title: Niagara Falls

text: On July 2, 1984, Canadian Karel Soucek from Hamilton, Ontario, plunged over Horseshoe Falls in a barrel with only minor injuries. Soucek was fined $500 for performing the stunt without a license. In 1985, he was fatally injured while attempting to re-create the Niagara drop at the Houston Astrodome. His aim was to climb into a barrel hoisted to the rafters of the Astrodome and to drop into a water tank on the floor. After his barrel released prematurely, it hit the side of the tank, and he died the next day from his injuries.


title: Niagara Falls

text: In August 1985, Steve Trotter, an aspiring stuntman from Rhode Island, became the youngest person ever (age 22) and the first American in 25 years to go over the falls in a barrel. Ten years later, Trotter went over the falls again, becoming the second person to go over the falls twice and survive. It was also the second "duo"; Lori Martin joined Trotter for the barrel ride over the falls. They survived the fall, but their barrel became stuck at the bottom of the falls, requiring a rescue.


title: Niagara Falls

text: On September 28, 1989, Niagara natives Peter DeBernardi and Jeffery James Petkovich became the first "team" to make it over the falls in a two-person barrel. The stunt was conceived by DeBenardi, who wanted to discourage youth from following in his path of addictive drug use. The pair emerged shortly after going over with minor injuries and were charged with performing an illegal stunt under the Niagara Parks Act.


title: Niagara Falls

text: On June 5, 1990, Jesse Sharp, a whitewater canoeist from Tennessee paddled over the falls in a closed deck canoe. He neglected to wear a helmet to make his face more visible for photographs of the event. He also did not wear a life vest because he believed it would hinder his escape from the hydraulics at the base of the falls. His boat flushed out of the falls, but his body was never found. On September 27, 1993, John "David" Munday, of Caistor Centre, Ontario, completed his second journey over the falls. On October 1, 1995, Robert Douglas "Firecracker" Overacker went over the falls on a Jet Ski to raise awareness for the homeless. His rocket-propelled parachute failed to open and he plunged to his death. Overacker's body was recovered before he was pronounced dead at Niagara General Hospital.


title: Niagara Falls

text: Kirk Jones of Canton, Michigan, became the first known person to survive a plunge over Horseshoe Falls without a flotation device on October 20, 2003. According to some reports, Jones had attempted to commit suicide, but he survived the fall with only battered ribs, scrapes, and bruises. Jones tried going over the falls again in 2017, using a large inflatable ball, but died in the process. Later reports revealed that Jones had arranged for a friend to shoot video clips of his stunt.


title: Niagara Falls

text: On March 11, 2009, a man survived an unprotected trip over Horseshoe Falls. When rescued from the river he suffered from severe hypothermia and a large wound to his head. His identity was never released. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the man intentionally enter the water. On May 21, 2012, an unidentified man became the fourth person to survive an unprotected trip over Horseshoe Falls. Eyewitness reports show he "deliberately jumped" into the Niagara River after climbing over a railing. On July 8, 2019, at roughly 4 am, officers responded to a report of a person in crisis at the brink of the Canadian side of the falls. Once officers got to the scene, the man climbed the retaining wall, jumped into the river and went over Horseshoe Falls. Authorities subsequently began to search the lower Niagara River basin, where the man was found alive but injured sitting on the rocks at the water's edge.


title: Niagara Falls

text: Tightrope walkers drew huge crowds to witness their exploits. Their wires ran across the gorge, near the current Rainbow Bridge, not over the waterfall. Jean François "Blondin" Gravelet was the first to cross Niagara Gorge on June 30, 1859, and did so again eight times that year. His most difficult crossing occurred on August 14, when he carried his manager, Harry Colcord, on his back. His final crossing, on September 8, 1860, was witnessed by the Prince of Wales. Between 1859 and 1896 a wire-walking craze emerged, resulting in frequent feats over the river below the falls. One inexperienced walker slid down his safety rope. Only one man fell to his death, at night and under mysterious circumstances, at the anchoring place for his wire.


title: Niagara Falls

text: Maria Spelterini, a 23-year-old Italian was the first and only woman to cross the Niagara River gorge; she did so on a tightrope on July 8, 1876. She repeated the stunt several times during the same month. During one crossing she was blindfolded and during another, her ankles and wrists were handcuffed.


title: Niagara Falls

text: Among the many competitors was Ontario's William Hunt, who billed himself as "The Great Farini"; his first crossing was in 1860. Farini competed with Blondin in performing outrageous stunts over the gorge. On August 8, 1864, however, an attempt failed and he needed to be rescued.


title: Niagara Falls

text: On June 15, 2012, high wire artist Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk across the falls area in 116 years, after receiving special permission from both governments. The full length of his tightrope was . Wallenda crossed near the brink of Horseshoe Falls, unlike walkers who had crossed farther downstream. According to Wallenda, it was the longest unsupported tightrope walk in history. He carried his passport on the trip and was required to present it upon arrival on the Canadian side of the falls.


title: Niagara Falls

text: Peak visitor traffic occurs in the summertime, when Niagara Falls is both a daytime and evening attraction. From the Canadian side, floodlights illuminate both sides of the falls for several hours after dark (until midnight). The number of visitors in 2007 was expected to total 20 million, and by 2009 the annual rate was expected to top 28 million tourists.


title: Niagara Falls

text: The oldest and best known tourist attraction at Niagara Falls is the "Maid of the Mist" boat cruise, named for an ancient Ongiara Indian mythical character, which has carried passengers into the rapids immediately below the falls since 1846. Cruise boats operate from boat docks on both sides of the falls, with the Maid of the Mist operating from the American side and Hornblower Cruises (originally Maid of the Mist until 2014) from the Canadian side.


title: Niagara Falls

text: From the U.S. side, American Falls can be viewed from walkways along Prospect Point Park, which also features the Prospect Point Observation Tower and a boat dock for the "Maid of the Mist". Goat Island offers more views of the falls and is accessible by foot and automobile traffic by bridge above American Falls. From Goat Island, the Cave of the Winds is accessible by elevator and leads hikers to a point beneath Bridal Veil Falls. Also on Goat Island are the Three Sisters Islands, the Power Portal where a statue of Nikola Tesla (the inventor whose patents for the AC induction motor and other devices for AC power transmission helped make the harnessing of the falls possible) can be seen, and a walking path that enables views of the rapids, the Niagara River, the gorge, and all of the falls. Most of these attractions lie within the Niagara Falls State Park.


title: Niagara Falls

text: The Niagara Scenic Trolley offers guided trips along American Falls and around Goat Island. Panoramic and aerial views of the falls can also be viewed by helicopter. The Niagara Gorge Discovery Center showcases the natural and local history of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Gorge. A casino and luxury hotel was opened in Niagara Falls, New York, by the Seneca Indian tribe. The Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel occupies the former Niagara Falls Convention Center. The new hotel is the first addition to the city's skyline since completion of the United Office Building in the 1920s.


title: Niagara Falls

text: On the Canadian side, Queen Victoria Park features manicured gardens, platforms offering views of American, Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe Falls, and underground walkways leading into observation rooms that yield the illusion of being within the falling waters. Along the Niagara River, the Niagara River Recreational Trail runs from Fort Erie to Fort George, and includes many historical sites from the War of 1812.


title: Niagara Falls

text: The observation deck of the nearby Skylon Tower offers the highest view of the falls, and in the opposite direction gives views as far as Toronto. Along with the Tower Hotel (built as the Seagrams Tower, later renamed the Heritage Tower, the Royal Inn Tower, the Royal Center Tower, the Panasonic Tower, the Minolta Tower, and most recently the Konica Minolta Tower before receiving its current name in 2010), it is one of two towers in Canada with a view of the falls. The Whirlpool Aero Car, built in 1916 from a design by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres y Quevedo, is a cable car that takes passengers over the Niagara Whirlpool on the Canadian side. The Journey Behind the Falls consists of an observation platform and series of tunnels near the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. There are two casinos on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara.


title: Niagara Falls

text: Touring by helicopter over the falls, from both the USA and the Canadian side, was described by The New York Times as still popular a year after a serious crash. Although The New York Times had long before described attempting to tour the falls as "bent on suicide" and despite a number of fatal crashes, the "as many as 100 eight-minute rides each day" are hard to regulate; two countries and various government agencies would have to coordinate. These flights have been available "since the early 1960s."


title: Niagara Falls

text: Already a huge tourist attraction and favorite spot for honeymooners, Niagara Falls visits rose sharply in 1953 after the release of "Niagara", a movie starring Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten. The 1956 animated short "Niagara Fools" featured Woody Woodpecker attempting to go over the falls in a barrel. The falls was a featured location in the major motion picture "Superman II" in 1980 and was the subject of a popular IMAX movie, "". Illusionist David Copperfield performed a trick in which he appeared to travel over Horseshoe Falls in 1990.


title: Niagara Falls

text: The falls, or more particularly, the tourist-supported complex near the falls, was the setting of the short-lived Canadian-shot U.S. television show "Wonderfalls" in early 2004. Location footage of the falls was shot in October 2006 to portray "World's End" of the movie "". Professional kayaker Rafa Ortiz's preparation to paddle over the falls in a kayak is documented in the 2015 film "Chasing Niagara".


title: Niagara Falls

text: Kevin McMahon's 1991 documentary film "The Falls" explored the place of Niagara Falls in the world's collective imagination, covering both positive and negative aspects of the culture around the falls.


title: Niagara Falls

text: The Niagara Falls area features as the base camp for a German aerial invasion of the United States in the H. G. Wells novel "The War in the Air". Many poets have been inspired to write about the falls. Among them was the Cuban poet José Maria Heredia, who wrote the poem "Niagara". There are commemorative plaques on both sides of the falls recognizing the poem. In 1818, American poet John Neal published the poem "Battle of Niagara," which is considered the best poetic description of Niagara Falls up to that time. In 1835, as a poetical illustration to accompany a plate of the —artist Thomas Allom, Letitia Elizabeth Landon imagines an Indian girl who, having saved the life of a captured young European man, takes him as her husband only to be later abandoned by him. In her despair she guides her canoe over the falls in dramatic fashion: 'Upright, within that slender boat, they saw the pale girl stand, her dark hair streaming far behind—uprais’d her desperate hand.'


title: Niagara Falls

text: Lydia Sigourney wrote two dramatic poems on the falls, "Niagara", in 1836 and again in her "Scenes in my native Land", "Niagara", in 1845.


title: Niagara Falls

text: Composer Ferde Grofé was commissioned by the Niagara Falls Power Generation project in 1960 to compose the Niagara Falls Suite in honor of the completion of the first stage of hydroelectric work at the falls. In 1997, composer Michael Daugherty composed "Niagara Falls", a piece for concert band inspired by the falls.


title: Niagara Falls

text: Niagara Falls was such an attraction to landscape artists that, writes John Howat, they were "the most popular, the most often treated, and the tritest single item of subject matter to appear in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European and American landscape painting".


title: Tom Hollander

text: Thomas Anthony Hollander (; born 25 August 1967) is an English actor. He began his career in theatre, winning the Ian Charleson Award in 1992 for his performance as Witwoud in "The Way of the World" at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. He is known for his role in "About Time", and in films such as "Pirates of the Caribbean", "In the Loop" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" and drama films such as "Enigma", "Pride & Prejudice", "Gosford Park", and "Hanna", additionally portraying George V in "The Lost Prince" and "The King's Man". He co-wrote and played the lead role in the sitcom "Rev.", which won the British Academy Television Award for best sitcom in 2011. He also played the lead in the ITV's "Doctor Thorne" and won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Major Lance "Corky" Corkoran in the BBC series "The Night Manager".


title: Tom Hollander

text: He appeared as Henry Carr in a revival of Tom Stoppard's play "Travesties" at the Menier Chocolate Factory directed by Patrick Marber, later transferring to the Apollo Theatre in London on the West End and to the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway. Hollander was nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actor and Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role in "Travesties". Hollander appears as Dr Sorgh in the film "Tulip Fever" which was released in September 2017. The screenplay, also by Stoppard, is an adaptation of Deborah Moggach's historical novel. He also appears as Garin in Terry George's historical drama "The Promise", his third collaboration with George, who also directed him in "Some Mother's Son" and "Whole Lotta Sole".


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander was born in Bristol and was raised in Oxford. Hollander's father is a Czech Jew whose family converted to Catholicism, and his mother is English; Hollander was brought up as a Christian. The family background was academic and musical – his grandfather, Hans Hollander, was a musicologist who wrote books about the composer Janáček. Hollander's parents were teachers, his father running the science department at a prestigious school in Oxford. He attended the Dragon School and then Abingdon School, where he was chief chorister. As a youngster, he was a member of the National Youth Theatre and the National Youth Music Theatre (then known as the Children's Music Theatre). In 1981, at the age of 14, he won the lead role in a BBC dramatisation of Leon Garfield's "John Diamond".


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander read English at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He was actively involved in stage productions as a member of the Footlights and was president of the Marlowe Society. Sam Mendes, a friend and fellow student, directed him in several plays while they were at Cambridge, including a critically acclaimed production of "Cyrano de Bergerac" (which also featured future Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg).


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander's film and television appearances include "Absolutely Fabulous", "Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence", "Wives and Daughters", "Harry", "Cambridge Spies" for which he received the FIPA D'OR Grand prize for best actor, "Gosford Park", "The Lost Prince" and "Pride & Prejudice" for which he received the Evening Standard Film Awards Comedy Award, and London Critics Circle Best Supporting Actor. He has worked repeatedly with Michael Gambon and Bill Nighy and is a good friend of James Purefoy. Although highly respected as a character actor and the recipient of several awards, many of his films will still play on his height (5' 5" / 165 cm). Hollander has created several memorable comedic characters that draw more on his physical energy and intensity than his height, such as the "brilliantly foul-mouthed" Leon in BBC Two's "Freezing", described in "The Times" as a "braying swirl of ego and mania".


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander portrayed Lord Cutler Beckett, the "heavy" in "" and "". He also appeared in the TNT miniseries "The Company" as Kim Philby, having previously played Guy Burgess in the BBC's "Cambridge Spies". He returned to the stage in 2007 with the premiere of Joe Penhall's play "Landscape with Weapon" at the Royal National Theatre. In 2008 he made a notable cameo appearance as King George III in the HBO mini-series "John Adams", and ended the year as a memorable Colonel Heinz Brandt in "Valkyrie".


title: Tom Hollander

text: In 2009, Hollander played a symphonic cellist in Joe Wright's movie "The Soloist", his second film with Wright, who cast him to great effect as the fevered suitor Mr. Collins in 2005's "Pride and Prejudice". He has worked once more with Wright, portraying a memorably flamboyant and menacing villain in "Hanna" (2011). Hollander appeared in a lead role in Armando Iannucci's "In the Loop" as Secretary of State for International Development Simon Foster MP. Hollander later made a surprise appearance (in a different role) at the end of the third series of "The Thick of It", the programme on which "In the Loop" was based.


title: Tom Hollander

text: In 2010, Hollander and writer James Wood co-created the TV series "Rev.", a sensitive comedy about the all-too-human vicar of an inner-city parish. Reviews called it intelligent, realistic and very funny. Hollander played the sympathetic title character, Rev. Adam Smallbone. The show won a BAFTA in 2011 for Best Situation Comedy, among other awards and recognition. A second series aired in the UK on BBC 2 in 2011 and a third series in 2014. He has been praised for his role as the "inebriated and endearing, menacing and beguiling" chemist, Dr George Cholmondeley, appearing in five episodes of the BBC / FX 2017 series "Taboo" with one commenter describing him as "giving a masterclass on how to create dimension and personality, even with limited screen time."


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander played Queen's second manager Jim Beach in the biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was released in November 2018. Upon the firing of director Bryan Singer from the film in December 2017, it was reported Hollander had previously left the film due to issues with Singer; he was ultimately convinced to continue, though whether this was due to Singer's exit is unknown. Also in 2018, Hollander played Tabaqui, a hyena in Andy Serkis' motion capture film "".


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander won the 1992 Ian Charleson Award for his performance as Witwoud in "The Way of the World" at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. He had been nominated and commended the previous year for his Celia in an all-male production of "As You Like It" for Cheek by Jowl and was again nominated and commended for his Khlestakov in "The Government Inspector" at the Almeida Theatre in 1997. He had also received a special commendation for his 1996 performance of the title role in "Tartuffe" at the Almeida Theatre. In all, Hollander has been the most frequent Ian Charleson Award honoree, with four appearances at the awards: one win, two commendations and one special commendation.


title: Tom Hollander

text: In 2010, Hollander returned to the live stage in a demanding comedic dual role in Georges Feydeau's "A Flea in Her Ear" at the Old Vic. Playing both master and servant with "lightning physical precision and shockingly true confusion", Hollander's was called "a virtuoso performance". Between September and November 2016 he starred as (a "career-best") Henry Carr in Patrick Marber's "superb revival" of Tom Stoppard's "Travesties" at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The play (with the same cast) transferred to the Apollo Theatre in February 2017 and was nominated for five Olivier Awards including Best Actor (Hollander) and Best Revival ("Travesties"). Marber's revival transferred to Broadway in 2018, with Hollander reprising his leading role as Carr. The play opened on 24 April 2018 (previews 29 March) at the Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theater in New York. Hollander received a Tony Award nomination for the production.


title: Tom Hollander

text: In 2022, Hollander returned to the Almeida Theatre to play the lead role of Boris Berezovsky in the inaugural run of "Patriots", a play by Peter Morgan about the late Russian oligarch's life.


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander has undertaken a number of voice roles for BBC radio including Mosca in 2004's "Volpone" for Radio 3, Frank Churchill in Jane Austen's "Emma" and as Mr Gently Benevolent in the pilot of the Dickensian parody "Bleak Expectations" for Radio 4, although he did not take part in the full series. He has voiced a young Joseph Merrick, the "Elephant Man", a disembodied head named Enzio in an urban gothic comedy and Leon Theremin, the Russian inventor famous for the electronic instrument that bears his name. He provided the vocal texture for Anthony Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" recently with a "smooth, almost lyrical, crisp voice" that accomplished the task of rendering the extensive and unique slang of the book instantly understandable to readers. More recent readings include "The Casual Vacancy" by J. K. Rowling. In 2015 (repeated in April 2017) he played Patrick Moore in the BBC radio play "Far Side of the Moore" about the astronomer and his Sky at Night TV programme. In May 2016 he portrayed Geoff Cathcart in Andy Mulligan's four-part play "School Drama" on BBC Radio 4 which was chosen by "The Guardian" as that week's best radio and he narrated Peter Bradshaw's short story "Reunion", broadcast on Radio 4 in October 2016. He has also portrayed the Russian artist Kazimir Malevich in Margy Kinmonth's documentary "Revolution: New Art for a New World" which was released in the UK and Ireland in November 2016.


title: Tom Hollander

text: Since 2008, he has written an occasional diary-style column for "The Spectator", and a lifestyle article in the Times which received very positive reader comments.


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander has contributed his running and cycling efforts to several charitable causes, including running to raise funds for the Childline Crisis Hotline in 2006 and in 2007, for the Teenage Cancer Trust. He is a long-time supporter of the Helen & Douglas House Hospice for Children and Young Adults in Oxford, which provides hospice care for children. He continues to support charitable organisations by contributing readings and other appearances throughout the year.


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander is a patron of the British Independent Film Awards and has supported the efforts of the Old Vic's "24 Hour Plays New Voices" Gala, which forwards the cause of young writers for the British stage. In August 2014, he was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to "The Guardian" opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander's sister is director, writer and singer Julia Hollander. The siblings, and their father Tony Hollander, presented a BBC Radio 3 documentary in 2020, exploring the story of how Tony and his parents escaped from the imminent Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938. A letter from a BBC radio sound engineer saved his father's life.


title: Tom Hollander

text: Hollander has lived in the same flat in Notting Hill, London, since 2000. In 2010 he became engaged to the designer Fran Hickman, but they ended their relationship.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Pablo Tell Schreiber (born 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is best known for his stage work and for portraying Nick Sobotka on "The Wire" (2003), William Lewis on "" (2013–2014), Mad Sweeney on Starz series "American Gods" (2017–2020), and as George "Pornstache" Mendez on "Orange Is the New Black" (2013–2017), for which he received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. He stars as Master Chief in the Paramount+ live-action series "Halo" (2022–present) which is based on the franchise of the same name.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: His film roles include minor roles in "Bubble Boy" (2001), "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), "Lords of Dogtown" (2005), "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (2008), "Nights in Rodanthe" (2008), "Allegiance" (2012), and "Preservation" (2014). He co-starred in the 2016 war film "" directed by Michael Bay. In 2018, he starred in the action heist film "Den of Thieves" opposite Gerard Butler and in "Skyscraper" with Dwayne Johnson. In 2020, he starred in the drama film "Lorelei" with Jena Malone.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: He is also known for his dramatic stage work including his performance in "Awake and Sing!" (2006) on Broadway which earned him a nomination for a Tony Award. In 2008, he starred in "reasons to be pretty" where he won the 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. He narrated the audiobook version of Brett Easton Ellis’ "American Psycho".


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber was born to parents Tell Carroll Schreiber (1941–2021), an American actor, and Lorraine Reaveley, a Canadian body-based psychotherapist. He was born in a hippie commune in Ymir, British Columbia and he and his family moved to the unincorporated rural community of Winlaw, British Columbia when he was six months old. His older half-brother is actor Liev Schreiber with whom they have the same father.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber's father, having a strong interest in literature, named Pablo after Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. His parents separated when he was 12 and Schreiber moved to Seattle with his father.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: After high school Schreiber enrolled at the University of San Francisco hoping to win a spot on its basketball team. He later transferred to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and graduated in 2000 with a degree in theatre.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber's first television appearance was as Nick Sobotka in season 2 of the critically acclaimed HBO series "The Wire" (2003). After his final appearance in the last episode of season 2, he also made a cameo appearance in the season 5 episode "The Dickensian Aspect". He went on to play minor roles in the series "" and "Law & Order" before playing the recurring guest role of serial rapist William Lewis on "". He appeared in an eight episode arc playing the antagonist to Olivia Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) character.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: From 2008 to 2009, he appeared in multiple series including "Dirt", "Army Wives", "The Beast", "Numbers", and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". In 2011, he was cast as Johnny Leary in the FX series "Lights Out" which only aired for one season. From 2011 to 2012, he played both Demetri Ravitch in the HBO series "Weeds" and Anton Little Creek on the show "A Gifted Man". BuddyTV ranked him #77 on its list of "TV's Sexiest Men of 2011".


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: In October 2012, Schreiber was cast in the recurring role of George "Pornstache" Mendez on the Netflix original drama series "Orange Is the New Black". For his role on the show, he won the "We Love to Hate You Award" at the 2014 Young Hollywood Awards and received a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2015. He played the role from 2013 to 2017 and had a guest appearance in a 2019 episode.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: In February 2013, he co-starred as Virgil in NBC's drama pilot "Ironside", a reboot of the 1967 series of the same name. However ratings and reviews were unfavorable and it was canceled after only four episodes had aired.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber was cast as Mad Sweeney in the 2017 Starz's series "American Gods", based on the novel of the same name written by Neil Gaiman. His character is a self-described leprechaun that is endebted to Mr. Wednesday who is played by Ian McShane. By the end of season 2, Sweeney remembers that he is Buile Shuibhne, the king of the Dál nAraidi who was driven insane by the curse of Saint Rónán Finn. Schreiber appears in seasons 1 and 2 with flashback appearances in the third and final season. His character becomes a fan-favorite for viewers during the series.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: In April 2019, he was cast as Master Chief / John-117 in the "Halo" live-action series, based on the video game franchise of the same name. The series was released on March 24, 2022, by Paramount+ and has received mostly positive reviews with getting a 71% on Rotten Tomatoes. To prepare for his role in the series, Schreiber worked with a trainer and a chef to bulk up adding muscle to play the supersoldier. Paramount confirmed that the series was renewed for season 2 with Schreiber reprising the main role of Master Chief.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber co-starred in the biographical crime drama streaming television miniseries "Candy" as Allan Gore, opposite Jessica Biel's character, Candy Montgomery. It is based on the true story of how Candy Montgomery was accused of the axe murder of her neighbor, Betty Gore in 1980 in Texas. The series premiered May 9, 2022, with the last episodes airing on May 13, 2022.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber's first film was a minor role in the 2001 American black comedy film "Bubble Boy". He appeared in the 2004 film "The Manchurian Candidate" which starred his half-brother Liev Schreiber. He had supporting roles in the films "Lords of Dogtown" (2005), "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" (2008), "Nights in Rodanthe" (2008), and "Happythankyoumoreplease" (2010). In 2016, he co-starred as Kris "Tanto" Paronto, GRS team member and former U.S. Army Ranger in the American biographical war film "", opposite John Krasinski and James Badge Dale. The film was directed and co-produced by Michael Bay, written by Chuck Hogan, and is based on Mitchell Zuckoff's 2014 book of the same name.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: In 2018, he starred in the American action heist film "Den of Thieves" with Gerard Butler. He played Ray Merrimen, a MARSOC Marine veteran who is the crew's leader and schemer, and one of the robbers who sets out to rob the Federal Reserve Bank of downtown Los Angeles. Schreiber underwent extensive military training for his role in the film, saying "... with the weapons training, we had extensive military movement, team movement, weapons training boot camp, a couple of weeks before we started shooting". In the same year he co-starred with Dwayne Johnson in the action thriller film "Skyscraper". He played the role of American astronaut Jim Lovell in the biographical drama "First Man" which was also released in 2018.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber starred in the 2021 drama film "Lorelei" with Jena Malone. It received mostly positive reviews from critics. Brian Tallerico from RogerEbert.com said of Schreiber, "Schreiber uses his massive size in an interesting way in that he’s such an imposing figure but he allows himself to also be fascinatingly vulnerable at the same time... He has remarkable range".


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber's stage work includes both Broadway and off-Broadway plays. In 2006, he starred in the Broadway play "Awake and Sing!", earning him a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He also starred in the 2008 Broadway play "reasons to be pretty" with Piper Perabo and Alison Pill. For that role he won the 2009 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play. He played Eben in the 2009 play "Desire Under the Elms" opposite Carla Gugino's Abbie. In 2011, Schreiber starred in the Off-Broadway play "Gruesome Playground Injuries" at Second Stage Theatre.


title: Pablo Schreiber

text: Schreiber married yoga teacher Jessica Monty in 2007. She filed for divorce in 2014 citing irreconcilable differences. They have two sons together, born in 2009 and 2012.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: The film received its world premiere on July 15, 2021, at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it was well-received by critics with a standing ovation that lasted fourteen minutes. The film was additionally dubbed into foreign languages (English and German). It was released theatrically in Japan on July 16, 2021. GKIDS has licensed the film in North America, with a nationwide release date of January 14, 2022, and previews in select IMAX theaters on January 12, while Anime Limited released the film in the United Kingdom on February 4, 2022.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: "Belle" is the third-highest-grossing Japanese film of 2021, accounting for in box-office rakings as of December 12, 2021.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: Teenager Suzu Naito lives in the rural Kōchi Prefecture of Japan with a lost passion for singing and writing songs. When Suzu was young, she witnessed her mother rescue a child from a flooding river at the cost of her own life, causing her to resent her mother for "abandoning" her for a stranger's child and eventually grow distant from her father. She remains in contact with a group of older choir teachers who were her mother's friends. She is alienated from most of her classmates, with the exception of her childhood friend and self-appointed protector Shinobu Hisatake, on whom she has a crush; popular girl Ruka Watanabe; sportsman classmate Shinjiro “Kamishin” Chikami; and her genius best friend Hiroka "Hiro" Betsuyaku.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: Urged by Hiro, Suzu signs into the popular virtual metaverse known as "U" and is appointed a beautiful avatar with freckles (through the AI engine's biometric analysis) whom she names "Bell", the English translation of her own name. Upon logging into U, she finds herself capable of singing again. With the assistance of Hiro, who has appointed herself Bell's manager and producer, Bell becomes a big hit and people start to refer to her as "Belle", meaning "beautiful" in French.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: During one of Belle's concerts, an infamously strong and near-unbeatable user called "The Dragon" (or "The Beast") arrives. This prompts a vigilante group named the Justices, led by the self-righteous Justin, to begin hunting the Dragon, accusing him of disturbing the peace of U. Justin plans to unveil the Dragon's identity to the public using a specialized program. Intrigued by the Dragon, Suzu begins to gather information about him. She discovers that he is popular amongst children, who consider him to be their hero, particularly a shy boy named Tomo who was in the news following his mother's death. Belle searches U for the Dragon and is led to the Dragon's hidden castle by a mysterious angel avatar. She meets the Dragon and his five guardian AIs. Belle and the Dragon grow close. In the real world, Ruka confides to Suzu that she likes Kamishin. With Suzu's help, the two confess their feelings.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: In U, Justin captures and interrogates Belle, threatening to unveil her identity to the world if she refuses to cooperate. The Dragon's AIs rescue Belle but their intervention allows Justin and his group to locate the Dragon's castle and destroy it. The Dragon flees before Belle can help. Suzu and Hiro work to find out the Dragon's real identity before Justin can and warn him. They find a live video feed of Tomo singing a song only Belle and the Dragon know, and realize that Tomo is the angel avatar, and his older brother Kei is the Dragon. Kei and Tomo are being physically and mentally abused by their father; Kei's anger and protectiveness over Tomo is what gives The Dragon his unbeatable strength in U. Suzu contacts Kei to help but Kei does not believe that she is Belle. Shinobu, Ruka, Kamishin, and the choir teachers reveal their knowledge of Belle's true identity and urge Suzu to sing to gain Kei's trust. Suzu unveils herself to the world in U and begins to sing. Seeing this, Kei decides to trust her and tries to contact her again. Kei's father sees the video of his abuse posted online and cuts off the internet connection before Kei can tell Suzu their address.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: Using context clues, Ruka and Kamishin deduce that Kei's hometown is Kawasaki, Kanagawa, near Tokyo. Since the authorities cannot intervene on abuse charges until 48 hours have passed, Suzu locates Kei and Tomo on her own and protects them from their father. The next day, she and her father warmly greet each other at the station. Shinobu praises Suzu for her bravery and decides she no longer needs his protection, feeling free to pursue the romantic relationship he has always wanted with her. Finally understanding her mother's selfless actions, Suzu comes to terms with her mother's death and is ready to sing with her friends.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: While Studio Chizu worked on the project, they had help from veteran Disney animator and character designer Jin Kim and Michael Camacho on the design of Belle and studio Cartoon Saloon for the background work of the world of U.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: Hosoda initially intended for "Belle" to be a musical, but considered the idea difficult due to Japan not having a culture of making musicals. However, he still wanted music to be central to the film, so he searched for a protagonist that could sing. He stated that he preferred the same person doing both speaking and singing voices to make it convincing, and searched for a singer who could express their feelings though song and move people, even if they don't understand Japanese. He then found Kaho Nakamura, whom he considered relatively unknown, but a perfect choice for the role. Hosoda stated that Nakamura was also involved in writing lyrics, so she could feel the lyrics she was singing.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: In the film's U.S. opening weekend it made $1.6 million from 1,326 theaters, and a total of $1.8 million over the four-day Martin Luther King Day holiday frame. The film dropped out of the box office top ten in its second weekend with $570,213. The film was released on May 17, 2022 on DVD & Blu-ray by GKids (through its distribution partner Shout! Factory).


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: American audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an 86% positive score, with 63% saying they would definitely recommend it.


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: At the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, the film received a 14-minute-standing ovation. Joe Morgenstern wrote for "The Wall Street Journal" that "There's too much plot for the film to manage, but its heart, and sumptuous art, are so firmly in the right place that its appeal comes through sweet and clear." Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" praised the visual quality, character development, worldbuilding, and called the film "unfailingly touching." Justin Chang of the "Los Angeles Times" praised the visuals and story, writing "It’s a tale as old as time and as newfangled as TikTok, in which the virtual world, though packed with fantasy and artifice, can bring startling truths to the surface."


title: Belle (2021 film)

text: The film has received five Annie Award nominations, including one for Best Independent Animated Feature. Its total makes it the most nominations for a Japanese anime film ever at the awards, surpassing previous films "Spirited Away", "Millennium Actress" (both 2001), and "Weathering with You" (2019) with four.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius the Living Vampire, real name Michael Alexander Morbius, M.D., Ph.D., is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Roy Thomas and originally designed by penciler Gil Kane, he debuted as a tragic, sympathetic adversary of the superhero Spider-Man in "The Amazing Spider-Man" (vol. 1) #101 (October 1971). For years, Morbius frequently clashed with Spider-Man and other superheroes while occasionally regaining his reason and helping those he regarded as allies. The 1992 Marvel Comics "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover event then revived and revised several horror-themed Marvel characters in order to present them as lead protagonists in new titles. The event launched the new series "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1), which ran from 1992 to 1995 and now presented the title character as a lethal anti-hero and vigilante. After the cancellation of this series, various stories shifted back and forth between portraying Morbius as a conflicted and brutal anti-hero or a tragic character subject to episodes of madness and murder (once again, most often fighting Spider-Man).


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: In the Marvel Comics canon, Michael Morbius is a famous biochemist who contracts a rare blood disease he then tries to cure using a combination of experimental chemicals, electroshock therapy, and genetic samples of vampire bats. The experiment mutates him into a "pseudo-vampire" or "living vampire", a life form with abilities and traits resembling, but not identical to, those of truly supernatural and "undead" creatures such as vampires (which exist in the Marvel Universe). To keep his blood disease in remission, Morbius must now regularly feed on fresh human blood or face rapid illness followed by death. Initially, Morbius's mutation affects his ability to reason while experiencing hunger. This leads to blackouts and acts of violence that result in murder and villainy, occasionally followed by lucid periods during which he regrets causing harm. A mixture of electricity and Spider-Man's blood restores his humanity for several years, but he later reverts to being a pseudo-vampire. During the "Rise of the Midnight Sons", a mixture of poison and genuine demon blood alters Morbius' physiology slightly while also restoring his mental capacity, allowing him greater control and awareness even while experiencing bloodlust. A new "anti-viral" serum involving Spider-Man's blood also allows him to regain humanity for hours at a time. Concluding he now has greater control over his condition and wishing to regain some semblance of a normal life, Morbius creates a new cover identity as Dr. Morgan Michaels, while at night secretly acting as a lethal vigilante who only feeds on "the blood of the guilty." Later on, another mutagenic serum saves his life but results in Morbius once again being vulnerable to temporary madness and a loss of his faculties when his bloodlust is too strong. As a result, he abandons his Morgan Michaels identity and becomes a fugitive again.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: The character has appeared in several media adaptations outside of comics. In the 1990s animated series "Spider-Man", Morbius is a recurring character voiced by Nick Jameson. In contrast to the comics, the cartoon depicted Morbius both as a regular ally of the character Blade and as a being who feeds on human plasma through his hands rather than with his fangs. Jared Leto portrayed Michael Morbius in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe live action film "Morbius" (2022).


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius debuted in "The Amazing Spider-Man" (vol. 1) #101 (published in August 1971 and cover-dated October 1971). His creation followed the comic book industry's self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority, updating its policies in February 1971, which included lifting a ban on comic book stories depicting vampires and certain other supernatural characters. Morbius' introduction was the first issue of Marvel Comics' flagship "Spider-Man" series written by someone other than character co-creator and then editor-in-chief Stan Lee, who was busy writing a screenplay for an unproduced science fiction movie. Lee bequeathed the role of series writer to his right-hand editor Roy Thomas.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: In 2009, Roy Thomas said there was interest in having the company's flagship character Spider-Man fight a vampire, possibly even the famous Count Dracula. "We were talking about doing Dracula, but Stan wanted a costumed villain. Other than that, he didn't specify what we should do." Thomas added that part of the character conception came from the 1957 film "The Vampire", a science fiction film he saw in his youth that depicted a man turned into a vampire by radiation rather than magic. Thomas and penciller Gil Kane then discussed and created the character together, deciding it was more appropriate for the science-fiction based Spider-Man to fight a villain given pseudo-vampiric traits via scientific rather than supernatural means. Kane based the character's look on that of actor Jack Palance. Thomas said the name "Morbius" was not deliberately taken from the antagonist Doctor Morbius in the 1956 film "Forbidden Planet". The initial two-story arc emphasized that Morbius, like other Spider-Man villains such as the Lizard, was not truly a malicious villain but a tragic and sympathetic character who had unwittingly been changed into a monster, in this case as a result of trying to cure his own rare but fatal blood disease. The story also introduced Morbius' lover Martine Bancroft and revealed that his first victim had been his scientific colleague and great friend Emil Nikos. Later on, "Giant-Size Spider-Man" #1 (July 1974) did depict Spider-Man and Dracula together in a story, but the two characters only briefly cross paths while unaware of each other's true nature.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: After their initial meeting, Morbius collided again with Spider-Man in "Marvel Team-Up" #3–4 (July – September 1972) and the one-shot "Giant-Size Super-Heroes" #1 (June 1974). Morbius went on to star in "Vampire Tales", a black-and-white horror comics magazine published by Marvel's sister company, Curtis Magazines, appearing in all but two of the mature audience title's 11 issues (August 1973 – June 1975). The first Morbius solo story was written by Steve Gerber, while the rest of the stories, save for the last three, were written by Don McGregor, with penciling by Rich Buckler and by Tom Sutton, primarily. These stories focused on Morbius as more of a tragic anti-hero, one subject to blackouts and violence but who could also act altruistically towards allies and those he saw as victims of unjust circumstances.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: After his first two "Vampire Tales" stories, Morbius concurrently became the star of his own feature in Marvel's bimonthly "Adventure into Fear" anthology series, beginning with issue #20 (February 1974) and continuing through issue #31 (December 1975), the last issue of the series. These were written, successively, by Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber, Doug Moench and Bill Mantlo, working with a wide variety of pencillers.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius was seen as a tragic figure lamenting his past and willing to stand trail in "The Savage She-Hulk" #9–12. Marvel Comics. These stories also showed him willing to lend his expertise to help others who suffered from a mutation or "curse" they did not choose. This continued when Morbius is seen researching the condition of the Werewolf (Jack Russell) in "West Coast Avengers" (vol. 2) #5.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Following sporadic appearances as a villain throughout the next 16 years, Morbius was retooled as part of the 1992 "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover event, the purpose of which was to launch a new line of horror- and supernatural-themed comics following the success of the new "Ghost Rider" series. "Rise of the Midnight Sons" featured the new Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch) and Johnny Blaze (the previous Ghost Rider) seeking out the "Midnight Sons", different unique individuals who would eventually be crucial to stopping the demonic Lilith from laying waste to humanity (as well as potentially other threats just as great). This led directly into the new series "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1), which would run for 32 issues (September 1992 – April 1995). "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1) #1 showed the title character being mutated further, which altered his abilities slightly, revealed he had untapped "psionic" power, and gave him a more rational, introspective nature. Morbius takes on the role of a lethal vigilante, vowing only to feed on killers who are truly evil and beyond remorse. The next month, "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1) #2 retroactively explained much of the Living Vampire's villainy in the past as the result of his initial mutation altering his brain and making him "insane", a condition now alleviated with his latest mutation. Morbius also discovers that his blood disease is no longer in remission and is slowly killing him. This introduces an ongoing series sub-plot wherein Morbius and his trusted friend Dr. Jacob Weisenthal regularly research treatments and anti-viral serums that may put his disease and his condition as a living vampire both into remission. With his ability to reason restored and his newfound purpose as a vigilante rather than a villain, Morbius is seen creating a new cover identity for himself, that of human hematologist Dr. Morgan Michaels.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Rather than only pitting Morbius against Marvel heroes or previously established villains as had been done in the past, new enemies were introduced and created specifically to fight the Living Vampire. These included Dr. Thaddeus Paine, the II (Wayne Gifford), Vic Slaughter, Bloodthirst (a demonic presence in Morbius' mind and body who later manifests his own body in issue #20), and Bloodbath. Along with these foes, Morbius the Living Vampire featured recurring appearances of Simon Stroud. Introduced as a rogue CIA agent hunting the Man-Wolf in "Creatures on the Loose" #37, Stroud had first encountered Morbius in "Adventure into Fear" #27 and was now determined to end the pseudo-vampire's life.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: To increase awareness and the popularity of "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1), a reprint series entitled "Morbius Revisited" was published from 1992 to 1993. The series featured material originally published in "Adventure into Fear" #27–31. Along with this, Morbius appeared in short solo stories featured in the anthology series "Midnight Sons Unlimited" (1993–1995), as well as in "Marvel Comics Presents" #144, the one-shot "Strange Tales: Dark Corners" #1 (May 1998), "Amazing Fantasy" (vol. 2) #17 (March 2006), and the one-shot "Legion of Monsters: Morbius" (September 2007).


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: As he was now a vigilante and part of the Midnight Sons, Morbius engaged in several team-ups with heroes and anti-heroes throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. He frequently crossed paths with the sorcerer Dr. Strange as well as the Ghost Rider and the Nightstalkers, a group which included Blade as well as Hannibal King, a "quasi-vampire" who was similar to Morbius in that he tried to curb his bloodlust so as not to compromise his morals, but unlike Morbius was a truly supernatural vampire rather than a scientific mutation. In "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1) #12, Blade is possessed by a demon and, against his will, kills Morbius. Morbius is immediately resurrected in "Spirits of Vengeance" (vol. 1) #13.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: During the 1993 Marvel Comics crossover event "Maximum Carnage", Morbius and his longtime adversary Spider-Man temporarily become uneasy allies to stop a New York City murder spree led by the villain Carnage. In "" #77–80 (1997), Morbius again teams up with Spider-Man to stop HYDRA agent Loxias Crown, who then becomes another living vampire called the Hunger.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1) series writer Len Kaminski had regular conflicts with series penciller Ron Wagner. The two were collaborators who used the "Marvel method" of comic book scripting, meaning Kaminksi would plot out the stories, Wagner would then determine more of the narrative details by illustrating the scenes (potentially adding ones) and creating the narrative pace, after which Kaminski would see the art and any notes Wagner had, then either ask for changes or accept the art and fill in the final dialogue and captions. As time went on, Kaminski claimed Wagner often complained about his stories to the editorial staff and left "snide margin notes [in the art] in which he made his personal opinion of my plots clear." Wagner alleged he expressed concerns Kaminski's stories were too introspective and character-focused when a series about a violent vampire who hunted evil people needed to have more action and bloodshed. According to Kaminski, he was willing to discuss the story and series direction further but Wagner ignored his attempts at contact. Marvel Comics sided with Wagner, replacing Kaminski with issue #9 by asking series colorist Gregory Wright to step in as writer. A one-shot special, tentatively titled "Spider-Man/Venom/Morbius" was scheduled for 1993, but never published due to Kaminski's departure from the series. Wagner remained as series penciler until issue #15, then left as well.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Under writer Gregory Wright, the series "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1) featured the resurrection of Michael's former lover Martine Bancroft in issues #13–17. The storyline ended with Martine now alive again due to mystical forces but no longer able to experience her full range of emotions. Throughout the rest of the series, Martine shifts from supporting character to occasional antagonist as she sometimes clashes with Morbius due to resentment over the circumstances of her resurrection and the pursuit of restoring her emotions sometimes placing other in danger.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Wright stayed as writer on "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 1) until issue #23. Pat Mills wrote issue #24 in 1994, after which Lisa Trusiani took over as series writer. She remained in this role until issue #32, when the series was cancelled due to declining sales and waning fan interest. The series ends with Morbius being mutated once again by an anti-viral serum that saves his life, but results in his now once again losing his ability to reason and experiencing blackouts when his bloodlust is too strong. This leads him to abandon his vigilante life and the double identity of Dr. Morgan Michaels. The final story arc of the series does not resolve whether or not Morbius' blood disease is still killing him, despite his vampiric regenerative abilities, or if the newest anti-viral system finally put the disease back into remission. The final story arc also does not resolve the fact that Martine is left an undead vampire obsessed with Morbius (though this is finally resolved in 2010). Since the series' cancellation, there has been no further depiction of Morbius' 1990s supporting cast of friend Jacob Weisenthal or his love interests Mandy Tyler and Lena Ivana.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: For the next several years, Morbius once again made sporadic appearances as an uneasy ally or outright villain who encountered other superheroes, particularly Spider-Man.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: In 2010, Morbius and Martine both appear in "Amazing Spider-Man" #622, written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Joe Quinones. The story features Martine, having now become a true, undead vampire, fighting Morbius and Spider-Man. Morbius ends Martine's life by driving a stake through her heart and then scattering her ashes.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: In 2011, the Marvel Comics series "Legion of Monsters" (vol. 2) featured Morbius, Jack Russell, and other supernatural-themed characters as a loose-knit team hunting more dangerous monsters. Morbius then appeared in the 2011 crossover event "Spider-Island", after which he was seen being incarcerated at the Raft, a prison made for supervillains.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: On October 17, 2012, Marvel announced that Morbius would appear in a new comic book series by writer Joe Keatinge and artist Richard Elson. "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 2) began publication in January 2013. Unlike the 1990s series that featured Morbius as a violent anti-hero, this series referred to him as a "hunted, haunted fugitive", who was now dealing with weakened abilities and mental depression following his escape from the Raft. The series featured the vampire protagonist once again attempting to cure himself of his condition while dealing with New York gangs, including the crime lord known as the Rose. It also expanded Morbius' pre-Living Vampire history, revealing more information about his mother and his childhood friendship with Emil Nikos. "Morbius the Living Vampire" (vol. 2) met with mixed reviews and low sales, and was cancelled after nine issues.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: During the 2019 crossover event "Absolute Carnage", Morbius was seen as one of several characters opposing the mass murderer Carnage and the Cult of Knull. In late 2019, Morbius starred in a new series, now simply titled "Morbius", written by Vita Ayala with art by Marcelo Ferreira, Francisco Mobili, and Roberto Poggi. The series featured several appearances by Spider-Man, as well as new character Elizabeth Nikos, sister of Morbius' friend, scientific collaborator, and then victim Emil Nikos. Although plans and promotions were released for at least eight issues, the series was abruptly put on hiatus after issue #5 when the COVID-19 pandemic forced Marvel Comics to halt or slow down several operations. Rather than continue with the series, it was later officially cancelled.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: In 2021, Marvel published a one-shot entitled "Morbius: Bond of Blood", written by Ralph Macchio, with art by Tom Reilly and Chris O'Halloran. The one-shot featured the appearance and death of Christos Nikos, son of Emil Nikos.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Michael Alexander Morbius is born and raised in Greece by his single mother, and experiences a largely isolated childhood due to a rare and fatal blood condition. His only true friend during this time is a boy named Emil Nikos who, like him, is interested in medicine and science. Intellectually gifted, Morbius spends much of his isolation reading and studying. In time, he becomes a highly respected and Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and biologist with a medical degree in hematology. As an adult, Morbius researches a means to cure his own fatal condition, hiring Emil Nikos as his research partner and a woman named Martine Bancroft as his office assistant. Martine and Michael fall in love and become engaged to be married.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: After years of research, Michael Morbius attempts a radical cure on himself involving chemical treatments, samples of vampire bat DNA, and electroshock therapy. The experiment puts the blood disease into remission, but radically mutates Morbius into a "living vampire" with enhanced abilities. To keep his disease in remission, Morbius must now feed on fresh blood regularly or risk death. His appearance and personality also shift, making him now prone to bouts of rage, paranoia, and bloodlust. During one of these early bouts of bloodlust and madness, Morbius' first victim is his friend Emil. Horrified by his actions and mutation, Morbius leaves for New York to conduct more research in secret. He encounters the scientist-turned-monster known as the Lizard and the adventurer Spider-Man, who at the time is dealing with a mutation that has left him with four extra arms. Samples of Morbius' blood leads the Lizard to revert to his human form of Curt Connors and allows Spider-Man to lose his extra limbs. It is discovered that a few of Morbius' victims did not die and are now infected with a form of his own mutation, giving them increased strength and bloodlust but no further superhuman abilities. Michael and Martine synthesize an antidote for these victims, but the serum does not work on his own condition. Overtaken by bloodlust, Morbius attacks Martine, turning her into a pseudo-vampire as well. After using their serum to cure her, Morbius leaves rather than endanger Martine again.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius eventually leaves New York, moving location frequently to avoid capture. During this time, he rescues Amanda Saint from a Satanic cult known as Demon-Fire, then encounters John Jameson, who at the time is cursed to transform into the Man-Wolf. Alongside the Man-Wolf, Morbius battles Spider-Man again. Later, Morbius encounters Reverend Daemond, the Caretakers of the planet Arcturus IV, the Cat People of the Land Within, , the extra-dimensional demon known as Helleyes. and the Living Eraser. He also meets other monsters, such as the Werewolf (Jack Russell), the Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze),and the Man-Thing (Ted Sallis), and superhuman adventurers such as Blade, the original X-Men and the Human Torch and the Thing, both members of the Fantastic Four. During this time, he continues to frequently clash with Spider-Man.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Later, Morbius meets rogue CIA agent Simon Stroud and together they fight a group of new pseudo-vampires created by Morbius's bites and resulting infection. One of these pseudo-vampires bites and infects Martine, turning her into a living vampire as well. Thanks to Morbius' efforts, Martine is cured and the other pseudo-vampires destroyed. Morbius then flees, believing he is still a danger to Martine. After this, he befriends desperate landowner Alicia Twain (later avenging her murder) and battles Morgana St. Clair, an enigmatic vampire expert living in England who is a member of a Satanic cult known as the Brotherhood of Judas. Morbius later enlists help in finding a cure for his pseudo-vampirism from his old friend Ronson Slade, a scientist. Slade, however, becomes a werewolf and Morbius is forced to kill him.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: During another battle with Spider-Man, Morbius succeeds in feeding on a sample of the hero's irradiated blood. By chance, Morbius is then hit by a lightning bolt at the same time. Morbius survives the lightning strike and discovers he is seemingly human again, his appearance, sanity, and normal human traits restored, though his blood disease has returned and he now requires frequent treatment and blood transfusions. While continuing to research how to stabilize a full cure, Dr. Michael Morbius agrees to stand trial for his several crimes over the years and hires attorney Jennifer Walters (whose identity as the She-Hulk is not publicly known at the time). Later, Morbius learns of Walters' status as the She-Hulk and that she suffers from sometimes erratic transformations. He gives her a serum based on research regarding his own condition and Walters finds herself now able to change form at will (though with effort). In court, Walters' argues that Morbius' crimes as a living vampire were due in large part to his "medical condition" affecting his ability to reason, while adding that most of Morbius' victims survived and were cured of pseudo-vampirism by the biochemist himself. Taking this into account, the court finds Morbius guilty of involuntary manslaughter rather than murder.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: For the next few years of his life, Morbius continues to research his disease while acting as a consultant to others. He becomes a closer friend to the Werewolf (Jack Russell) and offers information to the Avengers that helps them on a case. Eventually, despite all of his efforts, Morbius reverts to being a living vampire again. Working alongside several allies, the sorcerer Doctor Strange is able to use the "Montesi Formula" (a spell found in the Darkhold) to banish all undead vampires from Earth's dimension. Morbius is unaffected since he is a scientific mutation and not a supernatural creature. The only other vampire to be unaffected is Hannibal King, a vampire detective who refused to ever feed on living people and so was spared from the spell's effects. Years later, alongside the sorcerers Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo, Morbius battles Marie Laveau and witnesses the return of true vampires to Earth's dimension.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Frustrated by his repeated failures to cure himself, Morbius takes refuge in the sewers of New York City and discovers a community of underground dwellers who offer to help him in exchange for protection. The community brings Morbius "bad ones" to feed on and Morbius believes from their descriptions that these people brought to him are killers themselves. After feeding on several victims, Morbius is confronted by Spider-Man, who accuses him of becoming a serial killer. Discovering the underground community deems "anyone" living on the surface to be a "bad one", Morbius is horrified to realize he has murdered people at random. Disgusted at himself, Morbius flees into the sewers and falls deeper into depression.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: 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 the Mother of All Demons has returned to Earth's dimension and intends to lay waste to humanity with help from her children and descendants, the Lilin. The 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 Michael 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 blood to poison Lanford's serum.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: After a brief battle with the Ghost Rider and Blaze, Morbius is subdued and taken to Lanford's lab, where he is given the false cure. The result of Langford's serum mixed with demon blood creates a new mutagenic agent, altering the Living Vampire's abilities and appearance while also largely restoring his sanity and 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." 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. 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 vampire abilities have returned), the half-vampire Blade, and Frank Drake, the last living mortal descendant of Dracula.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Over the next year, Morbius confronts several new foes, including Dr. Paine, the II (Wayne Gifford), Vic Slaughter, and Bloodbath. During the initial battle with Vic Slaughter and his team 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 later discovers that if he drains a certain amount from a victim, the infection of his bite is actually more powerful than before. Vic Slaughter rises from near-death as a new living vampire, his abilities equal to Morbius.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: 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". During a battle with the dream-empowered villain 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. Soon afterward, Blade is influenced by outside forces and becomes a corrupted version of himself called Switchblade. He kills several allies, including Morbius. Soon afterward, Blade is cured of his possession and his victims magically restored, including Morbius.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: From Dr. Paine, Morbius learns that his blood disease is not in full remission and will eventually still kill him despite constantly feeding on fresh blood and his otherwise impressive regenerative abilities. 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 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. 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 the living vampire if he ingests too much. He also attains a hyperbolic chamber and dialysis equipment, allowing him to oxygenate his blood and cleanse his system as he sleeps.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: 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 living vampire is a curse he should not accept. 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 vampire Hannibal King to see if it affects him, only to discover his body simply rejects vampire blood, since it is "lifeless."


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: 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 vampires by drinking blood. Morbius meets the club's leader, Brian DeWolff. Formerly the vigilante called the 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 cyborg Deathlok, Morbius halts the "vampire cult" from committing a terrorist bombing and then seemingly kills DeWolff.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Thanks to traces of Lilin blood still in Morbius' body, the spirit of a Lilin called Bloodthirst begins guiding the Living Vampire's 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. Bloodthirst then takes full possession of Morbius' body and attacks the Midnight Sons with the help of Martine/Parasite. With help from Dr. Strange, Morbius reasserts control over his own body. To defeat Parasite, Morbius then kills Martine's body, forcing the Lilin spirit out of her form 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 Michael. Martine moves into Morbius' home, but becomes frustrated by her new condition. 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 vampiric body for himself and seriously injures both Jacob and Mandy before Morbius finally destroys him. Morbius decides to distance himself from Mandy in order to protect her.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: 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 suggests to Lena she seeks medical treatment from "Dr. Morgan Michaels." Unaware this is the living 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.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Martine Bancroft 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 undead, 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 but rents a nearby apartment so she can continue spying on her former lover. She then begins a casual romantic relationship with Jack Russell.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Lena Ivana's influence leads Morbius to reconsider his vow to only feed on the guilty, realizing he does not investigate his criminal victims enough to fully realize if they are in need of help or can be reformed. He decides it is better to abstain from feeding and simply allow himself to die rather than continue to justify murder. Realizing his friend intends suicide, Jack Russell confronts Morbius and they fight each other. Weakened by the fight and a lack of blood for several days, Morbius is then exposed to the rising sun and quickly burns. Jacob Weisenthal arrives and administers his latest attempt at a cure for Morbius' mutation, but the pseudo-vampire seemingly dies. Jacob and Jack Russell arrange for a midnight burial attended by the Midnight Sons, Martine, and Lena. Possibly thanks to Jacob's latest anti-viral serum, Morbius suddenly heals and regains consciousness, rising from his grave.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: As a result of Jacob's serum, Morbius seems to lose his bloodlust and only temporarily achieves a partial vampiric appearance every night at midnight. Jacob becomes alarmed that Morbius is experiencing blackouts again and may be feeding without realizing it, but Michael insists he is cured and continues pursuing Lena romantically. Enraged with jealousy, Martine meets with Lena and tells her Dr. Morgan Michaels is actually the Living Vampire, Michael Morbius. Feeling betrayed, Lena leaves Michael. Morbius then realizes he is experiencing bloodlust again and losing his reason as he regains his full vampiric appearance. After blacking out, Morbius realizes he has attacked and fed on a random person. Jacob's latest "cure" has only made him once again a monster who loses reason and sanity when he feels the need to feed, no longer able to maintain any kind of morality or any vow to only feed on the "blood of the guilty." Driven by his hunger and once again a danger to anyone around him, Morbius abandons his Morgan Michaels identity and leaves behind both Jacob and St. Jude's Memorial Hospital. Although Jacob's serum did not cure his pseudo-vampirism, it evidently put his blood disease back into remission, as it is never mentioned again that the disease is still killing him.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Once again a fugitive, Morbius escapes detection for some time while occasionally clashing with Spider-Man. An encounter with the mutant Nate Grey leads Morbius' hunger to temporarily increase. Frightened that his condition is worsening, Morbius seeks out help from hematologist Dr. Andrea Janson. Before he can be helped, he is captured and tortured by HYDRA agent Loxias Crown. He then assists both Spider-Man and S.H.O.C. against the terrorist organization and drains Crown of blood before leaving him for dead. Rather than die, Crown becomes a new pseudo-vampire called the Hunger and creates a cult of pseudo-vampire followers. Later, Morbius is kidnapped and biologically engineered to be more powerful so he can oppose the Hunger. He is freed by Spider-Man and Blade, but the identity of who kidnapped and experimented on him is never revealed.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Years later, the Superhuman Registration Act is passed, obligating anyone with superhuman abilities to register with S.H.I.E.L.D. and comply with its authority. For a time, Morbius submits to the SRA and joins an effort to capture Blade. Later, during an invasion from the "Marvel Zombies" universe of Earth-2149, Morbius is seen as a member of A.R.M.O.R. and fights a zombie version of himself. Shortly afterward, Morbius forms a new version of the Midnight Sons with Jennifer Kale, Daimon Hellstrom, Jack Russell and the Man-Thing. Together, they contain a zombie outbreak on an isolated island, briefly encountering the Hood in the process. Morbius also helps the Man-Thing revive the Punisher (Frank Castle) into the monster called Franken-Castle.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: When Morbius concludes that Spider-Man's cells may help cure Jack Russell of being the Werewolf, he steals samples of the Web-Slinger's blood. Spider-Man learns Morbius is behind the theft from Martine Bancroft, who has allowed herself to become a supernatural vampire. The hero finds Morbius and Martine arrives, declaring once more her desire to reunite with her former lover and offering to kill his frequent enemy Spider-Man as proof of her love. Morbius refuses to endanger Spider-Man and argues that Martine's feeling for him is only a longing for completion because her soul has not been intact since her resurrection. Seeing that Spider-Man cannot bring himself to kill even a vampire, Morbius takes action and kills Martine with wood through the heart, causing her body to disintegrate to ashes that are scattered. Despite their history as enemies, the Web-Slinger voluntarily donates more blood samples to Morbius to aid his research.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: After briefly working with Doctor Octopus, Morbius accepts an offer to become a researcher at Horizon Labs, given access to advanced equipment in exchange for sharing his research with company head Max Modell. To keep his identity hidden from the other researchers who may not approve, Morbius stays hidden and is referred to only as Number Six, since he occupies Lab 6. Peter Parker later learns the truth of Number Six's identity during the "Spider-Island" affair. Morbius is later confronted by authorities and taken to the supervillain prison known as the Raft, but escapes during a large-scale breakout. Taking refuge in the neighborhood of Brownsville, he becomes a local protector, leading to confrontations with the newest criminal to call himself the Rose (Phillip Hayes). During this time, he develops a friendship with Bucky Barnes and encounters his long-estranged father Makarioa Morbius.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: During a journey to Barcelona, Morbius is captured by local vampires. He then joins forces with Domino, Diamondback and Outlaw to defeat them before Domino helps him escape a vampire hunter. Morbius later becomes involved in a Vampire Civil War and is rescued from Dracula's disciples by the Wasp and the Man-Wolf. When the mass murderer Carnage and the Cult of Knull threaten humanity, Morbius joins the efforts to oppose them. Later, Morbius finds himself hunted by Elizabeth Nikos, the sister of his longtime friend, scientific collaborator, and first victim Emil Nikos. Not long after that, Morbius also meets Emil's son, Christos Nikos, who hopes the Living Vampire's genetics may cure him of his own fatal illness. These efforts fail and Christos dies.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: During the "Beyond" story line, Morbius briefly fights the new Spider-Man (Ben Reilly, a clone of Peter Parker) before fleeing. After taking a sample of Reilly's blood, which is identical to Parker's on a cellular level, Morbius realizes Spider-Man's blood will no longer work in creating even a temporary cure for his pseudo-vampirism. Upon being taken to the Beyond Corporation's secret facility on Staten Island, Morbius' genetic template is used to help create Creature Z, a "binary clone" of Morbius himself and a genetic duplicate of the Lizard. Morbius helps Misty Knight and Colleen Wing fight it Creature Z and is able to destroy the creature with his own blood.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Even before he contracted the disease of pseudo-vampirism, Michael Morbius already possessed a genius-level intellect. He is an M.D. with a Ph.D in biochemistry. A biologist specializing in hematology, Michael Morbius is an expert radiologist and a Nobel laureate. His own condition as a "living vampire" and his frequent studies of superhumans such as Spider-Man, the She-Hulk, Martine Bancroft (when she was resurrected as an undead vampire), and the Werewolf (Jack Russell) have made him an authority on superhuman mutation, including those influenced by magical forces.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Experimental procedures have turned Michael Morbius into a pseudo-vampire. As opposed to a true undead vampire who is reanimated by supernatural forces, Morbius is still a living being with no inherent supernatural or magical energies (though he has at times been temporarily affected or tainted by demonic forces). As such, his abilities, traits, and weaknesses are similar to but do not exactly align with those of true undead vampires that inhabit the Marvel Universe. Due to his second mutation being influenced by demon blood, Morbius has become immortal in the traditional sense, meaning he no longer ages. This immortality has remained with him even after all traces of demon blood were removed from his body.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius' senses are somewhat enhanced, granting him greater hearing, taste, and smell, as well as night-vision. His talons are able to easily tear through flesh, bone, and wood (though not metal or concrete). Morbius' mutation has altered and increased the strength of his skeleton, as well as his muscle tissue. He has superhuman strength. allowing him to lift nearly two tons of weight. He has resistance to physical injury a few times greater than that of an average human being, making it more difficult to burn him, pierce his organs, or break his bones.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius has advanced regenerative abilities (though his healing is not as strong as that of Dracula, the Lord of the Vampires or the mutant Wolverine). Given time, he can recover from many and multiple wounds that would be fatal for a normal human being. Bullet wounds can be fully healed in hours, while more severe damage such as broken bones, major damage to organs, and severe burns may take a few days to recover (fresh blood will also enhance his cellular regeneration). If the injuries are severe enough and he is not given time to heal before further injury or is unable to ingest sufficient blood in due time, he will succumb to his wounds and die. Morbius has also concluded that he would be unable to regenerate lost limbs and organs if they were completely destroyed.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius has psionic abilities that allow him to hypnotize others. The strength of this hypnosis varies from person to person, allowing Morbius to either influence them subtly or to alter their short-term memory of a recent event. Some people, such as those who are aware of Morbius' hypnotic abilities, seem more resistant to this power. Morbius' psionic power also allows for a limited telekinetic-like ability that allows him to glide on air currents and aids him in climbing surfaces such as walls. While gliding, his top speed is believed to be roughly 35 mph.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius has often used specialized clothing to aid him. His original costume had bat-like wings attached to the arms to aid him in gliding. He later wore a reinforced leather outfit to provide extra protection in battle. Later on, he used Horizon Labs resources to develop personal body armor.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Most of Morbius' victims die from blood loss, even those he does not drain completely. On rare occasion, Morbius' bite has infected a victim with a mutation similar but weaker to his own, giving them some enhanced strength and a desire for blood but no psionic or healing abilities. This occurred with his former fiancé Martine Bancroft, as well as the characters Jefferson Bolt (seen in "Marvel Team-Up" #3), Emilio (seen in "Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man" #7), Nate Grey (in "X-Man" #24), and a woman named Roxy ("Legion of Monsters: Morbius" #1). When Morbius was temporarily infected by demonic Lilin blood, his bite caused the bounty hunter Vic Slaughter to become another living vampire with near-equal powers and abilities to his. On one occasion, Morbius bit Blade, who is himself a dhampir (or "half-vampire"), a being halfway between being a vampire and a normal human being, and the result was that Blade temporarily became a true vampire named Switchblade.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: While he was infected with demonic Lilin blood, Morbius was able to collapse his body into a near-liquid, putty-like state that allowed him to pass through cracks in doors and other barriers. He lost this ability after expelling the Lilin blood from his body.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: As he is not a true undead vampire, Morbius is unaffected by religious symbols or objects considered holy and he is not affected by wood or silver more than other metals or substances that may damage his body. While he is vulnerable to direct sunlight, he will not be reduced to ash by it as may happen with supernatural vampires. Instead, Morbius' skin will take several minutes to blister and burn and it will take several minutes more before he risks being overwhelmed by pain and dehydration. If he is weakened, the burns may become more severe more rapidly, killing him after only a few minutes. Even if he is not in direct sunlight, ambient radiation from the sun weakens his abilities and health unless he is properly protected by lead or concrete barriers.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: To keep his blood disease from returning at an accelerated rate that will quickly kill him, Morbius must regularly drain and feed on blood from living people. He does not require blood on a daily basis, but his need does increase the longer he goes without blood or if he is injured or engages in strenuous activity. Throughout his life since his mutation, Morbius has often been vulnerable to losing all reason and moral inhibition when he is overwhelmed by bloodlust, causing him to feed and not realize his own actions until minutes later.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Supernatural vampires in the Marvel Universe are sometimes able to survive by draining blood from animals or recently deceased people or even other vampires (the vampire Hannibal King survived for a time by feeding on the recently buried dead). Morbius, however, is unable to be nourished from these same sources and must rely on blood from living human beings. As a stop-gap, Morbius has used collected blood from blood banks when he is desperate to keep his bloodlust at bay; however, the chemical preservatives and anti-coagulants used by blood banks make donated blood a poor source of nourishment for Morbius and will poison him if he ingests such samples regularly or in great enough quantity.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: On more than one occasion, Spider-Man's irradiated blood (used in tandem with electricity or other chemical agents) has put Morbius' vampiric mutation into remission for hours or even years at a time, leaving him a non-powered human being with normal human vulnerabilities. On a few occasions, however, Morbius has been greatly injured while in his human form and instead of dying, the shock of the injuries has triggered his pseudo-vampiric form and abilities to immediately return.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: In the "House of M" series, Michael Morbius appears in a flashback as one of the scientists (along with Jonas Harrow and Farley Stillwell) behind Luke Cage's powers.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: Morbius appears in "Dead of Night featuring Werewolf by Night" #4 as one of the anomalous beings contained and experimented on by the Babylon Group. When Jack Russell attempts to escape from the Babylon Group with his infant daughter, the facility tries to stop him by unleashing Morbius and the Frankenstein Monster. In the ensuing brawl, Morbius's heart is punched out by the Monster.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: A zombified version of Morbius the Living Vampire appears in the 2008–2009 "Marvel Zombies 4" miniseries. The real Morbius of Earth-616 (the mainstream Marvel Universe) is kidnapped and beaten by his zombie counterpart, who found a way from the Marvel Zombies universe into the Marvel Universe. The zombie Morbius holds the real one captive while using a latex mask to look normal. It is revealed that he plans to infect every member of the Fifty State Initiative with the zombie virus. His captivity is later inadvertently uncovered by an A.R.M.O.R. team member, whom Morbius tries to warn of an impending attack. The warning comes too late, as Morbius's zombie counterpart attacks the team member and infects her, thus creating a violent chain of events after she attacks another team member. Towards the end of the crisis, the real Morbius appears out of nowhere and grabs a tree, which he uses as a stake and stabs his zombified version from behind and straight into the heart, killing him instantly.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: The Ultimate Marvel version of Morbius the Living Vampire is more akin to a traditional vampire, the son of Dracul and brother of Vlad III Dracula himself. He has all of the powers and abilities associated with the usual interpretation of Dracula. This version of Morbius, however, seems to be heroically struggling against his baser instincts and is, in fact, a vampire hunter. He meets Spider-Man in a typical misunderstanding, centering on a cabal of vampires attacking Ben Urich. He tries to stop Urich from becoming a vampire, in which he succeeds, despite the conflict. When Spider-Man is bitten by a vampire, Morbius sniffs Spider-Man and determines that the young superhero is immune to vampirism.


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: In this new universe, Morbius is fused with Morpheus and is an enemy of the hero Arachknight (a fusion of Spider-Man and the Moon Knight).


title: Morbius, the Living Vampire

text: In "The Amazing Spider-Man" newspaper strip, Michael Morbius returns to New York, seemingly cured of his pseudo-vampirism, and with a fiancé, Martine Bancroft. However, at night, he begins exhibiting his old symptoms and comes into conflict with Spider-Man. It is later revealed that Bancroft is behind his troubles and gained her own vampiric abilities after she was attacked and killed by Dracula.


title: Arrested Development

text: Arrested Development is an American television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It aired on Fox for three seasons from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006, followed by two seasons on Netflix from May 26, 2013, to March 15, 2019.


title: Arrested Development

text: "Arrested Development" follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy dysfunctional family. It is presented in a serialized format, incorporating handheld camera work, voice-over narration, archival photos, historical footage and maintains numerous running gags and catchphrases. Ron Howard served as both an executive producer and the omniscient narrator and, in later seasons, appears in the show as a fictionalized version of himself. Set in Newport Beach, California, "Arrested Development" was filmed primarily in Culver City and Marina del Rey.


title: Arrested Development

text: "Arrested Development" received critical acclaim. It won six Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, and attracted a cult following. It has been named one of the greatest TV shows of all time by publications including "Rolling Stone", "Time", "Entertainment Weekly", and "IGN". It influenced later single-camera comedy series such as "30 Rock" and "Community".


title: Arrested Development

text: Despite the positive response from critics, "Arrested Development" received low ratings and viewership on Fox, which canceled the series in 2006. In 2011, Netflix licensed new episodes and distributed them on its streaming service. These episodes were released in May 2013. Netflix commissioned a fifth season of "Arrested Development", the first half of which premiered on May 29, 2018, and the second half on March 15, 2019.


title: Arrested Development

text: Discussion that led to the creation of the series began in the summer of 2002. Ron Howard had the original idea to create a comedy series in the style of handheld cameras and reality television, but with an elaborate, highly comical script resulting from repeated rewritings and rehearsals. Howard met with David Nevins, the president of Imagine Television, Katie O'Connell, a senior vice president, and two writers, including Mitchell Hurwitz. In light of recent corporate accounting scandals, such as Enron and Adelphia, Hurwitz suggested a story about a "riches to rags" family. Howard and Imagine were interested in using this idea, and signed Hurwitz to write the show. The idea was pitched and sold in Q3 2002. There was a bidding war for the show between Fox and NBC, with the show ultimately selling to Fox as a put pilot with a six-figure penalty.


title: Arrested Development

text: Over the next few months, Hurwitz developed the characters and plot for the series. The script of the pilot episode was submitted in January 2003 and filmed in March 2003. It was submitted in late April to Fox and was added to the network's fall schedule that May.


title: Arrested Development

text: Alia Shawkat was the first cast in the series. Michael Cera, Tony Hale, and Jessica Walter were cast from video tapes and flown in to audition for Fox. Jason Bateman and Portia de Rossi both read and auditioned for the network and were immediately chosen. The character of Gob was the most challenging to cast. When Will Arnett auditioned, he played the character "like a guy who thought of himself as the chosen son, even though it was obvious to everyone else that he was the least favorite"; he was chosen immediately for his unique portrayal. The characters of Tobias and George Sr. were originally going to have minor roles, but David Cross and Jeffrey Tambor's portrayals mixed well with the rest of the characters, and they were given more significant parts. Howard provided the narration for the initial pilot, and his narrating meshed so well with the tone of the program that the decision was made to keep his voice. Howard aided in the casting of "Lucille 2"; the producers told him that their dream actress for the role was Liza Minnelli but that they assumed no one of her stature would take the part. She agreed when Ron Howard asked her himself, because they were old friends; she had been his babysitter when she was a teenager.


title: Arrested Development

text: "Arrested Development" uses several elements which were rare at the time for American live-action sitcoms. It was shot on location and in HD video (at 24 frames per second) with multiple cameras, parodying tactics often employed in documentary film and reality television, straying from the "fixed-set, studio audience, laugh track" style long dominant in comedy production. The show makes heavy use of cutaway gags, supplementing the narrative with visual punchlines like security camera footage, Bluth family photos, website screenshots, archive films, and flashbacks. An omniscient third-person narrator (producer Ron Howard) ties together the multiple plot threads running through each episode, while humorously undercutting and commenting on the characters. "Arrested Development" developed a unique self-referentiality through use of in-jokes that evolved over multiple episodes, which rewarded longtime viewership (and in turn may have discouraged new viewers and contributed to the show's ratings difficulties).