Hunger (Marvel Comics)

The Hunger (Loxias Crown) is a fictional character appearing in the American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Spider-Man #76 (January 1997) and was created by Howard Mackie. He is an enemy of Spider-Man, Blade, and Morbius.

Hunger
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Spider-Man #76 (January 1997)
Created by	Howard Mackie
In-story information
Alter ego	Loxias Crown
Species	Vampire
Team affiliations	Hydra
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed and durability Flight Genius-level intellect Hypnotism Accelerated healing factor Heightened senses Reliance on consuming human blood Formerly: Darkforce energy generation and projection via armor

Matt Smith portrays a composite character partially inspired by the Hunger named Milo, whose birth name is Lucien, in the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) film Morbius (2022).

Publication history

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

Fictional character biography

Loxias Crown was an agent of Hydra equipped with armor that manipulates a mysterious energy known as darkforce. After killing the armor's creator, William Fields, Crown takes Empire State University's staff and students as hostages to locate Fields' notes on his armor's technology, but is defeated by Spider-Man and S.H.O.C.^[1] Crown next abducted Morbius to perform experiments alongside Andrea Janson for Don Fortunato. Crown threatened Peter Parker until Todd Fields (now known as Neil Aiken) surrendered, teleporting the two youths to his secret base.^[2] But after Hammerhead killed his love and captured his three hostages, Crown took Hydra's airship to get revenge. He fought both Spider-Man and S.H.O.C. and prepared to overload the latter's armor to kill everyone, but Morbius attacked and drained him dry while disappearing in the process.^[3]

Crown next lived in New York City's sewers as a pseudo-vampire known as the Hunger, an enforcer of Senator Stuart Ward.^[4] He abducted innocent civilians and the Morlocks' leader Callisto to his lair beneath the streets. The Daily Bugle went to investigate but the Hunger knocked Parker out and took Betty Brant hostage. Spider-Man teamed up with Marrow to free the prisoners, much to the Hunger's annoyance. Flash Thompson distracted the Hunger, resulting in his defeat by Spider-Man and Marrow, but he escapes in energy form.^[5] The Hunger later attacked a clandestine meeting between the Kingpin and the Maggia, and turned a number of gangsters into his own small army of pseudo-vampires. Blade and Spider-Man tracked the Hunger down to an abandoned Roxxon plant, fighting the two superheroes until he fled after his horde's deaths.^[6]

In Blood Hunt, the Hunger is killed by Union Jack following a failed attempt to conquer Manchester.^[7][8][9]

Powers and abilities

Initially, Loxias Crown wore an armor similar to S.H.O.C. which gave him the ability to channel negative energy and fire energy blasts.

As a pseudo-vampire, the Hunger does not possess all the powers of a true undead 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 true undead vampires within the Marvel Universe, such as superhuman strength, speed and durability, as well as heightened senses including night vision and echolocation.^[6] Due to his vampire-like condition, the Hunger is forced to ingest fresh blood on a regular basis to sustain his life and vitality.^[5] He does not possess any of the mystical vulnerabilities that true undead 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 undead 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.^[5]

Reception

In 2022, CBR.com ranked the Hunger 9th in their "10 Most Important Marvel Vampires" list.^[10]

In other media

A composite character partly inspired by the Hunger along with Emil Nikos, Vic Slaughter, and Michael Morbius, named Milo appears in Morbius (2022), portrayed by Matt Smith as an adult and Joseph Esson as a child.^[11][12][13] Depicted as Michael Morbius's surrogate brother and best friend, having met under the care of Emil Nicholas as both are suffering from a rare blood disease which prevented their bodies from properly being able to create blood, and born "Lucien", Milo is renamed as-such by Morbius as a child, before being sent away to private school. As adults, Milo's family wealth is key to Morbius's research for a cure, but causes "pseudo-vampirism", with Morbius seeking to resist the resulting bloodlust while Milo embraces it. After Milo kills Nicholas and fatally injure Martine Bancroft, Morbius restrains Milo with an army of vampire bats and seemingly kills him with a vampire-antibody.