Hunger (Marvel Comics)

Hunger
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Spider-Man #76 vol. 1 #76 (January, 1997)
Created by	Howard Mackie
In-story information
Alter ego	Loxias Crown
Species	Living Vampire
Team affiliations	Hydra
Abilities	Genius-level intellect Superhuman strength, speed, and durability Flight Hypnotism Accelerated healing factor Reliance on consuming human blood Darkforce manipulation

Loxias Crown, otherwise known as Hunger, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Spider-Man #76 vol. 1 #76 (January, 1997) and was created by Howard Mackie.

Matt Smith will portray the character in the live-action film Morbius which is part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe.

Publication history

Created by Howard Mackie, the character first appeared in Spider-Man #76 vol. 1 #76 (January, 1997)

Fictional character biography

Loxias Crown was a Hydra agent who tracked down scientist William Fields to the campus of Empire State University. Arriving at his home on Christmas Eve, Crown slew Fields but let his wife and child escape. Young Todd Fields swore revenge on Crown.

Crown abducted Morbius, the Living Vampire to perform experiments on him. He also tried to take Aiken and fellow ESU students Peter Parker and Abby Levin with a group of Hydra storm troopers, Crown threatened to kill Parker unless Aiken came with him. He teleported Parker and his friend to his secret base.

However, Hammerhead killed his love so Crown took a Hydra airship to his apartment building to get revenge on the gangsters. He took SHOC and prepared to overload his armor, killing them all. He blew Hammerhead away with his darkforce energy began to destroy the building. He also took down both SHOC and Spider-Man, but before he could finish Morbius attacked him. As the building was destroyed around them Morbius drained Crown dry disappearing with his victim in the process.

Hunger

Now a "Living Vampire" he began living in the sewers beneath the city. He abducted citizens and kept them in his lair beneath the streets. He even took some of the Morlocks, including their leader Callisto. Peter Parker and Betty Brant from the Daily Bugle went to investigate the disappearances. However Hunger knocked Peter out and took Betty with him. Now as Spider-Man he teamed up with Marrow to hunt down Hunger. They freed the prisoners much to Hunger's annoyance. As he was about to bite Spider-Man, Flash Thompson attacked from behind saving him. He then tried to attack Marrow, but Spider-Man freed her allowing him to escape in energy form.

Hunger returned and attacked Kingpin during a clandestine meeting with the Maggia. He set the building alight, but Kingpin was able to escape. He turned a number of them into living vampires like himself building his own small army. Blade and Spider-Man tracked Hunger down to an abandoned Roxxon plant, killing vampire gangsters. He summoned the heroes to his lair to replenish his vampire army. They defeated the last of his horde and Hunger fled.

Powers and abilities

He was transformed by Morbius into a "Living Vampire" a kind of pseudo-vampire. He does not possess all the powers of a supernatural vampire, nor is he subject to all the traditional limitations and weaknesses thereof. He possesses a variety of superhuman powers, some of which are similar to supernatural vampires within the Marvel Universe, such as superhuman strength and speed, as well as heightened senses including night vision and echolocation.

Due to his vampire-like condition, Hunger is forced to ingest fresh blood on a regular basis to sustain his life and vitality.

He does not possess any of the mystical vulnerabilities that supernatural vampires are subject to, such as garlic, holy water, crucifixes, or silver. He has a strong aversion to sunlight, thanks to his photo-sensitive skin which allows some protection from major sunburn, in contrast to "true" vampires that are incinerated by it, with the result that he can move in daylight, but his powers are diminished and he will stick to the shade if circumstances demand him to be active during the day.

In other media

Film

Loxias Crown is set to appear as the main antagonist in Sony Pictures Morbius, portrayed by Matt Smith.

External links

• [1] at Marvel Wiki
• [2] at marvel.com