As if the 16% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes wasn't bad enough, one of the stars of Morbius has seen his weekend get even worse, after falling hook, line and sinker for an April Fool's joke.
Tyrese Gibson - who plays FBI agent Simon Stroud in Marvel's latest release - was shocked to hear of legendary director Martin Scorsese's approval of the movie, and took to social media to thank him for his kind words.
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"I was aghast to find out [Morbius] was based on a comic book. This is the truest height of cinema and even I cannot top it. A wise man admits when he is wrong and I was wrong, I apologise to all comic book movies," read a quote from Scorsese shared by Gibson to Instagram, with the actor commenting: "Wow wow wow I can’t believe what just happened whoa… Cheers and hats off to you... this is so amazing King! This is the KING of KINGS of cinema Martin Scorsese this is huge."
It is indeed high praise, the only problem being that, as most people worked out, Scorsese never actually said that. And despite the original tweet having included a vaguely convincing photoshop of the director attending the Morbius premiere, he definitely wasn't there, as Gibson, who was at the premiere, probably should have known.
The Fast and Furious star quickly realised he'd fallen for an April Fools, and deleted his post, but not before the whole of the internet saw it.
"Tyrese thinking martin scorsese actually called morbius the height of cinema is the funniest thing that’s happened all week," one person tweeted, with another writing: "Morbius was actually not as bad as I thought it would be but Tyrese falling for a fake Scorsese quote is gold."
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Meanwhile, one person had a suggestion for how the actor could escape the embarrassment of very publicly falling for an obvious prank, tweeting: "Tyrese should double down. Say he talked to Scorsese on the phone and Marty confirmed the Morbius quote."
Unfortunately, the fake praise seems likely to be as close as Marvel is going to get to an endorsement from Scorsese, who famously caused a huge debate in Hollywood circles after saying superhero movies were 'not cinema.'
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"What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk," he wrote in a New York Times editorial.
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Topics: Film and TV, Marvel
Hannah Smith