MIDNIGHT SON

MORBIUS INTRODUCES A LIVING VAMPIRE INTO SONY’S SPIDER-MAN UNIVERSE

- DAVID GROVE

THE MAKERS OF MORBIUS – the third franchise in Sony’s ever-expanding Spider-Man Universe – want everyone to know that the title character, a brilliant scientist turned bloodsucker, isn’t a vampire. Well, not in the strict sense of the word, anyway. Rather, he is a living vampire, whose vampirism originates from biological, not supernatural, means.

Dr Michael Morbius, as played by Jared Leto, is afflicted with pseudo-vampirism, which imbues him with bloodlust and superhuman abilities, but almost none of the mystical weaknesses that have long plagued traditional vampires: crucifixes, garlic, holy water, stakes, silver… none of these cause him any problems.

That leaves sunlight, the bane of every true vampire’s existence. While Morbius indeed has a strong aversion to it, due to the photosensitive skin that accompanies his mutation, unlike true vampires which typically burst into flames at sunlight’s touch, he can move around in the daytime – although his powers are diminished whenever he strays out of the shade.

Like so many fictional, man-made monsters – certainly within the comic book universe – the horrific transformation of Morbius, who first appeared in the October 1971 issue of The Amazing Spider-Man, written by Roy Thomas, originates from a genuine although misguided effort on his part to change the world for the better.

The film opens with the Nobel Prizewinning biochemist attempting to find a cure for the rare blood disease that has tormented him all his life.