Morbius

Morbius (born Michael Morbius, also known as Morbius the Living Vampire) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and originally designed by penciler Gil Kane, he debuted as a tragic, sympathetic adversary of the superhero Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October 1971). For years, Morbius frequently clashed with Spider-Man and other superheroes while occasionally regaining his reason and helping those he regarded as allies. The 1992 Marvel Comics "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover event then revived and revised several horror-themed Marvel characters to present them as lead protagonists in new titles. The event launched the new series Morbius the Living Vampire, which ran from 1992 to 1995 and now presented the title character as a lethal anti-hero and vigilante. After the cancellation of this series, various stories shifted back and forth between portraying Morbius as a conflicted and brutal anti-hero or a tragic character subject to episodes of madness and murder (once again, most often fighting Spider-Man).

Michael Morbius is depicted as a famous biochemist who contracts a rare blood disease which he then tries to cure by using a combination of experimental chemicals, electroshock therapy, and genetic samples of vampire bats. The experiment mutates him into a pseudo-vampire or living vampire, a life form with abilities and traits resembling, but not identical to, those of truly supernatural and "undead" creatures such as vampires (which exist in the Marvel Universe). To keep his blood disease in remission, Morbius must now regularly feed on fresh human blood or face rapid illness followed by death. Initially, Morbius' mutation affects his ability to reason while experiencing hunger. This leads to blackouts and acts of violence that result in murder and villainy, occasionally followed by lucid periods during which he regrets causing harm. A mixture of electricity and Spider-Man's blood restores his humanity for several years, but he later reverts to being a pseudo-vampire. During the "Rise of the Midnight Sons", a mixture of poison and genuine demon blood alters Morbius' physiology slightly while also restoring his mental capacity, allowing him greater control and awareness even while experiencing bloodlust. A new "anti-viral" serum involving Spider-Man's blood also allows him to regain humanity for hours at a time. Concluding he now has greater control over his condition and wishing to regain some semblance of a normal life, Morbius creates a new cover identity of Dr. Morgan Michaels, while at night secretly acting as a lethal vigilante who only feeds on "the blood of the guilty". Later on, another mutagenic serum saves his life but results in Morbius once again being vulnerable to temporary madness and a loss of his faculties when his bloodlust is too strong. As a result, he abandons his Morgan Michaels identity and becomes a fugitive again.

The character has appeared in several media adaptations outside of comics. In the 1990s animated series Spider-Man, Morbius is a recurring character voiced by Nick Jameson. In contrast to the comics, the cartoon depicted Morbius both as a regular ally of the character Blade and as a being who feeds on human plasma through his hands rather than with his fangs. Jared Leto portrayed Michael Morbius in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) live action feature film Morbius (2022), with Matt Smith co-starring as Milo, a composite character also based on Morbius and several other characters.

Publication history

Initial creation as a villain

Morbius debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (published in August 1971 and cover dated October 1971). His creation followed the comic book industry's self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, updating its policies in February 1971, which included lifting a ban on comic book stories depicting vampires and certain other supernatural characters. The issue of The Amazing Spider-Man featuring the introduction of Morbius was the first issue of Marvel Comics' flagship Spider-Man series written by someone other than character co-creator and then editor-in-chief Stan Lee, who was busy writing a screenplay for an unproduced science fiction film. Lee bequeathed the role of series writer to his right-hand editor, Roy Thomas.

In 2009, Roy Thomas said there was interest in having the company's flagship character Spider-Man fight a vampire, possibly even the famous Count Dracula. "We were talking about doing Dracula, but Stan wanted a costumed villain. Other than that, he didn't specify what we should do." Thomas added that part of the character conception came from the 1957 film The Vampire, a science fiction film he saw in his youth that depicted a man turned into a vampire by radiation rather than magic. Thomas and penciller Gil Kane then discussed and created the character together, deciding it was more appropriate for the science-fiction based Spider-Man to fight a villain given pseudo-vampiric traits via scientific rather than supernatural means. Kane based the character's appearance on that of actor Jack Palance. Thomas said the name "Morbius" was not deliberately taken from the antagonist Doctor Morbius in the 1956 film Forbidden Planet. The initial two-story arc emphasized that Morbius, like other Spider-Man villains such as the Lizard, was not truly a malicious villain but a tragic and sympathetic character who had unwittingly been changed into a monster, in this case as a result of trying to cure his own rare but fatal blood disease. The story also introduced Morbius' lover, Martine Bancroft and revealed that his first victim had been his scientific colleague and best friend, Emil Nikos. Later on, Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 (July 1974) did depict Spider-Man and Dracula together in a story, but the two characters only briefly cross paths while unaware of each other's true nature.

After their initial meeting, Morbius collided again with Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up #3–4 (July – September 1972) and the one-shot Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 (June 1974). Morbius went on to star 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 (August 1973 – June 1975). The first Morbius solo story was written by Steve Gerber, while the rest of the stories, save for the last three, were written by Don McGregor, with penciling by Rich Buckler and by Tom Sutton, primarily. These stories focused on Morbius as more of a tragic anti-hero, one subject to blackouts and violence but who could also act altruistically towards allies and those he saw as victims of unjust circumstances.

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 (February 1974) and continuing through issue #31 (December 1975), the last issue of the series. These were written, successively, by Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber, Doug Moench and Bill Mantlo, working with a wide variety of pencillers.

Morbius was then seen as a tragic figure lamenting his past and willing to stand trial for his actions in The Savage She-Hulk #9–12 and 25. These stories also showed him willing to lend his expertise to help others who suffered from a mutation or "curse" they did not choose. This continued when Morbius is seen researching the condition of the Werewolf (Jack Russell) in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #5.

1990s anti-hero

Following sporadic appearances over the next decade, Morbius was retooled as part of the 1992 "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover event, the purpose of which was to launch a new line of horror- and supernatural-themed comics following the success of Ghost Rider (vol. 3). "Rise of the Midnight Sons" featured the new Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) and Johnny Blaze (the previous Ghost Rider) seeking out the "Midnight Sons", different unique individuals who would eventually be crucial to stopping the demonic Lilith from laying waste to humanity (as well as potentially other threats just as great). This led directly into the new series Morbius the Living Vampire, which would run for 32 issues (September 1992 – April 1995). Morbius the Living Vampire #1 showed the title character being mutated further, which altered his abilities slightly, revealed that he had untapped "psionic" power, and gave him a more rational, introspective nature. Morbius takes on the role of a lethal vigilante, vowing only to feed on killers who are truly evil and beyond remorse. The next month, Morbius the Living Vampire #2 retroactively explained much of Morbius' villainy in the past as the result of his initial mutation altering his brain and making him "insane", a condition now alleviated with his latest mutation. Morbius also discovers that his blood disease is no longer in remission and is slowly killing him. This introduces an ongoing series sub-plot wherein Morbius and his trusted friend, Dr. Jacob Weisenthal, regularly research treatments and anti-viral serums that may put his blood disease and his condition as a pseudo-vampire both into remission. With his ability to reason restored and his newfound purpose as a vigilante rather than a villain, Morbius is seen creating a new cover identity for himself, that of human hematologist Dr. Morgan Michaels.