Amazing Spider-Man #699.1
Michael Morbius watches from his cell as the Trapster, Hydro-Man and the Scorpion break Otto Octavius from his cell. Unaware that Spider-Man has been trapped in Otto’s body, Morbius is furious when “Otto” offers to free the Lizard over him.[1] When the Lizard rejects their offer, Morbius protests their departure. Applying pressure to his cell door, Morbius is surprised when it suddenly pops off its hinges.
Morbius decides to take the opportunity to flee. However as he exits his cell, Curt Connors speaks through the Lizard’s body, asking him what point there is in escaping as he has nobody to turn to and where he plans on going.[2] This is a question that has followed Michael Morbius his entire life and hearing it now causes his mind to drift back….
Years Ago
Michael was just a boy living in Nafplio, Greece when his mother first asked him this when he was trying to go out and play with friends. A sickly boy, his mother scolded him for thinking about going outside and ordered him back up to his room to study his books. He thinks about how back in those days his father, Makarioa Morbius, was a reknown artist who abandoned his family, leaving his upbringing to his mother and grandfather, who ran a book store. His mother kept Michael inside, telling the boy that it is for the best and that he’ll grow to understand someday.
He remembers how one evening he and his friend Emil Nikoes sneaked out in the middle of the night. The pair decided to go down to the docks to poke some dead fish with a stick. However, their evening didn’t go as planned when Emil convinced Michael to climb up on a retaining wall. Michel ended up falling and hurting himself while trying to leap from one section of wall to another. Michel ended up in casts and was reminded by his mother, once again, how important it is for him to stay inside. Emil, guilty over the injuries Michel sustained, Nikos vowed to make sure that Michael never got hurt again.
Emil stayed true to his word well into adulthood when Morbius began researching vampire bats to try and find a cure for his rare medical condition. At first, their research found a serum that provided results netting Morbius a Nobel Prize. However, he sent Nikos to accept it on his behalf. Emil learned why when he came home and discovered that Michael’s hand broke when he tried lifting a cup of tea as his illness was still very much alive in his system, despite their treatments. At the time, Emil insisted that they keep on working forwards finding a cure.
Time passed and eventually Martine Bancroft into his life. He remembers when he and Emil started doing their work aboard a rented yacht to test out Michael’s on a new hypothesis he had developed. Although Martine was concerned, she was certain that Michael is doing the right thing. That evening, Michael demanded that Emil conduct their next experiment on himself as his condition was getting worse and he didn’t have much time left. Emil reluctantly agreed, telling Michael that after this next test he was terminating their partnership because he did not like the unethical ground he was being forced to explore. However, when conducting the experiment, Morbius underwent a transformation that turned him into the psudo-vampire he is today. Getting some strange readings, Emil tried to shut down the experiment, however it was too late, Morbius had been fully transformed into a living vampire. The first thing he did was feed on Emil’s blood. After feasting on Emil’s blood, Morbius realizes what he had done and fled the scene.[3] He recalls how this led to his first battle with Spider-Man who, was attempting to cure himself of a mutation as well as find a cure for the Lizard.
He also thinks how, in more recent times, he found allies that were as twisted and broken as he was. They offered a reminder of his lost humanity and what parts of himself should remain caged.[4]
Now
When the Lizard against asks what Morbius is planning to do, Michael suggests that they go back to Horizon Labs for the cure he was developing there, the Connors points out that it left him in his state and suggests he should look elsewhere. With that, Morbius flees the scene, managing to escape from the Raft before security can lock down his cell block.
This story is continued in Morbius the Living Vampire (vol. 2) #1….
Recurring Characters
Morbius the Living Vampire, “Doctor Octopus”, the Lizard, Hydro-Man, Trapster, Makarioa Morbius, Martine Bancroft, Emil Nikos
Continuity Notes
For more on Spider-Man’s body swap with Doctor Octopus see Amazing Spider-Man #698-699
Curt Connors mind is strapped in the Lizard’s body as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #688-691.
For more on Morbius’ origins see Amazing Spider-Man #101-103.
This would be the “Midnight Sons” a loose knit group of supernatural heroes. See literally any supernatural book that Marvel put out in the 90s.
