Why 'Morbius' Memes Have Taken Over The Internet

Whether you saw the Marvel Comics movie or not, it's been hard to avoid all the memes about its existence. For many, Morbius wasn't even on their film radar at the beginning of this year.

Starring the wide-eyed Jared Leto, already known in memes for his poorly received Joker, and produced by the company that created the high-grossing Avengers movies, this vampire anti-hero and his arrangement of cringy, over-dramatic moments was set for meme stardom from the get-go.

So what exactly is all this ironic hype about and where are these memes coming from? Here's a complete breakdown of all the Morbius memes (so far) to grace the internet, where they came from and how people are using them. It's Morbin' time.

What is Morbius about?

In essence, Morbius is a Spider-Man spin-off about an anti-hero similar to 2018's Venom. Both movies were announced in May 2017 by producers of Marvel movies, however, the main difference between the two characters ultimately ended up being that most people knew who Venom was but struggled to place Morbius in their lore.

So if you're one of those people who don't know who Morbius is, his everyday moniker is Dr. Morbius, a scientist who develops superhuman and vampire-like abilities from a drug he develops trying to cure his rare blood disease.

The movie was released on April 1st after a long postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It soon became notorious in circles of Marvel fanatics and critics mainly because it wasn't very good. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie received a 17 percent "Rotten" score over the course of two months.

What does "Morbius Sweep" mean?

Due to these initial, bad reviews, the earliest Morbius meme was called Morbius Sweep. The meme harks on the irony of Jeb Bush Flawless Victory by essentially joking about how big of a box office flop Morbius was, but instead, insisting that it "swept" the box office, trumping the highest-grossing movies of all time like Avengers: End Game and Titanic.

This joke started inside the Marvel Studios Discord server when a conversation took place about the new Dune movie that had just come out. From there, it spread to Twitter and Reddit, among other, notable platforms.

What does "It's Morbin' Time" mean?

Of course, the most cringeworthy Marvel character had to have the cringiest catchphrase, and that came in the form of It's Morbin' Time. In November last year, Twitter users started hypothesizing what catchphrase the character would have, playing on the Power Rangers catchphrase "It's Morphin' Time." However, it wasn't until April 2022 that an influx of Twitter users started reiterating it. Of course, it's never actually said in the movie's dialogue, but that seemed to be what made it so memeworthy.

What does "Morb" mean?

From "Morbin' Time" came the simpler Morb, being the shortened verb of the character's catchphrase. This abbreviated slang term essentially means to destroy, dominate or win, but when portrayed by memes, these over-dramatic actions become silly and show a level of unnecessity for the intensity of their purpose. Again, this meme started on a Discord server.

What does "Stand Back, I Am Beginning to Morb!" mean?

As the adoration of the movie passed through more and more layers of irony, so did the verb "morb" and its use morphed into Stand Back, I Am Beginning to Morb! Still playing on making the drama of the film's intensity completely ironical, this new iteration of the slang term extended that practice into one, exclaimed catchphrase. In late May 2022, multiple Twitter users started using this catchphrase, spreading across platforms going into June.

What are "Morbius Poster Mashups?"

Morbius Poster Mashups might be the most straightforward meme that's come from the new movie, simply being the exploitation of Morbius' face transformation in the promotional image. In early April 2022, following the virality of Morbius Sweep memes, a Twitter user added the face of Freddy Fazbear from Five Nights at Freddy's to where the Dr. Morbius' vampire alter ego would go. From there, many more iterations were cast into the meme void.

What is "Milo's Dance" or "Morbius Dance?"

For a while, it seemed like all the memes made about Morbius had to do with imagined catchphrases from its plot, alluding that a lot of the people posting memes about it had not actually watched it. That all changed in May 2022 though when Milo's Dance scene became its own format. The scene, which is in the movie, shows the main antagonist Milo, played by Matt Smith, dancing half-naked to the song "EKSE" by Off The Meds. Meme creators on Twitter started making sped-up edits in which the song was replaced with other music.

Better Call Saul Trap pic.twitter.com/bjoSuG67Qu

— Milo Dancing to Your Favorite Songs 🏳️‍⚧️ (@ThePeakOfCinema) May 24, 2022

For the full history of Morbius memes, be sure to check out all of its sub-entries here for even more information.