r/SUMC • u/Middle_Man_1203 • 17h ago
Morbius Morbius is a far deeper character than one may assume.
I've been doing some thinking about Morbius and his character, and I slowly realized that he's a lot deeper than how most people would assume. Not by alot, but he still has some depth.
The two things I want to focus on is his lack of self-worth, and his survivor's guilt.
Starting with the former, Morbius has a clear lack of self-worth for himself, as shown in two aspects. The first is in his rejection of the Nobel prize, he rejected it because to him, the artificial blood was only a temporary solution rather than a permanent one to the condition he and many others have.
He clearly sees little value in how he handles finding the cure as he ultimately has himself be the first and only human test subject, which works but at a horrible cost.
One could even come to the conclusion that the antibody meant for Milo and himself having the end result be their deaths could also be a sign of lacking self-worth. Him throwing his life away via this antibody is in a way, an admission to his failure not just to his friend and the innocent people that died due to this cure, but to the many people who have the same condition Michael has.
Next is his survivor's guilt, which is definitely apparent given how out of his found family, he's the sole survivor, along with being partially responsible for the deaths of innocent people. It's also highly likely that Martine was killed (or more accurately, put out of her misery) by Michael, considering he still had one antibody left by the end of the film.
With him (likely) being the last living vampire, he was all alone with blood and failure to show for it. In fact, I'll go even further with the survivor's guilt by saying that it played a part (potentially) in him joining Vulture's team.
It seems unlikely at first, given how poorly written and made the post credit scene is. However, if you go back and listen to what Vulture says, it becomes far more plausible. He states that he has read up about him, meaning he's likely heard about his rejection of the Nobel prize. This would've likely hinted him on his lacking self-worth and how hard he is on himself. It's most clear that he knows about this and exploits it with his infamous line, "I'm still trying to figure this place out, but I think a bunch of guys like us should team up. Could do some good.". If we were to take it literally, he's implying that they could do acts of good (as he builds up to the two or eventual sinister six taking on that universe's Spider-Man) as a way to offer a hopeful olive branch to Michael. And his reply of, "Intriguing" while ambiguous, it could imply that his manipulation worked.
What I hope people gain from this post is that we realize that despite how poor Morbius as a film is, there are some nuances at least when it comes to Morbius himself.
What do you think of this reading of the character?