Morbius (film)

Morbius is a 2022 American superhero horror film featuring the Marvel Comics character Morbius, the Living Vampire, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is intended to be the third film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. The film is directed by Daniel Espinosa, written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, and stars Jared Leto as Michael Morbius alongside Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. In the film, Morbius becomes a vampire after attempting to cure himself of a rare blood disease.
Morbius was released in the United States on April 1, 2022. The film received negative reviews from film critics, who calling it "a worst Marvel film of all time" and criticized for its unusual marketing and post-credit scenes, though Leto and Smith's performance received praise. It grossed $39 million in its opening weekend, $73.9 million in the U.S. and Canada, $90 million in the International, for the worldwide total of $163.9 million against its $75-83 million budget, making it a box office failure. Despite this, Morbius is widely known for being related to an ironic meme culture created by many online users, including fans-alike. Users jokingly claim Morbius is the most financially and critically successful film of all time.
== Premise ==
At a hospital in Greece, 10-year-old Michael Morbius welcomes his surrogate brother Lucien, whom he renames Milo; they bond over their shared blood illness and desire to be "normal". Their adoptive father and hospital director Nicholas arranges for Morbius to attend medical school in New York while he focuses on caring for Milo.
25 years later, Morbius publicly declines a Nobel Prize for his work with synthetic blood. His colleague Martine Bancroft discovers he has secretly captured dozens of vampire bats from Costa Rica in the hope of splicing their genes with his own to cure his condition. After informing Milo of his planned illegal experiment, Morbius receives funding from him to outfit a private mercenary vessel in international waters with his equipment. While the cure works, it transforms Morbius into a vampire, who kills and drains the crew of their blood after they attack him out of fear. Once his bloodlust subsides and he regains his senses, a horrified Morbius erases all CCTV footage of his experiment before contacting the authorities and jumping overboard.
Morbius returns to New York and discovers he now has superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and echolocation, with his vampire bats treating him as a bat. To control his bloodlust, he subsists on his synthetic blood until it gradually ceases to satisfy his needs. FBI agents Simon Stroud and Al Rodriguez investigate Morbius' victims and deduce his involvement. Milo learns that Morbius is cured, but becomes furious when Morbius refuses to cure him as well. While checking on a hospitalized Bancroft, Morbius finds a dead nurse, drained of her blood. Believing he was responsible, he attempts to escape before being cornered and arrested. In prison, he is visited by Milo, who offers to use his wealth to free him. Upon realizing Milo took his cure and killed the nurse, Morbius escapes to confront him. An unrepentant Milo confesses to his bloodlust-induced crime and urges Morbius to embrace his powers as he has. Unwilling to hurt his brother, Morbius flees.
Morbius meets Bancroft to explain what Milo has done before acquiring a new lab and developing an antibody against vampirism to stop and kill Milo; he also plans to use it on himself since he will become unable to resist his bloodlust. Stroud and Rodriguez find footage of one of Milo's attacks and, believing Morbius' vampirism to be spreading, release it to the media. Nicholas recognizes Milo and pleads with him to stop. Angered by Nicholas' perceived preference for Morbius, Milo wounds and forces him to call Morbius, who watches Nicholas die while Milo also mortally wounds Bancroft. Morbius returns to Bancroft, but she dies in his arms, forcing him to drink her blood. Morbius confronts Milo and summons an army of bats to restrain him and inject the antibody. Milo dies peacefully and Morbius flies off with the bats, mourning his loved ones and embracing his identity as a vampire albeit now dealing with the fact he is on the run from the authorities. Unbeknownst to him, Bancroft is revived as a vampire herself elsewhere, having ingested a drop of Morbius' blood whilst he was feeding on her.
In two mid-credits scenes, Adrian Toomes finds himself transported to Morbius' universe. Having deduced that his transportation involved Spider-Man, Toomes approaches the fugitive Morbius and suggests that they form a team.
== Cast ==
* Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius
* Matt Smith as Loxias Crown / Milo Morbius
* Adria Arjona as Martine Bancroft
* Jared Harris as Dr Emil Nicholas
* Al Madrigal as Alberto Rodriguez
* Tyrese Gibson as Simon Stroud
*Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes / Vulture
*Corey Johnson as Mr. Fox
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Morbius (film)
Category:IMAX films
Category:3D films
Category:Marvel films
Category:Films directed by Daniel Espinosa
Category:Films starring Jared Leto
Category:Films starring Michael Keaton
Category:Films starring Adria Arjona
Category:Films starring Matt Smith
Category:Films starring Jared Harris
Category:Films starring Al Madrigal
Category:Films starring Tyrese Gibson
Category:Superhero films
Category:Horror films
Category:Horror
Category:2022 horror films
Category:Films written by Mark Sazama and Burk Sharpless
Category:Films about bats
Category:Films about vampire
Category:Films based on comics
Category:Films based on Marvel Comics