There were two games in the Prototype series before it was disappointingly canceled, but the series made its mark on the gaming landscape as something of a foil to the inFamous series. The two franchises were released around the same time and, while inFamous allowed the player to choose between being a superhero and a supervillain, Prototype rode straight down the middle between the two and had its protagonist Alex Mercer be a villainous anti-hero. A lot in today’s Morbius trailer looks like it’s straight out of Prototype, which is a great thing as many fans of the series are hoping for it to come back and Morbius looks like it might be able to whet fans’ appetites as they wait hopefully for a revival of the series.
RELATED: Tyrese Gibson Claims Morbius Is Part Of The MCU, Sony Has A Response
Morbius and Alex’s Super Powers
On a superficial level, Morbius and Prototype seem to share a lot. Both of the stories’ protagonists are doctors who wear hoods and dark clothing and have them gain powers that cause them to feed on humans. Morbius needs to feed on blood to satisfy his hunger as he’s a vampire and Alex absorbs people to gain their memories and likeness. Both need to feed off of the lives of others to stay alive and achieve their goals. They both also have similar flight powers and are able to travel through the city openly by flying and using parkour to get around.
Prototype’s Strong Anti-hero Focus
While Morbius’ superficial similarities to Prototype certainly make it look the part, the movie looks like it’s going to have a similar tone and share some of Prototype’s themes. As the movie isn’t out yet, it’s impossible to know if it’ll live up to what its trailer implies, but it looks like it’s going to be asking some questions about the morality of being an antihero.
Prototype didn’t give the player a whole lot of agency when it came to its narrative, but the game’s story certainly gave players a lot to think about when it came to Alex Mercer. On one hand, his violent actions clearly caused the deaths of many different NPCs, some that he knew and many that were either just random civilians or enemies, while on the other he was experimented on and deserved the chance to know why. Generally speaking, the game allowed the player to make up their own mind about whether or not Alex’s anti-hero antics were justified which was a relatively new concept at the time that it was released.
Based on the trailer, Morbius seems like it might be doing something similar with its main character as he clearly needs to hurt people in order to feed, but he’s torn about doing so due to his background as a doctor and regular, non-violent human. Hopefully, the movie can deliver on the promise, but some fans aren’t feeling too confident in it as 2018’s Venom promised a similar anti-hero focus in its marketing but didn’t deliver in the actual film. That said, even if Morbius isn’t able to address the questions of its characters’ morality in the film, it still shares some superficial details with Prototype and will likely be worth a watch for fans.
Prototype is available for PS3 and Xbox 360.
MORE: Kevin Feige Reveals The ‘Coordination’ Needed For Venom 2 Post-Credits Scene
