Morbius: what is not done for science!

Morbius

Long postponed, precisely because of a virus, Morbius finally comes out on the big screen, played by Jared Leto, increasingly in demand and charismatic.

As a character, Morbius was born in the Marvel house, a dark turning point for the well-known house, written by Ray Thomas and drawn by Gil Kane as an opponent of Spider-Man, Blade and Ghost Rider. He appears in the Amazing Spider-Man comic in October 1971.

Michael Morbius is a biochemist suffering from a form of leukemia that leaves him little to live. Together with a colleague of his, he desperately tries an experimental cure, for himself but also for the many other terminally ill patients, a cure that involves the transfusion of bat-vampire blood. But the effect will be devastating and Morbius will progressively transform into a hideous, bloodthirsty creature.

After making a gesture that he can never forgive himself, he runs away from everyone, even from his beloved girlfriend. We have also seen it on the small screen in some animated series and it also appears in the Spider-Man 3 videogame.

Watch on YouTube. As the character becomes one of the lovable neighborhood keeper's opponents, fans wonder about his appearance in this film. The presence in the cast of Michael Keaton, who was The Vulture in Homecoming, suggests interesting developments, but perhaps only in the post credits scenes.

Conducting is Daniel Espinosa, a Swede of Chilean origin, of whom we remember the interesting Snabba Cash, with a Joel Kinnaman just before The Killing. The following films were less successful, the action Safe House with Ryan Reynolds, Child 44, a questionable historical thriller, and Life, a sci-fi horror starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

The protagonist is Jared Leto, 49 years old, a truly eclectic character, who became an established actor, after being the founder of the Thirty Seconds to Mars band in 1998. Always interested in cinema, he got noticed in 2000 in the tragic Requiem for a Dream directed by Darren Aronofsky, to then participate in many high-level productions and become the Joker in Suicide Squad.

In Morbius alongside Leto, we find his beloved, Adria Arjona (Sweet Girl with Momoa, 6 Underground by Michael Bay); Jared Harris (Mad Men, The Terror, Chernobyl) who is his mentor. His faithful colleague and friend is played by Matt Smith, one of the most respected Doctor Who. There is also Tyrese Gibson, a policeman, and in fact, the presence of Michael Keaton is declared, as also seen in the trailers.

When you start with the test tubes ... Jared Leto before the fatal experiment. Morbius seems to us a tragic character, a man who will find himself torn between the man he was before, dying, and a beast thirsty for human blood but very much alive and very powerful. As a scientist, his attitude can rightly make him enroll in the long list of doctors who have really tested experimental treatments on themselves or the effect of natural phenomena, starting with Albert Sabin, who in the 1950s tried the vaccine for poliomyelitis by injecting it.

Another well-known is Pierre Curie who discovered radioactivity, demonstrating on himself the tremendous damage it can produce. But the list is rich, even if they are characters who have not achieved the same fame, while facing risks and potential damage.

Let's think of Ripley Ballou who was infected with the malaria virus, an English doctor tested toxic gases on himself, another, a Swede, tested the effects of mercury on himself, while another still tested himself a glass of water with helicobacter is drunk. Then there are researchers who have exposed themselves to the effects of physical phenomena such as acceleration and deceleration and to crash tests on machines.

As for cinema, without the figure of the mad scientist, horror and science fiction would not be the same genres, even considering those who did it for noble purposes and not to dominate the world, like so many "villains" of the Marvel Universes or DC.

Another one who has really exaggerated with test tubes: Re-Animator! Think of the unforgettable Jeff Goldblum, who in the film La Mosca tests the teleportation machine on himself, with the tragic effects that we will never forget. Or to the researcher who becomes The Invisible Man, from the novel by Herbert George Wells of 1895. And who was the tender Edward with his scissorhands, if not the fruit of an experiment born from the mind of his creator, an inventor who wanted to substitute for God?

Continuing with the negative examples, what to say about the treacherous oriental (another commonplace of the genre), Doctor Wu of the Jurassic Park saga, with his too daring genetic experiments, motivated by venal intentions but also by thirst of experimentation? Eventually, Herbert West, Re-Animator's Doctor, and Doctor Frankenstein, were also animated by the noblest motifs, as well as the gender mainstay, Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, from the novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886.

Then we had very black stories like Brood, The Human Centipede, Doctor Giggles and Doctor Moreau, with his crazy vivisection experiments. On the other hand, the journey inside a human body (Hallucinating Journey and Jump in the Dark) had been happily adventurous for a group of shrunken scientists.

Fortunately we also have other less dramatic characters, such as the Doc from Back to the Future, with his DeLorean traveling through time. A couple of teenage goliardics then try to create their ideal woman on the computer (The Explosive Woman), while a family man creates a machine to shrink objects and accidentally make their children tiny (Honey, I shrunk the boys. ).

The unforgettable Seth Brundle of La Mosca. With Morbius, out in cinemas on March 31, we are in a completely different dimension, that is, in the Marvel Universe, a fiction that takes itself very seriously. And the mutation will give space to many spectacular horror scenes, but we think there will be moral problems.

Is it better a short life as an incurable patient or eternal life as a murderous creature? We will see what cut will be given to history and if and how Michael Morbius will pay the price for his courageous even if imprudent choice.