Over the past 50 years, Morbius, the Living Vampire has made quite the blood-curdling transition over the years. Much like the more well-known Venom, Morbius began as a villain for Marvel's Spider-Man. His vampiric origins made him perfect for this role, and it also reflected trends in the comic book industry at the time. This tendency to drain his victims dry, however, wouldn't permanently define Morbius.
Much like Venom, Morbius became an antihero on his own, engaging in heroic horror-filled adventures without the involvement of Spider-Man. These stories would typically feature other monstrous Marvel mainstays such as Ghost Rider and Blade the Vampire Hunter. Now primed to bite into the big screen next year, here's how Morbius turned his lust for blood into a thirst for justice.
How Mobius Fought Spider-Man
Morbius debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #101, by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, shortly after the content-dictating Comics Code Authority loosened lessons about vampires in mainstream comics. Thus, a wave of Marvel horror characters debuted around this time, a group that also included Man-Thing, Blade and Ghost Rider. Whereas other horror characters were or dealt with the outright supernatural, Morbius, on the other hand, was a "living vampire." This scientific origin reflected the sci-fi themes of Spider-Man and his world.
Michael Morbius was an immigrant from Greece who was born with a debilitating blood disease. In his adulthood, his scientific acumen saw him trying to cure the sickness with vampire bat DNA and electroshock therapy. Unfortunately, this mutated him and his blood into a scientific facsimile of supernatural vampires, making his appearance bat-like and giving him incredible powers such as superhuman strength, flight and an inhuman taste for blood.
This origin story was very similar to that of the Lizard, who he faced along with Spider-Man in his debut story. Though he was clearly a bad guy when he faced Spider-Man, his somewhat tragic nature meant that he could be retooled in the pages of Adventure Into Fear.
Morbius and the Midnight Sons
A few years after his introduction and a few skirmishes with other Marvel heroes, Morbius would become the main character of the horror anthology comic Adventure Into Fear starting with its 20th issue. Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane, Steve Gerber and Doug Moench followed his more heroic acts of defending women against demons and a satanic cult. These new stories had him in the protagonist's seat, without Spider-Man or the more colorful world of superheroes anywhere in sight. Traveling to different worlds and facing hordes of vampires of his own creation, Morbius came into his own as a figure who, while still feeding on blood, was not truly a villain anymore. He would fight against -- and later with -- Blade and the Werewolf by Night, with the group also uniting with Ghost Rider for one adventure.
His appearances would become sporadic following the horror boom of the 1970s, with one story seeing him fight Spider-Man once more. In the dark and gritty '90s, Morbius would reunite with many former allies to form the Midnight Sons. Still, Morbius' bloodthirst was great, and he briefly fed on the blood of the innocent before Ghost Rider forced him to do otherwise.
Since then, Morbius has been a begrudging ally to Spider-Man, especially following the events of Maximum Carnage. He's had friendships with Werewolf by Night and Doctor Strange, with the former understanding him due to his similar curse. This bloodsucking edge, when combined with his otherwise heroic heart, make for a great tragic antihero. It's no wonder that Morbius will now be a part of Sony's cinematic Spider-Man Universe, though how blurred the line will be between his defending and ravaging that world remains to be seen.