Two classic Spider-Man villains have come together in the worst way possible thanks to Beyond Corporation, and there is no telling how much damage Marvel’s new Living Vampire could do.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Amazing Spider-Man #92, available now from Marvel.
Ever since they stepped into Ben Reilly’s life, the Beyond Corporation has gone from mysterious benefactor to the worst kind of enemy imaginable. Thankfully, Ben has had plenty of help from his fellow heroes along the way, especially now that he has taken the fight to his former employer’s doorstep. Unfortunately, heroes aren’t the only thing that Beyond has been working on, and their secret stash of supervillains has just been uncovered. Not only that, but Ben has taken it upon himself to unleash the worst of these monstrous creations in the form of Curt Connors as Marvel’s latest Living Vampire.
All of the anguish that Beyond Corporation has put Ben Reilly through in recent months has finally come back to hurt them now that Marvel’s other Spider-Man is done holding back. Peter Parker, Misty Knight, and Colleen Wing were all more than willing to help Ben confront Beyond and take down their Staten Island supervillain factory but Ben decided to leave his allies behind. He does so by releasing Beyond’s most menacing creation yet in the form of a Curt Connors, aka the Lizard. As seen in Amazing Spider-Man #92 (by Kelly Thompson, Jed MacKay, Fran Galan, Sara Pichelli, Ze Carlos, Brian Reber, and VC’s Joe Caramagna), this Lizard is nothing like any of his previous iterations. Though he is still a hulking reptilian monstrosity, Lizard’s iconic green hue has been replaced with a ghastly white. Connors has also sprouted a brand new set of massive wings and some exceptionally long fangs, which when coupled with the discovery of a comatose Michael Morbius makes it clear that the Lizard the heroes are dealing with is now a Living Vampire as well.
Curt Connors and Michael Morbius have both been indelible parts of Spider-Man’s world for decades. The two scientists were both transformed into their current forms in desperate bids to change their own lives, like so many other Spider-Man foes have done. That said, Connors and Morbius have always stood out from their villainous peers in the ways they have been exploited by others. While Connors has had something of an on-and-off success when it comes to keeping his bestial form at bay, Morbius has frequently found himself overcoming his vampiric urges and playing the hero. Of course, neither has been able to permanently break the violent cycles they have been caught in, and Beyond’s intervention in their lives has clearly made things all the worse.
Morbius stepped into Ben’s life in Kelly Thompson and Sara Pichelli’s Amazing Spider-Man #77 in a rougher state than usual. Thankfully, Misty and Colleen were ultimately able to subdue Morbius before he could drain Ben of a lethal amount of his blood. Whatever had driven the Living Vampire to such a desperate state was only cured by Beyond once they realized doing so would make it easier to experiment on him. Now that the heroes have seen what Beyond has done with those experiments, their supervillain program has gone from an otherwise ordinary threat to one that could change their lives for a long time to come.
Curt Connors has always recovered from whatever terrifying transformations he has undergone, although that doesn’t mean the experiences haven’t been traumatic. As the Lizard, Connors has wrought unthinkable amounts of death and destruction, even to those closest to him. With his new abilities and an unquenchable thirst for blood, Connors may very well be more unstoppable than ever, especially if his Lizard traits can make up for his vampiric weaknesses. As unlikely as it is that this new Lizard will become a permanent fixture in the Marvel Universe, the fact that Morbius has been unable to cure himself in over five decades makes it a very real possibility, and that could be worse than anything else Beyond has done so far.
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