Venom and Let There Be Carnage weren’t the most beloved comic book movies out there, but they had their supporters. Both films were box office success stories, but neither escaped the eye of critics with positive reception. They were the kind of films that have devoted fans, even if they are few and far between. Morbius has a few big names in the cast and some very silly trailers, so it’s hard to know if they can reach even that middling bar.
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The best parts of Venom were packed into the premise; it’s a character study of a single character composed of two sapient beings. Tom Hardy’s unhinged and electric take on Eddie Brock merged well with the chaotic action scenes. The Venom symbiote’s backstory was rewritten to better mesh with Brock as a character. The duo is the most fun aspect of the film, a sort of odd-couple arrangement sharing a body and slaughtering heavily armed cops. The sequel pulled off some of that fun along with a couple of decent action scenes and a bizarre performance by Woody Harrelson. There’s a lot to criticize about the films, but they occasionally find the fun in a Venom solo project. The big risk in the project is the risk that the character would feel incomplete without Spider-Man, but Venom carries the story well enough.
Morbius is going in without a lot of what people liked about Venom and with a lot of what people hated about it. Michael Morbius is maybe half as popular as Eddie Brock before either hit the screen. He just doesn’t have the name recognition of his predecessor. Venom is one of the most popular comic book villains of all time, he’s the one people request every time Spider-Man gets a new film. Morbius is a minor Spidey villain and an even more minor anti-hero among Marvel’s tremendous catalog. People are clearly excited about the film, but it pales in comparison to the decade-long fan outcry for a Venom film. That pop culture reaction is hugely important to a superhero movie, especially one launching a week before Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Whether Morbius can match Venom at the box office is a tough question to answer, but the quality is a different matter altogether. The film’s under review embargo at the time of writing, but the ultra-serious trailers land somewhere between Underworld and Dracula Untold. The film is being marketed as something akin to a horror-action hybrid, but that PG-13 rating is still dangling off of it. Just like its predecessor, a film that looks like it should be unrestrained by rating, but it’s edited down to make sure teens can get in. This is one of the biggest problems of Venom, which started its marketing with a degree of immature glee, and swiftly retreated to a safe MCU-level tone. As Tom Hardy was quick to proclaim, there’s a lot of Venom on the cutting room floor. One wonders how much of Morbius won’t make the screen. Especially after the mergers that make Morbius only one step removed from the MCU.
After the end-credits scene in Let There Be Carnage and the full crossover event in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Morbius will be the first Sony movie to occur with MCU characters in the mix. Michael Keaton’s Vulture makes a heavily advertised appearance. This film takes place in or around the MCU proper. This adds a new layer of expectations atop a film already struggling with the weight, while almost certainly forcing a new round of edits. Venom was unquestionably pared down to better sell the Sony universe and reach out to teens. The MCU is famously shy about trending closer to the dreaded R rating. The MCU would’ve probably reigned in the Venom films, they unquestionably had some notes for Morbius. It’s hard to say one corporate juggernaut would be particularly worse for the film than the other, but it’s unlikely that both having a final cut will help.
Very few people know how good of a film Morbius will actually be, despite a brief premiere, its wide release is still some time away. The Venom films and their perspective third entry aren’t perfect by any means, but it would certainly be interesting if the film that followed them made them look flawless. Sony is in a weird spot at the moment, if Morbius tanks, it could be the stake in the heart that brings Kraven and the further films down with it. Nothing can be said for certain yet, but if Let There Be Carnage is too high a standard, Morbius fans are in for a rough time.
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