Morbius, the Living Vampire

Morbius, the Living Vampire
The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (Oct. 1971), the first appearance of Morbius. Cover art by Gil Kane (penciler) & John Romita, Sr. (inker)
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (Oct. 1971)
Created by	Roy Thomas Gil Kane
In-story information
Alter ego	Michael Morbius
Team affiliations	Midnight Sons A.R.M.O.R. Legion of Monsters S.H.I.E.L.D.
Notable aliases	Dr. Morgan Michaels, Nikos Michaels
Abilities	Gifted scientist Biochemical vampirism grants: Flight Enhanced physical attributes Hypnotism Reliance on consuming human blood

Morbius, the Living Vampire, is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and penciler Gil Kane, the character, a living human suffering from vampiric abilities resulting from scientific rather than supernatural means, first appeared as an antagonist in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (Oct. 1971), and went on to become a heroic, tragically flawed protagonist in his own series and other titles.

Publication history

Dr. Michael Morbius was created in response to the comic-book industry's self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, lifting its ban on vampires and certain other supernatural characters in February 1971, and not as a challenge to the code, as many believe.^[1] Writer Roy Thomas and penciler Gil Kane created the character as a living man who is given vampiric abilities via scientific rather than supernatural means. Kane was instructed to specifically avoid Gothic fashion elements and design a costume for Morbius that was akin to those of superheroes or supervillains, and he specifically chose the red and blue primary colors that were the staple of characters like Spider-Man and Superman.^{[citation needed]}

Morbius debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (Oct. 1971), the first issue of Marvel Comics' flagship Spider-Man series written by someone other than character co-creator and editor-in-chief Stan Lee. Lee, busy writing a screenplay for an unproduced science fiction movie,^[2] bequeathed the series to his right-hand editor, Thomas. "We were talking about doing Dracula, but Stan wanted a costumed villain. Other than that, he didn't specify what we should do", Thomas said in 2009, adding that part of the character conception came from an unspecified science-fiction film of Thomas' youth, depicting a man turned into a vampire by radiation rather than magic.^[2] Thomas said the name "Morbius" was not deliberately taken from the antagonist Dr. Morbius in the movie Forbidden Planet.^[2]

A tragic and sympathetic antagonist in his initial two-issue arc, having acquired his vampiric addiction while researching a cure for his own rare, fatal blood disease, Morbius collided again with Spider-Man and others in Marvel Team-Up #3-4 (July & Sept. 1972). Morbius went on to star in in Vampire Tales, a black-and-white horror-comics magazine published by Marvel's sister company, Curtis Magazines, appearing in all but two of the mature-audience title's 11 issues (Aug. 1973 - June 1975).^[3] All but the first and last of these were written by Don McGregor, with penciling by Rich Buckler and by Tom Sutton, primarily. After his first two Vampire Tales stories, Morbius concurrently became the star of his own feature in Marvel's bimonthly Adventure into Fear anthology series, beginning with issue #20 (Feb. 1974) and continuing through #31 (Dec. 1975), the final issue of that title. These were written, successively, by Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber (who wrote the first Morbius solo story, in Vampire Tales), Doug Moench, and Bill Mantlo, working with a wide variety of pencilers. Morbius segued. During this period, Morbius again appeared as an antagonist in the Spider-Man one-shot, Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 (June 1974)

Adventure into Fear #20 (Feb. 1974), Morbius' first starring feature in color comics. Cover art by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia.

Following sporadic guest appearances throughout the next 16 years, Morbius was revived in the 1992 series Morbius the Living Vampire, launched as part of the "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover story arc in Marvel supernatural/horror comics. It ran 32 issues (Sept. 1992 - April 1995). These later stories add to his repertoire of powers the ability to hypnotize others, and describe his ability to fly as psionic in nature. A one-shot special tentatively titled Spider-Man/Venom/Morbius by Morbius writer Len Kaminski was scheduled for 1993, but never saw print due to editorial conflicts that eventually led to the writer's departure from the series.^{[citation needed]} A reprint series, Morbius Revisited, was published from 1992 to 1993, featuring material originally in Adventure into Fear #27-31. Solo stories starring Morbius also appeared in Marvel Comics Presents #144 (Late Dec. 1993), several issues of the Midnight Sons Unlimited series (1993–1995), the one-shot Strange Tales: Dark Corners #1 (May 1998), Amazing Fantasy, vol. 2, #17 (March 2006), and the one-shot Legion of Monsters: Morbius (Sept. 2007)

Enemies and allies

Morbius was first introduced as a villain in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. He would return to battle Spider-Man over the years in the pages of Marvel Team-Up Vol.1 #3-4; Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #6-8 and #38; Morbius the Living Vampire #3-4 and #21-23; and later in Peter Parker, Spider-Man Vol.1 #77-80 and Vol.2 #8.

Spider-Man and Morbius formed an uneasy alliance during the Maximum Carnage crossover series.

Blade the Vampire Hunter and Morbius have had an on-going feud which began in Adventure into Fear #24. The two also clashed in Marvel Preview #8, Blade the Vampire Hunter #8, Blade Vol.1 #2-3, and Blade Vol.4 #5. Blade, while possessed by a demonic presence, killed Morbius in Morbius the Living Vampire #12, but Morbius was resurrected in Spirits of Vengeance #13.

Simon Stroud, a rogue CIA agent first introduced in the pages of Creatures on the Loose, has been hunting Morbius since Adventure into Fear #27. Stroud and Morbius last clashed in Morbius the Living Vampire #23.

During the run of Morbius the Living Vampire, Morbius crossed paths with a handful of brand new foes. They included: Vic Slaughter (introduced in issue #7),^[4] the Basilisk (Wayne Gifford) (introduced in issue #5), Dr. Paine (introduced in issue #4),^[5] and Bloodthirst (first seen in issue #20).^[6] During this same period, Morbius also battled a new villain called Bloodbath in Midnight Sons Unlimited #2.^[7]

Morbius has had a friendship with Jack Russell (Werewolf by Night) since West Coast Avengers #5, where Morbius helped Russell deal with his werewolf curse. Werewolf by Night was a frequent guest-star in the pages of Morbius the Living Vampire. Together with Man-Thing and Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), they formed the short-lived Legion of Monsters.

Morbius and Doctor Strange have teamed-up on several occasions. Morbius appeared sporadically throughout the run of Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme, beginning with issue #10. Dr. Strange recruited Morbius as one of "the Nine" a.k.a. the Midnight Sons, a team with only one purpose: Earth's last defense against the occult.

Fictional character biography

Michael Morbius was born in Greece. He was attacked by the Lizard and defeated when Spider-Man and the Lizard joined forces. A flashback reveals that Morbius was actually a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, who had attempted to cure himself of a rare blood disease with an experimental treatment involving vampire bats and electroshock therapy. However, he instead became afflicted with a far worse condition that mimicked the powers and blood-thirst of legendary vampirism. Morbius now had to digest blood in order to survive and had a strong aversion to light. He gained the ability to fly, as well as superhuman strength, speed, and healing abilities. His appearance became hideous—his canine teeth extended into fangs, his nose flattened to appear more like a bat's, and his skin became chalk-white. He also gained the ability to turn others into similar "living vampires" by biting them.^[8] He later sought a cure for his condition, but battled Spider-Man, the Human Torch, and the original X-Men.^[9] He caused John Jameson to again become Man-Wolf. Alongside Man-Wolf, he battled Spider-Man again.^[10]

Morbius later rescued Amanda Saint from the Demon-Fire Cult, and aided her in her quest for her missing parents.^[11] He battled Reverend Daemond, and encountered the Caretakers of Arcturus IV. He visited the Land Within, home of the Cat People, and the planet Arcturus IV. He also first encountered Blade.^[12] He then first encountered Simon Stroud, and battled the Helleyes.^[13] Alongside the "Legion of Monsters," he then encountered the Starseed.^[14] Morbius then battled the Thing, encountered the Living Eraser, and traveled to Dimension Z.^[15] He later returned to Earth, and battled Spider-Man again.^[16]

He once again fought Spider-Man, but then he was hit by a lightning strike, which cured him of his pseudo-vampirism (while retaining a thirst for blood).^[17] He eventually resumed his pseudo-vampire state, and first met Doctor Strange.^[18] Alongside Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo, he battled Marie Leveau, and witnessed the resurgence of true vampires.^[19] Morbius later battled Spider-Man in the New York sewers.^[20]

Cover of Morbius, the Living Vampire #17.

Ghost Rider and John Blaze search for Morbius to form the Nine and stop Lilith and the Lilin from taking over the world. When they found Morbius, the vampire believed they would kill him but Ghost Rider and John Blaze successfully captured him. Dr. Langford, who tried to help Morbius' wounds, was actually trying to kill him and was working for Dr. Paine. He made an unknown mutagenic serum that would prove fatal to Morbius. Unknown to Dr. Langford, Fang, one of Lilith's children was also trying to kill Morbius by adding his own demonic blood to the serum, which would also be fatal to Morbius. When Dr. Langford injected the serum to Morbius, it did not kill him, but instead mutated him. Morbius' friend, Jacob was trying to look inside of him and see what he could do about Morbius' condition. After Martine, Morbius' wife, found out Langford was trying to kill him, Langford shot her and she bled to death. Morbius found this out and was enraged to find his wife dead. He later avenged the death of Martine Bancroft by killing Langford and took the beaker which contained the serum.^[21] Ghost Rider and John Blaze later found out Morbius' destruction. Ghost Rider confronted him and would not tolerate Morbius drinking any more innocent blood. Morbius then vowed he would only drink the blood of the guilty. Ghost Rider accepted the vow, but warned him not to stray from it. Morbius soon became part of the Midnight Sons.

Later, a new faction of Vampires led by Hunger, the next evolution of the supervillain Crown, tried to destroy Morbius because he had been genetically manipulated to be the perfect weapon. The chest in which he was to be delivered was intercepted by the Kingpin, Blade, and Spider-Man, and he attacked all three. Whatever unknown party manipulated him failed; he collapsed after one battle, possibly dying. With his last breath he warned Spider-Man to beware of his employer, Stuart Ward.

It was later revealed that Morbius had signed the Superhuman Registration Act and was cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D. in an effort to capture Blade.^[22] He had also presumably survived his genetic manipulation, as Blade was able to distinguish him as the same Morbius who 'Took a Bite out of [him]' in their previous encounter.

Morbius is next seen as a member of A.R.M.O.R. held captive by the Morbius from the Marvel Zombies universe.^[23] He survives the invasion, and escapes.^[24] He forms a new Midnight Sons with Jennifer Kale, Daimon Hellstrom, and Jack Russell.^[25]

Morbius later helps Man-Thing into reassembling a decapitated Punisher into a Frankenstein-like monster called FrankenCastle.^[26]

During The Gauntlet storyline, Morbius was behind the theft of a vial of Spider-Man's blood. Spider-Man learns that Morbius is planning to use the blood samples to create a cure for Jack Russell. Spider-Man agrees to help Morbius by giving him more blood.^[27]

During the Origin of the Species storyline, Morbius is among the supervillains recruited by Doctor Octopus to secure some item for him.^[28]

In the events of Spider-Island it is revealed to the reader that Morbius is the mysterious Number Six working at Horizon Labs. He assisted, in a hazmat suit to protect his identity, in preparing the cure to the spider-powers virus.^[29]

Powers and abilities

Michael Morbius experienced a transformation by electrical shock treatment and chemical ingestion into a pseudo-vampire. As a pseudo-vampire, Morbius does not possess all the powers of an actual vampire, nor is he subject to all the traditional limitations and weaknesses thereof. He possesses a variety of superhuman powers, some of which are similar to supernatural vampires within the Marvel Universe. Due to his vampire-like condition, Morbius is forced to ingest fresh blood on a regular basis to sustain his life and vitality. How much blood he requires and how often he must feed has not been specified in the comics. However, Morbius does not possess any of the mystical vulnerabilities that supernatural vampires are subject to, such as garlic, holy water, crucifix, or silver. He has a strong aversion to sunlight, thanks to his photo-sensitive skin which prevents any protection from major sun burn, in contrast to "true" vampires that are incinerated by it. Morbius also lacks the shapeshifting and weather control powers of vampires, and the ability to control animals. Like "true" vampires, Morbius does possess the ability to hypnotize beings of lesser willpower and bring them under his control, which can only be resisted by those possessing an extremely strong will. He also has the ability to "morph" his body to fit through small spaces, like a mouse.

Morbius possesses an accelerated healing factor and can recover from mild to moderate injuries at a rate beyond that of ordinary humans. While not nearly as efficient as the healing powers possessed by Wolverine, Morbius has proven able to heal from multiple gunshot wounds in less than an hour. More severe injuries, such as broken bones or severe burns, might take several days to heal, but once was shown to take minutes even though it left him as a near-mindless creature who must feed to replenish the energy that was used to do so. He is unable to regenerate missing limbs or organs.

Most of Morbius' victims die or are severely injured by his bite. Unlike supernatural vampires, Morbius' victims do not necessarily become vampires themselves. There have only been four instances where Morbius' bite has turned other individuals into vampires: Jefferson Bolt (a young man first seen in Marvel Team-Up #3), Emilio (a young man first shown in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #7), Vic Slaughter (a bounty hunter who first appeared in Morbius the Living Vampire #7) and Blade the vampire hunter in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #8. The causes behind these transformations have never been clearly explained (although in Blade's case, Morbius's bite combined with his unique physiology to turn him into a part-vampire with all the strengths of a traditional vampire and none of the weaknesses).

One interesting fact concerns the blood of Spider-Man. Apparently, the irradiated blood of the wall-crawler has a kind of reverse-effect on Morbius, causing his vampirism to go into remission. As a result, after drinking Spider-Man's blood, Morbius does not need to feed again for some time. Morbius once developed a serum based on Spider-Man's blood^[30] which would stave off his vampirism for short periods of time.

Morbius possesses the ability of transvection, navigating wind currents and gliding for various distances. In Morbius the Living Vampire #2, it was alluded to that this ability may be related to hyper-evolved portions of his brain caused by a combination of his blood disease and vampiric condition.

While briefly infected by the demon Bloodthirst, Morbius gained the ability to liquidize his body, moving through small spaces and stretching his limbs as needed. He lost these abilities when he and Bloodthirst split.^[31]

Michael Morbius possesses a gifted intellect, and is an expert biochemist and neuroradiologist with a Ph.D. in biochemistry.

Other versions

House of M

Michael Morbius briefly appears in a flashback, as one of the scientists that gave Luke Cage his powers.^[32]

Marvel Zombies 3

A zombified version of Morbius appears in the 2008-2009 Marvel Zombies 3. The real Morbius of Earth-616 (mainstream universe) is kidnapped and beaten by his zombie counterpart who found a way from the Marvel Zombies universe into the Marvel universe. Zombie Morbius holds the normal one captive while using a latex mask to look normal.^[23] It is revealed that he plans to infect every member of the Fifty State Initiative with the zombie virus. His captivity is later inadvertently uncovered by an A.R.M.O.R. team member whom Morbius tries to warn of an impending attack. The warning comes too late as Morbius' counterpart attacks the team member and infects her, thus creating a violent chain of events after she attacks another team member.^[33] Towards the end of the crisis the real Morbius appears out of nowhere and grabs a tree, which he uses as a stake and stabs the zombiefied version from behind and straight into the heart, killing him instantly.^[34]

Ultimate Morbius

Ultimate Morbius, The Living Vampire.

"Ultimate" Morbius first appeared in Ultimate Spider-Man #95. Unlike the original character from which he was derived, Ultimate Morbius is a "true" vampire, the son of Dracul, and brother of Vlad III Dracula himself (who was, in Ultimate Marvel continuity, the same as the historic ruler of our world, rather than a vampire), with all of the powers and abilities associated with the usual interpretation of Dracula. This Morbius, however, seems to be heroically struggling against his baser instincts, and is in fact a vampire hunter. He meets Spider-Man in a typical misunderstanding, centering around a cabal of vampires attacking Ben Urich. He is really trying to stop Urich from becoming a vampire, which he succeeds in doing despite the conflict. When Spider-Man is bitten by a vampire, Morbius sniffs him and determines that he is immune to vampirism.^[35]

In other media

Spider-Man newspaper strip

In the Spider-Man newspaper strip, Morbius returns to New York, seemingly cured of his vampirism, and with a fiance, Martine Bankcroft, in tow; however, at night he begins exhibiting his old symptoms and comes into conflict with Spider-Man. It is later revealed that his fiance is behind his troubles, she is also revealed to have vampire-like abilities. Confronting his fiance on the roof of their apartment, Morbius learns that, in Martine's search for a cure to Morbius' vampirism, she stumbled on the tomb of Dracula and was attacked and murdered by him. Dracula fed off of her blood and, in doing so, converted her. Having been secretly converting him at night, Martine attempts to persuade Morbius to join the brotherhood of vampires by feeding on a human being she has captured (Mary Jane Parker) but Morbius refuses. Spider-Man interrupts the two, but is knocked unconscious by Martine in a brief struggle. Martine demands Morbius feast on Spider-Man's blood, but when he again refuses, she threatens the life of MJ. Morbius again proves defiant and saves MJ, but in the process Martine loses her balance and plummets from the roof, with Morbius diving after her. Spider-Man recovers, but can only use his webbing to save one of them. He successfully snags Morbius, but Martine falls to her death. Morbius forgives Spider-Man and mourns his lost love.

Television

Morbius, the Living Vampire as seen in Spider-Man: The Animated Series

Morbius appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series voiced by Nick Jameson. Morbius first appeared in his human form in "The Insidious Six" (Season #2, episode 1) and the episode that followed his debut, Battle of the Insidious Six. In these episodes, Morbius has a romance with Felicia Hardy (the Black Cat in the future). In the episode entitled "Morbius", he stole a vial of Peter Parker's blood in the belief this was part of Parker's entry in a science competition they were both competing in. While examining the blood in his laboratory, one of the vampire bats he was experimenting on escaped, and began to lap it up. When Morbius tried to scare the bat away, it bit him. The bite infected him with Parker's irradiated blood, transforming him into a living vampire. He appeared as a villain in the following four episodes: Enter the Punisher, Duel of the Hunters, Blade the Vampire Hunter, and The Immortal Vampire. At the end of The Immortal Vampire Felicia manages to appeal to Morbius' humanity and Morbius redeems himself at the end of this episode. Later Morbius appears in the episodes "The Awakening" and "The Vampire Queen" in Season #4. At the end of "The Vampire Queen", Morbius joins forces with vampire hunter Blade and Black Cat to stop Blade's evil mother, Mirium. Morbius made a cameo at the beginning and end of the second episode of the animated version of "Secret Wars," along with Blade, who were not only concerned about stopping Mirium but curious where Black Cat went (she was transported from Earth to the Secret Wars planet to fight alongside Spider-Man). That was the last appearance of Morbius in the show. Fundamental changes were enforced upon his depiction by Fox, who imposed a heavy level of censorship on the series. These changes include being unable to bite anyone, despite having fangs and clearly being a vampire. Instead he was rendered with suckers on his palms to drain his victims, similar to another "Living Vampire" from the Marvel Universe, Bloodscream. The word 'blood' was not allowed to be used in any capacity, and was replaced with 'plasma'.

Film

• In the bonus features of the Blade DVD under the La Magra title, an alternate ending can be seen where Blade, after dispatching Deacon Frost, walks out onto the rooftop of a building only to glimpse a figure whose identity is concealed behind a cloth mask. The film's writer David S. Goyer has stated that he originally intended Morbius to be the primary villain should there be a sequel to Blade. This was eventually scrapped in favor of the Reaper storyline in the actual Blade II film.

Video games

• Morbius appears as a non-playable "call-in" character in the video game Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage. When summoned, he distracts or injures enemies, depending on which title character the player is utilizing.

• Morbius appeared in the Wii, PS2, and PSP versions of Spider Man 3 video game voiced by Sean Donnellan. Spider-Man spends many parts of the game trying to find a cure for Morbius. This involves battling Morbius on more than one occasion.

• In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Blade mentions Morbius as being the one who turned him into a "pseudo-vampire".

References

1. ^ Comic Book Legends Revealed #216
2. ^ ^{a b c} Buchanan, Bruce. "Morbius the Living Vampirez", Back Issue #36 (October 2009), p. 29
3. ^ Morbius did not appear in #6 or #9; reprinted Morbius stories appeared in Vampire Tales Annual #1 (Summer 1975)
4. ^ Vic Slaughter at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
5. ^ Dr. Paine at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
6. ^ Bloodthirst at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
7. ^ Bloodbath at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
8. ^ Amazing Spider-Man #102
9. ^ Marvel Team-Up #3-4
10. ^ Giant-Size Superheroes #1
11. ^ Vampire Tales #2-5, 7-8
12. ^ Fear #20-26
13. ^ Fear #27-29
14. ^ Marvel Premiere #28
15. ^ Marvel Two-in-One #15
16. ^ Spectacular Spider-Man #7-8
17. ^ Spectacular Spider-Man #38
18. ^ Doctor Strange vol. 3 #10
19. ^ Doctor Strange vol. 3 #14-18
20. ^ Spider-Man #13-14
21. ^ Morbius #1
22. ^ Blade #5
23. ^ ^{a b} Marvel Zombies 3 #1
24. ^ Marvel Zombies 3 #4
25. ^ Marvel Zombies 4 #1
26. ^ Punisher vol. 7 #11
27. ^ Amazing Spider-Man #623
28. ^ Amazing Spider-Man #642
29. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #671
30. ^ Morbius the Living Vampire #5
31. ^ Morbius the Living Vampire #20
32. ^ House of M: Avengers #1 (2005)
33. ^ Marvel Zombies 3 #3
34. ^ Marvel Zombies 3 #4 (Jan 2009)
35. ^ Ultimate Spider-Man #96

External links

• Morbius at the Comic Book DB
• Morbius at the Big Comic Book DataBase
• Morbius, the Living Vampire at the Grand Comics Database
• Morbius, the Living Vampire at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• Morbius Revisited at the Grand Comics Database
• Morbius Revisited at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
• Morbius, the Living Vampire at the Marvel Universe wiki
• Morbius at SpiderFan.org
• Brief bio at Insania 1998
• Morbius, the Living Vampire at the Internet Movie Database