The new trailer for Sony’s live-action Morbius is out, and fans are somewhat split over how this movie will turn out. While the powers and origin of the character seem to be present, the story itself comes across as a little standard as far as origin stories go. In preparation for the movie, one good thing to review would be who is the living vampire, Morbius, and how does he fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Debuting in 1971, Morbius first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #101. His appearance came after the Comics Code Authority lifted a ban on supernatural characters, such as vampires. Michael Morbius, the character, was originally from Greece. As a kid, he dealt with a rare blood disease that left him disabled. Fearful for his safety, his mother consistently kept him inside.
As he grew up, Michael searched for a cure to his disease alongside his friend Emil. Although the two made great progress in college and even earned a Nobel Prize for their research into vampire bats, they were still unable to find a cure for Michael’s disease. With his disease worsening, they rushed an experimental treatment involving electroshock therapy and vampire bats. This treatment went wholly wrong, however, and while Michael’s rare disease was cured, he was also infected with pseudo-vampirism.
Upon turning, Morbius’s sudden lust for blood caused him to strike out and drain his close friend Emil. After this, Morbius slowly learned to what extent his pseudo-vampirism had changed him. He had grown stronger, faster, and more agile. He could now fly due to his bones growing hollow as well. Despite all of these superpowers, he was also cursed with an unending thirst for blood, and his facial features altered to be more reminiscent of a bat.
Although very reminiscent of a vampire, Morbius remained living. As well, he doesn’t face the normal aversions seen with other vampires such as garlic, sunlight, or religious artifacts. His thirst for blood however cannot simply be ignored. Morbius feels a compulsion to feed, and although he has regenerative powers they don’t work nearly as well without having fed on the blood of the living.
He is also able to make other pseudo-vampires by feeding on them. These charges have many of the same powers as Morbius, however, they aren’t quite as strong. In addition, they present more like true vampires and act entirely on their bloodlust. They don’t have the same regenerative healing powers as Morbius though, and often die or turn to dust from regularly fatal wounds.
After becoming a living vampire, Morbius has encountered nearly every Marvel character under the sun. One of his most regular fights has been with Spider-Man. Spider-Man’s successful blending of human and spider DNA has led to many other failed hybrids attempting to find a solution in his blood, and Morbius is no different. The two have clashed numerous times, however, Morbius has only rarely succeeded.
In one run, Morbius was able to drink Spider-Man’s radioactive blood, but he was hit by a lightning bolt at the same time. With this, he was actually cured of his pseudo-vampirism, however, he did retain a thirst for blood. While human, Michael Morbius was put on trial for his crimes as the living vampire. His defense lawyer was actually Jennifer Walters, also known as She-Hulk, although her alter-ego was not publicly known at the time.
Morbius used knowledge of his own condition to create a serum that helped Jennifer gain control over her transformations, which up to that point had been sporadic. Following this, Morbius, unfortunately, regained his pseudo-vampirism. Morbius has also worked with Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch, both Ghost Riders, as part of the Midnight Sons. With this group, Morbius worked to stop Lilith: the mother of all demons.
Although the Morbius movie seems to be based solely on his origin story, there is the potential for the character to have the same far-reach that he does in the comics. In the recent trailer, he mentions Venom, a character that so far has not actually been introduced in the MCU continuity, as well as meets Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes, The Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming. These crossover influences, and the fact that this film is technically being released after Spider-Man: No Way Home’s multiversal interference, points toward the very likely possibility that this film takes place in whatever is left after the multiverses leak into each other.
This element of the world means that at this point there is the possibility for nearly any character to be introduced. With that in mind, it’s certainly possible that Morbius could be shown to team up with the likes of Ghost Rider or She-Hulk, especially considering those are already properties in the works and canon. There is the chance that this will simply serve as an origin story for a Spider-Man villain, however, the trailer does make it somewhat look as though this will be an anti-hero origin. While Morbius has played this role before in comics, he’s much better known as a villain and it would be interesting to see the film embrace this side of the character.
Morbius is set to release on January 28th, 2022 in theaters.