Famously, Spider-Man has one of the most colorful rogues galleries in all of comics. Over a decade after its initial release, "The Gauntlet" still stands as one of the most memorable showcases for his villains, as many of his most iconic villains attempted to bury him one after the other. While most of his enemies were out for Spidey's head, though, Morbius the Living Vampire was looking to spill the hero's blood for a very different reason.
The trouble began when Spider-Man enlisted the help of Black Cat in pulling off a daring heist during 2010's Amazing Spider-Man #621, by Dan Slott and Michael Lark. Mister Negative had only recently developed his Devil's Breath, a poison designed specifically to kill Spider-Man, and the key ingredient was Peter Parker's own blood. With the stakes being so high, the heroes snuck into Mister Negative's stronghold only for Spider-Man to find himself facing off against a small army of Inner Demons. Thankfully, Black Cat was able to steal away with what they had come for while her partner escaped. Unfortunately, old habits die hard, and before Peter knew it his blood was back on the market.
The next day, Spider-Man awoke to discover that Black Cat had already sold his blood to a group of would-be vampires. During his own investigation into the matter, Peter was hypnotized by a mysterious woman who somehow knew both what he was looking for and where it was. Before long Spider-Man had broken into the lab of Morbius the Living Vampire, and his enigmatic admirer was right behind him. After being invited in, the woman revealed herself to be Morbius' former assistant turned vampire obsessed villain Martine. She had merely used Spider-Man as a means to hunt down Morbius for herself, though she would ultimately lose her life in the fray.
As Martine's influence wore off, Spider-Man slowly came to understand what had happened to him, though he still didn't know what Morbius' endgame was. As it turned out, his former foe was merely seeking a cure for the increasingly prominent werewolf affliction being suffered by Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night. In a moment of despair over the death and destruction that his actions caused, Morbius destroyed the last remaining sample of Spider-Man's blood.
Seeing that no harm had ever been intended, not to mention the dire straits Morbius was in, Peter openly offered further samples of his blood to the cause. Peter's blood didn't end up curing Jack, but his empathy did bring this thrilling chapter of "The Gauntlet" to a surprisingly gentle close.
For a story so often fraught with heartbreak, this particular portion of "The Gauntlet" highlighted Morbius' tenuous place in Spider-Man's rogues gallery as a villain who is only infrequently truly villainous and is far more of a sympathetic figure than the other members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery. Not only did it provide Spider-Man with some amount of closure regarding the sway that Mister Negative held over him, but it also gave readers a glimpse into just how much good the wall-crawler could do without having to shoot a web or throw a punch.
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