Morbius (2022)

***Morbius*** is a 2022 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the third film in Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU). Directed by Daniel Espinosa and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, it stars Jared Leto as Dr. Michael Morbius, alongside Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson. In the film, Morbius and his surrogate brother Milo (Smith) become living vampires after curing themselves of a rare blood disease.

*Morbius* premiered at the Plaza Carso in Mexico City on March 10, 2022 and was theatrically released in the United States on April 1, 2022, after being delayed several times from an initial July 2020 date, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was a critical and commercial failure, receiving criticism for its writing, visual effects, and post-credits scenes, though Smith's performance received some praise; the film also grossed only $167 million worldwide. It became the subject of internet memes mocking its reception and quality; the popularity of said memes led Sony to re-release the film in theaters the following June, to another commercial failure. It later received five Golden Raspberry Awards nominations, including Worst Picture, winning Worst Actor for Leto and Worst Supporting Actress for Arjona.

## Plot

At a hospital in Greece, 10-year-old Michael Morbius welcomes his surrogate brother Lucien, whom he unintentionally 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 artificial 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 one of their own. To control his bloodlust, he subsists on his artificial blood as 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 by Stroud. 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 arrives too late to save him 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 fugitive vampire. Unbeknownst to him, Bancroft revives elsewhere with glowing red eyes, 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.

## Future

Morbius is the first movie in the Morbius franchise and was followed by Morbius 2: It's Morbin Time in 2024, which was released September 19th 2024