To say the Sony Marvel film Morbius has contributed nothing to the pop-cultural pantheon would be a lie — not because the film is well made, but because its notoriously terrible reputation has birthed some of the best memes in 2022 so far.
One example is anti-fans’ adoption of the phrase “It’s Morbin’ time,” which is a fake catchphrase purportedly uttered by the titular vampire Dr. Michael Morbius, portrayed by Jared Leto.
In a seeming nod to the Power Rangers-inspired meme, the official Twitter account for Morbius wrote, “It’s time. Get #Morbius on Digital today!”
We must admit, Sony’s strategy of releasing solo films of characters who are normally villains opposite Spider-Man in the comic books is head-scratching at best, with the Venom duology of films and the Morbius movie so far garnering solely rotten critical scores on the review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes.
In our own review of Morbius, we called the film “the worst Marvel-branded movie to come along in long time.”
However, the memes that have been generated from the movie are arguably more entertaining than the film itself, perhaps making it all worth it. Interestingly, we partially predicted the popularity of “Morbin’ time” would be something Sony may make a nod to for the marketing of the film’s digital release.
“Perhaps the most ironic thing about the unexpected craze is that fans would probably reject it outright were Sony to embrace it,” we wrote in an article on Wednesday. “Should the studio hypothetically start marketing Morbius on digital or VOD by using the phrase ‘It’s Morbin Time’, then most folks would agree the shark has finally been jumped.”
By keeping the phrase cryptic enough to not outright duplicate it, but still obviously making an homage to it, the studio has arguably had their cake and ate it too. Way to Morb, Sony!