Spider-Man: The Animated Series Episode Nineteen: Neogenic Nightmare, Chapter 6 - Morbius

Morbius

First Aired: October 28th, 1995

Synopsis: Spider-Man gets intense stomach pains when stopping a getaway vehicle so goes to see Mariah Crawford, Kraven the Hunter's scientist girlfriend. She's already got a serum she made and tested with Spider-Man's blood, although she warns him that while initial results are positive it might not work perfectly. At university, Peter mixes it in a vial with his blood, but it's stolen by Michael Morbius, who's determined to become Doctor Connors' lab assistant with his research. Morbius reveals to Felicia Hardy that he's stolen equipment from Connors' lab, and that he's determined to learn how to cure a mysterious disease which ravaged his village in Europe, suspecting that bats may be relevant. Later, he exposes Peter's blood to some of the equipment, but while he is a bat tries drinking it, then bites him. Morbius transforms into a vampire-like being, and flies out to feed on the plasma of students. Spider-Man, who's been doing some soul-searching and has decided that he needs to be more open to people, runs into him and they fight.

Morbius resists drinking Spider-Man's blood and disappears, but Spider-Man finds the tape recorder he's been using during his experiments in the aftermath and realises who the vampire is. He figures that Morbius will go to Felicia, and the two end up fighting at her apartment, before Morbius flees again. Spider-Man notes that he's weaker than before because he hasn't had plasma for a while. When the sun comes up Morbius becomes human and is taken to hospital. Spider-Man, meanwhile, decides to take the serum Crawford gave him. That night, Felicia goes to see Morbius but he turns into a vampire again and leaves the hospital, and she assumes that Spider-Man kidnapped him. Mariah Crawford, meanwhile, realises that her serum will have a terrible effect on Spider-Man. Spider-Man takes it at home, and grows four additional arms.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• It's not quite as good as Spider-Man pushing robot Robbie Robertson out the Daily Bugle window, but there's a fantastic moment when Morbius is flying towards Spider-Man, ready to drink his plasma...then suddenly cries out "No, I cannot!", flies over the edge of the building, and disappears. It's so abrupt that it ends up being hilarious.

Review: Morbius is one of the slightly weirder Spider-Man villains - he's a vampire (but not really), and he's one of the less antagonistic ones - but this episode shows how he manages to work. Morbius manages to be both sympathetic - he's driven by a need to cure everyone in his village back home, and when he drinks plasma it's because of his vampiric instincts - and also kind of a scumbag - he steals Connors' lab equipment and Peter's blood mixed with serum, showing no regret for either. It's not quite a tragedy, but you definitely feel some empathy with him.

Even though Morbius is arguably the protagonist of this episode, it still finds room for Spider-Man to do stuff and progress his plot. It's a little understated in my synopsis, but there's a few scenes where he feels like a jerk for ignoring Mary Jane recently, and for not trusting Mariah Crawford, acknowledges these flaws, and resolves to fix them. It's not the sort of character development that you'd remember when thinking about the show as a whole, but I appreciate it nevertheless.

Finally, I'm loving how much this episode is setting the stage for future episodes. Spider-Man getting six arms is a classic comics story, but given the way this show did the Sinister Six and played with our expectations there, I could see this going in a completely different direction to the comics. Crawford calling up Kraven about Spider-Man means that he might be showing up soon, and let's not forget that Morbius is still out there. It's good stuff and I'm looking forwards to seeing where this goes.