Michael Corvin
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Michael Corvin is a fictional character from the Underworld films, portrayed by Scott Speedman; he is the first Hybrid from the mythos and one of two protagonists in the films.
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[edit] Background
Michael Corvin is a mortal descendant of Alexander Corvinus. Michael's grandparents emigrated from Hungary to the United States after World War II. Michael was briefly married to a woman named Samantha; however, she was killed in a horrific car accident. During the accident, another car swerved into the vehicle Michael was driving, along with Samantha in the passenger side, forcing them into oncoming traffic. Michael was knocked unconscious. When he eventually regained consciousness, Samantha was pinned by the engine of the car, which had been pushed to the front seat. Samantha was in shock, not fully realizing the situation she was in, and only asked if Michael was all right. She died approximately two minutes before an ambulance arrived. Michael moved to Hungary after gaining his medical degree and immersed himself fully into an internship at a hospital. He chose Hungary to live as he had fond memories of visiting the country in the summer with his grandfather when he was a child. Michael wanted to forget and move on from his past, which at the time seemed to be a good idea.
[edit] Underworld
During the events of Underworld, Michael is caught in the middle of a shootout between vampire Death Dealers and Lycans one night on his way to work. Unknown to him, Michael had been targeted by the Lycans for a hybrid experiment, as his blood might have held a rare genetic trait needed by the group. The goal was to retrieve a blood sample to test, but due to the interference of the Death Dealers, Michael escaped for the time being.
Afterwards, Michael was ambushed by lycans at his apartment. He was rescued by Selene, a Death Dealer, and despite her efforts, he was bitten by the Lycan leader Lucian. Lucian's aim was to retrieve a blood sample as the previous attack on Michael had not been successful in acquiring a sample. Lucian's bite transmitted the Lycan virus, thus infecting Michael and setting him on the path to become a Lycan. Lucian's bite was also a sure way to keep Michael on their side and to discourage the vampires from running tests on him.
The Lycans tested the blood sample acquired by Lucian, and were then able to establish that Michael was indeed the carrier of the rare immortal gene passed down by Alexander Corvinus. Discovering this, the Lycans made it their main objective to capture Michael. This was proven to be more difficult than the Lycans had originally thought. During an escape attempt, Selene was severely wounded and passed out at the driver's wheel due to a significant loss of blood. The car plunged off a dock and into a river. When they finally got out of the sinking car, Michael bandaged her wounds and performed CPR. After resting for a part of the night, Selene regained consciousness. Going against the rules of Selene's coven, Michael was kept hidden in the coven's manor house for protection. Upon waking, Michael found himself confronted by Erika, another vampire from Selene's coven, snarling at him - Erika had discovered that Michael was bitten by a Lycan. Startled, Michael quickly escaped from the manor and headed back to the hospital he interned at to treat his wounds. When at the hospital, he shared the events that occurred with a co-worker who shortly afterward proved to be untrustworthy, relating Michael's tale to two men who seemed to be police. Upon seeing the two "officers", Corvin acted quickly and escaped the hospital, running back to the manor to find Selene. She drove him to one of the secret Lycan interrogation buildings and explained to him the full implications of his situation.
The pair were quickly discovered and, while Selene became engaged in battle, the two Lycan agents who had posed as police officers at the hospital manage to subdue and kidnap Michael. However, on the way, he began to change into Lycan form due to exposure to the full moon, but the Lycans injected him with an enzyme to stop the transformation.
Michael was taken to Lucian where he met the Lycan leader for the second time and was finally made to understand the war from Lucian's point of view. When Lucian had bitten him, Lucian's memories had been passed on to Michael, causing Michael to see what had motivated Lucian in the war.
Soon afterward, Death Dealers invaded the lair. In the commotion, Michael was shot with a lethal amount of silver nitrate bullets by Selene's jealous suitor, Kraven. Due to his Lycan physiology, the silver nitrate would have killed him, but on the advice of Lucian, Selene bit Michael. She had transmitted the vampire virus to his bloodstream, and thus Michael became the first Hybrid. Viktor, who condemned his daughter to death just to prevent such an occurrence, fought Michael. Michael initially gained the upper hand, as the Elder was thoroughly unprepared for his physical strength. But despite being more powerful, Michael did not have Viktor's centuries of combat experience, and the vampire soon turned the tables on him. Viktor almost killed him, but was stopped when Selene interfered. She took Viktor's sword, slicing his head in half and thus killing him.
[edit] Evolution
After Viktor's assassination, Selene and Michael went on the run from both Lycan and Vampire alike. Michael learned to transform at will and soon began to understand the power he had been given, yet refused to submit to the immortal need to drink blood for sustenance. His unwillingness to drink blood caused him to poison himself by attempting to eat mortal food. It didn't work and he vomited the food. Meanwhile, he was featured on TV as a missing person. Two policemen seeing this opened fire at Michael. He was severely injured, but was saved by Selene's blood. After that, the duo confronted the last Vampire Elder, Marcus Corvinus, narrowly managing to escape him.
After their escape, Selene and Michael met with Andreas Tanis, the Official Historian of the Covens, during which Michael put fear into the cowardly vampire. Afterwards, they then traveled to the Sancta Helena, a cargo ship where Michael met his distant ancestor, Alexander Corvinus. Marcus' sudden intrusion and the subsequent battle caused Michael to be impaled and apparently killed on a steel beam beneath a nearby dock.
Selene went on to battle both William and Marcus alone. However, Michael's healing powers, much stronger than those of either Vampire or Lycan, allowed him to fully recover from his injuries. Michael descended to save Selene and engaged in a battle with William. William, though still extremely powerful, was weakened from eight centuries without feeding and Michael overpowered the immortal and emerged the victor, literally tearing William's head apart with his bare hands. After the defeat of William and Marcus, the sun began to rise in the distance. It is at this point that they notice that Selene could withstand the sunlight, opening up numerous possibilities of what was to come in the future...
