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| Michael Morbius | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Michael Morbius | |
| Aliases: | Morbius Morgan Michaels Morbius the Living Vampire |
| Franchise: | Marvel Universe |
| Notability: | Main character |
| Type: | Pseudo-vampire |
| Gender: | Male |
| Location: | Greece New York City, New York |
| Associations: | A.R.M.O.R. Legion of Monsters Mystic Nine S.T.A.K.E. |
| Status: | Alive |
| Introduction: | Amazing Spider-Man #101 |
| Actor: | Nick Jameson Jared Leto |
Michael Morbius, frequently addressed simply as Morbius, is a so-called "living vampire", which is to say, he was turned into a vampire through an act of science rather than the traditional methods of vampiric infection. Introduced in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, Volume 1 #101 in a story titled "A Monster Called... Morbius!", Morbius, the Living Vampire has proven to be a deadly adversary and has tangled with the web-headed wallcrawler on many occasions. The alignment of the character has waxed and waned over the years. Though Michael Morbius is not by nature an evil individual, the vampiric bloodlust that overwhelms him dominates every action he has been forced to take human lives many times over the years. Throughout his career however, Morbius has gained some moderate level of control over his blood cravings and has even served in the capacity of hero from time to time.
Publishing history[]
Michael Morbius was introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #101. He also appeared in the second half of the story in issue #102. Morbius next fought Spidey again in Marvel Team-Up, Volume 1 #3-4 where he also tackled the Human Torch and then achieved a surprising defeat against the X-Men.
Morbius appeared next in the first issue of Vampire Tales magazine, where he also appeared as a copy illo in the upper left-hand corner of the title. He was spotlighted in many of the feature stories and appeared in issues #1-5, 7-8, 10-11 and the 1975 Vampire Tales Annual edition. Morbius was featured on the cover to issues #3, #10 and the Annual.
Michael Morbius was then the regularly featured title character in Fear, which was titled Adventure Into Fear on the cover copy. Following the Man-Thing's run on the title, Morbius stories began publication with issue #20 in 1974 and ran until the cancellation of the title with issue #31 in 1975.
Following Adventure Into Fear, Morbius made sporadic appearances in various titles. He traded blows with the Werewolf by Night in Giant-Size Werewolf #4, he joined the Legion of Monsters in Marvel Premiere #28, tangled with Spider-Man again in Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 and was the team-up character in Marvel Two-in-One #15.
Morbius returned to the Spider-Man franchise in 1977 where he appeared in a three-issue story-arc in issues 6-8 of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man. He appeared next in issues #38-39 of that same title. Morbius was cured of his vampiric affliction following this story-line and was largely retired. However, the human Michael Morbius did appear in four issues of the Savage She-Hulk between 1980 and 1981. He later appeared with several other notable scientific wizards of the Marvel Universe to help Susan Richards with her pregnancy in Fantastic Four, Volume 1 #266-268. He later made two cameo appearances in West Coast Avengers, Volume 2 #5-6 in 1985.
Morbius in the 1990s.
A short time later, Michael Morbius became a vampire again and was a featured guest star in issues #10-20 of Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme. His appearances in the series coincided with the reversal of the Montesi Formula that destroyed all vampires back in Doctor Strange, Volume 2 #62 and Morbius was once again a tormented blood-sucker. His mental condition deteriorated as well and he became the subterranean ruler beneath the streets of Manhattan as per Spider-Man #13-14.
In the early 1990s, Michael Morbius became a member of the Midnight Sons family of comic titles. The Midnight Sons imprint spawned several new books including Morbius' first ever ongoing title, Morbius, the Living Vampire. With the exception of Ghost Rider, Volume 3, all of the "Midnight Sons" titles were extremely short-lived, but Morbius lasted longer than most, totaling 32 issues. During this time, he made appearances in the other related books including Ghost Rider, Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins, Ghost Rider & Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance and Nightstalkers. He also appeared in the anthology series Midnight Sons Unlimited.
Morbius' appearances remained fairly sparse over the next decade, but he returned in full force with the popularity of Marvel's Marvel Zombies family of titles. Morbius appeared in four issues of Marvel Zombies 3 in 2008, four issues of Marvel Zombies 4, which saw the return of the Midnight Sons, and two issues of Marvel Zombies 5.
Abilities[]
Powers[]
Skills[]
- Biochemistry: Michael Morbius is a scientist and an expert in the field of biochemistry. His knowledge of this science earned him the Nobel prize.
Body Count[]
Creators[]
The character of Michael Morbius was created by writer Roy Thomas, artist Gil Kane and inker Frank Giacoia. Gerry Conway wrote the two-issue story-arc featured in Marvel Team-Up #3-4. Art for those issues was provided by Ross Andru, Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia.
Ron Wagner was the artist on the first fourteen issues of Morbius, the Living Vampire. He also provided cover art for eleven of those fourteen. Len Kaminski was the series writer on issues #1-8. Gregory Wright wrote issues #9-23, which included the "Dance of the Hunter" story-arc. Picking up where Wright left off, Lisa Trusiani began writing the title with issue #25 and continued until the end of the series with issue #32. Craig Gilmore was the artist on issues #25-30.
Notes & Trivia[]
Marvel Value Stamp #75.
- Michael Morbius was featured as Marvel Value Stamp #75 in 1975.
- Is registered under the Superhuman Registration Act (SHRA).
- During his early appearances in the Morbius, the Living Vampire comic series, he went by the alias Doctor Morgan Michaels.
- In the Spider-Man animated series of the 1990s, Michael Morbius is of Romanian descent. He was voiced by actor Nick Jameson and appeared in 15 episodes of the series. Jameson also provided the voice for Richard Fisk, aka, the Rose.
- During the 1990s, Morbius traded in his more traditional disco vampire costume in favor of a leather suit with various straps and zippers and a cape with a purple lining. He purchased this from Thrash + Gaudeville, which is a pastiche of the real world clothing store Trash and Vaudeville. [1][2]
See also[]
External Links[]
Appearances[]
- Amazing Fantasy Vol 2 17
- Amazing Spider-Man 101 (1st appearance)
- Amazing Spider-Man 102
- Doctor Strange Vol 3 10
- Ghost Rider Vol 3 28 (In a vision)
- Ghost Rider Vol 3 31
- Legion of Monsters: Morbius 1
- Marvel Team-Up 3
- Spider-Man 13
- Spider-Man 14
- Vampire Tales 3
Films
- Morbius (2021)