MORPHEUS
Real Name: Robert Markham
Identity/Class: Human mutate;
US citizen;
identity known to authorities
Occupation: Would-be god, war-mongerer, chaos-fomenter;
former electrical engineer
Group Membership: None
Affiliations: Black Spectre (Carson Knowles), Raoul Bushman, Seth, Sociétè des Sadiques;
formerly Peter Alraune, a group of disciples ("vixen," "big man," "general," "snake lady"), various mentally-controlled servants
Enemies: Marlene & Peter Alraune, Jean-Paul DuChamp (aka Frenchie), Det. Flint, Moon Knight (Marc Spector), New
York Police Department, Seaview Research Hospital custodians, Stained
Glass Scarlet (Scarlet Fasinera), nurses & security (including Ryzblat, Shtunky, and Freddie), unidentified (Central?) park zoo panther, unspecified United Nations pawns;
possibly Simon Darkover
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Dream Demon, God of Dreams, God of Sleepless Nights, "the stuff of which nightmares are made"
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Cairo, Egypt;
formerly Ravencroft asylum;
formerly Seaview Research Hospital, New York City, New York;
formerly a Manhattan tenement, New York;
born in New York City, New York
Education: BS in electrical engineering
First Appearance: Moon Knight I#12 (October, 1981)
Powers/Abilities: Morpheus' brain generates ebon psionic energy (possibly a manifestation of the darkforce). He can project destructive eyeblasts up to the equivalent of 200 lbs. of TNT, shattering doors, cars, masonry, etc. When striking a person, the energy has been described as "cold shock" and is energy-draining. He can form tendrils able to slip through small openings, manipulate and lift objects, and/or strangle or break the neck of others. Additionally, he can project a force field that protects him from physical injury up to at least close range gunfire; however, he must consciously project the field, as it is not always present; presumably it drains his reserves.
He can also forge bonds with others, granting the linked ones telekinetic and/or hallucination-inducing powers. Initially, he could only do this to a single being who was sleeping/dreaming, perhaps telekinetically manipulating the norepinephrine in his or her brain to control his or her dreams.
He subsequently granted such abilities to a quartet of mental patients and later (when apparently further enhanced by Seth) could manipulate the awareness, memories, and wills of others, affecting their dreams and perceptions. These affects apparently lasted even across intercontinental distances.
As Morpheus, he has "extremely high" blood pressure, "abnormal" respiration, and a "fast" pulse.
Morpheus' abilities have an unspecified limit, which has increased over time; he can exhaust his abilities completely, though they will be fully recharged within a 24 hour period; he may recharge more quickly, as this time period was most relevent after he initially gained his powers. Each waking period he would normally have spent sleeping increases his stores until he is seething with energy.
His powers and levels of consciousness are highly affected by neurotransmitter drugs, such as norepinephrine or enkephalin. Norepineprhine, normally a stimulant, was intended to cause him to dream in hopes of dispersing his psionic energies, but instead -- at lower doses -- strengthened his dreams, enabling him to link to the minds of others; at high doses, it awakened him from his sedated sleep. Enkephalin, which normally is a euphoria-inducing painkiller, could render him unconconscious.
While serving Seth, he possessed an unrevealed degree of enhanced strength, likely enhanced human
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 195 lbs.; formerly 180 lbs.
Eyes: Red (sometimes light blue); original brown
Hair: None; originally brown
Unusual Features:
Morpheus' overly large, lidless eyes are sometimes solid red, sometimes
multi-faceted. He has scaly scar tissue projections about his forehead
and wear he formerly had eyebrows, as well as enlarged, fang-like
canine teeth, and talon-like claws on his digits.
History:
(Moon Knight I#12 (fb) - BTS) <May 23, thirty-three years before the main story (see comments)> - Robert Markham was born.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7: Morpheus entry) - Unbeknownst to Markham, he developed highly destructive psionic abilities, but these energies were dispersed through normal dreams.
(Moon Knight I#12 (fb) - BTS / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7: Morpheus entry) - Markham suffered from a rare and "completely unknown" viral infection causing competitive inhibition (associated enzymes reacted to similarly shaped but inappropriate enzymes) and resultant uncontrolled breakdown of his chromosomal structure.
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7: Morpheus entry) - In severe discomfort, Markham consulted with Dr. Peter Alraune, a specialist in genetic disorders.
(Moon Knight I#12 (fb) - BTS) - Psychiatrist Dr. Peter Alraune offered Markham an experimental, untested drug treatment. Desperate, Markham signed a release form in hopes of being cured.
(Moon Knight I#12 (fb) - BTS) <April 21, the same year as the main story> - A photograph was taken of Robert Markham by the medical facility prior to the start of the experiment.
(Moon Knight I#12 (fb) - BTS) - The drug deprived Markham of the the ability to sleep and/or dream, which drove him mad.
(Moon Knight I#12 (fb) - BTS / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7: Morpheus entry) - As he no longer dreamed to disperse his psionic energies, Markham developed a build-up of psychic energy that mutated him into an inhuman form and allowed him to project an ebon "sleep-energy" for a variety of effects.
(Moon Knight I#12 (fb) - BTS) <June 5, the same year as the main story> - A photograph was taken of the mutated Robert Markham.
(Moon Knight I#12 (fb) - BTS) - Deprived of sleep and dreams but able to grant sleep to others, Markham likened himself to the Olympian god Morpheus.
(Moon Knight I#12 - BTS) - Peter Alraune reviewed Markham's file, still having a hard time believing Markham's degree of mutation, and considering himself responsible both for the mutation and his disappearance. He worried about Markham's misfortune and misery. Deciding this problem outweighed his professional ethics, Alraune called the police to report Markham as a missing person.
(Moon Knight I#12) - Now calling himself Morpheus, Markham broke into Dr. Alraune's locked building and then into his office, interrupting him before he could identify Markham as the missing person. Markham blamed Alraune, admitting he had signed up to be cured, but not to be forever cursed. Naming himself Morpheus, he considered making Alraune sleep forever; but approaching police sirens in combination with his having largely depleted his energy caused him to flee, although he first smashed Alraune into a wall. Morpheus then escaped out the window via an ebon tendril before the police arrived and called for an ambulance for Dr. Alraune.
The next evening, after Peter Alraune lapsed into a coma, Morpheus assaulted the hospital in which Alraune was being treated, effortlessly fighting off police officers. Moon Knight (Marc Spector, the boyfriend of Alraune's sister, Marlene) kicked Morpheus from behind before being knocked to his knees via a cold blast. Moon Knight dodged a few further blasts and futilely hurled his truncheon (which bounced off Morpheus' field), but Morpheus then struck and subdued him with another blast that hurled him into a police car. Having again exhausted his energies, Morpheus fled under police gunfire, still protected by his shield and vowing vengeance.
(Moon Knight I#12 - BTS) - Moon Knight visited Dr. Alraune's office where he encountered the investigating Det. Flint, who shared the information his office had collected on Morpheus.
(Moon Knight I#12) - Back at his tenement, Morpheus appreciated how his powers were drained and he was tranquil, but, as expected, his power and anxiety built to a breaking point by the next dawn. He then rushed out and -- seeing himself as a god, seeking to build a palace befitting him, and realizing he needed money to do so -- shattered the wall of Nation Bank. The explosion drew the helicopter-traveling Moon Knight's attention, and he swooped down and ambushed Morpheus, only to be blasted into a wall again. Morpheus then rushed into the <Central?> Park zoo and blasted open a cage, releasing a panther that attacked the pursuing Moon Knight. When Morpheus stopped running away and turned around, Moon Knight kicked the panther into the air, causing it to intercept Morpheus' eyeblast. When Morpheus offered him a free shot, Moon Knight ricocheted his truncheon to strike him from behind and then punch him down, but Morpheus released an explosive force from his entire body, smashing Moon Knight away. Finally, Moon Knight led Morpheus towards a generator and goaded him into firing a blast, which Moon Knight dodged, causing it to strike the generator. Electricity followed the ebon energy blast back to Morpheus, rendering him powerless, and Moon Knight then punched him out.
Morpheus was hospitalized and kept on sedatives eight hours a night with the goal of forcing him to sleep and dream.
(Moon Knight I#12 - BTS) - Six days later, Peter Alraune awakened.
(Moon Knight I#23 (fb) - BTS) - Every night, Morpheus dreamed of destroying Peter Alraune.
(Moon Knight I#22 (fb) - BTS / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7: Morpheus entry) - Realizing they couldn't keep Morpheus sedated forever, the doctors at Seaview Research Hospital" started infusing him with norepinephrine in hopes of causing him to dream, both to keep him calm and ideally to reverse his mutation by diffusing his energies and mental waste via dreams.
(Moon Knight I#22 - BTS) - The norepinephrine strengthened Morpheus' dreams, through which Morpheus channeled his ebon energies until he could link up with the dreams of Peter Alraune. Morpheus' energies tainted Alraune, granting him the power to induce hallucinations in others
(Moon Knight I#22 (fb)) - In a twilight stage before waking and dreaming, Peter Alraune "hallucinated" Morpheus shattering his bedroom window with an eyeblast, and he awakened to find a shattered waterglass that had fallen from the windowsill despite there not being a draft; Peter wondered if it might have been telekinesis triggered by his dream.
(Moon Knight I#22 - BTS) - Suffering night terrors, Peter Alraune awakened, certain that Morpheus was coming to get him.
(Moon Knight I#22) - Feeling he should check on Morpheus, Moon Knight peeked in on him in the hospital and felt comforted upon finding Morpheus sleeping in his bed. A senior custodian then showed and explained Morpheus to a younger custodian, terrifying him.
Meanwhile, as Morpheus dreamt, he sent a solid-black male figure to assault Moon Knight and push him off a building by duping him with an illusion of Marlene falling over the edge; Moon Knight was stunned but otherwise unhurt, and the black figure fled.
(Moon Knight I#22 - BTS) - A stressed Peter Alraune told Marlene and "Steven Grant" (one of Moon Knight's civilian aliases/identities) of his recent experiences, and Steven had Jean-Paul "Frenchie" DuChamp drive Peter and Marlene to his house in Maine to relax.(Moon Knight I#22 (fb) - BTS) - Doctors doubled Morpheus' dose of norepinephrine.
(Moon Knight I#22) - Morpheus remained apparently sleeping as Moon Knight entered his room, but then the black figure, holding a scalpel, approached from behind and slashed Moon Knight's arm. When Moon Knight kicked him back, the figure fled again.(Moon Knight I#198) - Moon Knight's fourth trial to join the Sociétè des Sadiques was Morpheus using his powers on him. Morpheus had Moon Knight trapped in a nightmare for five hours, but couldn't break him due to his other personalities.
(X-Men Unlimited III#18 - BTS) - At an unrevealed point in time, the Warden of superhuman prison the Dungeon acquired a genetic sample of Morpheus which he later used amongst other samples to become the Human Adaptoid. The Human Adaptoid used Morpheus' abilities to lull the island of Krakoa to sleep so he could gain access.
Comments: Created by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz.
Morpheus' birthday is given as May 23, and he was 33 years old just
prior to his mutation. His birth year was listed as 1948, but that is
topical as the comic came out in 1981, and he was specifically 33 years
old
A picture taken shortly after his mutation had the date of June 5.
The statue and the god in the 1998 Moon Knight mini-series is consistently referred to as Set. However, since they are clearly referring to the Egyptian/Heliopolitan/Ennead god, who is generally referred to as Seth in Reality-616 (although Set is indeed an alias), I'm calling him Seth throughout to avoid confusion with Set, the Elder God.
I have no idea what in the world is going on in the most recent Moon Knight series...is it all in his head? Is any of it real? Maybe we'll learn at the end of the series. A few Moon Knight classic foes are in it...maybe Morpheus is, too...
Morpheus has an entry in the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe#7 and then again in Fear Itself: Fellowship of Fear.
"Spider"-Mike Fichera was kind enough to point out, in regards to the airport in Moon Knight III#4: " ...if it was an international flight, it was JFK. LaGuardia doesn't have immigration / customs / passport control for international travel." And Anthony Cotilletta clarified, "Other than flights to Canada from LaGuardia..."
Profile by Snood.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Morpheus should be distinguished from:
Real name unrevealed
He was one of a quartet of mental patients at the
Seaview Research Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Weinstein, assisted by social worker-in-training Marlene Alraune.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - Announcing
himself as the God of Dream, Morpheus approached these four patients in
the ward, telling them not to fear, but rather to come worship and
serve at his shrine as his priests.
Morpheus then granted them each the ability to induce dreams in
themselves and others; instructing them to gaze into his eyes'
darkness, he encouraged them to dare to dream dreams no mortals had
ever dreamed before.
(Moon Knight II#3 - BTS) - Marlene contacted Moon Knight for help.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - When Marlene tried to strike Morpheus from behind with a wooden stick, one of
Morpheus servants called out a warning, allowing him to energize his
force field and stun Marlene with his ebon energy.
Marlene pled to
keep her and free the mental patients, but Morpheus kept them all and had his servant voice how they were
bound to him body and soul.
Hearing approaching
sirens, Morpheus sent his servants to patrol the corridors.
(Moon Knight II#3 - BTS) - Det. Flint armed Moon Knight with a canister of tear gas and allowed him to enter the hospital alone initially.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - After the "vixen" dropped Moon Knight with a hammer to
the head, the "big man" approached his normal form, noting how he
thought the hero was dead and telling him to get up. When the stunned
Moon Knight asked him to help him save Marlene before Morpheus
sacrificed her at midnight, the patient transformed -- complete
shredding his clothes as he seemingly grew to a massively muscled 12 -
15' form -- and started crushing Moon Knight in his hands despite the
hero's enhanced strength, until the "snake lady" patient stopped him,
stating the hero shouldn't die on an empty stomach. The "big man"
dropped Moon Knight, complaining that he never got to have any fun.
Ultimately, Moon Knight used the tear gas to subdue the mental patients while holding his breath, after which Flint and his men arrived. The former servants were sedated pending Morpheus' defeat to prevent their using their powers against anyone else.
--Moon Knight II (Fist of Khonshu) #3
Comments: The "big man" is 2nd from the left in both of the above images of Morpheus' disciples.
Real name unrevealed
He was one of a quartet of mental patients at the
Seaview Research Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Weinstein, assisted by social worker-in-training Marlene Alraune.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - Announcing
himself as the God of Dream, Morpheus approached these four patients in
the ward, telling them not to fear, but rather to come worship and
serve at his shrine as his priests.
Morpheus then granted them each the ability to induce dreams in
themselves and others; instructing them to gaze into his eyes'
darkness, he encouraged them to dare to dream dreams no mortals had
ever dreamed before.
(Moon Knight II#3 - BTS) - Marlene contacted Moon Knight for help.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - When Marlene tried to strike Morpheus from behind with a wooden stick, one of
Morpheus servants called out a warning, allowing him to energize his
force field and stun Marlene with his ebon energy.
Marlene pled to
keep her and free the mental patients, but Morpheus kept them all and had his servant voice how they were
bound to him body and soul.
Hearing approaching
sirens, Morpheus sent his servants to patrol the corridors.
(Moon Knight II#3 - BTS) - Det. Flint armed Moon Knight with a canister of tear gas and allowed him to enter the hospital alone initially.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - As Moon Knight entered the hospital, he first
encountered the "general" in his normal form. Assuming him to be a
hostage, Moon Knight planned to safely lower him to the ground, at
which point he assumed his "general" form, inducing an hallucination of
his massive army of troops on sandy and rocky ground.
As the troops fired on him, Moon Knight concentrated on appreciating that this wasn't real, and it started to fade from view...at which point he was confronted by the "vixen." After she knocked down with a hammer blow to the head, the "general" asked if he was dead.
Ultimately, Moon Knight used the tear gas to subdue the mental patients while holding his breath, after which Flint and his men arrived. The former servants were sedated pending Morpheus' defeat to prevent their using their powers against anyone else.
--Moon Knight II (Fist of Khonshu) #3Real name unrevealed
She was one of a quartet of mental patients at the
Seaview Research Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Weinstein, assisted by social worker-in-training Marlene Alraune.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - Announcing
himself as the God of Dream, Morpheus approached these four patients in
the ward, telling them not to fear, but rather to come worship and
serve at his shrine as his priests.
Morpheus then granted them each the ability to induce dreams in
themselves and others; instructing them to gaze into his eyes'
darkness, he encouraged them to dare to dream dreams no mortals had
ever dreamed before.
(Moon Knight II#3 - BTS) - Marlene contacted Moon Knight for help.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - When Marlene tried to strike Morpheus from behind with a wooden stick, one of
Morpheus servants called out a warning, allowing him to energize his
force field and stun Marlene with his ebon energy.
Marlene pled to
keep her and free the mental patients, but Morpheus kept them all and had his servant voice how they were
bound to him body and soul.
Hearing approaching
sirens, Morpheus sent his servants to patrol the corridors.
(Moon Knight II#3 - BTS) - Det. Flint armed Moon Knight with a canister of tear gas and allowed him to enter the hospital alone initially.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - As the "big men" crushed Moon Knight in his giant hands,
the "snake lady" patient stopped him, stating the hero
shouldn't die on an empty stomach. The "big man" dropped Moon Knight,
complaining that he never got to have any fun. She voiced a disgusted
"feh!" at his idea of fun, and then pretended to comfort Moon Knight
before unleashing her illusion of snakes or tentacles from a skull's
eyes and mouth. As he seemed to be falling down a throat-like
tunnel, Moon Knight used the tear gas to subdue the mental
patients while holding his breath,
after which Flint and his men arrived. The former servants were sedated
pending Morpheus' defeat to prevent their using their powers against
anyone else.
Real name unrevealed
She was one of a quartet of mental patients at the
Seaview Research Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Weinstein, assisted by social worker-in-training Marlene Alraune.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - Announcing
himself as the God of Dream, Morpheus approached these four patients in
the ward, telling them not to fear, but rather to come worship and
serve at his shrine as his priests.
Morpheus then granted them each the ability to induce dreams in
themselves and others; instructing them to gaze into his eyes'
darkness, he encouraged them to dare to dream dreams no mortals had
ever dreamed before.
(Moon Knight II#3 - BTS) - Marlene contacted Moon Knight for help.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - When Marlene tried to strike Morpheus from behind with a wooden stick, one of
Morpheus servants called out a warning, allowing him to energize his
force field and stun Marlene with his ebon energy.
Marlene pled to
keep her and free the mental patients, but Morpheus kept them all and had his servant voice how they were
bound to him body and soul.
Hearing approaching
sirens, Morpheus sent his servants to patrol the corridors.
(Moon Knight II#3 - BTS) - Det. Flint armed Moon Knight with a canister of tear gas and allowed him to enter the hospital alone initially.
(Moon
Knight II#3) - After the Moon Knight forced himself to escape the
hallucinations induced by the "general," the "vixen" confronted him,
summoning him to her and telling him they had cocktails waiting in the
limo. Confused because she acted like his girlfriend but wasn't
Marlene, Moon Knight approached her, and she instead offered him a
"bloody mary" as she struck him in the head with the blunt end of a
tradional curve-claw hammer. As he dropped to the ground, her illusion
faded, and she told the others the master had said to kill the demon in
the white cape.
Ultimately, Moon Knight used the tear gas to subdue the mental patients while holding his breath, after which Flint and his men arrived. The former servants were sedated pending Morpheus' defeat to prevent their using their powers against anyone else.
--Moon Knight II (Fist of Khonshu) #3
Comments: The "vixen" is on the far left in both of the above images of Morpheus' disciples.
images: (without ads)
Moon
Knight I#12, pg. 1 panel 2 (pre-mutation Markham face) - colored and
refurbed for the Fear Itself: Fellowship of Fear: Morpheus
entry
pg. 2, panel panel 7 (main image, Morpheus face) - refurbed for the Fear Itself: Fellowship of Fear: Morpheus entry
#23, pg. 21, panel 1 (full body, glowing black in the woods);
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7: Morpheus entry (full/main) - refurbed for the Fear Itself: Fellowship of Fear: Morpheus entry
Moon Knight II#3, pg. 1, panel 1 (human self in bed);
panel 2 (transforming);
panel 4 (strangling nurse with ebon energy);
pg. 3, panel 3 (face with hand extended & ebon energy);
panel 4 (blasting guards);
pg. 4, panel 3 (servants' faces);
panel 4 (servants empowered);
pg. 9, panel 2-5 (servants faces and self-images);
pg. 13, panel 10 ("general" servant);
pg. 14, panel 1 ("general" mindscape);
pg. 15, panel 4 ("vixen" servant);
pg. 17, panel 4 ("bigman" servant);
pg. 18, panel 3-5 ("snake lady" servant);
Moon Knight III#3, pg. , panel (snakes extending from eyes)
Appearances:
Moon Knight I#12 (October, 1981) - Doug Moench (writer), Bill Sienkiewicz (artist), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Moon Knight I#22-23 (August-September, 1982) - Doug Moench (writer), Bill Sienkiewicz (artist), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#7 (July, 1983) - Mark Gruenwald (head writer/designer/editor), Bill Sienkiewicz (penciler), Josef Rubinstein (inker), Peter Sanderson, Mark Lerer, Tom DeFalco (writers), Joanne Harras, Robert Simpson, Fred Baumann (researchers)
Moon Knight II (Fist of Khonshu) #3 (September, 1985) - Alan Zelentz (writer), Chris Warner (penciler), Eufronio Reyes Cruz (inker), Dennis O'Neil (editor)
Moon Knight III (or IV, if you consider Moon Knight: Spector as Moon Knight III) #1-4 (January-April, 1998) - Doug Moench (writer), Tommy Lee Edwards (penciler), Robert Campanella (inker), Mark Bernardo (editor)
Fear Itself: Fellowship of Fear (October, 2011) - Ronald Hugh Byrd Jr., Madison Carter, Jeff Christiansen, Kevin Garcia, Rob
London, Mike O'Sullivan, Markus Raymond, Patrick Ryall, Stuart Vandal (writers), Mike O'Sullivan (head writer), Nelson Ribeiro, Alex Starbuck (assistant editors), Mark D. Beazley, Jen Grunwald (editors, special projects), Jeff Youngquist (senior editor, special projects)
Moon Knight I#198 (October, 2018) - Max Bemis (writer), Jacen Burrows (pencils), Guillermo Ortega (inks), Jake Thomas (editor)
X-Men Unlimited III#18 (January, 2022) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Matt Horak (pencils, inks), Jordan D. White (editor)
First Posted: 10/10/2017
Last updated: 10/25/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
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