Morbius Reacts to “Morbin Time” Meme in New Marvel Comic

In the pages of today’s Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #2, Dr. Michael Morbius is finally exposed to the “It’s Morbin’ time!” meme — and he’s less than thrilled about it. Within the pages of the comic, Morbius is recruited to work with the Beyond Corporation, whose seemingly hapless CEO T.J. is delighted when the famous living vampire accepts his offer. After he blurts it “Yes! It’s Morbin’ time,” Morbius gives…well, the kind of response you would expect him to give. He isn’t thrilled about it.

In the miniseries, New York has been thrust into darkness — the sun isn’t rising — and so vampires have an unprecedented opportunity to invade the city and swell their ranks. Beyond Corporation claims to be working on a solution — although who knows what they’re up to — and as of now, they seem to have convinced Morbius to help.

You can see the interaction below.

The memes, while wildly popular, tie into the failed Morbius movie rather than the comics. It all originated shortly after Morbius came out in theaters, when a social media user posted the comment “”the best part of Morbius was when he said ‘IT’S MORBIN’ TIME’ and morbed all over those guys.” The post fit right in with the “Morbius Sweep” trend, where people pretended to love Morbius and roleplayed as though the movie was going to make huge money at the box office and win all the end-of-year awards. “It’s Morbin’ time,” which is a riff on the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers catchphrase “it’s Morphin’ time” or a play on The Thing’s well-known “It’s clobberin’ time” line, became an instant viral favorite on social media. The meme got particularly popular on Reddit, where variations on “it’s morbin’ time” were attached to dozens of images and stories and earned tens of thousands of upvotes.

In response to the virality of #MorbiusSweep, Sony made one of cinema’s great miscalculations, returning the failed movie to cinemas a second time in the hopes that people would go see it ironically. They did not, and the movie’s second opening weekend grossed just $300,000 — a $289 per-theater average.

Here’s the official solicitation text for Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt #2:

Spider-Man and the Lizard need to save Morbius the Living Vampire if the heroes of the Marvel Universe stand a chance at stopping the vampire virulence! But does Dr. Michael Morbius WANT to be saved?!

Written by: Justina Ireland
Art by: Marcelo Ferreira
Cover by: Marcelo Ferreira
Page Count: 28 Pages
Release Date: June 12, 2024