The Midnight Sons
Soon after Spider-Man and Morbius' confrontation in the sewers, Johnny Blaze and the new Ghost Rider (whose human host is Danny Ketch) learn that Lilith has returned to Earth and intends to lay waste to humanity with help from her children and descendants, Lilin. Ghost Rider experiences a vision of several individuals who together can oppose Lilith, an alliance known as "the Nine" or "the Midnight Sons". Seeing that Morbius is one of the Midnight Sons, the Ghost Rider and Blaze track him down with the aid of Martine Bancroft and her ally, Dr. David Langford, a biochemist she hopes can cure Morbius at last. Secretly, Langford is working with a villainous scientist named Dr. Thaddeus Paine who intends to kill Morbius and then conduct research on his mutated body; Langford's "cure" will actually simply kill. Not knowing this, and wishing to sabotage the effort to help Morbius, Lilith sends one of her Lilin to use their own demonic Lilin blood to poison Langford's serum.[2]
After a brief battle with the Ghost Rider and Blaze, Morbius is subdued and taken to Langford's lab, where he is given the phony cure. The result of Langford's serum mixed with demonic Lilin blood creates a new mutagenic agent, altering Morbius' abilities and appearance while also largely restoring his sanity and his true personality. Confused by his new state, Morbius seeks out his old friend and colleague, Dr. Jacob Weisenthal, a general practitioner. Meanwhile, Martine discovers Langford's treachery and he kills her. Morbius arrives moments later, feeding on Langford and then realizing he feels no guilt over ending the life of a corrupt and remorseless killer. When the Ghost Rider and Blaze arrive on the scene, Morbius explains the situation and vows he is not an enemy of the innocent. From now on, if he must feed on living people, it will be "the blood of the guilty", villains "who deserve to die".[2] The Ghost Rider accepts this, warning Morbius that this vow may not be easy to follow. Days later, Morbius and the other Midnight Sons hold their first official alliance meeting and join forces against Lilith.[43] Despite his agreement to fight Lilith, Morbius is immediately looked on with suspicion by the Midnight Sons known as the Nightstalkers, a trio of vampire hunters and occult investigators that includes Hannibal King (whose true undead vampirism has returned), the dhampir (or "half-vampire") Blade, and Frank Drake, the last living mortal descendant of Dracula.[43]
Over the next year, Morbius confronts several new foes, including Dr. Paine,[13] Basilisk (Wayne Gifford),[14] Vic Slaughter,[15] Bloodthirst,[16] and Bloodbath.[17] During the initial battle with the bounty hunter Vic Slaughter and his team of mercenaries the Hardcases, Martine Bancroft's tombstone is damaged by gunfire. Enraged, Morbius kills the Hardcases and drains Slaughter of some blood, but then buries the villain alive rather than killing him outright. Morbius leaves, believing his bite no longer infects people with partial pseudo-vampirism. Morbius then later discovers that if he drains a certain amount of blood from a victim, the infection of his bite is actually more powerful than it was before. Vic Slaughter rises from near-death as a new pseudo-vampire, his powers and abilities equal to those of Morbius.[44]
Despite not being trusted by many of them, Morbius continues to join the Midnight Sons in battles against evil whenever they need his help. He also aids Spider-Man, Venom, the Black Cat and other superheroes against a gang of supervillains led by spree killers Carnage and Shriek during the crossover event called Maximum Carnage.[45] During a battle with the dream-empowered demon Nightmare, Morbius learns that his new mutation due to demon blood has made him immortal in the traditional sense, meaning he can die from injury but no longer ages.[46] Soon afterward, Blade is bitten by Morbius and temporarily becomes a true undead vampire called Switchblade. He kills several allies, including Morbius.[47] Soon afterward, Blade is cured of his vampirism and his victims are magically restored back to life, including Morbius.[48]
From Dr. Paine, Morbius learns that his blood disease is not in full remission and will still eventually kill him despite constantly feeding on fresh blood and his otherwise impressive regenerative abilities.[13] With help from Jacob Weisenthal, Morbius researches how to at least alleviate his condition if a cure is impossible. With newly obtained samples of Spider-Man's radioactive blood, Morbius and Weisenthal create an "anti-viral" serum that restores his human form for several hours at a time. Now able to operate for part of the day as a normal man, Morbius creates the cover identity of Dr. Morgan Michaels and attains a job as a hematologist at St. Jude's Memorial Hospital in New York.[15] As a hematologist, Morbius is able to steal collected blood donations to briefly alleviate his bloodlust in between feeding on living people, although the preservatives and anti-coagulants used with donated blood means it will poison Morbius if he ingests too much of it. He also attains a hyperbolic chamber and dialysis equipment, allowing him to oxygenate his blood and cleanse his system as he sleeps.[15]
Jack Russell tracks Morbius to St. Jude's Hospital, offering to help the man learn how to live with his newest mutation rather than attempt to fight it. Morbius refuses this viewpoint, arguing that being a pseudo-vampire is a curse he should not accept.[47] Later, fearing his condition is worsening, Morbius attempts to cure himself with "necro-technology" used by the Nightstalkers, but this fails. Morbius also attempts feeding on the blood of the true undead vampire and detective Hannibal King to see if it satisfies his bloodlust, only to discover that his body simply rejects vampire blood because it is "lifeless".[49]
At the hospital, Morbius meets, and is romantically pursued by, Mandy Tyler, the executive administrative assistant of the hospital's hematology department. Mandy later learns of Morbius' true nature and tells him she accepts it. On a date, Mandy reveals she is part of a private fetish club whose members emulate true undead vampires by drinking blood. Morbius meets the club's leader, Brian DeWolff. Formerly the vigilante called Wraith, DeWolff is secretly using his psionic powers to turn the club members into followers who will perform terrorist acts against the NYPD. With the help of the cyborg Deathlok, Morbius halts the "vampire cult" from committing a terrorist bombing and then seemingly kills DeWolff.[50]
Thanks to traces of Lilin blood still in Morbius' body, the spirit of a Lilin called Bloodthirst begins guiding Morbius' mind. Bloodthirst influences Morbius to use the Darkhold, a book of corrupt magic, to resurrect Martine Bancroft. Morbius then realizes this was a scheme by the Lilin, who use Martine's body so that one of their own, a being called Parasite, may now have a body.[51] Bloodthirst then takes full possession of Morbius' body and attacks the Midnight Sons with the help of Martine/Parasite. With help from Doctor Strange, Morbius reasserts control over his own body. To defeat Parasite, Morbius then kills Martine's body, forcing the Lilin spirit out of her so it can be destroyed. Later, Martine's true spirit is revived and restored to her body, but the resurrection process leaves her a true undead vampire, unable to feel touch. She also claims to lack her full ability to experience emotions, including the love she used to have for Morbius.[51] Martine moves into Morbius' home, but becomes frustrated by her new condition.[16] Soon afterward, Morbius expels the traces of Lilin blood in his body so that Bloodthirst cannot influence him further. Bloodthirst is able to manifest a new body of a true undead vampire for himself and seriously injures both Jacob and Mandy before Morbius finally destroys him. Morbius decides to distance himself from Mandy to protect her.[16]
Morbius later encounters Lena Ivana, a woman kidnapped from her home in Eastern Europe and then forced into sex work in New York City. After freeing her, Morbius becomes enamored with Lena. In contrast, she fears Morbius after seeing how quickly he kills criminals. Despite this, Morbius hopes to see her again and he suggests to Lena that she seeks medical treatment from "Dr. Morgan Michaels". Unaware this is the pseudo-vampire who frightens her, Lena finds herself drawn to Dr. Michaels. Lena then takes a job at St. Jude's Memorial Hospital as well, working in the morgue and seeing Dr. Michaels often.[52]
Martine becomes obsessed with having her humanity restored, accusing her former lover of stealing her emotions and dismissing her from his life. Morbius points out that Martine's changed attitude and lack of love for him cannot be due to a lack of emotions because she clearly feels anger, resentment, hope, frustration, and envy. Though he promises to continue searching for a way to cure her of being a true undead vampire, he says that he and Martine cannot resume a relationship due to their feelings for each other changing. After fighting Morbius and then hurling herself through a window, Martine leaves him but rents a nearby apartment so she can continue spying on her former lover. She then begins a casual romantic relationship with Jack Russell.[52]
