Morbius the Living Vampire

Morbius the Living Vampire is one of the family enemies of Spider-Man. He is a world-renowed biochemist who was dying of an unknown blood disease & injected himself with vampire bat DNA in hopes of curing him, but instead turned him into a real vampire. In some versions of the Marvel franchise, Morbius has been portrayed as hero, siding with his enemy Spider-Man, as well as the vampire hunter Blade. He is also a member of the heroic group of monsters known as the Legion of Monsters & Midnight Sons.

Fictional character biography
Michael Morbius was born in Greece. He was attacked by the Lizard and defeated when Spider-Man and the Lizard joined forces. A flashback reveals that Morbius was a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist, who had attempted to cure himself of a rare blood disease with an experimental treatment involving vampire bats and electroshock therapy. However, he instead became afflicted with a far worse condition, "pseudo-vampirism," that mimicked the powers and blood-thirst of legendary vampirism. Morbius now had to digest blood in order to survive and had a strong aversion to light. He gained the ability to fly, as well as superhuman strength, speed, and healing abilities. His appearance, already ugly, became hideous—-his canine teeth extended into fangs, his nose flattened to appear more like a bat's, and his skin became chalk-white. He also gained the ability to turn others into similar "living vampires" by biting them, infecting them with the disease of pseudo-vampirism. He later sought a cure for his condition, but battled Spider-Man, the Human Torch, and the original X-Men. He caused John Jameson to again become Man-Wolf. Alongside Man-Wolf, he battled Spider-Man again.

Morbius later rescued Amanda Saint from the Demon-Fire Cult, and aided her in her quest for her missing parents. He battled Reverend Daemond, and encountered the Caretakers of Arcturus IV. He visited the Land Within, home of the Cat People, and the planet Arcturus IV. He also first encountered Blade  He then first encountered Simon Stroud, and battled the Helleyes. undefined Alongside the "Legion of Monsters," he then encountered the Starseed. undefined Morbius then battled the Thing, encountered the Living Eraser, and traveled to Dimension Z. He later returned to Earth, and battled Spider-Man again.

He once again fought Spider-Man, but then he was hit by a lightning strike, which cured him of his pseudo-vampirism (while retaining a thirst for blood). While cured he was charged with the crimes he had committed as a vampire and was represented by the She-Hulk. He eventually resumed his pseudo-vampire state, and first met Doctor Strange. [ Alongside Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo, he battled Marie Leveau, and witnessed the resurgence of true vampires. Morbius later battled Spider-Man in the New York sewers. Cover of Morbius, the Living Vampire #17.The Ghost Rider and John Blaze searched for Morbius to form the Nine and stop Lilith and the Lilin from taking over the world. When they found Morbius, the vampire believed they would kill him but Ghost Rider and John Blaze successfully captured him. Doctor Langford, who tried to help Morbius' wounds, was trying to kill him and was working for Doctor Paine. He made an unknown mutagenic serum that would prove fatal to Morbius. Unknown to Doctor Langford, Fang, one of Lilith's children, was also trying to kill Morbius by adding his own demonic blood to the serum, which would also be fatal to Morbius. When Doctor Langford injected the serum to Morbius, it did not kill him, but instead mutated him. Morbius' friend, Jacob was trying to look inside of him and see what he could do about Morbius' condition. After Martine Bancroft, who had become Morbius' wife, found out that Langford was trying to kill him, Langford shot her and she bled to death. Morbius found this out and was enraged to find his wife dead. He later avenged the death of Martine Bancroft by killing Langford and took the beaker which contained the serum. undefined Ghost Rider and John Blaze later found out Morbius' destruction. The Ghost Rider confronted him and would not tolerate Morbius drinking any more innocent blood. Morbius then vowed he would only drink the blood of the guilty. The Ghost Rider accepted the vow, but warned him not to stray from it. Morbius soon became part of the Midnight Sons.

Later, a new faction of Vampires led by Hunger, the next evolution of the supervillain Crown, tried to destroy Morbius because he had been genetically manipulated to be the perfect weapon. The chest in which he was to be delivered was intercepted by the Kingpin, Blade, and Spider-Man, and he attacked all three. Whatever unknown party manipulated him failed; he collapsed after one battle, possibly dying. With his last breath he warned Spider-Man to beware of his employer, Stuart Ward.

It was later revealed that Morbius had signed the Superhuman Registration Act and was cooperating with S.H.I.E.L.D. in an effort to capture Blade. He had also presumably survived his genetic manipulation, as Blade was able to distinguish him as the same Morbius who 'Took a Bite out of [him]' in their previous encounter.

Morbius was next seen as a member of A.R.M.O.R. held captive by the Morbius from the Marvel Zombies universe. undefined He survived the invasion, killing his zombified counterpart in the process. Shortly after, he formed a new Midnight Sons with Jennifer Kale, Daimon Hellstrom, Jack Russell, and Man-Thing to contain a zombie outbreak on an isolated island, briefly running afoul of the Hood in the process.

Morbius later helped the Man-Thing reassemble a decapitated Punisher into a Frankenstein-like monster called FrankenCastle.

During The Gauntlet storyline, Morbius was behind the theft of a vial of Spider-Man's blood. Spider-Man, learning that Morbius is planning to use the blood samples to create a cure for Jack Russell. agreed to help Morbius by giving him more blood.

During the Origin of the Species storyline, Morbius was among the supervillains recruited by Doctor Octopus to secure some item for him.

During the events of Spider-Island it was revealed to the reader that Morbius was the mysterious Number Six working at Horizon Labs. He assisted, in a hazmat suit to protect his identity, in preparing the cure to the spider-powers virus. When Peter Parker tried to investigate the identity of "Number Six," he accidentally provoked Morbius—who had been using the cure to try to develop a basis for his own condition—into a frenzy, prompting the staff at Horizon to step up building security (making it harder for Peter to enter and exit the building as Spider-Man in future) and also driving Morbius to leave, where it was revealed that he had been working with the Lizard, presumably trying to find a cure for both of their conditions. Using DNA samples from the corpse of Billy Connors, Morbius was able to create a cure that would restore the Lizard to human form, but he failed to recognize that the Lizard had fully destroyed Curt Connors' human persona. They left the Lizard alone in Morbius' lab, allowing the Lizard to release blood into the lab's air supply to provoke the injured Morbius into attacking the other Horizon scientists. This prompted Morbius to flee the lab with Spider-Man in pursuit. Morbius was captured by Spider-Man and locked up in a cell in the Raft.

When Spider-Man in Doctor Octopus' dying body needs some supervillains to help capture Spider-Man (whose body is being occupied by Doctor Octopus' mind), Morbius offers to help, but is rejected. Morbius eventually escapes from the Raft, and flees to Brownsville.

Enemies and allies
Morbius was first introduced as a villain in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. He would return to battle Spider-Man over the years in the pages of Marvel Team-Up Vol.1 #3-4; Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #6-8 and #38; Morbius the Living Vampire #3-4 and #21-23; and later in Peter Parker, Spider-Man Vol.1 #77-80 and Vol.2 #8.

Spider-Man and Morbius formed an uneasy alliance during the Maximum Carnage crossover series.

Blade the Vampire Hunter and Morbius have had an on-going feud which began in Adventure into Fear #24. The two also clashed in Marvel Preview #8, Blade the Vampire Hunter #8, Blade Vol.1 #2-3, and Blade Vol.4 #5. Blade, while possessed by a demonic presence, killed Morbius in Morbius the Living Vampire #12, but Morbius was resurrected in Spirits of Vengeance #13.

Simon Stroud, a rogue CIA agent first introduced in the pages of Creatures on the Loose, has been hunting Morbius since Adventure into Fear #27. Stroud and Morbius last clashed in Morbius the Living Vampire #23.

During the run of Morbius the Living Vampire, Morbius crossed paths with a handful of brand new foes. They included: Vic Slaughter (introduced in issue #7), the Basilisk (Wayne Gifford) (introduced in issue #5), Doctor Paine (introduced in issue #4), and Bloodthirst (first seen in issue #20).[43] During this same period, Morbius also battled a new villain, called Bloodbath, in Midnight Sons Unlimited #2.[44]

Morbius has had a friendship with Jack Russell (Werewolf by Night) since West Coast Avengers #5, where Morbius helped Russell deal with his werewolf curse. Werewolf by Night was a frequent guest-star in the pages of Morbius the Living Vampire. Together with Man-Thing and Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), they formed the short-lived Legion of Monsters.

Morbius and Doctor Strange have teamed-up on several occasions. Morbius appeared sporadically throughout the run of Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme, beginning with issue #10. Doctor Strange recruited Morbius as one of "the Nine" a.k.a. the Midnight Sons, a team with only one purpose: Earth's last defense against the occult.

Powers and abilities
Michael Morbius experienced a transformation by electrical shock treatment and chemical ingestion into a pseudo-vampire. As a pseudo-vampire, Morbius does not possess all the powers of an actual vampire, nor is he subject to all the traditional limitations and weaknesses thereof. He possesses a variety of superhuman powers, some of which are similar to supernatural vampires within the Marvel Universe. Due to his vampire-like condition, Morbius is forced to ingest fresh blood on a regular basis to sustain his life and vitality. How much blood he requires and how often he has to feed has not been specified in the comics. However, Morbius does not possess any of the mystical vulnerabilities that supernatural vampires are subject to, such as garlic, holy water, crucifix, or silver. Morbius has a strong aversion to sunlight, thanks to his photo-sensitive skin which prevents any protection from major sun burn, in contrast to "true" vampires that are incinerated by it, with the result that he can move in daylight but his powers are diminished and he will stick to the shade if circumstances demand him to be active during the day. Morbius also lacks the shape-shifting and weather-control powers, and the ability to control animals, of vampires. Like "true" vampires, Morbius does possess the ability to hypnotize beings of lesser willpower and bring them under his control, which can only be resisted by those possessing an extremely strong will. While briefly infected by the demon Bloodthirst, Morbius gained the ability to liquidize his body, moving through small spaces and stretching his limbs as needed. He lost these abilities when he and Bloodthirst split.

Morbius possesses an accelerated healing factor and can recover from mild to moderate injuries at a rate beyond that of ordinary humans. While not nearly as efficient as the healing powers possessed by Wolverine, Morbius has proven able to heal from multiple gunshot wounds in less than an hour. More severe injuries, such as broken bones or severe burns, might take several days to heal, but once was shown to take minutes even though it left him as a near-mindless creature who must feed to replenish the energy that was used to do so. He is unable to regenerate missing limbs or organs.

Most of Morbius' victims die or are severely injured by his bite. Unlike supernatural vampires, Morbius' victims do not necessarily become vampires themselves. There have only been six instances where Morbius' bite has turned other individuals into vampires: Jefferson Bolt (a young man first seen in Marvel Team-Up #3), Emilio (a young man first shown in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #7), Vic Slaughter (a bounty hunter who first appeared in Morbius the Living Vampire #7), Nate Grey (in X-Man #24), Roxy (a junkie dying of a drug overdose in Legion of Monsters: Morbius #1) and Blade the vampire hunter (in Peter Parker: Spider-Man #8). The causes behind these transformations have never been clearly explained, even though in Blade's case, Morbius' bite combined with his unique physiology to turn him into a part-vampire with all the strengths of a traditional vampire and none of the weaknesses.

The irradiated blood of Spider-Man causes Morbius's vampirism to go into remission. As a result, after drinking Spider-Man's blood, Morbius does not need to feed again for some time. Morbius once developed a serum based on Spider-Man's blood, undefined which would stave off his vampirism for short periods of time.

Morbius possesses the ability of transvection, navigating wind currents and gliding for various distances. In Morbius the Living Vampire #2, it was alluded to that this ability may be related to hyper-evolved portions of his brain caused by a combination of his blood disease and vampiric condition.

Even before he contracted the disease of pseudo-vampirism, Michael Morbius already possessed a gifted intellect, and he is an expert biologist, biochemist and neuroradiologist with a Ph.D. in biochemistry, and a Nobel laureate. He also attended medical school, where he specialized in hematology.

Trivia

 * Morbius is very similar to Dr. Curtis Connors, a scientist & ally of Spider-Man, who he also once fought.