WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Morbius, now playing in theaters.
In Morbius, Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius cut a sympathetic, tragic figure, hobbling around on crutches due to his own blood disease. Still, he saved lives and garnered prizes for his work, which showed how resilient he was, albeit he did so in immense pain, yearning for a life where he could consider himself normal.
It’s why he experimented with bats, turning himself into a vampire, who would sadly require human blood. This created a Jekyll and Hyde dynamic inside Morbius, trying to keep the monster at bay before more innocent lives were lost. In the process, while the film did suffer from narrative flaws and weird character decisions, the duality in Morbius produced Marvel’s best Hulk movie yet.
Now, this isn’t to knock the live-action films with Eric Bana and Ed Norton as Bruce Banners trying to control their Green Goliaths, or even Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk constantly trying to avoid causing destruction. However, their stories were about the concept of self, trying to cure their Jade Giant so they could pursue love or return to society. But in Morbius’ case, the scientist’s battle with his own bloodsucking “Hulk” was about accepting his fate and protecting the outside world, shaping something a tad crueler.
Sure, part of Morbius wished he could be human again and be with Martine, but that never drove his mission after he became a monster. Morbius knew there was no balance to be gained — instead, he simply had to erase this “cure” and ensure the serum never fell into the wrong hands. It’s why he pursued and killed his best friend and fellow vamp, Milo, while contemplating using the poison he concocted on himself.
It harkened to The Incredible Hulk‘s deleted scene where Norton’s Hulk stopped Banner from taking his life. Sure, it was dark, but it was nuanced, which is what made Morbius so human and more connective. To top if off, Morbius had a much more genuine past, opting to work for the right people at the Horizon labs. His research was never like Banner’s, where radiation and nuclear studies were more applied to the military than medicine. Morbius’ work healed children and cops, not to mention he refused funding and accolades from evil capitalists.
It gave him a nobler moral compass, taking up so much time to the point that treating himself became a secondary goal in life. It’s why he could look past Martine, love and brotherhood, and immediately do what was right rather than hide away in seclusion. This was compounded by him locking himself away and trying to feed on artificial blood he made, realizing that he had to stop the beast within after he fed on some mercenaries.
He didn’t make it a personal mission to cure himself again; he selflessly accepted he was a threat to mankind and that both he and Milo had to be collateral damage if the world was to be saved. Ultimately, while Morbius wasn’t a full-fledged hero or Avenger, this evidence proves he sacrificed much more, while leaving behind a way better legacy. Whether or not Morbius maintains that legacy remains to be seen, given how the Vulture tried recruiting him, knowing the power, genius and good intentions within could be manipulated to make him a sinister ally.
To see Marvel work with Sony on a better version of the Hulk, watch Morbius, in theaters now.
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