WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Morbius#1 by Vita Ayala, Marcelo Ferreira, Roberto Poggi, Dono Sanchez-Almara and Ryan Brown.
Morbius the Living Vampire has a history of being internally tortured and desperate to find some semblance of normalcy. However, in Morbius #1, his latest attempt to rid himself of his vampiric powers and appearance seemingly sets him back further than he's ever been.
Michael Morbius has experienced a ton of trauma in his life. Born with a rare blood condition, he spent most of his childhood locked away due to his ghastly appearance. After working through those issues, he becomes a respected, award-winning scientist. But, after trying to cure himself he makes matters worse, transforming into an even more hideous living vampire who must feast on blood to survive.
Morbius #1 picks up in a sketchy warehouse where a group of baddies, led by The Melter, are experimenting with a serum that's supposed to increase the powers of those who ingest it exponentially. Before anyone can use it, the warehouse is raided by a "monster." The Melter's men are violently picked off. Morbius takes down everyone, including Melter and expresses anger at the "greed and lust for power" leading them to abandon their virtue. Once everyone is down, Morbius destroys the lab's experiments, but not before taking a sample of the serum himself.
Back at his own lab, Morbius is keen on making himself human. He injects himself with the serum and immediately responds positively to it. He is overjoyed when his hunger disappears and his claws retract. He laughs uncontrollably as he's in awe of finally beating his past. It appears he's finally caught a break. Unfortunately for Morbius, despite initially getting his intended results of health and a diminishing hunger, his experimentation quickly goes downhill.
Morbius is overcome with pain as the serum navigates through his bloodstream. The hunger within him rushes through his body. Morbius curls into a ball on the floor before devolving into even more of a monster. His claws return, his spine and bones crunch as his body expands, and his fangs emerge even sharper and longer than before. The book ends with Morbius going through another transformation, only this time, it's much worse than his previous evolution. In his quest for peace and to be worthy, Morbius seems to have inadvertently made himself into even more of a monster.
Ayala leaves quite the cliffhanger. Did Morbius just make himself more vampiric and farther from the normalcy he desperately craves? Morbius' tragedy continues, made all the worse as he again thought he finally found a cure for his woes. How the serum affects Morbius going forward remains unknown, but what's clear is he's not done evolving.