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Morbius Reading Order, Marvel’s Living Vampire

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Michael Morbius is a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and a living vampire in the Marvel Universe. Introduced as an enemy of Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October 1971), Morbius became a tragic antihero.

After years of experimentation to eliminate his rare blood disease, he thought he had found a cure, but the side effects changed him dramatically. Now, he has enhanced senses, an aversion to light, and an insatiable thirst for blood. He is not dead. He is a kind of Dhampir, not really a vampire or a mortal human.

Created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Morbius is more of a scientific creature than a supernatural one—like the lizard. After a few encounters with Spider-Man, he became the star of his own feature in Marvel’s bimonthly for a while, then he went on to make guest appearances here and there for a long time. He made a comeback during the 1990s. During the next two decades, Morbius joined teams, appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man, and sometimes in his own miniseries.

Morbius Reading Order:

The way Morbius found his place in the Marvel Universe could have created difficulties for those who wanted to read about his adventures during the 1970s, but the 2022 movie led Marvel to offer new collected editions of those stories.

  • Morbius the Living Vampire Omnibus
    Collects Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #101-102; Marvel Team-Up (1972) #3-4; Fear (1970) #20-31; Giant-Size Werewolf (1974) #4; Giant-Size Super-Heroes (1974) #1; Marvel Premiere (1972) #28; Marvel Two-In-One (1974) #15; Spectacular Spider-Man (1976)# 6-8, 38; Savage She-Hulk (1980) #9-12; Vampire Tales (1973) #1-5, 7-8, 10-11; Marvel Preview (1975) #8.

The same stories, but in the Epic Collection:

  • Morbius Epic Collection: The Living Vampire
    Collects Amazing Spider-Man #101–102, Marvel Team-Up #3–4, Fear #20-26, Giant-Size Super-Heroes (1974) #1, and material from Vampire Tales (1973) #1-8, Giant-Size Werewolf #4.
  • Morbius Epic Collection: The End of a Living Vampire
    Collects Fear #27-31, Marvel Premiere #28, Marvel Two-in-One #15, Spectacular Spider-Man #6-8, 38, Savage She-Hulk #9-12, and material from Vampire Tales #9-11, Super Annual #1; Marvel Preview #8.

Morbius’s Guest Appearances during the 1980s

First, with Dr. Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), Bruce Banner (the Hulk), and Walter Langkowski (Sasquatch), Dr Michael Morbius is one of the experts called with Sue Richards’s pregnancy problems in:

Then, Morbius was working on a cure for Jack Russell’s transformations into the Werewolf by Night in

After that, Morbius made some cameos again in Fantastic Four (#315-317), before entering the world of Doctor Strange. First in:

Then, the important story of that period, as part of The Vampiric Verses storyline (#14-18, 20) in which Morbius teams up with Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo to fight vampires.

As the 1990s began, Morbius must face Spider-Man again in the 2-part Sub-City storylines:

Rise of Midnight Sons!

Former Ghost Rider Blaze joins Ketch, his successor, and fellow Sons including Morbius (obviously!), Blade, the Nightstalkers, and the Darkhold Redeemers in the fight against Lilith, Mother of Demons, and her horrifying progeny! 

  • Spirits of Vengeance Rise of Midnight Sons
    Collects Ghost Rider (1990) #28 And #31, Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits Of Vengeance #1-6, Morbius: The Living Vampire (1992) #1, Darkhold: Pages From The Book Of Sins #1, Nightstalkers #1, Web Of Spider-Man (1985) #95-96 And Material From Midnight Sons Unlimited #1. 

With this crossover event, the new Morbius: The Living Vampire ongoing series was launched. It lasted for 35 issues that have not been collected yet. Some issues can still be found here and there because of crossovers like:

Morbius became an ally to Spider-Man to find the Symbiote Carnage during the famous Maximum Carnage storyline.

  • Amazing Spider-Man Epic Collection: Maximum Carnage
     Collects Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #378-380, Web of Spider-Man (1985) #101-103, Spider-Man (1990) #35-37, Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #201-203, Spider-Man/Punisher/Sabretooth: Designer Genes (1993) one-shot, material from Spider-Man Unlimited (1993) #1-2.

The Siege of Darkness crossover event is not yet collected (it includes 31 issues from multiple series including Morbius: The Living Vampire, Nightstalkers, Ghost Rider, and Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance, Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme). In it, Morbius is possessed by a demon known as Bloodthirst. He and his alter ego started working with Lilith against Caretaker, Ghost Rider, John Blaze, Vicci Montesi, Sam Bucanion, Vengeance, and Doctor Strange.

After that, Morbius had to deal with another Symbiote in:

  • Venom: The Enemy Within
     Collects Venom: The Enemy Within #1-3, but also Venom: Funeral Pyre #1-3, Venom: The Madness #1-3, Incredible Hulk & Venom #1.

With his own ongoing series behind him, Morbius went back to Spider-Man for a short storyline – Spider-Man (1990) #77-80 (not collected yet) – appeared in the new Blade series (Blade (1998) #2-3), and in Peter Parker, Spider-Man (1999) #8 before disappearing for a while.

Morbius resurfaced in 2004 in The Spectacular Spider-Man #14 (collected in The Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 3: Here There Be Monsters), then two years later in backup stories, like in Amazing Fantasy (2004) #17 or in Spider-Man Family #5 (this one is collected in Marvel-Verse: Morbius). In 2007, Morbius was the star of his one-shot Legion of Monsters: Morbius (collected in Legion of Monsters).

Most notably, Michael Morbius found his way to the Marvel Zombies Universe:

In the regular Marvel Universe, during the Dark Reign era, Morbius gave a new life to Frank Castle, transforming him into Franken-Castle. This storyline led Morbius to the Legion of Monsters miniseries.

After this, Morbius got back into Spider-Man’s World when he developed a cure for Curt “The Lizard” Connors’s condition, hoping to save himself at the same time. Things didn’t go as planned.

Not long after, another encounter with Spider-Man led Morbius to his new series (in 2013). Only 13 issues this time, though.

Once again, Morbius’s presence became limited to small guest appearances for a while, some Deadpool shenanigans, but also in Domino (#7-8) or Avengers (2018) #12. Most notably, he joined the Lethal Protectors during the Absolute Carnage crossover event.

  • Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors
    Collects Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors #1-3, Absolute Carnage: Avengers #1, stinger pages from Invaders #7, Avengers #22, Fantastic Four #11, Venom #15.

In 2020, with the announcement of the Morbius movie, Marvel launched a new miniseries: Morbius is the Living Vampire…but is he more? For years, Nobel Prize-winning biologist Dr. Michael Morbius has been struggling to find a cure for his unique case of vampirism. Now, for the first time in longer than he can remember, his salvation may be tantalizingly within reach! But the path to regaining his humanity is littered with dangers…and worse!

Morbius encounters Spider-Man again and even bites him in the Amazing Spider-Man Beyond arc, a time when Ben Reilly was Spidey. For more information see our Amazing Spider-Man Beyond reading order.

Morbius also stars in the very short story “Skin Crawl” which was part of the anthology Crypt of Shadow.

With vampires taking over the world, Morbius could not avoid being part of the Blood Hunt event, even if he only plays a small part in the Amazing Spider-Man – Blood Hunt tie-in miniseries in which he gets a chance to work on a new cure.

  • Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt
    Collects Amazing Spider-Man: Blood Hunt (2024) #1-3, Amazing Spider-Man (2022) #49, Miles Morales Spider-Man (2023) #21-22.

Did we forget an important issue? Did we make a mistake? Let us know in the comments!

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