So, Sony, I guess, is still
attempting to make its own separate and yet loosely connected Spider-Man
Cinematic Universe work. Things are getting a little weird. As seen in the new
Morbius trailer, we can see images of the MCU Spider-Man with the word MURDERER
graffitied over it, and I guess that Michael Keaton’s Vulture is going to have
some role to play in the film? And yet, when the next solo Spider-Man movie
comes out, I bet there will be no reference to any of this. Ugh, this is going
to be a consistent headache for me moving onward, isn’t it? Anyway, since the trailer just dropped, lets
talk about Michael Morbius the Living Vampire. I’m going to refer to him as
Morbius throughout, as writing my own first name over and over again feels
weird. Let’s get to it.
 |
| Bleh bleh bleh, he's come to suck your blood. |
Dr. Michael Morbius was born in
Greece, where he spent much of his youth in relative isolation. He suffered
from a rare blood disease that caused him to be physically frail, as well as
unpleasant to look at. That’s just a low blow, universe, not cool. His
condition motivated Morbius to become a biologist, he even earned a Nobel Peace
Prize in biochemistry for his work on blood disorders. He eventually found a
treatment for his own affliction which involved vampire bats and electroshock
therapy. That’s all I can find on the subject, which is mildly disturbing. The treatment did cure Morbius of his
particular disorder, but had the unforeseen side effects of turning himself
into a pseudo-vampire. I say pseudo because, while he has all of the typical
powers of the undead (superstrength, speed, flight, rapid regeneration, and liquid
diet) since he wasn’t killed and resurrected, he doesn’t have the same weakness
to articles of faith and his heart still beats. And, while he transfers his
disease to anyone he feeds upon, since they’re technically still alive his
victims can be cured and returned to a pure human state. Something that Morbius
cannot do due to being the progenerator. So, he has most of the positives
without all of the negatives. Oh, and he does now need to drink blood to
survive. Feels like he just exchanged one blood problem for another, if I’m
being honest.
Morbius eventually traveled to New
York, devouring the crew of the ship he’d traveled in, in an attempt to find a
cure for his semi-vampirism. While there, he was discovered by Spider-Man, whom
had tracked down the gifted biochemist looking for help with his own recent
mutation, growing four extra set of arms. Morbius, hungry for blood, attacked
Spider-Man, but their one-on-one brawl was interrupted by the Lizard who was
also out to kill Spider-Man. He bites the Lizard before escaping. Much to both
Spider-Man and the Lizard’s shock, Morbius’ bite seemed to have partially
reverted him back to his human form. The two quickly theorize that something in
Morbius’ blood must work as an antidote to genetic mutation. They decide to
work together to track down Morbius and get enough of his blood to formulate
cures for themselves. They’re able to track him down rather easily, and are
able to beat him up and take enough of his blood to turn the Lizard back into
Connors and remove Spider-Man’s extra arms. Whoo.
Morbius, tossed into the Hudson
River during their fight, was eventually washed ashore and after snacking on
two people, once again went on the hunt to find a cure. He set his sights on a
former colleague of his, Dr. Hans Jorgenson and tries to kidnap him to force
the doctor to help him. While this was going on, his fiancé, Martine Bancroft,
had made it to the US from Greece and had contacted the Fantastic Four to find
and help cure him. Johnny is the only one of the four who decides to look into
it, he and Spider-Man team up and save Jorgenson, forcing Morbius back once
more. He escapes, briefly, but is ultimately defeated by Spider-Man once he
gets backup from the X-Men. Charles new Jorgenson too and sent his team to save
him.
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| You know, you have to be really trying to dress sillier than the guy in bright red and blue spandex. Just sayin'. |
Since his introduction, Michael
Morbius has constantly bounced back and forth between Villain and Anti-Hero.
His alignment seems to rely heavily on how desperate he is for a cure, and what
new method is available to him to restore himself to his human form. He’s
worked for the Legion of Monsters, a group of Marvel Anti-heroes that all have
some monstrous Origin, and whom kill monsters that go berserk. He has also
teamed up with Blade and Ghost Rider on a few of their missions battling more
usual Vampires and minions of Hell as they crop up. There are also instances of
him losing control of his vampiric hunger and going on rampages, those of which
are usually stopped by Spider-Man, Blade, Ghost Rider or whomever is in range
to handle a Scourge of Vampires. He did receive a longer-term cure which came
in the form of being struck by lightning during a fight with Spider-Man. Huh,
guess Thor must have owed Peter one. He was human for several years and became
a support character for several Marvel heroes before returning to his Vampire
form once more.
Dr. Michael Morbius was once just a
gifted scientist in the field of Biochemistry. After attempting to cure himself
of his rare blood condition with an untested treatment that involved Vampire
Bats and electroshock treatment, he became a Living Vampire. This comes with
several Vampiric powers, including Super strength, speed, agility, stamina,
reflexes and senses. He has an above average healing factor that causes him to
rapidly recover from wounds. He also has unusually sharp teeth and claws which
he uses quite effectively. He can also use his minor mental powers to cause
himself to glide short distances. He has an unquenchable thirst for human
blood, and spreads his condition to his victims. But, since they are still
technically alive, his vampiric spawn can be cured.
As he’s a vampire created by
science, not magic, he’s immune to most of their usual weaknesses. Silver
doesn’t burn him, holy symbols don’t weaken him, a steak through the heart
won’t kill him, and he’s only mildly annoyed by direct sunlight. So, while being
a Vampire in general kind of sucks, at least he’s got some fringe benefits.
Michael Morbius has only appeared a
handful of times outside of the comics, and usually in a villainous role.
 |
| Does it get more 90s than blue hair, a black duster, and one of those stupid chin goatees? |
He was a recurring antagonist in
the 90’s Spider-Man: The Animated Series. He’s introduced at the start
of season two “The Insidious Six” in his human form. At first, he just seems
like a vaguely European exchange student that is battling Peter for the
affection of Felicia Hardy. Peter and Mary Jane weren’t exclusive at the time,
so he’s not cheating, FYI. He doesn’t shift into full monster form until the
sixth episode “Morbius.” In it, he steals a sample of Spider-Man’s blood to use
in an experiment. Peter had been suffering from sporadic power loss and had
been shopping around ESU for a cure, FYI. During his experiment, a Bat flies
in, gets some of the blood and then bites Morbius, turning him into a Vampire.
He’s a recurring villain for the rest of the season, appearing in “Enter The
Punisher,” “Blade, The Vampire Hunter,” and “The Immortal Vampire.” Yes,
Spider-Man does work with Blade to hunt a Vampire, and it’s as cool a concept
as 90s censors would allow. At the end of his first run, Morbius is turned into
a much more monstrous Vampire bat form and flies off to live in seclusion. It
closes on a very sad scene of him wrapping himself up in his massive wings and
thinking that he’ll always remember the kiss he shared with Felicia in the bell
tower. He returns to normal… well, his more human vampire form, in the fourth
season “The Awakening” when Mutant hating scientist Herbert Landon kidnapped
him to study his condition. Spider-Man swings in to stop what Landon and his
boss the Kingpin were working on, and Morbius escapes in during the battle. He
makes one more appearance in “The Vampire Queen” where he’s used by Miriam the
Vampire Queen, Blade’s mother, as one of her minions and unwillingly gives her
the idea to use the Neogenic Recombinator (the device that transformed Morbius)
to make more Vampires. He’s eventually freed and starts working with Blade to
hunt Vampires.
It should be noted that censorship
at the time was very weird and Fox made several changes to Michael Morbius to
make him more “kid friendly” or so they seem to think. Is it moronic to try and
make a Vampire, a creature that subsists on the blood of humans, kid friendly?
Yes. But here we are. While Morbius does have his usual massive fangs, in this
version he drains his victims from these gnarly looking suckers on the palms of
his hands. That feels more starfish than Bat, if I’m being honest. And, while
they do confirm that he feeds on people, what he’s drinking is never referred
to as blood. Instead they claim he drains “plasma.” Which is in blood, so I
don’t see why they need to change it. But then, these are the same people that
changed the Sinister Six into the Insidious Six, for no reason I can think of
since both words are about the same level of not nice.
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| I'm starting to think Jared Leto likes playing unnaturally pale skinned monsters. |
He appears in Ultimate Spider-Man
in the fourth season. He’s a HYDRA scientist attempting to create a new,
improved Venom Symbiote. Spider-Man, Agent Venom, and Harry Osborn in his Iron
Man style Patrioteer armor track them down, but the three teen heroes are
surprised by the release of the new Anti-Venom. The suit possesses Harry, and
drives him into a berserker’s fury. In the resulting Battle Morbius Escapes,
Agent Venom is injured and Harry is put into a coma. Morbius returns in the
three parter Symbiote Saga. In the first episode he steals another sample of
the Venom symbiote and tries to force a restrained Doc Ock to help him
experiment with it. In the fighting that results when Spider-Man and Agent
Venom track him down, Octavious breaks free and injects Morbius with one of his
animal DNA serums, turning him into Morbius the Living Vampire. He help the bad
guys prepare to launch the upgraded Carnage symbiote across the world in part
three before being captured.
Michael Morbius, as mentioned above
will be receiving his own Sony film this July. It will star Jared Leto as
Michael Morbius, and from the trailer looks like it’ll hit most of the usual
plot beats. Meaning that he’s a biochemist attempting to cure his rare blood
disorder but accidentally turns him into a creature of the night.
Okay, so, I’m not completely
certain how Morbius got his own film. As far as villains and Anti-Heroes go,
he’s always been pretty “meh” to me. Maybe the new film will turn me around on
him, but he comes across as kind of generic. He’s the Lizard if Connors
experimented with Bats instead of Lizards. Or any number of other scientists
that experiment on themselves and become a monster. The fact he’s a
not-totally-a-vampire thing is kind of cool, but I don’t think it’s enough to
carry a film. And his somewhat limited filmography seems to suggest that show
and movie execs agree with me that he’s far enough down on Peter’s rogue’s
gallery list that he doesn’t get used much. Then again, I’m someone that isn’t
super impressed by Vampires as a concept, so maybe this is just one of those
concepts that’s lost on me, like understanding the fine sport of Football, or
the idea that the Snyder’s cut of Justice League would somehow be better
than the theatrical release. At the moment, I’m less curious about how the new
movie will turn out on its own, and more of how it’ll incorporate the other
Sony-centric Marvel films and how Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will fit into it. We
live in uncertain times, so it seems. And since I’m talking about Sony’s
properties already, I suppose I should finally sit down and watch Venom.
I hope I like Tom Hardy in it.
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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero
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