It was nearly Morbin’ Time for Ari Aster. The acclaimed horror director, best known for his collaborations with the powerhouse art film studio A24, has revealed that he was asked by Sony Pictures to direct the 2022 superhero film Morbius, but declined. This is likely good news for Aster, considering that the film went on to become one of the most critically panned features of that year.

Aster revealed the news on Semafor’s Mixed Signals podcast after being asked to weigh in on a rumor he had been offered to direct a Marvel film. “I was asked to do — is it Mobius? Morbius? Morbius,” Aster replied after a bit of hesitation, wondering if he should divulge the news. “Yeah, we could have added it to my list [of flops],” the director added.

We’ll never know what Aster’s Morbius would’ve been like, but the film we got, directed by Daniel Espinosa and starring Jared Leto, was considered one of Sony’s biggest-ever box office bombs. The film, which starred Leto as a scientist who is transformed into a vampire by spliced bat genes, was part of Sony and Columbia’s Spider-Man Universe. It was critically panned, holding just a 15% score on Rotten Tomatoes, and became the subject of numerous internet memes.

Source: Mixed Signals podcast