Now that Morbius is a movie star, you might find yourself wondering: just who is this
classic Marvel foe?
You may know his Spider-Man connection, but what about his bond with She-Hulk?
Here's everything you need to know about Morbius, the living vampire.
Nowadays in Marvel Comics, Morbius often walks the line between a good guy and a bad guy.
If you're getting mugged and the living vampire happens to walk by, he'll probably step in
and help, but he's also likely to get himself a snack at the same time.
When he first showed up in 1971's Amazing Spider-Man #101, however, there was no anti-hero
nonsense going on.
Morbius was a stone-cold killer.
Amazing Spider-Man #101 was memorable for a few reasons; most notably, it was the first
issue of the comic that wasn't written by Stan Lee.
Roy Thomas took over writing duties, and Lee had left Thomas with a bit of a cliffhanger:
Peter Parker had suddenly found himself with six arms.
So, in this comic, Spider-Man seeks out the Nobel-prize winning Dr. Morbius, hoping that
he can find a cure in the doctor's research.
Instead, he finds a bloodsucking vampire with a mean streak.
Both Thomas and Gerry Conway, who wrote Morbius' subsequent appearances in Marvel Team-Up,
told Back Issue in 2009 that they never imagined Morbius would go on to become a dark hero.
Conway said:
"I more or less thought of him as a one-shot villain."
They both agree, though, that the foundation for something more was there in Morbius' first
appearance.
Conway said:
"Both sides of him were always there.
He was always supposed to be a fairly sympathetic character."
Some fans believe that Morbius was rendered a "living" vampire as a sneaky way of getting
around the Comics Code, and that his subsequent popularity helped force changes to the Code
itself.
The Comics Code was a self-imposed industry standard that — among other things — banned
any depictions of the undead.
Morbius' "living" status was Marvel's loophole… or so the legend told.
The truth is that Morbius' creation was actually a response to the Comics Code loosening of
its rules about vampires, zombies, and other undead creatures.
At the same time, Stan Lee wanted to capitalize on the Code's newer, more liberal attitude.
Roy Thomas has said that he and Lee first discussed using Dracula as the villain in
Amazing Spider-Man #101.
"Children of the night…
What music they make."
But Lee wanted a costumed villain instead.
Ironically, while Morbius didn't create any friction with the Comics Code, years later
another artist claimed to have locked horns with the Code over his work on the character.
Penciler Ron Wagner worked on the first fourteen issues of Morbius: The Living Vampire, and
apparently got in a heap of trouble for his use of sexually explicit drawings in the comic.
While Morbius' "living" status was not a sneaky way around the Comics Code, it was an important
aspect of his character.
For one thing, it allowed him to remain in the Marvel Universe for longer than his undead
contemporaries.
In 1983's Doctor Strange #62, the Sorcerer Supreme uses his magic to boost the Montesi
Formula, killing Marvel's version of Dracula and the rest of the world's vampires.
Eventually, Dracula would return in the series Nightstalkers, but that comeback was a whole
decade in the making.
And in the meantime, one vampire remained completely unaffected by any of it: Morbius.
Because Morbius' condition has nothing to do with traditional vampirism, Doctor Strange's
war on Dracula has no impact on Doctor Morbius — beyond freeing up the playing field from
competition, anyway.
According to Morbius co-creator Roy Thomas, the conception of the Living Vampire involved
a marriage of various campy science-fiction references, though not all of them were intentional.
Morbius' name came from the character Dr. Edward Morbius from the 1956 film Forbidden
Planet.
Apparently, though, this wasn't a conscious choice, and Thomas didn't realize that that's
where he had lifted the name from until after the comic was already on the racks.
Thomas has also revealed that the inspiration for Morbius' origin as a creature of science
fiction rather than fantasy came from a film he had seen in his youth — one in which
radiation, not magic, turned a character into a vampire.
During his interview with Back Issue, however, he could not remember the film's name.
While neither film fits exactly with Thomas' memory, two films released in 1957, just a
year after Forbidden Planet, could fit the bill of science-created vampires.
Not of This Earth features an alien who disguises himself as human and drains victims of their
blood.
The same year saw the release of The Vampire, about a man who unwittingly contracts vampirism
after ingesting pills made of vampire bat blood.
One of the most important stories in Morbius' history involves a weird, violent court scene
in the pages of Savage She-Hulk.
Temporarily cured of his condition, Dr. Morbius is working on ways to help lawyer Jennifer
Walters, better known as She-Hulk, from dying.
Unfortunately for her, Morbius is due to stand trial for his many crimes.
Walters subsequently defends Morbius during the trial and uses a bizarre method to protect
her client; to prove Morbius was not in control of his actions while he was a vampire, Walters
brings a pair of rabbits into the court and feeds one of them the formula that transformed
him.
Predictably, the rabbit immediately goes full Holy Grail and kills its furry mate.
"Run away!
Run away!
Run away!"
Walters succeeds in getting Morbius' charges reduced, and the Living Vampire's transformation
from outright villain to morally ambiguous anti-hero is complete.
The Morbius of the Ultimate universe was introduced in Ultimate Spider-Man #95.
This version of Morbius is more connected to the vampires of his world than his Marvel
Earth-prime counterpart — he's a more traditional, undead vampire who even tells Spider-Man that
he is the son of Dracula.
Ironically, though more attached to the world of the undead than the original, the Ultimate
Morbius is not only not a villain, but actually spends much of his time hunting his vampiric
brethren.
While Marvel officially nailed the coffin on its Ultimate line of comics in 2015 with
the Secret Wars tie-in miniseries Ultimate End, the Ultimate line's impact on Marvel's
film adaptations can't be ignored.
Nick Fury was first drawn as Samuel L. Jackson in Ultimates six years before the actor appeared
in Iron Man.
Black Widow and Hawkeye being a part of the original Avengers line-up is an Ultimate holdover
too, as is Captain America's World War II era outfit and the alien Chitauri.
While the origin of the character in Morbius fits more with the original Marvel version,
you could argue some aspects are inspired by the Ultimate line — including his more
heroic nature and his conflict with fellow vampire Milo.
If it had been up to screenwriter and director David S. Goyer, the Living Vampire's first
big-screen appearance would likely have pre-dated the MCU by a half-decade at least.
In a deleted scene found on the DVD of 1998's Blade, a mysterious figure in a dark trench
coat watches from a nearby rooftop as Blade and Karen emerge triumphant from their conflict
with La Magra.
Goyer, the film's writer, has since confirmed the figure was Morbius and claims that, had
Goyer gone on to direct Blade II, Morbius would have been the villain for the sequel.
Instead, Guillermo del Toro directed Blade II and the story was altered, jettisoning
him altogether.
It would no doubt be fascinating to sidestep into an alternate reality where Goyer got
to write his version of Blade II.
Morbius was a character full of potential for that series, particularly if Goyer meant
to stay true to the tragic and more sympathetic nature of the character.
Deacon Frost — the villain of Blade – was a ruthless killer, and the villains of Blade
II weren't much better.
A more tortured and conflicted antagonist may have made for an intriguing contrast.
Morbius is far from the only Marvel character based on a classic kind of monster, though
it took until 2021 to reveal a connection between the Living Vampire and Calvin Zabo
— also known as Mr. Hyde.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
fans may remember Kyle MacLachlan had a recurring role as Cal on Season 2 of the series.
"Woah.
There goes the feeling in my legs."
In the comics, Hyde is a genuine powerhouse, able to hold his own against Earth's mightiest
heroes.
In the 2021 one-shot Morbius: Bond of Blood, it's revealed that Morbius and Zabo have known
each since before either were transformed into their more monstrous selves.
Morbius strikes a deal with Zabo in the hopes of saving a child's life but, as you might
predict, things don't exactly work out well.
More recently, a further connection has been revealed between Morbius' condition and another
monstrous Marvel scientist.
In 2022's Amazing Spider-Man #92, Curt Connors becomes infected with the vampire's condition.
The development sends Connors on a rampage, and renders him more dangerous than ever.
Spidey, Misty Knight, and Colleen Wing then recruit Morbius to help them stop Connors
and cure him of his disease.
For much of his comic book existence, Morbius has walked a morally ambiguous line — he
usually fights on the side of good, but he's a lot less picky about the methods he employs
than other heroes.
But in 2022, Morbius pole-vaulted out of the antihero zone into outright villainous territory.
In recent years, Michael Morbius has continued to search for a cure to his condition.
When he surfaces again in 2022's Amazing Spider-Man #77, his illness has worsened, sending him
on a near-mindless rampage.
The Ben Reilly Spider-Man confronts him when he finds Morbius standing over the bodies
of a half-dozen or so victims.
The vampire attacks Spidey without provocation and the issue ends with Morbius sinking his
teeth into Reilly's neck.
With Reilly weakened by Morbius' attack, it's up to Misty Knight and Colleen Wing to take
Morbius down in the following issue.
Unfortunately, the Beyond Corporation takes the opportunity to experiment on Morbius against
his will.
On the bright side, they stabilize his condition in the process — so that, when he's revived
in Amazing Spider-Man #92, he's back to his old self.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Looper videos about your favorite comic book characters are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.