to last in perpetuity, as fans were reminded of when it looked like Tom Holland’s Spider-Man was leaving the MCU a few years ago. Morbius’ mid-credits scenes certainly foreshadow what Sony is mulling for their own live-action Marvel universe.

The first mid-credits scene sees a colorful cosmic rift appear in the night sky over Manhattan. It looks similar to the one seen during the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home when Doctor Strange restored the three Spideys and the villains (plus Eddie Brock and Venom) to their own respective universes.

It then cuts to a New York prison where Adrian Toomes, aka Vulture (Michael Keaton), materializes inside a cell. Toomes reacts to this, checking himself to see if he’s intact. Despite the baffling, cosmic nature of what just happened, Toomes seems to immediately understand he’s in a different reality as he quips, “I hope the food in this joint is better.”

There’s then a TV newscast about the inexplicable appearance of this mysterious prisoner and how, since there is no record of his existence, Toomes will be released.

After a few more credits roll, we are given Morbius’ second and final mid-credits scene. Michael Morbius, in human form, is driving along a coast. The terrain and geography would suggest he’s relocated out west after running afoul of the law in New York.

He pulls over to an isolated area and steps out of his car. Morbius reacts to a mechanical roar building in the distance, whirls of dirt swirling in the air. It’s Vulture, in full costume, flying in. (How Toomes, who didn’t exist in this universe, somehow got his exact outfit and wings goes unexplained since he materialized wearing his prison uniform.)

In what’s evidently a prearranged meet, Vulture tells Morbius that he’s read up on him since arriving in this universe, a fantastical happening he presumes Spider-Man had something to do with. Vulture tells Morbius that guys like them should form a team in order to do “some good.” Morbius responds that he finds the offer interesting.

And with that, we have the official planting of the seeds for a Sinister Six movie . (It should be noted that Sony was developing a Sinister Six movies years ago, at one point scheduling it for a late 2016 release before the studio dropped their plans for an Amazing Spider-Man 3 and struck their deal with Marvel to reboot the character in the MCU.)

Every Upcoming Spider-Man Movie Spin-Off in Development

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But if you have a Sinister Six composed of Spidey villains then naturally you will need a Spider-Man for them to go up against, which begs the question: which Spider-Man will they fight? Because, clearly, it’s not Tom Holland’s Spider-Man since he remained in his own universe.

Between that and Eddie Brock/Venom being returned to their own reality at the end of No Way Home, it certainly seems like Sony is planning for a post-MCU (and maybe even post-Tom Holland) Spiderverse of its own with this Sinister Six movie set-up.

But why would Michael Morbius, who is portrayed throughout his solo film as a good-natured antihero, be enticed to join forces with someone like Vulture who was an incarcerated criminal in his former universe? Morbius’ moral compass seemed better than that.

But, as Leto told IGN in a recent interview, “some of this stuff I really can't tell you unless I'm going to kill you, but certainly, (Vulture’s) reputation precedes him. Morbius is at a place where maybe his options, he's exploring his options, put it that way.”

Which Marvel Universe Does Morbius Take Place In?

Morbius director Daniel Espinosa told IGN UK that his film is set in the Sony-verse or what he refers to as the Venom-verse. “Morbius exists within the Venom-verse, but as we know, those ‘verses will be able to cross each other in the future,” the director said. (The law enforcement characters in the film make mention of an incident in San Francisco and Morbius himself name-drops “Venom” at one point. Perhaps Venom is a sort of boogeyman to people in this universe?)

Curiously, Morbius himself doesn’t react in any clear way to Vulture’s mention of Spider-Man. Has he already heard about the wall-crawler from Vulture’s universe? Or is there another Spidey already established in this reality? None of that is clear and Espinosa remained tight-lipped about it.

The director refused to speculate when we pressed him on his film’s Daily Bugle easter egg that references Rhino. Is that Rhino the same version played by Paul Giamatti in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and, thus, is Andrew Garfield the Spidey of the Venom-verse ?

“If I go into the specifics of that, there are people at Sony that will have me shot because then I will force them to commit to something,” Espinosa quipped. “I have my thoughts and opinions and they are in the movie, and that's what I'm pushing for. … The Morbius universe is the same universe as Venom and how the powers-that-be will commit to a certain hero is in their [plans], it's in a small briefcase that has a bomb around it. So, again, I will be killed .”

When the first trailers for Morbius debuted, they included a building mural of Spider-Man that strongly suggested – along with the appearance of Michael Keaton – the film took place in the MCU . However, the final version of Morbius has scrubbed most of the Spidey references glimpsed in the trailers. Gone are the Spider-Man mural, the Oscorp tower in the New York skyline, and the scenes of an exchange between Morbius and Adrian Toomes outside a jail.

Espinosa explained to IGN why these scenes and hints ended up on the cutting room floor and whether the mid-credits scenes were a late addition to the film:

“I think the end credit scene was there all along. I think that what we have with the movie when we worked on it over the last two and a half years, there's a bunch of stuff that is not in the movie, as in with any picture. Those small pieces are gifts that can be given out later. There are certain surprises. But mostly, some things end up on the cutting floor and some things end up in the movie. But the concept of the coda was there from the very first script.”

What did you think of Morbius’ mid-credits scenes and their Sinister Six set-up? Are you upset that Morbius is not set in the MCU after all? Let us know in the comments.

For more on the Living Vampire, check out our Morbius review and watch the Morbius cast play our game of “Vampire Movie or Marvel Character? ”.

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‘morbius’ and when the critical consensus bites.

There’s nothing wrong with legitimate criticism or not liking a movie, but the reaction to the poorly reviewed Jared Leto started months before it even opened.

By Richard Newby

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Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) in MORBIUS.

What do we want out of comic book films?

It’s a question I’ve been grappling with recently, particularly because so much of my writing revolves around those movies. I don’t have superhero movie fatigue. Not even close. But I am fatigued by so much of the discourse surrounding these movies, the bad-faith arguments, preemptive ratings and tribalism. If these movies are going to continue to be our most popular form of entertainment, which by all indications they are, then I think we need to take a step back and re-evaluate why we even like these movies to begin with and what our expectations are.

The reaction surrounding Morbius has left me somewhat disillusioned by the notions of subjectivity and giving films their fair shot. Morbius is a film I enjoyed quite a lot and think maintains the spirit of the ’90s comic books I grew up reading. I was thoroughly entertained. That’s not the consensus, and that’s OK. The film is currently sitting at a harsh 15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with a higher audience score of 64 percent, but I’ve never been obliged to base my enjoyment on consensus.

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Why morbius' reviews are so bad.

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Ahead of its theatrical release, Morbius already garnered negative reviews, which only got worse after the movie was released to the public - well reflected in the low Morbius ratings conferred by most film critics. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, Morbius is the third entry of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, after Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage . The film follows Jared Leto's Dr. Michael Morbius as he gains vampiric powers after he attempts to cure his blood disease. Joining Jared Leto as the titular character are Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. However, despite the promising cast, Morbius is still plagued with bad critic reviews and has become a source of mockery among meme-makers worldwide.

Related: Who Is Spider-Man In Morbius' Universe

At the time of writing, the Morbius ratings on Rotten Tomatoes have gone down to 15% from its previous pre-release critic rating of 18%. This overwhelmingly negative reception reflects the critical consensus of 272 reviews. Most of the criticism comes from the film’s lack of structure and coherent script. Morbius , which already missed its perfect release date , moves at a rushed pace while compromising its timeline, characterization, and logic.

Morbius - The Negative Reviews

Jared Leto in character as Morbius in the film of the same name, with red vampire eyes and big snarling teeth

The largely terrible Morbius ratings are due to its scenes being seemingly incomplete, poorly edited, and, at times, incomprehensible. Unlike its predecessors, Morbius relies too much on their shared Spider-Man universe rather than fleshing out its own. Here are some of the negative reviews:

Screen Rant :

"Despite a fine performance from Jared Leto, Morbius is a painfully mediocre superhero origin story, delivering a shallow recreation of better movies."

"But if Morbius doesn’t drag, it doesn’t exactly whiz by, either. Espinosa may have been trying to distinguish his film from the dozens—are we into the hundreds yet?—of other movies spawned from the comic books of various universes, and his efforts do give Morbius a vaguely noble air. This is a movie that feels like one big windup for something else, even if we walk out feeling we’ve already seen plenty."

"Morbius is a gloomy, black-on-black-on-black tapestry in so many sequences that monochromatically lose visual interest. Morbius flies past New York City skyscrapers like Spider-Man discovering his web-slinging for the first time, but there’s nothing aerially spectacular."

The Hollywood Reporter :

"After a promising start, Daniel Espinosa’s long-delayed film only intermittently matches the intensity of the lead performance, and the script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless becomes thin on story, choppily stringing together chaotic outbursts and action clashes that build to a painstakingly foreshadowed “sibling” face-off."

Indie Wire :

Mostly, the film occupies a strange no-mans-land of the sprawling Spider-Verse, not charming like the “Spider-Man” films, not funny like the “Venom” films, and certainly not technically impressive like the animated “Into the Spider-Verse.”

"Morbius lacks all charm and devotion to its main character, hoping that lengthy action sequences and jarring images of Leto and Smith’s animated faces will make us forget about how poor the script is."

Morbius - The Positive Reviews

Jared Leto as Morbius and Matt Smith as Milo

On the other hand, Morbius’ blend of horror and superhero genres has earned praise. The consistently spooky and dark vibes from the film are effective enough in building the characters and their motivations. The familiar Spider-Man franchise is then elevated with the introduction of new characters, ensuring sequels in the future. Moreover, Matt Smith ( House of the Dragon 's Daemon Targaryen ) offers a compelling, nuanced performance. Matt's acting occasionally overshadows that of Jared Leto. Here are more of the positive Morbius ratings and reviews:

Vanity Fair :

"The curious fun of Daniel Espinosa’s film is in how it embraces the gothic mythology that inspired it. Morbius does eventually become a cluttered slugfest, as all things must. But for much of its run it is a stylish, intriguingly toned story of a man trying to thwart mortality."

Entertainment Weekly :

"Swedish-Chilean director Daniel Espinosa (Life) gives it all a dark sheen, and shoots the pair's inevitable confrontations less like traditional comic-book clashes than something from The Matrix. The air around them moves like liquid ribbons, and even in peak CGI, their fights looks like something between jet propulsion and underwater ballet."

San Francisco Chronicle :

"At its best, “Morbius” keeps the audience riveted, wondering what will happen next. In the end, it ends up where all Marvel movies end up, on a roof, and looking like a blown-up computer screen. But the obligatory fireworks don’t go on long enough to spoil anything. Against all odds, “Morbius” is an intelligent, human story."

Screen Daily :

"A monster movie with a little bite, Morbius is elevated by some spirited performances and director Daniel Espinosa’s sure hand with familiar comic-book material."

After the massive box-office success of Spider-Man: No Way Home , it is no wonder that Marvel fans are hyped for yet another character, especially since Spider-Man: Homecoming ’s villain Vulture appears in Morbius . However, studios will be hard-pressed to continue a franchise attempt that was largely lambasted on all fronts. Nevertheless, a Rotten rating was also awarded to both Venom movies, yet audiences appeared to enjoy them. In fact, while Morbius ratings on the Tomatometer settled on 15%, more than 5,000 audience members gave the movie a 71% score. There might be hope for the character and franchise yet.

Related: Did No Way Home Fundamentally Change Venom & Spider-Man's Rivalry?

It's Morbin' Time: How Memes Saved Morbius From Total Irrelevance

Morbius may have been a critical flop, but its negative reception also practically canonized the movie as a long-running meme with high remix potential. Ironically, Jared Leto's return as Morbius may be fueled not just by his future role in the VenomVerse, but also by the sheer number of memes that all point to the movie being unwatchable. From classic insights like Morbius curing their insomnia to fake news-inspired memes claiming the movie raked in 200 Morbius Dollars at the box office, there's no question that Morbius spurred audiences into action. In 2022, the internet has made Morbius ' failure impossible to forget, especially with catchphrases like " It's Morbin' Time " and " Get Morbed " forever burned into people's brains.

In fact, the Morbius memes have even led to the movie being re-screened despite the poor reviews. While most people who flocked to cinemas only took selfies and didn't actually buy tickets, the press only contributed to the movie's notoriety and further ensured that the Marvel character's name remains in circulation. Similar to the Sharknado franchise , Morbius is so bad, it's a must-see movie, and it remains to be seen when the internet will stop having fun making and referencing Morbius memes.

More: Why Does Morbius Say “I Am Venom”?

Kraven the Hunter

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Morbius (2022)

Morbius (United States, 2022)

Sony/Columbia Pictures was on a nice roll recently with their Spider-Man-related movies: Into the Spider-Verse , Venom: Let There Be Carnage , and Spider-Man: No Way Home . It has all come to a grinding halt with Morbius . Although it would be difficult to argue that the studio has given back all the goodwill it has accumulated in the past few years, the bloom is off the rose. Morbius is not only a massive disappointment but the marketing campaign promises more to fans than the generic origin story delivers. Although the multiverse shenanigans from No Way Home are sampled in a perfunctory fashion, that doesn’t happen until midway through the end credits when Michael Keaton (who is featured in the film’s advertising) makes his overdue appearance…which lasts all of about a minute.

Morbius opens with a scene that feels like it might have been taken out of a mid-20 th century vampire movie. An emaciated Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), barely able to walk, disembarks from a helicopter to approach the opening of a large cavern that is home to a colony of vampire bats. He slits open his hand and extends it, inviting the bats to feast on his blood. They swarm around him and we’re treated to a flashback from Michael’s childhood at a sanitarium in Greece. It chronicles his meeting with lifelong friend Milo (played as an adult by Matt Smith) and illustrates his genius as a scientist/engineer.

Most of the story takes place in New York City, where Michael has relocated as an adult. During his life, in an attempt to find a cure for the rare blood disease that afflicts him and Milo, he has invented a form of artificial blood but his most promising experiments cross the line into the realm of the unethical and involve splicing bat and human DNA. Feeling that time is running out, Michael makes himself human trial #1. The results are promising – he has increased speed, agility, and strength to go along with various bat-like abilities (like echolocation) – but it comes at a price: like a vampire, he must consume blood at regular intervals. Although the artificial brand initially works, he realizes that, over time, he will have to start drinking real blood to stay alive. Michael is horrified by the implications but Milo, who steals a vial of the serum and injects himself, doesn’t share his friend’s compunctions. The two become rivals and, as Michael hunts down Milo with the goal of stopping him, Michael’s girlfriend, Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona), continues to work diligently in the lab.

Director Daniel Espinosa seems more interested in making a horror movie than a superhero/supervillain one. The tension between the two genres is evident and not always fruitful. For a vampire story, the film is hampered by the PG-13 rating and Morbius ’ position in Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff universe disallows the film to get too dark. Michael is presented sympathetically (not unusual in the post-Anne Rice world) as a tragic figure whose only real “out” may be suicide. But the movies rushes past the ethical quandary on the way to the obligatory smack-down and the potentially confusing intra-credits scenes that seem desperate to establish a future team-up of Spider-Man baddies. (Something similar was started at the end of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 but gained no traction.)

Despite only being a little over 90 minutes long, Morbius is a chore to sit through. It lacks imagination, zest, and a thrill of discovery. While similar charges could be leveled against Sony’s first Spider-Man villain spin-off, Venom , at least that film had a sense of humor. Leto plays this with a seriousness that even Tolstoy might find dour. It’s too early to condemn any eventual Sinister Six project (the pieces are still being assembled) but, unless better writing is involved, it’s going to make the theatrical release of Justice League look like a masterpiece.

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(There are no more better movies of this genre)
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Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Fight Club (1999)
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Alexander (2004)
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'Morbius' Review Thread

Rotten Tomatoes : 16% (117 reviews) with 3.8 in average rating

Critics consensus: Cursed with uninspired effects, rote performances, and a borderline nonsensical story, this Spidey-adjacent mess is a vein attempt to make Morbius happen.

Metacritic : 37/100 (45 critics)

As with other movies, the scores are set to change as time passes. Meanwhile, I'll post some short reviews on the movie. It's structured like this: quote first, source second.

After a promising start, Daniel Espinosa’s long-delayed film only intermittently matches the intensity of the lead performance, and the script by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless becomes thin on story, stringing together chaotic outbursts and action clashes that build to a painstakingly foreshadowed “sibling” faceoff. None of that seems likely to deter the geek faithful, even if this new entry in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe often seems a lot like a boilerplate Venom installment, without the humor.

- David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

“Morbius” mostly surprises because of how very dull it is. Case in point: After Michael’s bad deeds become publicized, local news teams term him “the Vampire Murderer,” an uninspired nickname that serves as a microcosm of everything “Morbius” is: mostly unnecessary, oddly unoriginal, and soon quite forgettable indeed.

- Kate Erbland, IndieWire : C-

“Morbius” isn’t even a debacle. It’s a little over 90 minutes long if you don’t count the credits (which include what has to be the worst closing teaser I’ve ever seen in a Marvel movie), and for all the overwrought push of Jon Ekstrand’s score, the film is nothing more than a flimsy time-killer, an early-April placeholder of a movie. It’s as trashy and underimagined as the “Venom” films, though it’s easy to see why both of those became mega-hits: The character of Venom, who’s like a superhero merged with the creature from “Alien,” with a voice of basso showbiz effrontery, is an entertaining hunk of sci-fi demon eye candy. Whereas Leto’s teeth-baring monster-scientist truly looks like a relic from the ’70s. He never scares or dazzles or haunts you — not because Leto is less than a good actor, but because this isn’t a character based on acting. It’s based on the creakiest FX, the one (mild) exception being the painterly trails of digital “smoke” left behind by Morbius as he flies through the air.

- Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Morbius is unspectacular in ways that waste the potential of what could be an intriguing hybrid of sinister horror and superhero thrills. One single scene recalls David F. Sandberg’s Lights Out for a suitable fright, but otherwise horror accents are limited to cheesy jokes about Dracula. That’s the approach the whole film takes, in fact. Everything feels superfluous and uninterested in thoughtful storytelling because the mission at hand is to get to the end credits where the meat exists. Morbius is so focused on building Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and hopeful sequels — which could very well be better now that the foundation exists — that it forgets about enthusiastically engaging its audience from the start.

- Matt Donato, IGN : 5.0 "mediocre"

What starts as a fun mad-scientist saga ends up in the usual big battle, and the journey drags along the way.

- Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

It really is an amazingly pointless and dumb film: the good/bad setup between Morbius and Milo is muddled and cancelled by the not-especially-compelling moral struggle within Morbius himself. Both Leto and Smith have to keep doing the evil demonic face-change growling thing, and it is intensely silly. Let’s hope the extended Spider-Man universe extends far enough to include something more interesting than this.

- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian : 1/5

Most of the MCU movies and some of the recent DC films like “The Suicide Squad” are case studies on how to best introduce obscure superhero personas onto the screen. The gonzo “Venom” movies know and proudly own what they are. “Morbius” misses all those lessons and seems to be stuck among the more lackluster films from the early to mid 2000s a la “Elektra.” Even the mid-credits scenes that attempt to bring Leto’s role into a larger landscape wind up being more confusing than cool. Rather than a fang-tastic time, “Morbius” is just a soul-sucking effort.

- Brian Truitt, USA Today : 1.5/4

Beyond whatever scenes have been reworked, recut or just plain deleted from an abbreviated final cut, the movie shies away from the vampirism that could have made this more than a swift origin story: There’s surprisingly little blood in this sucker and, of course, eroticism is largely eschewed. The movie is most enticing when Dr. Michael Morbius feels like a threat to himself and/or others, and that feeling isn’t allowed to linger. It’s a perverse tactic, given that Sony transparently yearns for these villains to team up and take on some version, any version, of Spider-Man. The actual pre-credits body of Morbius doesn’t actually waste any time on this set-up. Yet there’s some kind of invisible force here, hurrying things along in the hopes of a future team-up, making sure this feature film arrives more undead than alive.

- Jesse Hassenger, Paste Magazine : 5.9/10

Without spoiling anything, a couple of post-credits sequences set up a future for Leto’s character in a larger world that you understand why Sony would try and telegraph, but given the failures of past Spider-Man spin-offs it’s hard to believe they have really thought any of those next steps through. But until then, Morbius feels like exactly the kind of second-tier superhero adventure audiences will accept in between ones that they actively want. Admittedly, it’s odd to want a movie like this to have been worse, but that would mean it failed as bigly as the swings it took; by comparison, Morbius is a walk, or at best a bunt. That may qualify it as a hit for Leto, Espinoza and Sony, but that doesn’t mean it’s much fun to watch from the stands.

- Todd Gilchrist, The A.V. Club : C-

“Morbius” is bad, yes, but it’s not even fun-bad, like the “Venom” movies; it’s just kind of depressing. There’s not a single thrilling, surprising, or entertaining moment in it, from start to finish, because comic book movies have reached a point of longevity and saturation that all of them are purely paint-by-number affairs: the laborious origin stories, the washed-out color palates, the bombastic scores, the daddy issues, the climactic barely-lit, CGI-heavy final fights to the death, and the mid-credit sequences to set up future installments. The nicest thing I can say about it is that it’s short.

- Jason Bailey, The Playlist : D-

It looks like “Morbius” might soon cross paths with Spider-Man in one universe or another, but that would be a big step up for him, because his introductory vehicle feels more like a just-average 1990s vampire movie.

- Richard Roeper, The Chicago Sun Times : 2/4

Is Morbius the worst Marvel movie ever made? In an alternate universe without The New Mutants, the answer would likely be yes. And with all these multiverses now colliding into each other, who knows: There may even be a world out there where things actually came together for this old-school comic-book bloodsucker onscreen, where his determination to fight his newly monstrous nature while taking on the corrupt and the criminal gave us a deeper, darker antihero and Leto the chance to make his mark in the larger Marvel ecosphere. We’re stuck in this timeline, where the Morbius we’ve got is, plain and simple, a mess. If it’s not the worst of these films, it’s certainly the most anemic — and even die-hard fans are apt to feel completely drained by all of it.

- David Fear, Rolling Stone

Suffering from a rare blood disease, Dr. Michael Morbius tries a dangerous cure that afflicts him with a form of vampirism.

Daniel Espinosa

Matt Sazama & Burk Sharpless

Jon Ekstrand

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Oliver Wood

$75 million

Release date:

April 1, 2022

Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius

Matt Smith as Milo

Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft

Jared Harris as Nicholas Morbius

Al Madrigal as FBI Agent Alberto "Al" Rodriguez

Tyrese Gibson as FBI Agent Simon Stroud

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Morbius Director Says He Wasn't a Good Fit for Maligned Sony Movie

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Morbius is infamous for underperforming upon release in 2022. Not only did the movie come up short at the box office, it was pummeled by the critics, garnering a 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In a new conversation with Deadline , Morbius director Daniel Espinosa commented on directing the movie. He now says he realizes he wasn't a good "fit" for that project, as he's someone who tries to bring a lot of ideas to the projects he works on. With Morbius , there may have just been too many cooks in the kitchen, as Espinosa explained.

When asked if he suffered because of Morbius underperforming, the director said, “Yes. To make a movie through committee, I think, is very hard, and I felt in the end that maybe a different director would have been a better fit .”

Espinosa added, "I’m known amongst the studios to be a person with a lot of opinions, and maybe they were not looking for that kind of director .”

Morbius only grossed $167 million worldwide, seen as a big disappointment compared to most other big-budget superhero movies. The film's shortcomings would inspire a popular internet meme with fans claiming in jest that the movie was deserving of another run in theaters. Sony did give Morbius another theatrical run as a result, but it also underperformed. Making matters worse was the film getting nominated by the Razzies for "honors" like Worst Picture and Worst Director, While Jared Leto and Adria Arjona were respectively declared Worst Actor and Worst Actress.

Morbius Still Did Better Than Madame Web

Sony didn't have much better luck with Morbius ' follow-up film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe, Madame Web . Released in February, Madame Web performed more poorly than Morbius , earning just over $100 million at the worldwide box office. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is sitting at 11%, which is notably lower than Morbius . Time will tell if Sony gets the SSU back on track with Venom: The Last Dance and Kraven the Hunter , which will be respectively released in October and December.

Morbius is streaming on Disney+ .

Source: Deadline

MORBIUS Director Breaks Silence On Panned Marvel Movie; Says It Was Made "Through Committee"

Morbius director Daniel Espinosa has broken his silence on helming the disastrous 2022 movie and echoes comments from Madame Web star Dakota Johnson by saying it was made "through committee." Check it out!

No one had particularly high hopes for Morbius before it was released in 2022, but the potential for the Living Vampire to take centre stage in a fun, horror-tinged adventure was definitely there.

Unfortunately, the version we got was a disaster. Boasting one of the worst post-credits scenes ever put on film, Morbius was a mess of a movie which stars Matt Smith, Tyrese, and Al Madrigal have all suggested wasn't the project they signed up for (the entire final act was reworked with extensive reshoots).

Talking to Deadline , filmmaker Daniel Espinosa broke his silence on the movie and asked if he suffered from the experience of making Morbius for Sony Pictures.

"Yes," he admitted. "To make a movie through committee, I think, is very hard, and I felt in the end that maybe a different director would have been a better fit. I’m known amongst the studios to be a person with a lot of opinions, and maybe they were not looking for that kind of director."

What's interesting about these comments is that they echo what Dakota Johnson said earlier this year about starring in Madame Web .

"It's so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made - and it's even starting to happen with the little ones, which is what’s really freaking me out - decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it’s made by committee."

"Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them," Johnson continued. "But it was definitely an experience for me to make that movie. I had never done anything like it before. I probably will never do anything like it again because I don’t make sense in that world. And I know that now."

These comments paint a troubling picture of how Sony Pictures is approaching making its Marvel movies. We'd imagine Avi Arad is likely involved in this "committee" as it's the veteran producer's input which has spelled doom for the likes of Spider-Man 3 , The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , and Venom .

Morbius ended by setting the stage for a Sinister Six movie which was seemingly meant to put a heroic spin on the villainous team. Whether Sony plans to return to that idea in Venom: The Last Dance or Kraven the Hunter remains to be seen.

Below, you can check out our interview with Morbius star Jared Leto. It's a fun watch, primarily because you can tell he has absolutely no interest in talking about the movie...

MORBIUS Star Tyrese Shares Disappointment With Reduced Role And Confirms Major Fight Scenes Were Cut

MORBIUS: Michael Keaton On His Vulture Cameo: "I’m Nodding Like I Know What The F*** They’re Talking About"

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Morbius Director Admits Harsh Truth About His Part in Sony's Heavily Criticized Marvel Flop

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Morbius director Daniel Espinosa has opened up about his 2022 critical and box office flop and revealed that he believes he was not a good fit to direct the movie. Espinosa is best known for crime thrillers like Easy Money , Safe House , and Child 44 . His 2017 film Life generated a great deal of buzz because Sony Pictures produced it, and many thought it was going to be a stealth prequel to Venom . While that did not turn out to be the case, Espinosa was hired to direct Morbius in June 2018 in what would eventually become a four-year project, since Morbius was delayed from 2020 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the release of Morbius , Espinosa has moved on, and is back to his roots with the thrillers Madame Luna and The Helicopter Heist . Speaking with Deadline , Espinosa talked about his struggle making Morbius , a film that notably went through various behind-the-scenes changes. Espinosa implies he clashed with Sony Pictures and that they should have hired another director for the film. He said:

"To make a movie through committee, I think, is very hard, and I felt in the end that maybe a different director would have been a better fit. I’m known amongst the studios to be a person with a lot of opinions, and maybe they were not looking for that kind of director.”

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Morbius was originally set to be released on July 31, 2020, but was delayed to March 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down theaters. It was then delayed three more times before finally being released on April 1, 2022. The movie was a box office flop and a critical bomb. Morbius was roasted online by fans, so much so that the "It's Morbin Time" meme became widespread enough for Sony to mistakenly take it as an opportunity to try and capitalize on the interest with a rerelease of the film. Morbius then became the rare film that bombed at the box office twice .

Sony Pictures used the many delays to meddle with Morbius . The film's trailers showcased Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture, in a scene cut from the final film and replaced with a different scene. The finished post-credits scene with Toomes seems tacked on, appearing to accommodate the ending of Spider-Man: No Way Home . Entire subplots from Morbius were cut, and the trailer notably featured an image of Spider-Man that was cut from the finished film, with the only reference to Spider-Man being during the conversation between Morbius and Toomes in the final moments of the film.

A custom image of Venom and Fifty Shades of Grey

How Fifty Shades of Grey Led To Venom: The Last Dance

Her web connects them all, but it is not Madame Web that ties Fifty Shades and Venom together.

Espinosa's experience with Morbius seems to be a common one among filmmakers making Sony Marvel films. S.J. Clarkson reportedly had to undergo numerous studio notes and reshoots for Madame Web , a movie that performed even worse at the box office and with critics than Morbius. While no behind-the-scenes issues have been reported by J.C. Chandor's Kraven the Hunter , that film has undergone many release date delays. Kraven the Hunter was originally set to open in theaters on January 13, 2023, and then October 6, 2023. Due to the SAG-AFTRA strike, the studio delayed Kraven the Hunter to August 30, 2024, but then, just four months before its release, the studio delayed the film a fourth time to December 13, 2024 .

Aside from the Venom and Spider-Verse movies and, of course, their MCU collaborations with Marvel Studios, Sony has struggled to find their footing with the Spider-Man property in the last few years. The upcoming releases of Kraven the Hunter and Venom: The Last Dance could well seal the fate of Sony's Universe of Spider-Man Characters, one way or another.

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‘twisters’ even bigger with $81m+ opening – monday am box office update, breaking news.

‘Twisters’ Swirls To $123M Global; ‘Despicable Me 4’ Gruves Towards $600M & ‘Inside Out 2’ Soon To Claim No. 1 Animated Movie Of All Time Worldwide — International Box Office

By Nancy Tartaglione

Nancy Tartaglione

International Box Office Editor/Senior Contributor

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Latin America had great holds at Colombia (+8%), Argentina (+1%), Mexico (-22%), Peru (-23%) and Brazil (-31%). Australia was down just 21%. Japan and and Korea are still to release.

Nostalgia is not so prevalent for the original Twisters overseas, but with good social and critical scores plus holidays, maybe we see some uptick ahead. That’s gonna be tough for any film in the face of Deadpool & Wolverine , of course. Still, summer is only at the half-point and the more movies we have in cinemas the better.

To wit: Illumination/Universal’s Despicable Me 4 topped the $500M global mark this week and is now closing in on $600M. With a 42% dip from last session overseas, DM4 added $52M from 79 overseas markets. That takes the international box office cume to $315M and global to $574.4M . Korea and Italy are still to release.

The offshore performance excluding China is in line with Minions and Minions: The Rise of Gru , and above DM3 and DM2 at the same point. Through Sunday, DM4 will have surpassed the overseas box office (excluding China) of Sing 2 , Ice Age: Collision Course and How to Train Your Dragon . It will also overtake offshore (including China) on Despicable Me , Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Spider -Man: Across The Spider-Verse .

Japan was new this session with the biggest studio opening of the year at $4.4M; above the three-day opening of MTROG and in line with three-day starts of DM3 and Minions.

In Mexico , DM4 was down just 29% in the third frame and has topped the total lifetimes of Frozen II and Ice Age 3 . It is now the 3rd biggest movie of the year there.

The Top 5 on DM4 are: Mexico ($32.1M), China ($31.5M), Australia ($25.8M), UK ($23.2M), and Brazil ($18.3M).

Amid all of this is the juggernaut that is Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 . In its sixth weekend, the sequel added $34.2M in 51 material markets, lifting the international box office cume to $846.9M and global to $1,443.3M . This weekend saw Inside Out 2 pass Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1,405M) to become the No. 15 industry film of all time globally. It should pass Barbie ($1,446M) tomorrow to claim the No. 14 spot.

There is now just shy of $11M separating Inside Out 2 from Frozen II ($1.454B) to become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time globally. With Japan still on deck on August 1, the record books will be rewritten before. (Note that while there has been some debate about Disney’s 2019 The Lion King being classified as an animated film, it is not considered as such by the studio which made it under the Disney Live Action umbrella, rather than either of its animated labels; that film is widely considered by the industry as not falling into the animated category.)

The Top 5 to date on IO2 are: Mexico ($98M), Brazil ($72.8M), UK ($60M), Korea ($56.1M) and France ($50.6M). Recall that Japan is still to release on August 1.

Notable local play includes Sony Pictures International Productions’ Padre No Hay Más Que Uno 4 , the latest in the hit Spanish franchise which topped the charts in Spain with a five-day total of $3.7M, the highest opening for a local title since 2022. The series has now grossed over $50M at the Spanish box office.

In China , new local comedy, Successor , debuted on Tuesday and has since grossed an estimated $213M, setting it up as the big breakout of the summer for local films in the market. The Imax portion was $8.5M.

MISC UPDATED CUMES/NOTABLE A Quiet Place: Day One (PAR): $5.2M intl weekend (67 markets); $113.8M intl cume/$241.4M global Fly Me to the Moon (SNY): $3.8M intl weekend (58 markets); $14.3M intl cume/$30.7M global Bad Boys: Ride or Die (SNY): $3.2M intl weekend (63 markets); $198.7M intl cume/$388M global The Bikeriders (UNI): $507K intl weekend (62 markets); $13.2M intl cume/$34.4M global

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Morbius movie review & film summary (2022)

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COMMENTS

Morbius
Morbius. Page 1 of 11, 11 total items. Watch Morbius with a subscription on Disney+, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV. Cursed with ...
Morbius movie review & film summary (2022)
Nor, for that matter, is Leto's bland hero, whose most distinctive aspect is the demanding physical transformation the actor underwent for the role. No, the only really surprising—and, therefore, the most disappointing—thing about "Morbius" is the fact that it's an honest-to-goodness horror film. But only for a few seconds.
'Morbius' Review: The Other Bat, Man
Morbius Rated PG-13 for standard comic-book movie violence, including gun deaths. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters.
Morbius (2022)
Morbius: Directed by Daniel Espinosa. With Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris. Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.
Morbius
Morbius Reviews. It's a horrific mish-mash of other films that ends with two CGI monsters punching each other into walls while screaming about "ultimate power". Full Review | Original Score: 2 ...
Morbius First Reviews: Jared Leto Does His Best to Lift a Story That
Following the blockbuster success of Venom and its sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters continues with Morbius, based on the popular comic book character. Jared Leto stars as the titular character, a scientist who becomes a "living vampire" with superhuman abilities. Similar to the first two installments of the Spider-Man-adjacent franchise ...
Morbius Review
An origin story that lacks fangs and bite. Morbius hits theaters on April 1, 2022. Sony's Spider-Man Universe has its first expansion out of Venom territory with Morbius, the Jared Leto-led ...
Morbius
2022. PG-13. Sony Pictures Releasing Argentina. 1 h 44 m. Summary Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder, and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be a radical success, a darkness inside him is unleashed.
Jared Leto in 'Morbius': Film Review
Jared Leto in 'Morbius': Film Review. Matt Smith and Adria Arjona also star in Marvel's origin story of the conflicted antihero, a doctor who gets cozy with vampire bats to treat his rare ...
Morbius Review
31 Mar 2022. Original Title: Morbius. Superheroes are getting moodier. The idea of 'dark' comic-book adaptations isn't exactly new, but lately they've stepped up a gear, with Matt Reeves ...
Morbius Movie Review
Our review: Parents say ( 17 ): Kids say ( 45 ): Humorless and as flat and as uninspired as the Venom movies were, this by-the-numbers comic book action movie seems to be operating entirely on autopilot, ticking off plot boxes as it goes. Even the actors seem to be sleeping through their lines in Morbius -- not that there's anything worth ...
Everything We Know About Morbius
The superhero movie machine is still playing catch-up. As evidence: Morbius, the next chapter of Sony's Marvel sub-universe, is still awaiting its moment in the movie theater spotlight.It even had an October release date at one point, but moved once again to 2022 - a full two years after it released its first teaser.
Morbius Reviews Are Finally Here, See What Critics Are ...
After years of development, and, of course, COVID-driven delays, Morbius is finally set to make its theatrical debut. Starring Jared Leto as the titular living vampire, the new coming book movie ...
Morbius review: Jared Leto's vampire superhero flick isn't really a
Morbius review: Sony's high-gloss vampire superhero film isn't really a full movie, but it's fun. Jared Leto is a new kind of bat, man.
Morbius
Morbius may technically be a Marvel superhero/horror hybrid (albeit one that Sony has the legal rights to these days), but star Jared Leto and crew do everything they can to help you forget that movie lineage. The film itself is, ironically, fairly lifeless, with a barely serviceable storyline and charmless characters.
Morbius (film)
Morbius is a 2022 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics ... the film has an approval rating of 15% based on 284 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's ... It ranks as the 18th worst-reviewed superhero movie on the site. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 35 out of 100 based on 55 critics ...
Sony's Morbius Movie Review
Morbius hits the ground running, with the eponymous scientist and aspiring superhero already well along the way towards developing the serum that will transform him into a living vampire by the time the movie starts.This breakneck pacing continues throughout the film, with characters quickly descending into villainy or Morbius himself developing alternatives to his condition rapidly across the ...
Morbius (2022) Movie Reviews
Offers. One of Marvel's most compelling and conflicted characters comes to the big screen as Oscar® winner Jared Leto transforms into the enigmatic antihero Michael Morbius. Dangerously ill with a rare blood disorder and determined to save others suffering his same fate, Dr. Morbius attempts a desperate gamble. While at first it seems to be ...
Morbius Ending Explained and Post Credits Scenes Breakdown
Morbius' mid-credits scenes certainly foreshadow what Sony is mulling for their own live-action Marvel universe. The first mid-credits scene sees a colorful cosmic rift appear in the night sky ...
Morbius Reviews, Reactions Show an Ugly Side of Film Criticism
Morbius is a film I enjoyed quite a lot and think maintains the spirit of the '90s comic books I grew up reading. I was thoroughly entertained. That's not the consensus, and that's OK. The ...
Why Morbius' Reviews Are So Bad
Ahead of its theatrical release, Morbius already garnered negative reviews, which only got worse after the movie was released to the public - well reflected in the low Morbius ratings conferred by most film critics. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, Morbius is the third entry of Sony's Spider-Man Universe, after Venom and Venom: Let There Be Carnage.The film follows Jared Leto's Dr. Michael ...
Morbius
Despite only being a little over 90 minutes long, Morbius is a chore to sit through. It lacks imagination, zest, and a thrill of discovery. While similar charges could be leveled against Sony's first Spider-Man villain spin-off, Venom, at least that film had a sense of humor.
'Morbius' Review Thread : r/movies
Review. Rotten Tomatoes: 16% (117 reviews) with 3.8 in average rating. Critics consensus: Cursed with uninspired effects, rote performances, and a borderline nonsensical story, this Spidey-adjacent mess is a vein attempt to make Morbius happen. Metacritic: 37/100 (45 critics)
Morbius Director Says He Wasn't a Good Fit for Maligned Sony Movie
Morbius is infamous for underperforming upon release in 2022. Not only did the movie come up short at the box office, it was pummeled by the critics, garnering a 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes. In a new conversation with Deadline, Morbius director Daniel Espinosa commented on directing the movie. He now says he realizes he wasn't a good "fit" for that project, as he's someone who tries to bring ...
Morbius director Daniel Espinosa opens up about the divisive ...
Morbius director Daniel Espinosa is more than aware of the reception to his Marvel film, starring Jared Leto as the Living Vampire. He says the project turned out poorly due to Hollywood red tape ...
Morbius Director Admits He Wasn't a Good Fit for Marvel Flop
Morbius earned $167.5 million on a reported budget of $75-80 million, making it a non-starter as a potential franchise for star Jared Leto. More importantly, Morbious was a massive misstep on Sony ...
MORBIUS Director Breaks Silence On Panned Marvel Movie; Says It Was
Morbius director Daniel Espinosa has broken his silence on helming the disastrous 2022 movie and echoes comments from Madame Web star Dakota Johnson by saying it was made "through committee."
Morbius Director Daniel Espinosa Candidly Admits His Part in ...
Morbius was originally set to be released on July 31, 2020, but was delayed to March 2021 following the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down theaters. It was then delayed three more times before ...
Twisters Box Office, Inside Out 2 Soon Biggest Animated Movie Ever
There is now just shy of $11M separating Inside Out 2 from Frozen II ($1,454M) to become the highest-grossing animated movie of all time globally. With Japan still on deck on August 1, the record ...

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