Morlun

Background

Not much is known about Morlun. All of that is explained by Ezekiel: since the dawn of time, totemic powers walked the Earth. These powers are the bridges between two different species, human and other. Since then, humanity re-tells history (shamans, priests, etc), fitting it in it's own limited views, "to get a momentary taste of totemic force. Some do it for ritual", others to better understand the world around them, and others still "to project a sense of power". These are the ones Peter's been fighting for all his life. Every type attracts it's similar ("gods against gods, patriots against people who think they're patriots, mutants against mutants"): Vultures, Lizards, Scorpions, Cobras, Jackals, Rhinos, Octopi, and many others. They fight to attain the power of a specific totem, "guided by urges beyond their control and understanding", without even realizing what they're doing. They're just pretenders. And Peter is the "real deal".

But there are also those who feed on totemic forces, and on their inheritors (Peter). Only a few walk the Earth, and they hunt those forces for centuries. They can feed on lesser sources (humans, and super-humans) for a while, but eventually they must feed on a pure source. And one of them came looking for Peter...

The cargo ship where Morlun traveled to New York arrives at the docks. Dex, his servant, announces him that. Morlun devours (absorbs his energy, not literally eating him) his last supply for the trip, an unknown German super- hero, and prepares to go hunting for Spider-Man. His wrinkled skin, and white hair rejuvenate as he feeds.

Next day, while Spidey swings to his old high school to get a job, Morlun and Dex are having breakfast. Morlun establishes a parallel between Dex's croissant and Spider-Man, talking about appreciating the beauty of food. As he says this, Spidey is swinging by, and Morlun decides to tease him: he triggers his Spider- Sense in a very strong way, leaving Peter very scared. Morlun continues his talk with Dex, as Spider-Man tries to understand what happened. Dex asks to be killed, Morlun says no.

The next day, as Peter is having a talk with Ezekiel about Morlun, and his (Peter's) powers (the one described in the first two paragraphs), Morlun is trying out new clothes. Later in that day, Peter leaves home after hearing a bulletin that reports trouble on the East Side. He arrives at the scene. A burning building. He rescues a woman, and he gets the hardest punch he ever got (in his own words) and flies against a car. As he looks up, he sees Morlun standing before him.

Spidey attacks, but Morlun is unaffected. Morlun only says he doesn't want to kill Spidey, but he has to. He won't tire, won't grow weary, and now that he found him, he can always find him. Then he shuts up and proceeds in trashing Spidey. He bests every tactic Spidey tries, uses innocent people to prevent Spidey from fleeing, and gives him a major beating. Peter (who's a mess by now) tries to flee anyway, and dresses in civilian clothes hoping to go unnoticed. Tough luck Morlun wasn't bluffing. He meets him and attacks him again. In an ensuing explosion, Morlun's clothes get destroyed, and he leaves to find new ones. Spidey uses the break to get to Ezekiel. He asks for help, but Ezekiel tells him that he's doomed, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

Ezekiel says now that Morlun touched Peter, he can always find him, and that he doesn't want to expose himself, because so far Morlun doesn't know of his existence. He's not a pure source, but he's a "pretty decent appetizer". Peter leaves disappointed, and sees a columns of smoke: Morlun is luring him again. They go at it again, Spidey gets a few breaks to phone his loved ones, but Morlun is relentless. But Ezekiel eventually enters the fray, saying he changed his mind. In a double blow, Ezekiel lands a jab in Morlun's nose which sheds some blood.

Eventually, Morlun gets a hold of Ezekiel and absorbs his essence, letting him fall on the river (the fight has gone throughout the whole Big Apple - now they're at the docks). Morlun's satisfied, and leaves for the moment. Peter dives several times for Ezekiel, but he couldn't find him. He then remembers the shed blood. He takes the sample and goes home to analyze it. He discovers that the blood is a mix of every form of DNA (human, insect, animal, bird, etc), in the purest forms he has ever seen. Probably "the cells break down" with time, and "he needs to recharge with a life source in each category". But Peter knows something Morlun doesn't. He's not pure... He invades a Nuclear Power Plant and activates the alert. The workers evacuate, leaving him alone in there.

Minutes pass, and Morlun arrives. He kills a cop who doesn't let him come in, and Dex takes his gun without him knowing. Spidey injects himself with radioactive fluid and collapses. Morlun enters the room, and picks him up. He says the energy he'll absorb from the "pure spider" within Peter will allow him to live for at least 100 years more. He tries to absorb Peter's energy, but he gets burned instead. He can't understand, and Peter gets up and explains: Whatever the origin of his powers is, the radiation is a part of them. And while Morlun can feed on the Spider, he can't on the radiation. Spidey beats Morlun up. Whenever he touches him, Morlun gets weaker because he absorbs radiation. It's logical to assume that in their previous fight, whenever Spidey hit him, Morlun absorbed some energy, thus "never tiring", resisting every blows, and leaving Spidey a lot more vulnerable.

Morlun is backed against some debris, and he begs Spidey to spare him, saying he'll go away and never return. His skin looks like the one of a snake or lizard. Peter questions himself: Should he leave Morlun alive to kill, or should he kill him? His decision is made for him when Dex shoots Morlun. Spidey's hesitation is enough to give Dex the time to do it. Morlun dies claiming it was nothing personal, he was just hungry, leaving a pile of ashes. Spidey lets Dex go, because Dex tells him that "He hurt me a lot". He was probably let go not only by that, but because in his heart, Spidey knows that had he not hesitated, Dex wouldn't have had the time to shoot. So, he's as much to blame as Dex. He doesn't know if he would have come to kill Morlun himself, but he suspects he would. Later, he drops by Ezekiel's office to tell his partners he's dead, but he finds a clean office and a rubber spider stuck to the glass. Ezekiel is alive.

"The Other"

Morlun returned when Peter was dying of a disease related to his powers. He stalked Peter, but was disappointed to see the man that killed him in a weakened state. (No reason for his resurrection was given, he had simply returned to life.) Morlun ambushed Peter at the Bugle and was soon tossing him around New York. Spidey felt his knuckles breaking and his skin tearing from the violence of the battle.

It did no good. Morlun literally beat Spider-Man into the ground and would have fed on him on the spot, but the arrival of the police forced him to flee. Even he isn't invulnerable and he cant feed and fight at the same time. He allowed the police to take the body to the hospital, knowing that they would keep Spider-Man alive for him and he could always find Parker later. He found him near death at the hospital, and was about to feed when Mary Jane stopped him.

As Morlun was about to kill her, Peter awoke and pounced on him. Except, Peter had changed. He had glowing red eyes, fang-like teeth and stingers coming out of his wrists. He pinned Morlun to the floor with his stingers and proceeded to eat him alive. Morlun crumbled to dust in a pink whirlwind. Peter died soon after, in the hospital. It all gets tied up in the Miss Arrow profile.

"Spider-Verse"

Morlun seemed to be dead and buried for some time, until Peter found a young woman (Cindy Moon) with spider powers of her own locked away in one of Ezekiel's headquarters. Her presence was kept a secret from the world, to protect her from Morlun. Once she was freed from her cell, Morlun sensed that "The Spider Bride" was free. From his distant home, Morlun knew it was time for the Great Hunt to begin. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #4)

Morlun and his siblings began an inter-dimensional hunt of all Spider-Men, killing many of them. This mass slaughter was witnessed both by the Superior Spider-Man and by Spider-UK, who had joined the Captain Britain Corps. (Superior Spider-Man #32 and Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #7) Morlun's brother, Daemos, devoured the family of Spider-Girl on Earth 982, and the Spider-Man of Earth 7831. Morlun killed the Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar of Earth 1983.

These killings were reported by Spider-UK to his superiors at the Captain Britain Corps, who were more concerned with attacks on realities that were causing the reality to collapse entirely than they were on specific attacks on "insect men." Another member of the Corp suspected that the cross dimensional attacks were connected, and feared that the killings of the spiders were an opening salvo, as the spiders are the most sensitive to the great web of life and destiny. She aided Spider-UK with a device that would let him travel along that web to various realities to warn and enlist the other Spider-Men. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #7)

After eating the Spider-Man of Earth 449, Morlun returned to his home world, Earth 001. He was met by Daemos and their sister, Verna. Daemos taunted him that there was one Earth that Morlun had been avoiding: Earth 616. Daemos decided to pay that earth a visit, to see what was so special about it. After Morlun returned from hunting a Spider-Man on Earth 9105 (where the Pharaohs still reigned), Daemos told him he had been to Earth 616 and met the totem that was currently hosting The Other. (This was the Scarlet Spider, Kaine Parker.) Morlun was furious that Daemos had hunted on a Earth that he had claimed as his own, and was even angrier when reminded that he had been beaten by that Spider-Man twice.

Their father, Lord Solus, demanded that they stop fighting and reminded them that he already knew the location of The Other, The Spider Bride and The Scion and how to use them. Morlun told Solus that he knew that he was his father's heir and that he would be king one day. It was his responsibility to to shape their destiny as The Inheritors of All Creation. With that, Solus invited his family to eat the totems that they had brought to their feast. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 3) #9)

Morlun was soon speaking with Solus, who seemed concerned that his son seemed afraid of the Spider-Man that killed him twice. Morlun reassured him that the only thing he feared was "the prophecy." He worried about three of the Spiders, which could theoretically end their rule over reality: The Other, the Bride, and the Scion. Solus told him that they were all in his reach and that it was time to stop toying with the totems. Morlun, his brother Jennix, and Solus soon traveled to the "Safe Zone" where the Spiders had been under the protection of the Cosmic Spider-Man. Jennix was soon beaten by the ultra powerful Spider-Man and Morlun watched as his father battled Cosmic. The battle between the original Inheritor and the nearly god-like Spider-Man stunned all who saw it, but Solus eventually ate the life essence of the Spider. The Spiders were dumbfounded to see their protector defeated and Morlun took the opportunity to grab Mayday Parker's infant brother, Ben, proclaiming him to be the Scion. (Amazing Spider-Man (vol 3) #11)

"Spider-Geddon"

"Sinister War"

Spider-Man's life had been turned upside down by the undead creature called Kindred and the Sin Eater. Kindred was someone from Spider-Man's past who blamed him for ruining his life and had gathered dozens of his enemies against him. Kindred had placed supernatural centipedes into the criminals ears, causing them excruciating pain. He ordered all of them to kill Spider-Man, but said that only one of them could do it. That one would be spared and the others would be sent to Hell. (Sinister War #2) There was: The Sinister Six

• Doctor Octopus
• Sandman
• Electro
• the clone of Kraven the Hunter
• the Lizard
• Mysterio

The Sinister Syndicate

• Stegron
• Vulture
• Tarantula
• King Kobra
• Rhino
• Scorpion

The female Sinister Six.

• Electro (Francine Frye)
• Beetle (Janice Lincoln)
• Scorpia
• Trapster
• Ana Kravinoff
• Carolyn Trainer
• White Rabbit

The Foreigner's team.

• Jack O'Lantern
• Foreigner
• Slyde
• Taskmaster
• Black Ant
• Chance

Boomerang's Sinister Six. (Yes, there were only five of them.)

• Boomerang
• Shocker
• Speed Demon
• Hydro-Man
• Overdrive

Sin Eater's team.

• Whirlwind
• Living Laser
• Grey Gargoyle
• Sin Eater
• Juggernaut
• Morlun

(Sinister War #3)

Once they had all found Spider-Man, they fought each other as much as their target. Since Morlun could track Spider-Man anywhere, he led the others to Peter as he tried to hide. Morlun captured him while the others fought among themselves and began to drain him but he was stopped by Boomerang. (Boomerang and Spider-Man had worked together for a time and became semi-friendly. He had betrayed Spidey in the end but the guilt bothered him.) Morlun killed him quickly and tossed him aside, stunning Spider-Man and Boomerang's team. The team decided that since they were all going to die anyway, they would die on their terms and turned on the mob of criminals. In the meantime, Octavius managed to kill the centipedes in all of their heads via remote control. Since centipedes and ants are both arthropods, he used Black Ant's helmet to create an ultrasonic transductor to make the centipedes heads explode. The feedback was painful to all of them, causing them to black out. (Sinister War #4)

"End of the Spider-Verse"

After stopping an armored car heist of equipment belonging to Norman Osborn, Spider-Man was taking selfies with the assembled crowd when a interdimensional portal opened. A plague of supernatural spider-wasps arrived from another world, sent by their mother, Shathra. Immediately after Spidey recognized the wasps, Morlun arrived via another portal. Spider-Man immediately went on the attack, knowing that he was fighting for his life. Morlun slapped him aside, reminding Peter just how strong he is. Spider-Man's helper robot, Bug, came to defend him but was crushed by the Inheritor. Spider-Man again went on the attack, but found that he hadn't even budged his enemy. Meanwhile, Osborn was monitoring Peter, as he was wearing a mechanical suit built and designed by Osborn himself. He kept in contact with Peter, wanting to know what was happening, as he was reading damage to both Peter and the suit. Peter was saved by Silk, Miles Morales and Spider-Woman. They didn't understand it but they knew that Peter was in danger. The three of them took on Morlun, and they were quickly aided by Spider-Man Noir. During the fight, they were all stung by the spider-wasps. Noir, instead of reaching for his gun, pulled out a dagger and stabbed Spider-Woman. She began to fall apart but didn't feel pain or lose blood. Noir explained that she was being severed from the web of life and unraveling. She left behind webbing and dust before Morlun told him to mourn later. Morlun punched Noir away and explained that the spider-verse had fallen and he'd been sent to help. They then noticed that Noir looked more insect than human and he told them that the Inheritors had been replaced on the food chain. They were joined by Spider-Girl, Spider Punk and Ghost Spider, who had all been corrupted to be like Noir. (Spider-Man (vol. 3) #1)

During the fight between the spiders and the monstrous spiders, Silk knocked the mutated Spider-Girl out of Morlun's hand, who told her that he'd killed others for less than that. She insisted that the others were their friends even if they were changed. The melee was interrupted by Arana, who used a new "mystic spider-totem energy" ability to open a portal to a new planet. Spider-Man and the other spiders escaped to earth 616-beta. Arana led them to a church to hide in, calling it a safe house. Peter told her not to call it that, as they had a safe house previously and it hadn't ended well. Morlun chimed in, saying that his family had raided it and killed dozens of Spider-Man's allies. Spider-Man told him to knock it off and Morlun was confused, saying that even though he had digested Spider-Man's energy at one point, he was still such a mystery. Inside the church, they were met by a new group of spiders: Hunter-Spider, Spinstress, Webster, Web Weaver, Sun Spider and Night Spider. The second Madame Web, Julia Carpenter, was also there. She explained that Shathra was using

”A Tangled Web We Weave”

In an abandoned subway tunnel in Earth 31, a dejected Morlun sat eating spiders. He was surprised by a red flash of light and the emergence of Carnage. The alien was bonded to a police officer named Jon Shayde and this earth was not where they meant to go. Carnage smelled death and violence on Morlun, who explained of how he had been an alpha predator but he had lost his powers. He had also lost a good deal of his mind and memory after he had been stabbed with the dagger by Silk. The energy of the multitude of spider totems he had eaten were released and he used the last of his powers to escape to this earth.

Carnage was bored and began to leave when Morlun explained that the web of life is never wrong and if he had been brought to that world, then it was for a reason. He had the power to follow any prey he wanted, no matter when or where they hid and he knew Carnage was looking for a venomous spider. He knew that all of his lost power would be given to someone else who hunted spiders. He was right and that power was taken by that world’s Sergei Kravinoff, Kraven the Hunter-Spider. Carnage had taken the abilities of the Spot before leaving Earth 616 and used it to find a battle with Kraven and that world’s Venom, Cletus Kasady. Morlun was sickened that a totem like Kraven had gained the power of an Inheritor. He had assumed that Carnage was another spider totem and tried to feed off of him but was burned. Totems are primal forces of life but Carnage was the absence of life.

Carnage went to battle Venom and Kraven, planning to drain their power before confronting Earth 616s Eddie Brock, who was the new King in Black. Morlun jumped in and drained Kraven before Carnage had a chance. He regained some of his strength and mind. He and Carnage separated ways, owing each a debt while holding each other in contempt. Carnage never wanted to become as addicted to power as Morlun was and Morlun owed Carnage for getting a piece of himself back. Morlun left for another world, hoping the multiverse was big enough for both of them. (Web of Carnage #1)

Image Gallery

Appearances

Cover Date	Appearance Information
Jun 2001	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #30
Jul 2001	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #31
Aug 2001	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #32
	Origin.
Sep 2001	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #33
Oct 2001	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #34
Nov 2001	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #35
	Death.
Dec 2005	App: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #1
	Returns and stalks Peter
Dec 2005	App: Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #19
Dec 2005	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #525
Jan 2006	App: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #2
Jan 2006	App: Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #20
Jan 2006	App: Amazing Spider-Man (Vol. 1) #526
	Defeats Spider-Man
Feb 2006	App: Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #3
	Killed by Spider-Man

Thanks To

 The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

 Some of the above information is extracted from the various versions of the Official Handbook to the Marvel Universe and the more recent Marvel Encyclopaedias.