Morbius Vs. Wolverine: Who Would Win and Why?
Morbius and Wolverine are two incredibly powerful and seemingly invulnerable characters. Both have healing factors, but the roots of their powers come from different sources. As much as they have in common, they have unique powers that could play into their hand if they ever fought each other. The question is, who would win, Morbius or Wolverine?
Wolverine would defeat Morbius in most of their fights. While both have strong healing powers and would have difficulty killing each other, Morbius has several weaknesses Wolverine could exploit, eventually giving him the upper hand.
Still, it wouldn’t be a cakewalk for the most famous X-Men. Morbius is getting introduced to the MCU very soon, so those who aren’t familiar with the character from Marvel Comics will have a chance to learn who he is and just how powerful he may be. Let’s compare Morbius and Wolverine thoroughly to see how one could beat the other and vice-versa.
Origins & Physiology
Michael Morbius was only a human, albeit very ill. Ever since he was a child, Michael suffered from a rare blood disease that made him extremely vulnerable. He spent his life studying, trying to find a cure, even winning a Nobel prize in biochemistry.
However, his condition got worse, so he decided to try an experimental treatment on himself using vampire bats and electroshocks. It backfired, as it usually happens, and turned Morbius into a pseudo-vampire.
He has almost all common vampire traits, except he was created with science rather than religiously or mystically. Morbius never died to become a vampire, earning him the nickname The Living Vampire. Michael has a bloodlust that sends him into a frenzy when he doesn’t feed.
Due to his condition not being religious but rather scientific, he doesn’t have the regular vampire weaknesses such as sunlight (to an extent), garlic, silver, wood, crucifixes, and religious symbols. He does have other weaknesses, though, but we’ll get to that later.
Morbius’ newfound state made him drink human blood. Still, it also turned him from a fragile human being on the brink of death to a pseudo-vampire with superstrength, superspeed, enhanced stamina, and a powerful healing factor. Also, his bones are hollow, allowing him to levitate.
Opposingly, James Logan Howlett, aka Wolverine, has been a human mutant with a regenerative healing factor since he was born, along with retractable bone claws coming out of his knuckles. He was always physically assertive, being incredibly strong, quick, and durable.
However, that’s not where it stops. Wolverine was already a powerful mutant when he was used as a subject in the Weapon X experiments. His skeleton had been coated with adamantium, an indestructible metal that made Logan that much more powerful.
He fought alongside X-Men for a long time, so if we’re considering experience as one of the factors, he has a clear advantage over Morbius in that regard.
When it comes to their physiologies, you have to give an upper hand to Wolverine once again. Logan was already a powerful mutant, and then he went through a series of painful but effective experiments, making him that much stronger.
Morbius is a pseudo-vampire with awesome powers, but he can’t compete with Wolverine physically, as the adamantium puts Logan over the top.
Point: Wolverine (1:0) Morbius
Healing Factor
Both Morbius and Wolverine have powerful healing factors. Still, one of them does have a clear advantage, and there’s proof embedded in the comics.
Morbius has vampire-like healing powers. In Symbiote Spider-Man: Alien Reality #3, Michael states that he stopped aging completely, meaning he can never die from natural causes. The treatment had healed his blood disease (better said, replaced), and it is believed he’s immune to most human diseases.
He is invulnerable to wounds such as cuts, gunshots, burns, etc. Depending on the severity of the injury he had sustained, it takes Morbius from a few minutes to several hours to completely heal from such injury.
However, in Morbius: The Living Vampire #1, we learn that his healing factor isn’t strong enough to regenerate lost limbs, organs, or other tissue he loses. That could be a serious problem for him in a battle against Wolverine. His claws are strong enough to pierce Hulk’s skin, which means he could easily chop off a limb or two from our pseudo-vampire.
As for Logan’s healing factor, he and Deadpool share the same (or at least, very similar) abilities. Even if Wolverine gets shredded to pieces, his healing factor can regenerate and heal him completely. In one storyline, where Wolverine battled Hulk, the green beast ripped him in half and threw his torso into the Himalayas – and he healed.
He’s also immune to diseases and viruses, and his aging is incredibly slow. He does age eventually, as shown in the Old Man Logan storyline, but still, his healing factor is strong enough to regenerate him inside Hulk’s stomach after the guy eats him, only to chop him up from the inside.
Comparing Wolverine’s healing factor to Morbius’, it’s a very one-sided win for the clawed mutant.
Point: Wolverine (2:0) Morbius
Speed & Strength
When it comes to speed, that’s where Morbius has the biggest advantage over Wolverine. He can move so fast it almost looks as if he’s teleporting. Morbius can use this ability to go head-to-head with other speedsters in the Marvel Universe, most notably, Spider-Man.
On the other hand, Wolverine is no slouch in the speed department, too, but he’s not on Morbius’ level. He uses his incredible reflexes to react quickly, and he can run at an enhanced human speed – just not on the superhuman level. The same thing goes for his strength.
Wolverine is very strong physically, and his adamantium makes him even stronger. I would say it’s not really on a superhuman level – it’s closer to enhanced peak human physical condition. Still, he got into several fistfights with the Hulk, so it’s obvious that he can hold his ground against to strongest foes.
The same goes for Morbius, though. His body was so fragile due to his illness that he had broken a finger by only lifting a coffee mug. However, after the experiments, he suddenly became ripped.
At his best, he’s shown to be able to lift around 1500 pounds, whereas Wolverine is in the 800 – 2000 lbs range, which is mainly attributed to his adamantium skeleton. Still, it gives him a slight advantage over Morbius in this regard.
Wolverine is stronger, while Morbius is faster, so they both get a point in this category.
Point: Wolverine (3:1) Morbius
Other Powers & Abilities
So, both Morbius and Wolverine have a healing factor and enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, and senses. Let’s look at some of the things that separate them.
Morbius has incredible vision, capable of seeing objects clearly from miles away. He can also see in the dark, using thermal vision or echolocation. To add to it, he has a very keen sense of smell, which means he can sense his opponents from miles away.
The experiment gave him fangs and claws and made his bones hollow so that he could levitate through the air for short distances using mental concentration. Morbius can also create other pseudo-vampires, having complete control over them. They can’t heal like him, though – if his subordinate takes a fatal injury, they don’t heal but rather turn to dust.
However, one of his strongest or rather most useful abilities against Wolverine is his mesmerism, or the ability to hypnotize his enemies through eye contact. If he can hold eye contact for long enough, he gains full control over the individual.
As for Wolverine, his strongest features are his healing factor and the adamantium skeleton with retractable claws. He also has enhanced senses and animal-like reflexes, along with the physical attributes we already mentioned before, such as super strength, speed, and stamina.
To add to it, Logan is a masterful hand-to-hand combatant, fighting and winning against much stronger opponents, like the Hulk or the Juggernaut. He doesn’t have any mental powers like Morbius, but he has enough willpower to resist his hypnotic gaze more often than not.
Still, this is the only category where Morbius has a chance to defeat Wolverine – if he can use his speed and mesmerizing to hypnotize Logan, it’s game over, as he can do whatever he wants him to do.
Point: Morbius (2:3) Wolverine
Weaknesses
Morbius is a pseudo-vampire, immune to most vampiric weaknesses, such as garlic, crucifixes, silver bullets, or wooden stakes. Although sunlight won’t kill him, he is sensitive to it and prefers to stay away (as shown in Amazing Spider-Man #101). He doesn’t age and heals his wounds, making him almost immortal – but he has two big weaknesses for Logan to exploit.
Michael’s biggest weakness is his hunger. He needs to feed on human blood regularly or go extremely weak, getting on the brink of death. Also, his hunger causes severe mental instability – hallucinations, rage, and Michael completely losing his sense of self.
That only adds to his already-broken mental state, which is his second great weakness. Morbius contemplated suicide countless times, wanting to end his horrible life after failing to cure his pseudo-vampirism. He’s unstable, especially when he’s hungry.
Finally, while he does have a healing factor, it’s insufficient when it comes to lost limbs – and that could be a lot of trouble against a guy who has adamantium claws coming out of his knuckles.
Wolverine has no known weaknesses apart from carbonadium – a material that disrupts healing factors, rendering them useless. I don’t know how Morbius could get carbonadium to kill Wolverine, but that’s the only way, as he can regenerate and completely heal even if only a single molecule of his body remained.
Sometimes, he succumbed to mental powers similar to Morbius’s hypnosis, but he also resisted them at times. Therefore, it would depend highly on the moment going up against Morbius. But, the biggest problem Logan has is his rage – he tends to let his emotions get the best of him and go berserk, and that’s something that Michael could exploit in battle.
Nevertheless, Morbius clearly has more weaknesses that Wolverine could exploit to defeat him, so this category gets Logan another point.
Point: Wolverine (4:2) Morbius
Morbius Vs. Wolverine: Who Would Win and Why?
In the end, the 4:2 overall score tells you all you need to know – Wolverine would win this fight, almost in a no-contest. The only thing that Morbius has going for him is his echolocation, giving him an advantage if the two fight in the dark, and his mesmerism, which he could use to hypnotize Wolverine.
However, Logan resisted such attacks before, and his heightened senses would neutralize the advantage Morbius might have in the dark. If he can clip the Living Vampire only once with his claws, it’s game over. He can easily cut off Morbius’ limbs, eventually killing him, as Michael can’t heal or regrow lost body parts.
Even if that doesn’t work, Logan could incapacitate Morbius for long enough to trap him or lock him up, leaving him to be destroyed by his bloodlust and hunger from the inside.
Therefore, Wolverine wins in almost every fight. I’d say 7/10, with the ones going on Morbius’ side being the ones where he successfully uses his mesmerism, speed, or surprises Logan with an attack.