Director Ari Aster is known for making his very own unique movies including Hereditary, Midsommar, and the upcoming film Eddington. However, it looks like he once had the opportunity to add a very different kind of movie to his resume. Specifically, Ari Aster reveals that he was offered the chance to direct Sony’s Marvel adaptation Morbius.
The final version of Morbius that hit theaters, as we all know, became a box office flop. It was one of several failures in Sony’s efforts to adapt Spider-Man characters with their own major Marvel franchises, and Jared Leto’s portrayal of the titular character became the subject of many memes. This obviously makes one wonder what would’ve happened if someone like Aster was involved with the project instead of director Daniel Espinosa.
Here’s what Aster shared via Semafor:
“I was asked to do ‘Mobius.’ Or is it ‘Morbius’? Oh, God,” he said. “We could have added it to my list of [flops].”
It’s definitely an interesting layer to unearth regarding the development of Morbius. As mentioned, Daniel Espinosa ultimately directed the film, which failed to resonate with fans of the character and the rest of the Spider-Man franchise. Other Sony films shared similar fates, and their attempt at a universe of Spider-Man villains was finally axed.
While having Ari Aster as the director would have certainly provided a much different kind of Morbius movie, it’s likely that it still would have underperformed based on what Sony was doing. One must also consider that Aster’s movies don’t really fit the formula for comic book adaptations, so it could have alienated audiences for that reason as well.
Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for any additional updates regarding the future endeavors of Ari Aster as we have them. It’s unlikely that we’ll see him taking any other offers to direct a superhero movie in the future, but stranger things have certainly happened. In the meantime, fans can look forward to his new movie Eddington that looks like another film with Aster’s signature style.