Morbulus

**Morbulus** was a minor villain from the series *SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron*. He appeared in the episode *The Giant Bacteria* and was voiced by Jim Cummings.

## Biography

Morbulus was an evil pilot who attempted to destroy every oil refinery in Megakat City. He literally had eyes in the back of his head, giving him 360-degree vision and making him difficult to take by surprise.He was defeated by the SWAT Kats, who used the Cookie-Cutter Missile to "cut" the villain from the cockpit of his jet, seat and all. Grabbing him with the Sky Claw as he fell, they dumped Morbulus into the bay. However by the time the Enforcers arrived, all they found of Morbulus was his empty flight suit - he'd managed to take off his clothes and then put them back together to make it seem as if he was still in them.

In his underwear, Morbulus climbed into a sewage drain pipe where he encountered Dr. Viper. The scientist took Morbulus back to his secret lab in Megakat Swamp. Learning of Viper's desire for Katalyst 99, Morbulus offered to help the scientist obtain it. Viper accepted his offer by turning the defeated villain into a "living test tube" for his bacteria strain, mutating him into a hulking purple bacteria monster.

As the bacteria monster, Morbulus was nigh-unkillable, as he would divide into more of himself when hit. Because Morbulus literally had eyes in the back of his head, the bacteria monster had four eyes. Whenever the bacteria monsters split, the eyes would be divided up among the individual monsters.

After eating a cow and the farmer who owned her, the original monster proceeded into Megakat City where it rudely interrupted the opening of Manx Municipal Park. Callie Briggs tried to kill the monster by running into with Mayor Manx's limo, but this only succeeded into causing it to divide into two monsters. This was the effective end of the mutated Morbulus and the beginning of the bacteria monsters as entities unto themselves.

The SWAT Kats and the Enforcers arrived on the scene, and against the advice of both Miss Briggs and the vigilantes, Commander Feral fired a missile at one of the bacteria monsters. The end result was three creatures to deal with - one with two eyes and two with one eye.

Two of the bacteria monsters went to Megakat Biochemical, while the third entered the subway. Razor followed it on the Cyclotron, but was too late to stop it from eating an entire subway train full of innocent passengers. Chasing Razor down the tunnel, the giant bacteria came into contact with the third rail of the train tracks and was electrocuted, melting into a lifeless puddle of brown sludge. The other two giant bacteria had by this time already reached Megakat Biochemical and breached its defenses, but the SWAT Kats arrived and quickly disposed of one with a Megavolt Missile.

Antibiotics used by Dr. N. Zyme failed against the remaining monster, as Dr. Viper had made the germs immune to antibodies. The bacteria monster was then led underneath some powerlines by the SWAT Kats. A vibrating blade that shot out of the Turbokat's wing cut the powerlines, and the final giant bacteria was fried when the downed lines fell right on top of it.

## Trivia

* According to Mark Lungo's *Animato!* article on the series, Morbulus was originally going to be called Occulus until it was discovered that there was already a Marvel villain with that name. As a result, his name was changed to Morbulus although he is still identified as Occulus in the model sheets and storyboards for *The Giant Bacteria*.
* The scene where the first bacteria monster eats the farmer was cut from broadcast versions of the episode, but restored for the DVD-R release of the series.
* A blooper occurs regarding which bacteria monster has which number of eyes. At one point, all three have one eye. One of the creatures even goes from having two eyes, to one eye, back to two briefly, and finally back to one.