Jared Leto Killed The ‘Morbius’ Meme With A Single Tweet

Morbius, the movie about a living vampire that nobody seemed to watch, has recently exploded in “popularity” online, finding an unexpected afterlife as a meme.

The meme parodies the wild enthusiasm often seen in Marvel fans, the joke being that Morbius is a mediocre, forgettable comic book movie, but is celebrated online as a critically acclaimed masterpiece. Despite the film flopping at the box office, Morbius “fans” like to pretend that the film made a “morbillion” dollars, raving about the film’s imaginary success via the hashtag #MorbiusSweep.

Corny catchphrases that don’t actually appear in the film, like “it’s Morbin’ time!” have been embraced by the ironic fanbase, while the film can likely be found streaming on Twitch in its entirety, finding more of an audience than its theatrical run ever did.

But the joke is only funny if the studio isn’t in on it, and Jared Leto managed to single-handedly crash the meme into oblivion, by posting a clip of himself on Twitter reading a fake script titled “Morbius 2: It’s Morbin’ Time,” followed by the theme music from Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Fans responded with disappointment, realizing that the meme had become absorbed by corporate forces and was in danger of sparking a “self-aware” sequel.

Others responded with glee, posting memes and spliced scenes from the film.

One particularly over-the-top scene featuring Matt Smith dancing has recently become one of the biggest memes from the movie, with many questioning if it even appears in the film (it does, but unlike the rest of the actors, Smith seems well aware of the kind of movie Morbius is, and is clearly hamming it up).

Amusingly, it would be difficult to find an actor who comes across as less self-aware than Jared Leto, who utilizes intense method acting techniques to play one-dimensional comic book villains, much to the annoyance of the crew.

Sony, however, seems to have misunderstood the meme, seemingly believing that the spike in attention reflected genuine audience interest in the movie. Hence, the movie was re-released in theatres, only to flop even harder, earning a hilariously low $85,000 on Friday. Amusingly, fans jokingly predicted this would happen.

The abysmal sales of Morbius’ second try might just be funny enough to reenergize the meme, perhaps starting the cycle all over again. Are Sony execs, still struggling to understand the concept of irony, going to greenlight a Morbius 2?

It might just make a “morbillion” dollars.