BLOODTHIRST

Real Name: Bloodthirst

Identity/Class: Demon human mutate hybrid (see comments)

Occupation: Infiltrate the Nine as Morbius

Group Membership: Lilin (Bad Timing, Blackout, Dark Legion, Doc, Fang, Girth, Infinks, Meatmarket, Nakota, Outcast, Parasite, Pilgrim, Pixil, Scatter, Short Circuit, Sister Nil, Skinner, Skitter, Spitfire, many others)

Affiliations: Lilin (especially Parasite), Lilith, Zarathos

Enemies: (As Morbius) Sam Buchanan, Caretaker, D'Spayre, Jinx, Midnight Sons (Blade, John Blaze, Frank Drake, Dr. Strange, Ghost Rider/Dan Ketch/Noble Kale, Hannibal King, Morbius, Vengeance), Modred the Mystic, Nine (Blade, John Blaze, Frank Drake, Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch), Louise Hastings, Hannibal King, Victoria Montesi, Morbius), Dr. Jacob Weisenthal, Werewolf;
(with his own body) Morbius, Mandy Tyler, Dr. Jacob Weisenthal

Known Relatives: Fang (genetic progenitor, "father"), Morbius (partially genetic progenitor), Lilin (brethren), Lilith (grandmother, kind of)

Aliases: Morbius (he actually was inhabiting Morbius' body)

Base of Operations: Mobile;
Formerly Morbius' body

First Appearance: (As blood) Morbius#1 (September, 1992); (humanoid form) Morbius#20 (April, 1994)

Powers/Abilities: In his humanoid form Bloodthirst possessed superhuman strength, speed and agility. His skin was bulletproof, he possessed vampire-like fangs and sharp claws on his three-digit hands. Besides his obvious vampiric features it stayed unrevealed if he possessed any other vampiric treats like the name-giving need to consume blood.

  As ingredient of Dr. Langford's serum, Bloodthirst was merely the mutating factor in Morbius' bloodstream. Bloodthirst's cells turned Morbius into an immortal being. The Bloodthirst mutated cells allowed Morbius to bend and morph his body like Mr. Fantastic and Morbius' healing factor was triplet. Bloodthirst's influence on Morbius grew the more the living vampire fed on human blood, but for a long time Bloodthirst's presence wasn't actually felt by Morbius. For some time Bloodthirst was only able to take control of Morbius' body for a short time, then he became a nagging voice in Morbius' head and eventually Bloodthirst was able to take full control over Morbius' body and mutated it into a more hideous looking, monstrous form. Due to the morphing abilities of Morbius' body it could still be transformed into a more human looking form, but for Morbius himself it was hard to maintain it.

  While Bloodthirst was in control of Morbius' body he could use the full scale of Morbius' powers including superhuman strength, his enhanced healing factor, minor hypnotic powers, the ability to float on air currents and his morphing abilities.

History:

(Morbius#1 - BTS) - Lilith sent her son Fang to poison Dr. Langford's alleged cure for Morbius. Fang broke into the lab and mixed some of his blood into the serum, which was actually a poison itself. Later Dr. Langford injected Morbius with the tainted serum and was shocked when it mutated Morbius instead of killing him. With the Lilin blood now cursing through his body, Morbius went mad and fled the lab. He returned the next night to retrieve the serum with the Lilin blood. Upon his return he found his girlfriend Martine dead in the lab. Her murderer Dr. Langford and Dr. Paine's henchmen soon became his victims. A fire broke out, some gas canisters exploded and Morbius dropped the serum. Ghost Rider caught it and eventually gave it to Morbius, who promised to only kill the guilty in the future.

(Morbius#2 - BTS) - Jacob Weisenthal and Morbius talked about examining the sample of the serum, Morbius had retrieved from Dr. Langford's lab. Meanwhile the Lilin blood silently ran through Morbius' body.

(Morbius#3 - BTS) - At St. Jude's hospital Dr. Weisenthal examined Morbius and took some blood samples. The Lilin presence stayed undetected.

(Morbius#4-5 - BTS) - Bloodthirst was in Morbius' blood.

(Ghost Rider III#31 - BTS) - Dr. Strange teleported Morbius and the other Midnight Sons to Greenland to face off with Lilith and her children. During the fight Morbius bit Fang. Morbius recognized Fang's blood as the ingredient in Langford's serum that mutated him. Bloodthirst stayed quiet.

(Midnight Sons Unlimited#1/4, Morbius#4-5 - all BTS) - Bloodthirst was pumped through Morbius' organism.

(Morbius#6 - BTS) - Dr. Jacob Weisenthal told Morbius that his latest mutation accelerated his recovery rate. Unfortunately Morbius' accelerated metabolism poisoned him and Weisenthal suggested dialysis treatments and a hyperbaric environment to help him. Bloodthirst was still in the blood.

(Morbius#7, Morbius#8, Dr. Strange III#52, Morbius#9 - BTS) - Bloodthirst stayed quiet in Morbius' bloodstream.

(Dr. Strange III#53 - BTS) - Nightmare, in Dr. Strange's form, revealed during his fight against Morbius, that he wanted Morbius' soul because Morbius had been made immortal by the infusion of Lilin blood. Bloodthirst had nothing to say about it.

(Morbius#10 - BTS) - Bloodthirst took control of Morbius and went out for a midnight prowl. Still using Morbius' ethics he only killed a drug dealer. The next morning Morbius couldn't remember anything about the last night. During a fight against Vic Slaughter, Morbius was able to liquefy his body and squeeze through a turnstile in a subway station. After the fight Bloodthirst took over again and the next morning Morbius woke up in the sewers with two blood drained bodies in front of him. Morbius decided to get help because he didn't understand the changes caused by the Lilin blood.

(Morbius#10/2 - BTS) - Bloodthirst ran his course through Morbius' organism, but didn't do anything else.

(Nightstalkers#8-9, Morbius#11 - all BTS) - Morbius aided with his new morphing ability the Nightstalkers against Stonecold and later against Vic Slaughter. A shot from the Exorcist gun couldn't cure Morbius.

(Morbius#11/2 - BTS) - No action by Bloodthirst.

(Morbius#12 - BTS) - Once again Morbius went hunting during the night influenced by the presence of Bloodthirst. He nearly didn't make it back home before sunrise. The next night Morbius was killed by Switchblade.

(Spirits of Vengeance#13 - BTS) - Switchblade was defeated with a Darkhold spell and everything went back to normal. All Switchblade victims, including Morbius were resurrected.

(Midnight Sons Unlimited#2 - BTS) - Morbius was back to doing heroic stuff. Bloodthirst was in his organism, but stayed quiet.

(Web of Spider-Man#102, Amazing Spider-Man I#379, Spider-Man I#36, Spectacular Spider-Man II#202, Web of Spider-Man#103, Amazing Spider-Man I#380, Spider-Man Unlimited I#2 - all BTS) - During the events known as Maximum Carnage, Bloodthirst was present in Morbius' bloodstream.

(Midnight Sons Unlimited#3 - BTS) - Bloodthirst waited inside Morbius.

(Morbius#13 - BTS) - Dr. Strange told Morbius that his soul was gone after his resurrection. Morbius felt less human than ever and the Dwarf tricked him into using a Darkhold page to resurrect Martine Bancroft, who was brought back to life under the control of Parasite, a Lilin. Parasite tested Morbius' loyalty and realized that the human part of Morbius was still too strong.

(Morbius#14) - Morbius woke up in an ally after a nightmare caused by D'Spayre. Morbius tried to keep control over his body and was watched by Martine (Parasite), who needed a mate and was going to ask Lilith for help to draw out the Lilin side in Morbius. Bloodthirst gained control over Morbius after another D'Spayre induced nightmare. Trapped in his own subconscious, Morbius watched as Bloodthirst killed an innocent man. Werewolf stopped him from killing a woman as well. D'Spayre knocked out Werewolf and then went after Morbius, who he wanted to torment a little bit more, but the Lilin controlling Morbius didn't play along. D'Spayre's fear powers were able to draw out Morbius from his subconscious again, but with Morbius in control again D'Spayre soon had to flee. Morbius then lost control to Bloodthirst again, who couldn't kill Werewolf because Morbius was still fighting him subconsciously. Morbius went to Dr. Weisenthal when he was in control again.

(Morbius#15) - Morbius revealed to Weisenthal that he could keep the Lilin inside him in check by not feeding on blood. During a date with his co-worker Mandy Tyler, she wanted Morbius to feed on her, which helped Bloodthirst gain control again. Morbius (Bloodthirst) left Mandy alive and attacked more innocent people until Ghost Rider stopped him. Bloodthirst then fled into Morbius' subconsciousness to avoid detection by Ghost Rider. After the fight Martine (Parasite) approached Morbius, who was already under Bloodthirst's control again and vowed to destroy the Nine from within.

(Nighstalkers#14) - During a meeting of the Midnight Sons, Morbius (Bloodthirst) unsuccessfully tried to calm down Blaze, who wanted to shoot Blade. He didn't stop him and waited until Ghost Rider interfered. Later Ghost Rider put Morbius in a team with Blade, Louise Hastings, Jinx, Modred and Drake to investigate the mist. Morbius (Bloodthirst) volunteered to lead the team and then immediately left them on their own upon entering the mist.

(Marvel Comics Presents I#143/1) - Dr. Strange, Morbius (Bloodthirst), Caretaker and Victoria Montesi were separated from Ghost Rider, Vengeance and John Blaze during teleportation. The Lilin Girth and Skitter talked about the traitor, which was overheard by Ghost Rider, Vengeance and Blaze. After defeating the two Lilin the Spirits of Vengeance told Dr. Strange about the traitor in Morbius' group, but they didn't know that it was Morbius.(see comments)

(Darkhold#15) - Morbius (Bloodthirst) fought along with his team against the Lilin. They were surprised to see him again because it seemed like Morbius had deserted them, but he told them that he found them a safe haven while the others were fighting. Jinx, Louise, Modred, Blade and Drake followed Morbius to the former lab of Dr. Langford. While Louise wandered through the building she was killed by Morbius (Bloodthirst). Suddenly Lilith and her children attacked and when Drake tried to shoot Lilith and Zarathos, Morbius (Bloodthirst) revealed himself as a traitor and knocked down Drake.

(Morbius#16) - Morbius (Bloodthirst) pretended to flee to the Sanctum Sanctorum and Dr. Strange allowed him to enter. Morbius (Bloodthirst) told the present Midnight Sons that Louise was killed by Modred, who had betrayed them, but Ghost Rider smelled innocent blood on Morbius (Bloodthirst) and was seconds later proven right that Morbius (Bloodthirst) was the murderer. Due to Morbius' evil presence the Sanctum's barriers were weakened and Martine (Parasite) and the other Lilin were able to enter the Sanctum. Morbius (Bloodthirst) immediately sided with the invaders. He fought Dr. Strange during the assault, but Dr. Strange was able to catch Morbius (Bloodthirst) and forgave him for his betrayal. Dr. Strange's kind words gave Morbius the strength to overpower Bloodthirst inside his consciousness and take control over his own body again. Bloodthirst was contained and not able to regain control over Morbius' body anymore. Morbius returned to the fight and still pretended to one of the Lilin while protecting his real allies. Bloodthirst taunted him for this because the other Lilin would soon realize that Morbius wasn't one of them anymore.

(Marvel Comics Presents I#144/1 - BTS) - Martine (Parasite) followed Morbius and saw that he attacked other Lilin. She told him to relinquish his form to Bloodthirst again if he wanted to be with her, but Morbius didn't want to and knocked her out. Bloodthirst was trapped in Morbius' subconscious.

(Marvel Comics Presents I#144/2 - BTS) - Morbius returned to his friends, who attacked him at first, but Ghost Rider soon realized that Morbius wasn't their enemy anymore. Bloodthirst was still trapped.

(Dr. Strange III#60 - BTS) - With Bloodthirst not in control anymore, Morbius helped his friends against the Lilin Sister Nil. During his attack he revealed to them that he only betrayed them because he was controlled by the Lilin Bloodthirst.

(Spirits of Vengeance#17 - BTS) - Bloodthirst stayed silent. Morbius vowed at Cypress Hills Cemetery that he would never be a traitor again and faced Lilith, her children and Zarathos together with the other Midnight Sons. He resisted the burning blood in his veins and was instrumental in defeating Lilith and her children.

(Nightstalkers#15 - BTS) - Bloodthirst was still trapped in Morbius' subconscious.

(Marvel Comics Presents I#145/1 - BTS) - Although Bloodthirst was not in control anymore, Morbius tried to save a Lilin child because it was innocent. Due to his actions he got into a short fight with Hannibal King.

(Morbius#17 - BTS) - Trapped safely in Morbius' mind, Bloodthirst asked him for another chance and told Morbius to drink some blood, but Morbius ignored the voice in his head. Later Bloodthirst had to watch how Morbius killed Parasite after driving her out from Martine's body.

(Dr. Strange III#61, Spirits of Vengeance#18, Midnight Sons Unlimited#4 - all BTS) - Bloodthirst stayed quiet in Morbius' mind.

(Morbius#18 - BTS) - Morbius tested several serums on himself until the Lilin cells went into remission.

(Morbius#20) - In a dangerous procedure that lasted days, Morbius successfully filtered out the Lilin mutated cells from his bloodstream. Hours after Morbius had left the house for the first time after being cleaned of the Lilin, Martine watched as the mutated properties of Morbius' blood began to boil within its holding receptacle. The Lilin broke free and rose from the ground in a new humanoid form. Bloodthirst went to St. Jude's and attacked everyone who stood in his way to Morbius. Mandy Tyler shot Bloodthirst to protect Dr. Michaels from him, but the bullet couldn't injure Bloodthirst. He turned around and injured Mandy seriously with one punch to the belly as revenge for his beloved Parasite's death at the hand of Morbius. Police arrived, but their weapons were as useless as Mandy's pistol. Dr. Michaels brought Mandy to safety and then returned as Morbius to fight Bloodthirst on his own. Their fight went to the streets and Bloodthirst proofed to be stronger than Morbius. Bloodthirst tossed Morbius into an ambulance and followed him into the vehicle, but Morbius injected him with several doses of Procainamide, which caused Bloodthirst's death after a coronary arrest. Bloodthirst's body dissolved into mist.

Comments: Created by Len Kaminski, Ron Wagner & Mike Witherby. Humanoid form created by Gregory Wright, Nick Napolitano & Ralph Cabrera.

The humanoid Bloodthirst consisted of Morbius' Lilin DNA infested blood. He is kind of a clone of the Lilin Fang and some Morbius DNA mixed into it.

A big part of this profile deals with Bloodthirst's inactive role as mutating factor in Morbius' blood. He was there, but he just didn't do anything because he as still too weak. Bloodthirst literally had to be fed by Morbius with blood until he was big enough to control Morbius' body on his own, which didn't happen until Morbius#10. Before that issue it wasn't even clear if Fang's blood had any further influence on Morbius besides his quiet helpful mutation. After Morbius#10 the reader was led to believe that Morbius went crazy until Morbius#14 were it was finally revealed that the Lilin blood was sentient.

Morbius shouldn't be in the scene in Marvel Comics Presents I#143/1, which followed the events of Ghost Rider III#44. I don't see Morbius hanging around with Dr. Strange at the end of the issue, but Victoria Montesi isn't there either. Morbius is next seen back with his team in Darkhold#15 in a fight against the Lilin.

According to Wikipedia: Procainamide is a pharmaceutical antiarrhythmic agent used for the medical treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

Bloodthirst can be counted between the scenes for all Morbius appearances between Morbius#1 and Morbius#18. This includes the Maximum Carnage saga in the Spider-Man titles. I'm not so sure about the Fall From Grace storyline in Daredevil or Venom: The Enemy Within. The Daredevil appearances where published in January and February, 1994 and the Venom mini from February to April, 1994. Both storylines could've easily happened after Morbius got rid of the Lilin problem in his blood as it wasn't mentioned in those comics in any way. Though it wasn't mentioned in Maximum Carnage or even some of the crossovers within the Midnight Sons titles either.

Profile by Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Bloodthirst has no known connection to:

• any other character with blood in their name

images: (without ads)
Morbius#20, p7, pan5 (main image)
Morbius#1, p15, pan9 (Fang's blood)
Morbius#10, p10, pan5 (Bloodthirst mutations help Morbius)
Morbius#15, p13, pan2 (Morbius, Bloodthirst in control)
Morbius#20, p12, pan2 (head shot)

Appearances:
Morbius#1-3 (September-November, 1992) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ron Wagner (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Ghost Rider III#31 (November, 1992) - Howard Mackie (writer), Andy Kubert (pencils), Joe Kubert (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Morbius#4-8 (December, 1992 - April, 1993) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ron Wagner (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#1 (April, 1993) - Len Wein (writer), Jerry Bingham (artist), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Dr. Strange III#52 (April, 1993) - Len Kaminski, Geof Isherwood & Roy Thomas (writers), Geof Isherwood (artist), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Morbius#9 (May, 1993) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ron Wagner (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Dr. Strange III#53 (May, 1993) - Roy Thomas (writer), Geof Isherwood (artist/co-plot), Mike Rockwitz (editor)
Morbius#10 (June, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), Ron Wagner (Story 1) & Isaac Cordova (Story 2) (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Nightstalkers#8 (June, 1993) - D.G. Chichester (writer), Ron Garney (pencils), Tom Palmer (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Nightstalkers#9 (July, 1993) - D.G. Chichester (writer), Mark Pacella (pencils), Don Heck (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Morbius#11 (July, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), Ron Wagner (Story 1) & Isaac Cordova (Story 2) (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#2 (July, 1993) - Mort Todd (writer), Rurik Tyler (pencils), Malcolm Jones III (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Web of Spider-Man#102 (July, 1993) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#379 (July, 1993) - David Michelinie (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Randy Emberlin (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Spider-Man I#36 (July, 1993) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Tom Lyle (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#202 (July, 1993) - J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Sal Buscema (artist), Rob Tokar (editor)
Web of Spider-Man#103 (August, 1993) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Alex Saviuk (pencils), Don Hudson (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#380 (August, 1993) - David Michelinie (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Randy Emberlin (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Spider-Man Unlimited I#2 (August, 1993) - Tom DeFalco (writer), Mark Bagley & Ron Lim (pencils), Sam DeLaRosa & Jim Sanders III (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Morbius#12 (August, 1993) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ron Wagner (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Spirits of Vengeance#13 (August, 1993) - Howard Mackie (writer), Adam Kubert (pencils), Joe Kubert, Dan Green, Klaus Janson & Frank Spinks (inks), (editor)
Morbius#13 (September, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), Ron Wagner & Henry Martinez (pencils), Andrew Pepoy & Sam de Larosa (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Midnight Sons Unlimited#3 (October, 1993) - Mort Todd (writer), Dougie Braithwaite & Vince Giarrano (pencils), Cam Smith & Vince Giarrano (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Morbius#14 (October, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), Ron Wagner & Melvin Rubi (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Morbius#15 (November, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), Isaac Cordova (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Nightstalkers#14 (December, 1993) - Steven Grant (writer), Andrew Wildman (pencils), Frank Turner (inks), Chris Cooper (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents I#143 (early December, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Reggie Jones (pencils), Fred Harper (inks), Richard Ashford (editor)
Darkhold#15 (December, 1993) - Chris Cooper (writer), Rurik Tyler (pencils), Bob Downs (inks), Hildy Mesnik (editor)
Morbius#16 (December, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), Isaac Cordova (pencils), Andrew Pepoy (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Marvel Comics Presents I#144 (late December, 1993) - Gregory Wright (writer), M.C. Wyman (pencils), Chris Ivy (inks), Richard Ashford (editor)

First Posted: 06/22/2008
Last updated: 12/29/2012

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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