Fatal flop: Will the ‘Morbius’ cast return for an unwelcome sequel?

Marvel’s Morbius is already considered by some critics &  fans to be the worst movie of 2022, a title that’s all the more hilarious considering we’re not even halfway through the year. The film stars Jared Leto in the lead role of Dr. Michael Morbius, who suffers from a rare blood disorder. In an attempt to cure himself, he accidentally gives himself vampirism. 

While the idea behind Morbius is cool in theory, the film’s execution seems to be lacking. The failure of Morbius is all the more interesting considering that its cast contains some big names. In addition to Academy-Award-winner Jared Leto, Morbius’ cast includes Michael Keaton, Matt Smith, and Tyrese Gibson. 

Despite having the clout of Marvel’s name & a famous cast, Morbius has quickly become a critical & box-office flop. Not only that, but the name Morbius itself has become a punchline in the cinematic community. With all of that stench on Morbius, is there any chance that Marvel will bring the cast back to make a sequel?

More B.S.

With Marvel riding high on the success of Spider-Man: No Way Home, many had high hopes for Morbius. However, the Daniel Espinosa-directed movie became the film in the Spider-Man cinematic universe with the lowest box office earnings ever. In fact, Morbius opened to $39 million in the U.S., less than half of Venom’s opening weekend. 

There’s a catch, however, as Morbius had a relatively small budget of $75 million compared to Venom’s $100 million. Still, no amount of fiduciary comparison can rescue Morbius from the cultural landfill. Many on the web were quick to mock Morbius, even by attributing false praise to the film from comic book cinema’s greatest nemesis: Martin Scorsese.

On Twitter, someone photoshopped a picture of revered filmmaker Martin Scorsese in front of Morbius’ premiere backdrop. Above the doctored photo is a fake quote attributed to the Taxi Driver director. The tweet had Scorsese saying, “I was aghast to find out it was based on a comic book. This is the truest height of cinema and even I cannot top it.”

Morbius cast member Tyrese Gibson screenshotted the meme, believing it to be factual, and posted it on his Instagram. People were just as quick to roast Tyrese for this, who heaped praise on Espinosa for his directing. Perhaps he didn’t realize it was an April Fool’s Day prank, as that was Morbius’ release date. Maybe that’s just cosmic irony.

Can Morbius be saved?

While Morbius has been almost universally panned, there are some who still see potential in its intellectual property. Comedian Al Madrigal, who’s featured in the Morbius cast as FBI agent Alberto Rodriguez, said he doesn’t think the Spider-Man spinoff is bad, but was just edited too much.

However, most self-respecting film critics would beg to differ. Barry Hertz of The Globe and Mail wrote, “It is charmless, incoherent, ugly, and so aggressively stupid that it defies any attempt to shove it into the desperate ‘guilty pleasure’ box.” Despite scorching reviews like this, there are some who think that Morbius deserves a sequel.

While no Morbius sequel has been confirmed, Joshua Clark of CBR.com thinks that “Morbius requires a sequel because comic book movies need variety.” Clark said, “Even though it was bland, Morbius didn’t feel like an entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was different, and that’s a good thing.” 

While Morbius was certainly unlike any comic book film before it, that’s not enough to guarantee the cast will come back to do it all over again. Flops like this one tend to smudge acting careers, and the likes of Michael Keaton would probably rather do an Oscar-bait film rather than a stinker.

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With a treacherous seventeen percent on Rotten Tomatoes & a box-office total rarely seen for Marvel property, Morbius has been tossed into the trash stratum. However, it might still have potential with a well-crafted sequel. What did you think of Morbius, let us know in the comments!