Morbius
Morbius 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. 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.
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. 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 live action feature film Morbius, 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. 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 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 and the one-shot Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1. 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. 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 and continuing through issue #31, 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 in West Coast Avengers #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. "Rise of the Midnight Sons" featured the new Ghost Rider and Johnny Blaze seeking out the "Midnight Sons", different unique individuals who would eventually be crucial to stopping the demonic Lilith from laying waste to humanity. This led directly into the new series Morbius the Living Vampire, which would run for 32 issues. 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.Rather than only pitting Morbius against Marvel heroes or previously established villains as had been done in the past, new enemies were introduced and created specifically to fight him. These included Dr. Thaddeus Paine, the Basilisk II, Vic Slaughter and the Hardcases, Bloodthirst, and Bloodbath. Along with these foes, Morbius the Living Vampire featured recurring appearances by Simon Stroud. Introduced as a rogue CIA agent hunting the Man-Wolf in Creatures on the Loose #37, Stroud had first encountered Morbius in Adventure into Fear #27 and was now determined to end Morbius' life.
To increase awareness and the popularity of Morbius the Living Vampire, a reprint series entitled Morbius Revisited was published from 1992 to 1993. The series featured material originally published in Adventure into Fear #27–31. Along with this, Morbius appeared in short solo stories featured in the anthology series Midnight Sons Unlimited, as well as in Marvel Comics Presents #144, the one-shot Strange Tales: Dark Corners #1, Amazing Fantasy #17, and the one-shot Legion of Monsters: Morbius #1.
As he was now a vigilante and part of the Midnight Sons, Morbius engaged in several team-ups with heroes and anti-heroes throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. He frequently crossed paths with the sorcerer Doctor Strange as well as the Ghost Rider and the Nightstalkers, a group which included Blade as well as Hannibal King, a "quasi-vampire" who was similar to Morbius in that he tried to curb his bloodlust so as not to compromise his morals but, unlike Morbius, was a true undead vampire rather than a scientific mutation. In Morbius the Living Vampire #12, Blade is possessed by a demon and, against his will, kills Morbius. Morbius is immediately resurrected in Spirits of Vengeance #13.
During the 1993 Marvel Comics crossover event Maximum Carnage, Morbius and his longtime adversary Spider-Man temporarily become uneasy allies to stop a New York City murder spree led by the spree killer Carnage. In Peter Parker: Spider-Man #77–80, Morbius again teams up with Spider-Man to stop Hydra agent Loxias Crown, who then becomes another pseudo-vampire called the Hunger.
Morbius the Living Vampire series writer Len Kaminski had regular conflicts with series penciller Ron Wagner. The two were collaborators who used the "Marvel method" of comic book scripting, meaning Kaminski would plot out the stories, Wagner would then determine more of the narrative details by illustrating the scenes and creating the narrative pace, after which Kaminski would see the art and any notes Wagner had, then either ask for changes or accept the art and fill in the final dialogue and captions. As time went on, Kaminski claimed Wagner often complained about his stories to the editorial staff and left "snide margin notes in which he made his personal opinion of my plots clear." Wagner alleged he expressed concerns Kaminski's stories were too introspective and character-focused when a series about a violent vampire who hunted evil people needed to have more action and bloodshed. According to Kaminski, he was willing to discuss the story and series direction further but Wagner ignored his attempts at contact. Marvel Comics sided with Wagner, replacing Kaminski with issue #9 by asking series colorist Gregory Wright to step in as writer. A one-shot special, tentatively titled Spider-Man/Venom/Morbius was scheduled for 1993, but it was never published due to Kaminski's departure from the series. Wagner remained as series penciler until issue #15, then left as well.
Under writer Gregory Wright, the series Morbius the Living Vampire featured the resurrection of Michael's former lover, Martine Bancroft, in issues #13–17. The story line ended with Martine now alive again due to mystical forces, but no longer able to experience her full range of emotions. Throughout the rest of the series, Martine shifts from supporting character to occasional antagonist as she sometimes clashes with Morbius due to resentment over the circumstances of her resurrection and the pursuit of restoring her emotions sometimes placing other in danger.
Wright stayed as writer on Morbius the Living Vampire until issue #23. Pat Mills wrote issue #24 in 1994, after which Lisa Trusiani took over as series writer. She remained in this role until issue #32, when the series was cancelled due to declining sales and waning fan interest. The series ends with Morbius being mutated once again by an anti-viral serum that saves his life, but results in his now once again losing his ability to reason and experiencing blackouts when his bloodlust is too strong. This leads him to abandon his vigilante life and the double identity of Dr. Morgan Michaels. The final story arc of the series does not resolve whether or not Morbius' blood disease is still killing him, despite his vampiric regenerative abilities, or if the newest anti-viral system has finally put the disease back into remission. It also does not resolve the fact that Martine is left a true undead vampire who is obsessed with Morbius. Since the series' cancellation, there has been no further depictions of Morbius' 1990s supporting cast of his friend, Jacob Weisenthal, or his love interests, Mandy Tyler and Lena Ivana.
For the next several years, Morbius once again made sporadic appearances as an uneasy ally or outright villain who encountered other superheroes, particularly Spider-Man.