Morbius, the Living Vampire, is the next in line of Marvel antiheroes getting his movie. He’s primarily associated with Spider-Man in the comics. However, we’ve seen him battle Eddie Brock’s Venom as well. Since the film will occur in the same universe as the Venom movies, fans believe the stories will connect. So, if Morbius and Venom fought, who’d win?
Venom would eventually defeat Morbius, although it wouldn’t be an easy fight. He’s stronger and has dominant superpowers, but even he was impressed with the Living Vampire’s strength when they fought in the comics.
Although Venom’s symbiote physiology and the powers that come with it would top Morbius, both characters have glaring weaknesses that the other could exploit. Let’s break down the battle between Morbius and Venom into segments to see who would win and why.
Symbiote Vs. Pseudo-vampire Physiology
Venom belongs to an alien species from the planet Klyntar called the Symbiotes. Symbiotes are powerful but on Earth, Symbiotes need a host to stay alive, let alone use their fantastic powers. However, not everybody is a suitable host for a Symbiote.
Venom changed hosts numerous times, but the most famous is Eddie Brock – the character portrayed by Tom Hardy in both Venom movies. Without a host, Venom is a sentient being in a shapeless, almost liquid form, unable to use its incredible powers until connecting with a host.
However, when a Symbiote finds a suitable host, the cohesion between the two creates a very powerful being that virtually can’t be harmed with any kind of physical damage. The two co-exist in one body, but their minds remain separated. That’s why Eddie Brock can look and act like a regular human, with Venom only being sort of a voice inside their head before taking over.
After Venom takes over, the host remains protected within the Symbiote’s humanoid form, protected from all harm. The Symbiote appears as a reptile-like creature with an incredibly strong physique, large sharp teeth, and shape-shifting abilities that can release large tentacles used as weapons.
Venom needs to feed on phenethylamine almost constantly – it’s a compound found only in human brains – and chocolate, which became the anti-hero’s favorite food. The human host still has regular physiological needs – food, sleep, and digestion. However, the Symbiote can protect them from physical damage, even when in human form.
On the other hand, Michael Morbius was a brilliant scientist with a rare blood disease. He tried to cure his illness with an experimental treatment, including vampire bats, but instead of just healing the disease he had, Morbius turned into a pseudo-vampire.
He has similar physiological traits as real vampires: sharp fangs, pale skin, claws, and a huge craving for blood and death. His skin is sensitive to sunlight, although it won’t kill him like normal vampires.
The Living Vampire has no hunger for regular human food (only blood) and stopped aging completely. Also, Morbius doesn’t suffer from sleep deprivation – he doesn’t have to sleep as much as a normal human being.
Now, many powers that Venom and Morbius have stemmed from their physiology, like superstrength, healing factors, even their weaknesses. But, for this segment, we’re focusing purely on the physiology of the characters themselves.
Both have constant hunger they need to satisfy – Venom for brains and Morbius for blood. They also have a human side – one was a human before, while the other uses a human host. But, what separates them is their versatility.
Venom’s physiology is much more versatile and special. Symbiotes have no blood, so Morbius can’t feed on them, and they virtually have no eyes, so his hypnotic gaze would be useless against Venom. Therefore, Venom’s Symbiote physiology gets the point over Morbius’ pseudo-vampirism.
Point: Venom (1:0) Morbius
Physical Attributes
I primarily refer to the character’s strength, speed, stamina, and durability when I say physical attributes.
Both Morbius and Venom have superhuman strength. While Venom looks much more physically imposing, you cannot neglect the Living Vampire’s strength. Even Venom himself was impressed by Morbius’s strength when they fought in Venom: The Enemy Within #2. A well-fed Morbius can match Venom, but full-strength versus full-strength, Venom is still tougher.
However, the Vampire has a clear advantage in the speed department. Don’t get me wrong, Venom is no slouch – he once caught a bullet with his mouth and spat it back at the shooter – but Morbius can move at speeds that almost make him invisible to the naked eye. Their reflexes are similarly enhanced, but Michael beats the Symbiote speed-wise.
Next, in terms of stamina, I believe Venom has a minor advantage. They can go at it for quite a long time, and they don’t need much sleep either, but Morbius’ hunger becomes insatiable, and as he gets hungrier, his powers go weaker; that’s why my bet is on Venom stamina-wise.
The same goes for their durability. Both can take a lot of damage and survive, even heal quite quickly, but Venom’s shapeshifting powers allow him to avoid damage completely instead of taking it, then healing.
Therefore, even though there’s no big advantage in any physical attribute, Venom has a slight advantage in all of them but speed, so he gets another point.
Point: Venom (2:0) Morbius
Weaknesses
Unlike regular vampires, Morbius’ powers don’t come from religious or mystical sources but rather from a scientific experiment gone wrong. So, despite having most vampiric traits, the Living Vampire lacks the common vampire weaknesses, such as wooden stakes, garlic, crucifixes, or holy water. Even sunlight can’t kill him but only cause him discomfort.
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However, Michael’s main weakness is his hunger. The bloodlust can get so strong that Morbius completely loses his sanity. He can’t separate right from wrong and even says that as his hunger for blood grows, so does his desire for murder. But, the more deprived of blood Morbius is, the weaker he gets, so if you can just trap him, he’ll die himself soon enough.
Another big weakness Morbius has is his mental health. Apart from going insane when hungry, Michael hates what he has become and contemplates suicide many times. Most of the time, his worst enemy is himself.
Finally, although Morbius has a healing factor (more on that a bit later), it has never been shown if he can survive decapitation. However, knowing that his healing isn’t strong enough to regrow limbs, I think it’s safe to say that chopping off his head would kill the Living Vamp.
On the other hand, as a Symbiote, Venom has two major weaknesses that even a common human could exploit. First, no amount of physical damage from strikes or bullets can hurt Venom, but fire can actually kill him.
One could argue that anybody could hypothetically defeat Venom then, as anybody can use fire against him. And, although fire is not in Morbius’ arsenal regularly, he’s a smart guy – he’d figure out how to use it.
Another major weakness of all Symbiotes is loud, high-pitched sounds. They can’t stand them, and while it won’t kill Venom, it could hinder him long enough for Morbius to attack effectively.
So, seeing that both have weaknesses that the other could easily use against them, I’d say this segment is an even split, so I’ll give both characters one point on the scoreboard.
Point(s): Venom (3:1) Morbius
Additional Powers
Morbius has incredibly superhuman speed and strength, sharp fangs and claws, and a healing factor allowing him to heal severe wounds fairly quickly (although unable to heal or regrow lost limbs or organs).
His senses are heightened, giving him spectacular reflexes, great vision in the dark, and echolocation, allowing him to use soundwaves to orient himself in space. Also, Morbius can’t fly, but he can glide through the air across small distances.
Finally, the Living Vampire can turn others into pseudo-vampires that serve his command, but he rarely does that. Instead, he uses his hypnotic gaze to compel others to do as he pleases. He just has to look them in the eyes for long enough.
Sadly, that wouldn’t work against Venom, as Symbiotes don’t have real eyes, and they’re immune to that kind of hypnosis.
The Symbiote has many other powers to put him over the top as well. He has even more powerful superhuman strength, and if Morbius has fangs, wait ‘till you see this guy.
Venom has incredible healing and regenerative abilities stemming from his shapeshifting abilities, meaning there’s no way to harm the Symbiote physically. Additionally, after Peter Parker was his host, Venom retained many of his abilities even after separating, such as web-slinging, wall-crawling, etc.
As a Symbiote, Venom can communicate with his kin telepathically and alter the biochemistry of his host’s body. So, if Venom would somehow enter Morbius, he could theoretically destroy him from within.
All in all, I’d give Venom another point here, simply because some of Morbius’ biggest abilities are completely ineffective against Venom, or the Symbiote possesses the same powers himself.
Point: Venom (4:1) Morbius
Morbius Vs. Venom: Who Would Win and Why?
In the end, it’s clear that Venom is the superior character over Morbius, winning in almost every segment we analyzed. He’s stronger, more adaptable in combat, and has superior powers allowing him to harm the Living Vampire while staying unharmed himself due to his invulnerability and regenerative properties.
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However, the scoreboard seems a lot more one-sided than the fight would actually be. Morbius is impressively strong, and he can go toe-to-toe with Venom when he’s at full strength. There are clear ways in which he could win as well, such as fire, echolocation, or finding a way to separate Venom from his host – which is when he’s the most vulnerable.
Therefore, Venom wins against Morbius in a close fight that could, on occasion, go the other way.
