MORBIUS

 

MORBIUS

Real Name: Michael Morbius

First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #101, October 1971

Powers: Dr. Michael Morbius was a Nobel Prize-winning biologist attempting to cure himself of a rare blood disease when he accidentally transformed himself into Morbius the Living Vampire. His biochemical formula was derived from bat enzymes, and the electrical charge that catalyzed the formula in his system gave Michael the ability to stave off his degenerative blood disorder by absorbing fresh blood through vampirism. Like a true vampire, Morbius had hollow fangs able to pierce the necks of his victims and suck out their blood. He experienced a psychological hunger for blood as well, one so strong that he was eventually deemed criminally insane by the courts because of it. Morbius' body changed in several ways as well. He developed superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, and resilience. He could initially lit around 1,500 lbs, although that may have increased over time. He also possessed extraordinary recuperative powers, allowing him to recover from multiple gunshot wounds in a matter of minutes. Although he was otherwise as vulnerable to harm as a normal man, Morbius possessed none of the peculiar vulnerabilities of vampires such as silver, garlic, religious symbols or running water. The one exception was his photo-sensitive skin, which caused the ultraviolet light of the sun to burn into his flesh at the slightest contact. His transformation also stimulated Morbius's latent capacity for psychic power, giving him the power of psychokinetic levitation, allowing him to glide soundlessly through the sky. In addition to his fangs, he also developed sharpened fingernails, chalk-white skin, blood red eyes, and a deformed nose. Years later, being struck by lightning after having sucked out some of Spider-Man's radioactive blood reversed Michael's mutation, turning him back into a normal man.

Michael Morbius became a Living Vampire again thanks to Marie LaVeau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, who needed him for her own purposes. Shortly thereafter, Morbius' physiology was radically altered. A doctor had supposedly developed a cure for Michael's condition, but had actually manipulated the formula so that it would kill Morbius. Unaware of the doctor's duplicity, the demon mother Lilith had one of her brethren poison the formula with his own demon blood. Miraculously, the two deadly agents somehow combined in Morbius's system to increase his powers instead of killing him. He developed a hypnotic stare similar to a true vampire, allowing him to impress his will on other people through eye contact. Morbius could paralyze people into a trance-like state, alter their memories or perceptions with a hypnotic suggestion, or compel them to carry out specific actions. Michael also became capable of distending himself, reducing his body to an almost fluid-like state. This allowed him to "flex" with impact, absorbing it like a trampoline, squeeze through chain link fences or impossibly tight cracks, ooze under doorways, and bend and stretch his body in inhuman ways. It also increased his ability to regenerate and recover from wounds. Morbius also demonstrated a highly acute sense of smell and blood-tracking ability, enabling him to detect the scent of fresh blood in his vicinity, or spot and follow virtually invisible traces of blood across several city blocks. He apparently already had some aspect of this ability beforehand, linked to his hunger, but it was now much more pronounced.

This modified serum also enabled him to re-assume his normal state. After retesting the original serum and administering the properly calibrated dosages, Morbius found that he could revert back to normal between feedings. Drinking blood now reversed some of his more pronounced physical features: the oversized fangs, distorted nose, and so on. Furthermore, a dose of serum administered after he had properly fed would fully reverse his changes. This transformation was total: Not only did his physical abnormalities vanish, and his sensitivity to light, but Morbius also lost his super-strength, hypnotism, flight and other powers. His full vampiric form would return with his hunger for blood after roughly several hours. The degeneration caused by the blood disease triggered the physiological need for blood, which in turn reversed his transformation so that he would be capable of feeding that need. The time period was variable as he continued modifying the formula to extend the length of his "normality". Sufficiently strong adrenal activity, such as that caused by pain or rage, could also accelerate the end of the serum, causing Morbius to revert back to his vampiric state and powers sooner than expected.

Over time, though, Morbius developed new problems. The Lilin aspect in his blood developed into a sentient parasite, influencing him from within. This parasite, called eventually named Bloodthrist, could possess Morbius for periods of time when his bloodlust was strongest, causing him to experience blackouts. This worsened after Morbius was killed by Switchblade and then brought back to life by the power of the Darkhold, apparently immortal now yet without a soul. This also prevented Morbius from properly assuming his normal form as well. Eventually, he managed to filter Bloodthrist's parasitic form completely out of his blood supply. A later serum apparently gave Morbius full benefits for a few brief weeks -- his bloodlust was completely gone, while he maintained a normal human form and all his superhuman powers during the day. At night, he developed bloodshot eyes, claws and fangs, but that was all. This serum apparently was unstable, though, as he reverted to the standard Morbius soon after.

Michael Morbius holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry. A gifted intellect, he is an expert biochemist and neuroradiologist.