Who is Morbius? Know more about Him

Morbius the Living Vampire is one of Spider-Man’s many villains appearing in the Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and originally designed by artist Gil Kane, he made his Marvel Comics debut appeared as an enemy of the superhero Spider-Man in Oct. 1971 issue of The Amazing Spider-Man #101. 

Morbius is one of the few villains who do not owe their origins to supernatural means, and gained pseudo-vampiric powers as a result of an experiment to find the cure for his condition. He eventually joins the heroes in an attempt to right his past wrongs. Morbius is considered to be one of Spider-Man’s toughest foes, mainly because of his tragic past. Read on to know more about him. 

ORIGIN AND HISTORY IN THE COMICS

Born and raised in Greece by his single mother, Michael Morbius had to experience a lonely childhood due to his rare blood condition, which contributed to his ugly and unpleasant-looking appearance. In spite of his looks, Morbius was an intellectually gifted young man who in time, became a highly respected and Nobel Prize-winning biologist specializing in the field of human and animal biology. In an attempt to cure himself of his condition, Morbius used his knowledge to create an experimental treatment involving vampire bats and electroshocks.  The experiment would go wrong, causing Morbius to be afflicted with a far worse disease called pseudo-vampirism that gave him some of the powers and the bloodlust of supernaturally occurring vampires. He now had to drink blood in order to survive and had a strong aversion to light. His bones became hollow and he gained the ability to fly, as well as gaining superhuman strength, super-speed, and accelerated healing. In addition, he could also turn those he bit into pseudo vampires as well, although it was never deadly and they could be cured by an antidote created from his own blood.

Morbius traveled to the U.S by ship, and his bloodlust caused him to slaughter the entire crew. He even tried to kill himself but failed and took a room at a beach house where he encountered Spider-Man who at the time, was incidentally trying to reverse the process that had given him six arms. Morbius attacked Spider-Man, but their battle was interrupted by Dr. Connors who transformed into the Lizard. Morbius eventually escaped, but not before biting Connors causing him to partially return to normal. Spider-Man and Connors then realized that Morbius' blood could be a cure for the two of them and decided to help each other. They track him down and after another battle extract some of his blood, causing Connors to remain in his human state and Spider-Man to lose his additional arms.

POWERS AND ABILITIES

As mentioned before, Morbius possesses a number of superhuman abilities similar to those possessed by true vampires as a result of him being transformed into a similar being . He also possesses superhuman strength although the extent of this depends on the amount of blood he has ingested and the type of blood. Morbius can also run and move at speeds that are beyond the natural physical limits of a normal human, even exceeding the best athletes. His enhanced muscular arrangement produces less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a normal human, and as a result he gained superhuman stamina. In addition to all these, Morbius also possesses Superhuman Agility, Reflexes, Senses, Healing Factor, and hypnotism as a result of his pseudo vampirism. And as mentioned before, he can also turn others into beings like him.

MCU APPEARANCE

Although Morbius is yet to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he is indeed getting a film adaptation as a part of the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters. Jared Leto will be portraying Morbius the movie, which is set to release in the US on January 28, 2022, although it was initially supposed to release in July 2020 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.