Marvel Finally Made A More Memeable Movie Than Morbius

WARNING: There are Madame Web SPOILERS ahead

Sony’s Madame Web offers the internet even more opportunities to make memes at the Marvel movie’s expense than the infamously mocked Morbius. Opening Marvel’s 2024 movie slate, Madame Web introduces four Marvel heroes in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe: the titular precognizant hero Madame Web, and the three Spider-Women Julia Carpenter, Anya Corazón, and Mattie Franklin. Cassandra Webb’s origin story also marks the debut of a new live-action Peter Parker, though the future Spider-Man only appears as Mary Parker’s baby. However, the Madame Web cast is as ambitious as the movie gets.

Despite its mystical nature and the appearance of three Spider-Women, Madame Web falls short of the Marvel standard when it comes to action, comedy, and its place in the wider franchise. Instead of focusing on the titular Madame Web’s transformation into a full-fledged prophet and the young Spider-Women’s first mission as superheroes, Madame Web follows the four protagonists as they escape from the evil Spider-Person Ezekiel Sims for most of the movie’s runtime. Coupled with a weak script, this lack of a solid plot results in several unintentionally funny moments with clear potential for viral memes.

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Why Morbius Became A Meme In 2022

Morbius’ Self-Serious Concept Became Unintentionally Hilarious

Despite the character’s long history with Spider-Man in Marvel Comics, anticipation for Morbius didn’t get anywhere near the level of the Venom movies. At a certain point during Morbius‘ marketing phase, sarcastic jokes about the movie’s box office predictions and the character’s appeal began to flood the internet. Morbius‘ release only boosted the trend, with photos of empty theaters and ironic reviews praising Morbius as a massive success and a flawless film. Morbius‘ fictional success was nicknamed “Morbius Sweep” and the line “It’s Morbin’ Time” was coined as the vampire’s catchphrase even though it never appears in the actual movie.

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The ironic jokes at Morbius‘ expense sarcastically point out how uneventful its plot is, as well as how poor its critical and commercial performance ended up being. Yet, the Morbius memes were so consistent in their dry humor that they came off as genuine to the uninitiated — so much so that Sony itself believed that Morbius had quickly become a cult classic and re-released the movie just two months later. As expected, Morbius bombed at the box office for the second time, giving the internet’s infamous Morbius memes another chance to mock the movie.

Madame Web Has Surpassed Morbius In Memes Terms

Madame Web Gives The Internet More Material To Make Fun Of

Morbius‘ online infamy cast a shadow over Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, as even projects in early development like the now-canceled El Muerto have starred in their own memes. Of course, Madame Web has been the victim of the same kind of jokes, like the repeated line of dialog in the Madame Web trailers“He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died,” which was parodied countless times before Madame Web‘s release. Now, Madame Web has only made it easier for memes to poke fun at its unintentional comedy and its poor reception.

Throughout Madame Web, characters drop multiple lines of dialog that couldn’t be described as anything above awkward. For instance, Cassie Webb’s reaction to a dead bird coming to life and to her own near-death experience sound inappropriately casual and robotic, and Ezekiel Sims’ careful description of his evil plan to a woman he barely knows comes off as comedic rather than intimidating. The constant nods at Ben Parker’s death, which include lines like “have you ever been shot at in Queens?” and “all of the fun and none of the responsibility” are only one of the sources of potential memes Madame Web provides.

Morbius‘ trend of deliberately misinterpreting audience and critics’ reviews didn’t take long to apply to Madame Web. Just like Morbius has earned the honor of being “certainly one of the movies of all time”, X user Cassie Webb edits Rotten Tomatoes reviews to describe Madame Web as “a superhero movie that was made for people who have seen a movie”. Clearly, Madame Web didn’t even merit negative descriptors.

“It’s Morbius time” returns in the form of “it’s Madame time.” Madame Web’s catchphrase didn’t catch the same way as Morbius. However, the pictures of empty theaters did, as shown by X user Dashing Soul.

Another Morbius meme that has made a comeback is the “Morbillion dollars” the 2021 movie supposedly made at the box office. Only this time, Madame Web‘s real reported earnings of $6 million on its opening day are described as an undeniable success by X user Venom by Daylight. Indeed, $6 million would be a fortune for Madame Web, the character, but not for Madame Web, the movie.

Viral X user Kira adapts a classic joke to poke fun at Madame Web‘s struggle to capture audiences. The “I had a ticket and someone broke in and left more” meme has been used to mock many concerts, shows, and movies before. Madame Web is no exception.

Madame Web‘s Madame Webillion dollars are reflected in the highest-grossing movies of all time, courtesy of X account Posters with Letterboxd Reviews. Just above Avengers: Endgame, Madame Web stands at $3,923,706,026,673. That’s more than three trillion, nine hundred twenty-three billion dollars. Why Morbius doesn’t appear in the list isn’t explained, however.

Why Neither Morbius Nor Madame Web Will Ever Be Cult Classics

Morbius And Madame Web Aren’t Bad Enough To Be Good

Movies that bomb at the box office or receive unanimously negative reviews sometimes become cult classics as viewers give them a second chance. Such is the case with films as famous as Blade Runner and The Shawshank Redemption. But despite their viral fame, Morbius and Madame Web don’t have the qualityrequired for such a transformation. What’s worse, they’re not bad enough to land in the “so bad they’re good” category that has revived bombs like Tommy Wiseau’s The Room or Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies. Unfortunately, the fun part about Morbius and Madame Web lies outside the movies, in the viral memes.