Morbius
Real Name Michael Morbius
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Born in Greece, Michael Morbius's childhood and early life were notable in only two regards: his parents had passed away by the time he had started his secondary education, and he was utterly brilliant, academically, with an incredible and revolutionary understanding of biology and biochemistry. After graduation, he earned his doctorate, developed and patented several unique catalytic processes, authored several notable books, partnered with another great mind by the name of Emil Nikos, leased his patents to several major medical companies and earned a fortune, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry, and still found time to gain a fiancee', Martine Bankroft. In short, life was busy, and life was good. Unfortunately, he was about to receive some very bad news that would end in horrible tragedy.
Dr. Morbius had been feeling run down and ill for a time. A routine check-up revealed that something he had feared for years had come to pass. He had developed a very rare and fatal genetic condition. Hereditary, it affected the production of blood cells, leading inevitably to a total collapse of his immune system, ability to transport oxygen, nutrient transport...essentially, a lingering fall into decrepitude, then death. Michael Morbius was a brilliant man, prideful, and impatient. Deciding to keep his condition a secret from Martine, he consulted with Nikos, and set out to treat and potentially cure his condition using gene therapy. He thought he could handle it, he thought he could cure himself, marry Martine, and go with his life. He was very, very wrong.
His condition deteriorated as a cure eluded him and Emil. Starting to get desperate, he turned to radical new treatments: disease resistance in animals, genetic restructuring using additional energy input, conversion of tissue types, he plumbed the depths of experimental knowledge. Until one night, on a boat he had set up as a mobile lab, with Emil and Martine on board, he proceeded with his latest, and most radical experiment yet.
Using a serum derived from vampire bats and powered by direct electrical current, he succeeded in radically altering his own genetic code. His condition was altered beyond recognition, and so was he. Dormant superhuman genes and powers became active while his body restructured itself radically, using the bat DNA as sort of a template, optimized to -take- the blood his own body was becoming less and less capable of producing. Emil Nikos was the first victim of the pseudo-vampiric monster Michael Morbius had become. But when he stalked into where Martine was sleeping, his somewhat-sated humanity returned for a moment, and in anguish and guilt, he threw himself overboard, trying to drown himself. But as he swam down, heightened survival instincts came to the fore, amplified by a religious faith which condemned suicide, and he swam to the surface, then turned to the city. Additional victims would soon follow.
For the next few years, the creature that was once Dr. Morbius stalked the streets and countryside of the United States, his mental state in flux. At times he was a slavering, animalistic killer, at others, he was surprisingly controlled and rational despite his body's new requirements.
Early on, he ran across the six-armed Spider-Man and the Lizard and somehow, his bite enabled Connors to control the Lizard for a time. He also battled the Human Torch, the original X-Men, then discovered that certain components in Spider-Man's blood helped control his bloodthirst. In order to get at the webslinger again, he engineered the transformation of John Jameson back into the Man-Wolf. Upon his defeat, he fled. His sanity returning somewhat, he traveled across the country, searching for a cure. He came across a young woman named Amanda Saint, whose sister and boyfriend were members of the cult, Demon-Fire, composed of human cultists led by a circle of demon-possessed, supernaturally-powerful individuals. This was his first encounter with the supernatural as he battled the cult across the United States, from California to Maine to Nevada. Eventually defeating them with the help of some locals who had fallen afoul of the cult (and a liberal quantity of dynamite), he continued his wandering.
He then managed to encounter the Caretakers of Arcturus IV, members of the Fortisquian race (another of whom, Max, would empower the Comet Man) created by the Beyonders, who had decided to look after and guide humanity. These beings claimed to have created the first werewolf, influenced the creation of the Cat People (who themselves helped create Tigra), mentored the Maha Yogi and the Sphinx, and more.
One of the four original Caretakers had become separated from the others and came up with the identity of the Reverend Daemond, his goal to bring humanity into sorcery and the mystical. Morbius came across him and a rabbi, Krause, who attemped to cure Morbius's condition. Daemond revealed his true nature, seized control of Morbius, had him kill the rabbi, then sent the living vampire to kill a woman named Tara who was actually a young girl created by the three Caretakers. She was actually a psychic vampire who fed on misery and conflict and seemed compelled to escalate it globally. Tara was a prototype of the Children of the Comet, a race of engineered super-men who would join with humanity and guide its progress. This conflict reached a head as Tara took control of the Children of the Comet, sent them after all the Fortisquians, explained her true nature to Morbius, who then attacked and killed her (possibly at her urging). The entire alien base was destroyed by her death-throes, leaving Morbius the only survivor. He continued his wanderings.
The machinations of the Caretakers would not end with their deaths, and Morbius found himself traveling to the Land Within, home of the mystical Cat People and the ruined world of Arcturus IV, whence the Caretakers had come. Shortly after this, he first encountered Blade, who at first mistook him for an actual vampire. They parted on bad terms.
Upon his return to Earth, he encountered, for the first time, the creatures he had so often been mistaken for - vampires. The Brotherhood of Judas sought to rule England by using select individuals as their agents. They wanted Morbius due to his expertise in the sciences and medical field. Using a double-agent named Morgana St. Clair (who claimed to be a vampire hunter), they lured Morbius into a ritual where they drained a priest to infiltrate the church. Upon learning of Morgana's duplicity, Morbius used a giant candelabra to set the coven on fire and staked the priest with a wooden cross at the dying man's request.
Meanwhile, Martine, who had of course learned what had happened to her fiancee', had not given up hope. After Morbius had run across fellow sufferer Jack Rusell, the Werewolf by Night, Martine used the last of the Nobel Prize money (which she had access to through a shared account) to purchase the Mason House, located just outside Boston, for the privacy needed to search for a cure. Unfortunately, two bad things happened: CIA agent Simon Stroud, seeking a "vampire killer" in Boston, looked to Morbius as a suspect, the house contained a portal to the dimension of the demon, Helleyes. After ending up in Helleyes' dimension searching for the missing Martine, Stroud and Morbius teamed up and defeated the demon, returning to Earth.
Meanwhile, Martine had benn taken and attacked by the "vampire killer" and transformed into a being not unlike Morbius himself. Using a serum derived fron his own blood, he cured her, then fled from her, trying desperately to keep her safe from the dangerous insanity his life had become. He confronted Spider-Man during one of his less stable periods, then joined with Jack Russell, the Man-Thing, and the the Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze's version) as the "Legion of Monsters" to investigate a giant space-mountain that had landed near LA, sending out destructive shockwaves. It was a debacle, with the blood-crazed Morbius and Werewolf attacking the benevolent Starseed (long story, ancient human survivor using alien tech), Ghost Rider and Man-Thing trying to help, but the terrified Starseed was inadvertantly burned to death by the Man-Thing, but briefly returned all 4 cursed individuals to human form, but it didn't last.
As he wandered still more, the otherdimensional invader, the Living Eraser, came to Earth and was pretty much immediately attacked by a starving Living Vampire. The Thing, investigating the incident, fought Morbius, but the Living Eraser sent both of them to a Dimension Z prison. They teamed up with several natives of that dimension, escaped to Earth, stopped the Living Eraser (who Morbius tried to feed from), and, in anguish, Morbius used the Eraser's Dimensionizer to flee to another nearby dimension (to protect humanity from himself) where he was attacked by an artificial being called the Empathoid, who seized control of him and forced his return to Earth and sent him on a rampage so it could feed on the terror and panic generated. Spider-Man intervened, the Empathoid possessed him, battled Morbius, and ended up in a football stadium where the massive emotional surge sent the android dormant.
His next encounter with the wall-crawler happened atop a Long Island mansion, where, hit by a lightning bolt whole feeding from Spider-Man, went into near-remission, returning mostly to human form.
He headed to LA, found work in a neuroradiology lab at the University of California and, while working on a final cure, met the She=Hulk, who was suffering from a degenerative condition. He gave her his serum, which cured her and let her control her transformations. In gratitude, she became his defense attourney and he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter (due to the massive neurochemical changes wrought in him) and sentenced to five years after finishing his cure. He served a short stint and was paroled for good behavior. Back in LA, he became Jack Russell's doctor and helped him control his transformations (often by prescribing massive doses of thorazine to sedate the Werewolf) and even helped the West Coast Avengers with information on the Cat People.
But this better life was not to last. His condition relapsed and, after failing to get help from Dr. Strange, he fell in with a community of humans in the Morlock tunnels who fetched "bad people" for him to feed on. An encounter with Spider-Man demonstrated that the inbred Subhumans had been bringing him random victims and Morbius fled in guilt.
Around this time, the Ghost Rider (Daniel Ketch) and John Blaze started to seek him out in preparation for an upcoming battle with the demon-mother Lilith. With Martine's help, they captured the ravaged, starving Morbius during daylight and brought him to Dr. David Langford to be treated and cured.
Dr. Langford was actually in the employ of a Dr. Paine, an insane researcher with damaged nerves who experimented on living subjects, who wanted Morbius's research for himself. Langford was to poison Morbius and make it look like a genuine attempt to cure him. However, at the same time, one of Lilith's children (a Lilim) called Fang, snuck into the lab and put his demon-tainted blood in the mix. Normally a deadly toxin in its own right, it altered the serum, and Morbius, crazed with pain, fled into the brightening dawn. Blinded and in mutational flux, he sought out an old colleague, Dr. Jacob Weisenthal, for help. He actually transformed back into human form, but it was unstable. Needed a sample of the serum, he stopped to secure better protective clothing than his tattered 'costume' and, clad in a heavy leather outfit, headed back to the lab. Meanwhile, Martine discovered Langford on the phone with Paine and, wanting to silence witnesses, Langford fatally shot her. Morbius arrived just in time for her to die in his arms and then, he did the unthinkable. His physiology overwhelmed him and he fed from Martine's still-warm remains.
In crazed grief, he vowed that this would be the end. He would take his own life after having his revenge. He tracked down Langford, who was surrounded by Paine's armed thugs and slaughtered them in short order, slaking his thirst on a panicked Langford. He then paused, considering the serum he had found and the fact that this time, he had felt no guilt in killing...and then the lab exploded from a booby trap. The serum fell to the street with a desperate Morbius in pursuit, to be caught by the Ghost Rider. The Rider, curious, subjected Morbius to his Penance Stare. The result was rather unique, as having long ago accepted his guilt and the harm he had caused, Morbius simply experienced a vision of those whose lives he had taken, but recovered moments later. The Rider asked Morbius what was to be done, and the now somewhat more sane Living Vampire vowed to only seek out the guilty to sustain him.
Robbing a bank to secure funds from old accounts (and leaving two signed checks pinned to the steel vault to cover the withdrawal and damages), Morbius and Weisenthal created a penthouse lair for the pseudo-vampire, outfitted with experimental equipment, dialysis machines, a hyperbaric chamber (rather like a high-tech coffin), and other means to treat and control his condition, rather than cure it. Able to return to human appearance using a modified serum (so long as he has fed), Morbius and Weisenthal concocted the identity of "Dr. Morgan Michaels" and he now works in the hematology department of St. Jude's. While banked blood cannot sustain him, it can "take the edge off" and gives him access to supplies, a lab, privacy, additional funds, and an ear to the street. Stealing a sample of Spider-Man's blood in an encounter (as it had stabilized him in the past), he refined his formula even further. Now Morbius, the Living Vampire, stalks the night in New York City, preying on the guilty and trying to find new direction in his existence.

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Media

Date Title Characters Summary
07/11/12 20:00 Music of the Night Vaughn Keith Blindfold Morbius Gypsy Moth Ambrose An interesting mix of people find themselves at a rave in an abandoned warehouse.
08/06/12 12:00 Heavy Metal Horde Finale 5: Omega Squad Assault on Ultron American Dream, Morbius, Human Torch, Hercules, Cyclops, Sunpyre, NPCS: Wasp, Giant Man, Ultron The last and in many ways most vital team to the concerted, coordinated efforts of all of the heroes on this fateful day, the Omega Squad bring together every major hero team and more. Their job is to reach the originator of the Heavy Metal Horde and put an end to this threat to all life on Earth. They must face … ULTRON!
08/20/2012 Living Legend meets Living Vampire Captain America, Morbius Cap runs across Morbius after stopping a drug-dealer. Dark doings are discussed.
11/26/12 Incognito and back in town. Isotopic Man, Dagger, Morbius Isotopic Man meets Dagger, while the Living Vampire notices something strange…
12/21/12 A Very Sombre Tyrannosaur Christmas: Armand, Blindfold, Cloak, Dagger, Morbius, Phantasm, Rex, Scarlet Witch Scenes from the final concert from Rex's charity concert series. Red Mask is revealed.
2009/05/30 19:00 Dragonslayers Morbius Dr. Morbius follows Gabriel into the museum and witnesses a strange exchange within the museum walls (time jump converted)
2009/07/26 13:00 Dragonslayers: Reunion Morbius, Gabriel, Dr. Marinos Dr. Michaels spots some familiar faces from an investigation at the place he works… (time jump converted)
2009/08/17 22:00 The Most Agressive Anti-Smoking Campaign Ever Morbius, Human Torch Dr. Michaels has a conversation with Dr. Marinos. And then he's having to save Dr. Marinos. (time jump converted)
2009/09/07 Following Up on a Hot Lead Morbius and Human Torch Morbius stops by to talk to Johnny about the car bombing at the hospital (time jump converted)

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