Jared Leto has been called many things throughout his career, but funny definitely isn’t one of them. Despite making his feature film debut over a quarter of a century ago, the actor has never starred in anything designed specifically with the intention of getting people to laugh, and if he did, he’d probably embed himself as a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live or do a nationwide stand-up tour in order to get into character first.
By that logic, it would be safe to assume that the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters’ Morbius is hardly going to be characterized by the light touch and barrage of one-liners that have defined Hollywood’s other Marvel franchise over the last thirteen years. Leto is a serious actor who does serious things, and that’s hardly going to change, even if he’s the lead in a big budget comic book blockbuster.
In fact, insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that Morbius is going to be darker than any Marvel Cinematic Universe film to date, which admittedly wouldn’t be much of a stretch to achieve. The MCU is hardly renowned for diving headfirst into straight-faced territory, and there are always quip handy moments after any weighty scenes to shift the balance almost immediately.
You could make the argument that Venom was already darker than anything Kevin Feige’s outfit have ever put out, and even then it was hardly at the level of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy or Zack Snyder’s DCEU efforts. Replicating the MCU formula is a fool’s game, so Morbius should be encouraged to walk a different path, and it’s not like the tale of a dying scientist who tries to cure himself and winds up as a vampire promises hilarity anyway.
