EMIL NIKOS

Real Name: Emil Nikos

Identity/Class: Human vampire;
   citizen of Greece

Occupation: Former lab assistant

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Martine Bancroft, Baron Blood (John Falsworth), other vampires;
formerly Michael Morbius

Enemies: Michael Morbius, Mrs. Morbius

Known Relatives: Unidentified wife, Christos Nikos (son), Elizabeth Nikos (sister)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Mobile;
formerly Nafplio, Greece

First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man I#102 (November, 1971)

Powers/Abilities: Emil Nikos possesses all the standard powers and weaknesses of a vampire. His powers presumably included flight, the ability to transform into mist, enhanced strength and durability, the ability to mesmerize humans and control mice, rats, bats and wolves and the ability to gain strength by sucking blood from victims; he could also transform others into vampires. Weaknesses presumably included sunlight, garlic and holy symbols. He is well educated in biochemistry.

Height: Unrevealed (5'9"; by approximation)
Weight: Unrevealed (170 lbs.; by approximation)
Eyes: Red; formerly blue
Hair: Light brown

History:
(Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1 (fb) - BTS) - Emil and Michael had been friends since Michael could remember.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire III#4 (fb)) - As small children Nikos, Michael and Elizabeth blew blow bubbles.

   At some point Elizabeth made pastries for Nikos and Michael.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire III#1 (fb)) - Emil and Michael were sometimes joined by Elizabeth while running around outside.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1 (fb)) - Michael's mother often forbade him to play with Emil outside because of Michael's rare blood disease that dissolved his blood cells and made his bones brittle. Michael snuck out one night to run down to the docks with Emil to poke some dead fish. They ran across a wall and Michael fell down a chasm and broke several bones. From this day on Emil understood how fragile Michael was and promised he would never let something like this happen again to Michael.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire III#2 (fb)) - Elizabeth sometimes brought Emil and Michael something to eat while they were learning.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire III#4 (fb)) - While Morbius lay sick in bed he was visited by Nikos and Elizabeth. Emil and Michael were doing homework while Elizabeth distracted them by talking about American movies.

   As teenagers Emil, Nikos and Elizabeth kept hanging out with each other.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1 (fb)) - Emil kept his promise and went to college with Michael to learn how to cure Michael.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#102 (fb)/Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1 (fb)) - Emil Nikos worked for years as lab assistant for Dr. Michael Morbius.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire III#2 (fb)) - Elizabeth sometimes visited them at the lab.

(Morbius: Bond of Blood#1 (fb) - BTS) - At some point Emil fathered a son with an unidentified wife.

(Amazing Spider-Man I#102 (fb)/Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1 (fb)) - Nikos aided Morbius to find a cure for Morbius' rare blood disease. They worked hard at Morbius' laboratory in Greece. Reading the results of Morbius' tests did not fill Nikos with much optimism, but Morbius felt differently even though the fluids distilled from a vampire bat's blood did not slow down his illness. Their work gained Morbius a Nobel Prize (according to #699.1 Emil attended the ceremony because Morbius was so broken down at this point due to his disease, but in Adventures into Fear#25 Morbius is seen attending a Nobel Prize ceremony with Martine; see comments) Morbius asked Nikos to keep his illness secret from Morbius' fiancée Martine Bancroft, who he told that the next step for his experiments had to be done at sea to be totally secure. Morbius rented a yacht with the Nobel Prize money. Though he insisted to sail alone with Nikos, Martine insisted to join them.

   Nikos, Morbius and Martine sailed from Greece to an English seaport where they chartered a yacht. Morbius ordered Nikos to kill him on sea if their attempt to cure Morbius failed. Nikos made sure the electro-shock device needed for Morbius' experiments had been installed on board according to Morbius' specifications. On sea at night Morbius joined Nikos below deck to start the procedure to create blood cells with electrical shock treatment. Though Nikos feared possible side-effects to Morbius he started the machine, but shut it down when he couldn't watch Morbius suffering any longer. Nikos helped him out of the chair and led him to another room to rest. Nikos locked him inside for Morbius' own safety. When he let Morbius out again he was shocked that Morbius had turned white. Driven by a hunger for blood Morbius assaulted Nikos and choked him to death, but stopped short of draining Nikos' blood. Nikos was already dead when Morbius came back to his senses.

(Marvel Team-Up I#3 (fb)/Spectacular Spider-Man II#6 (fb)) - Martine found Nikos' lifeless body under deck.

(Morbius: The Living Vampire III#4 (fb) - BTS) - Many attended Emil's funeral, including his sister, who swore revenge on Michael Morbius.

(Morbius: Bond of Blood#1 (fb) - BTS) - After Emil's death Morbius kept tabs on Christos, Emil's son.

(Amazing Fantasy II#17/2 (fb) - BTS) - Baron Blood brought Nikos back to "life" as a vampire so Nikos could take revenge on Morbius. (not because Blood is a nice guy, but because in his opinion Morbius had tainted the pure bloodline of true vampires with his experiments and deserved to suffer).

(Amazing Fantasy II#17/2) - Baron Blood and his crew of vampires, including Nikos, arrived on a boat at the harbor. They confronted Morbius about tainting the line of vampire everywhere, and said that he shall die for this crime. Blood revealed Nikos, who was hooded until this point, as one of them. Morbius was shocked! Blood and his crew left while Nikos threatened Morbius that his past sins would soon catch up with Morbius. Nikos then joined Blood and the others back on the boat and left with them.

(Morbius: Bond of Blood#1 - BTS) - Michael Morbius visited the grave of his old friend Emil Nikos and his recently deceased son Christos.

Comments: Created by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane & Frank Giacoia.

Nikos is an integral part of Morbius' origin which was retold in various issues including Marvel Team-Up I#3 (July, 1972), Vampire Tales#1 (August, 1973), Adventures into Fear#20 (February, 1974), Spectacular Spider-Man II#6 (May, 1977), Dr. Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#14 (February, 1990), Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1 (September, 1992), Amazing Fantasy II#17 (March, 2006), Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1 (February, 2013), Morbius: The Living Vampire III#1 (January, 2020), Morbius: Bond of Blood#1 (April, 2021). Nikos' first name was revealed in another retelling of Morbius' origin in Morbius' profile in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition#9 (August, 1985).

Adventures into Fear#20 and Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1 showed Morbius biting Nikos and draining his blood, but Morbius never did in the original story.

BTW Nikos was correct in Amazing Fantasy II#17 about Morbius creating monsters over the years. One of these monsters is my favorite unkillable mercenary Vic Slaughter.

Morbius attended his Nobel Prize award ceremony as seen in Adventures into Fear#25, but not in Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1. Maybe the Nobel Prize ceremony he couldn't attend was for a second Nobel Prize?

Profile by Markus Raymond.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Emil Nikos has no known connection to:

Christos Nikos

Christos was the son of Emil Nikos. After Emil's death Morbius kept tabs on him.

At 14 years old Christos was suffering from a rare and lethal blood disease known as viral platelet syndrome. Morbius visited him at the Cornell Medical Center only to learn from a nurse that Christos only had a day or two left to live.

Michael visited Christos, who was happy to see his "uncle" Michael. Christos was afraid of dying, but Morbius told him to stay strong and promised to be back soon.

When Morbius overheard two doctors talking about Dr. Calvin Zabo was supposedly near a breakthrough for Christos' rare disease. Morbius found Zabo, who asked Morbius to retrieve his confiscated notebooks from Ravencroft in return for the cure.

Morbius retrieved the notebooks and Zabo provided him with the vaccine that would miraculously cure the boy according to Zabo. Morbius injected Christos while revealing to the boy how his father had died at Morbius' own hands. Christos forgave him and then died. Morbius sought revenge on Zabo, who had already transformed himself back into Mr. Hyde. Weakened during the battle Zabo eventually revealed that he had known that the serum would not work, but he didn't care because the only thing he cared about was to become Mr. Hyde again.

Some time later Morbius visited the graves of Emil and Christos Nikos.

--Morbius: Bond of Blood#1

images: (without ads)
Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1, p8, pan3 (main image)
Amazing Spider-Man I#102, p18, pan1 (upper body)
Amazing Fantasy II#17, p30, pan3 (vampirized)
Morbius: Bond of Blood#1, p6, pan4 (Christos)

Appearances:
Amazing Spider-Man I#102 (November, 1971) - Roy Thomas (writer), Gil Kane (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Marvel Team-Up I#3 (July, 1972) - Gerry Conway (writer), Ross Andru (pencils), Frank Giacoia (inks), Stan Lee (editor)
Vampire Tales#1 (August, 1973) - Steve Gerber (writer), Pablo Marcos (artist), Roy Thomas (editor)
Adventures into Fear#20 (February, 1974) - Mike Friedrich (writer), Paul Gulacy (pencils), Jack Abel (inks), Roy Thomas (editor)
Spectacular Spider-Man II#6 (May, 1977) - Reprint of Marvel Team-Up I#3 with extra pages
Dr. Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#14 (February, 1990) - Roy & Dann Thomas (writers), Jackson Guice (artist), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Morbius: The Living Vampire I#1 (September, 1992) - Len Kaminski (writer), Ron Wagner (pencils), Mike Witherby (inks), Bobbie Chase (editor)
Amazing Fantasy II#17 (March, 2006) - Steve Niles (writer), Rafa Gares (artist), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Amazing Spider-Man I#699.1 (February, 2013) - Joe Keatinge & Dan Slott (writers), Valentine Delandro (artist), Stephen Wacker (editor)
Morbius the Living Vampire III#1 (January, 2020) - Vita Ayala (writer), Marcelo Ferreira (pencils), Roberto Poggi (inks), Devin Lewis (editor)
Morbius the Living Vampire III#2 (February, 2020) - Vita Ayala (writer), Marcelo Ferreira (pencils), Roberto Poggi & Scott Hanna (inks), Devin Lewis (editor)
Morbius the Living Vampire III#4 (April, 2020) - Vita Ayala (writer), Marcelo Ferreira & Paulo Siqueira (pencils), Roberto Poggi & Scott Hanna (inks), Devin Lewis (editor)
Morbius: Bond of Blood#1 (April, 2021) - Ralph Macchio (writer), Tom Reilly (artist), Danny Khazem (editor)

First Posted: 08/07/2012
Last updated: 11/14/2021

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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