Milo, born Lucien Crown, was a wealthy scion and life-long friend of Michael Morbius; both suffering from the same rare blood disease. Milo used his considerable wealth to support Horizon Labs' experiments, in hopes of finding a cure for his illness. When Morbius discovered a supposed cure for his illness, Milo stole it and used it on himself; transforming him into a Vampire.
At a private hospital in Greece, a 10-year-old Michael Morbius welcomes the arrival of his surrogate brother Lucien, who he decides to name "Milo" instead. Both children suffer from the same rare blood disease which prevents their bodies from creating blood. After Michael manages to save Milo's life by fixing his broken blood pump, their surrogate father Dr. Nicholas arranges for Michael to study at a special school for geniuses in America while continuing to care for Milo himself.
Twenty-five years later, Milo is now a billionaire. Eventually, Milo goes in search of Morbius at his lab looking for Martine, unaware of her coma, he is surprised to see Morbius cured of his disease and seeking blood, but is outraged when Morbius refuses to give him the cure. Later, while checking in on the comatose Martine at their hospital, Morbius finds a nurse has been drained of her blood and killed. Believing himself responsible, he attempts to escape the hospital before allowing Stroud and Rodriguez (who had deduced his involvement in the vampire killings from a signed origami bat he had left on the boat) to arrest him when confronted. In prison, Morbius is met by Milo posing as his lawyer, who promises to use his connections to have him freed. After Milo leaves without his cane, Morbius realises he had taken the cure and most likely killed the nurse, and escapes from prison to confront him, hearing him kill a man who mocked Morbius for his original disability. Admitting he killed the nurse, but only due to the same bloodlust that caused Morbius to kill the ship's crew, Milo asks Morbius to join him in embracing their truer selves and live as vampires, before killing a group of police officers attempting to arrest Morbius and leaving.
The next day, Morbius meets with Martine, telling her of Milo's involvement, and asking her to stay away from him.
Elsewhere, Stroud and Rodriguez finds footage of one of Milo's attacks. Recognizing him as someone other than Morbius, and his vampirism to be spreading, they release it to the media. Although virtually unrecognisable, Milo is recognised by Nicholas, who goes to his apartment and pleads with him to stop. Deriding him for always treating Morbius as "daddy's favourite", Milo mortally wounds Nicholas and tells him to call Morbius. As Morbius responds to Nicholas' phone call and goes to his side, seeing him die, Milo makes his way to Martine and mortally wounds her as well. Hearing her final moments, Morbius makes his way across the city and holds her in his arms as she dies, before feeding on her blood. Confronting Milo, Morbius tackles him into the sewers, before summoning an army of thousands of bats from the sewers and setting them upon Milo, keeping him motionless long enough for Morbius to use his compound on him, ending his bloodlust. Tearfully accepting of Morbius for having given him his name, Milo dies in his arms. Mourning Milo and Martine, Morbius takes flight with the vampire bat swarm in full sight of the city, embracing his identity as a vampire.
Personality[]
Having suffered a life threatening illness for most of his life, Milo became a rather withdrawn and bitter man. Milo's poor quality of life, and the alienation he felt as a result of his condition, deprived him of a tangible social life; leaving him with few friends or close relationships. Despite this, Milo still maintained a relationship with his childhood doctor Emil Nicholas, and close friendship with his childhood friend Michael Morbius; the two were surrogate brothers and quickly bonded upon meeting due to their shared illness.
Milo resented those who had not suffered the way he and Morbius suffered, the transformation into a vampire seemed to increase his feelings of anger and resentment; all of Milo's worst traits were amplified due to his vampirism, turning him into a deranged, misanthropic monster who had an insatiable bloodlust. Milo's subconscious envy for Michael became more apparent, however at the same time, Milo also desired Michael's acceptance, and tried to convince him to embrace his darker nature; believing he and Michael had evolved beyond humanity. As he was dying, Milo was fearful and remorseful, apologising to Michael for all the pain and damage he had caused.
Powers and abilities[]
Pseudo-Vampirism: After Michael Morbius created a supposed cure for his rare blood disease, Milo stole the serum and used it on himself; transforming him into a Living Vampire. As a Vampire, Milo possessed pseudo-supernatural and superhuman physical abilities; in addition to superhuman levels of strength and speed, Milo possessed the health and vitality of an Olympic athlete. Milo also lacked most of the weaknesses associated with mythological vampirism; such as an aversion to holy water or a sensitivity to sunlight, however he developed a need to consume blood. When Milo used his powers, his overall appearance changed as well; possessing fangs and claws, a flattened nose and extremely grey and pale skin. Milo’s abilities appeared to be stronger and more refined than those of Michael Morbius, possibly due to how he had embraced his vampiric side by drinking fresh human blood; as opposed to Morbius who was subsisting on artificial blood.
Milo’s Transformation
Transformation: Living Vampires possess the ability to shift their features to express bat-like traits. In this form, Milo develops a flattened nose, extremely grey and pale skin, and eyes that change colour depending on what ability he was using; from blood red, to white with black star-like shapes. Milo would also develop wickedly sharp fangs and claws, they could easily tear apart flesh.
Superhuman Strength: Milo was considerably stronger and tougher than normal humans, enabling him to overpower, lift, toss ,and manhandle others with relative ease. Milo could exert sufficient force to smash glass, tear flesh, and toss others hundreds of feet through the air. The force of Milo’s strikes are capable of smashing tiled walls and knocking down doors; Milo was also able to go toe-to-toe with other living vampires such as Morbius, dominating him throughout their final conflict.
Superhuman Durability: As a Vampire, Milo's body was tougher, stronger, and more resistant to conventional forms of physical injury. Milo could withstand trauma that would be fatal normal humans; such as falls from great heights, slashes and stab wounds, gunshot wounds and tremendous impact forces, including those from other superhuman beings like Morbius, without sustaining injury.
Milo’s Superhuman Speed
Superhuman Speed: Milo could run and move at incredible superhuman speeds, appearing as a blur to human eyes; enabling him to quickly scale buildings, cross a room in the blink of an eye, dispatch multiple enemies in moments and even dodge bullets. When moving at high speeds, Milo generated an aura of energy currents and mist-like shapes that match the colours of the clothes he wore; this aura created a trail, much like fire or wind. Milo proved capable of overwhelming Morbius, another Living Vampire, in high speed hand-to-hand combat during their second fight, able to easily dodge his feral attacks, as well as land a number of strikes and blows of his own.
Superhuman Agility: Milo possessed greater agility, dexterity, balance, and body coordination than that of a normal human being. Milo was able to easily and rapidly run, jump and climb, he could leap between buildings, as well as scale upside-down and vertical surfaces like walls and the sides of high-rises. Milo was also able to leap from high places, such as the rooftops of buildings, and land lightly on his feet with relative ease.
Superhuman Stamina: Milo’ advanced musculature was considerably more efficient than that of a normal human; affording him superhuman health and vitality. As a result, Milo’s muscles virtually do not produce fatigue toxins during physical activity; his endurance allows him to exercise his maximum capacity for an indefinite period of time without feeling fatigued. Milo’s health and vitality were affected by how regularly he ingested blood; being deprived of blood would cause his blood disorder to return and his vitals to drop.
Superhuman Reflexes: Milo's reflexes and reaction times were many times faster than a normal human’s; he was easily able to dodge and react to people and objects traveling at high speeds. Milo could dodge and counter any attack, match Morbius in high-speed hand-to-hand combat during their fights, and evade high-speed projectiles such as gunfire, even at point-blank range.
Superhuman Senses: Milo possessed predatory senses, that enabled him to see, hear and smell with greater clarity and across greater distances than a normal human; to the point where he could use his enhanced senses to track his targets. Milo was able to use his senses to hunt and stalk his prey, as well as track down Michael and Martine; spying on them from a distance of hundreds of feet.
Echolocation: Milo possessed an advanced form of echolocation; like the vampire bat, Milo was able to emit sound waves, and use the reflected echoes to map his surroundings and track prey. Even in a large urban cityscape, Milo was able to use echolocation to isolate and track his prey.
Shockwave Generation: Milo was capable of creating powerful shockwaves that could knock his enemies back a considerable distance. This also afforded Milo an edge whilst in combat with Morbius; sending Michael flying as an extension of his strength.
Regenerative Healing Factor: As a Vampire, Milo's health, vitality and metabolism were drastically modified and enhanced; as well as curing his blood disorder, Milo would rapidly regenerate damaged bodily tissues with greater speed and efficiency than a normal human. Due to the nature of his abilities, Milo’s health and vitality are affected by how regularly he ingests blood; being deprived of blood will cause his blood disorder to return and his vitals to drop.
Smith was initially falsely reported to be playing the Marvel supervillain, Loxias Crown/Hunger in the film.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Matt Smith said that Karen Gillan, his former co-star in Doctor Who who portrays the anti-hero Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, persuaded him to take on the role of Milo Morbius in Morbius.
