Marvel Team-Up #4
Marvel Team-Up #4 is a pivotal early-Bronze-Age chapter in the Morbius mythology, representing the fourth overall appearance of Michael Morbius the Living Vampire — completing the two-part arc that transplanted him from Amazing Spider-Man into an ongoing corner of the broader Marvel Universe. Just as crucially, it stands as one of the first new stories featuring the original five X-Men as an active team after their solo title had gone into reprint in 1970, giving readers a rare chance to see Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, and Iceman in fresh action at a moment when the mutants were otherwise largely dormant. The issue also marked the first time the X-Men and Spider-Man shared a story driven by the Morbius threat, a narrative thread that would continue in Fear #20, cementing Morbius's role as a recurring villain-turned-tragic figure across multiple Marvel titles. By pivoting the co-star slot away from the Human Torch — who had anchored the first three issues — and landing on the X-Men, the issue also signaled the format flexibility that would define Marvel Team-Up's long run.
In "And Then-- The X-Men!", Spider-Man finds himself in a race against time after being injected with the deadly Morbius serum, forcing him to team up with the X-Men to stop the Living Vampire before it's too late. Written by Gerry Conway and brought to life with dynamic art by Gil Kane—whose pencils define the cover, inked by Frank Giacoia—this 1972 Marvel Team-Up issue delivers a pulse-pounding crossover with the mutant heroes, all in a 20-cent comic that remains a standout in the series.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 22 grades ▾
This exact issue on ebay
Raw / ungraded ▾ $3.99–$81.65 15 listings
More listings for this title
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The series launched in March 1972 as Spider-Man's first major ongoing spin-off, with Spider-Man and the Human Torch originally conceived as permanent co-headliners. After just three issues, writer Gerry Conway and editor/writer Roy Thomas recognized the format was too limiting and dropped the Torch in favor of a rotating guest-star slot — making issue #4, with its X-Men pairing, the first true expression of what Marvel Team-Up would become. Conway scripted the issue with Gil Kane on pencils, though the finished art required substantial correction and inking assists from John Romita, Frank Giacoia, and Mike Esposito — a behind-the-scenes production reality that the Grand Comics Database has since documented in detail. The issue also carried an editorial error on its letters page, incorrectly directing readers to follow the Beast in Astonishing Tales when he was actually appearing in Amazing Adventures at the time.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Title: 'And Then, the X-Men!' — Part 2 of 2; cover-dated September 1972, on sale June 1972.
- Fourth overall appearance of Morbius the Living Vampire (Michael Morbius), continuing directly from Amazing Spider-Man #100–102 and Marvel Team-Up #3.
- One of the first new stories featuring the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Iceman, and Professor X) as an active team after the original X-Men series had gone into reprint status in 1970 — the Beast appears only in cameo, having departed for his solo run in Amazing Adventures.
- Written by Gerry Conway; penciled by Gil Kane; cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia; inking assists by Steve Mitchell, John Romita, Frank Giacoia, and Mike Esposito.
- Edited by Roy Thomas, who was also the series' founding writer — this issue marks the transition point where the Human Torch was dropped as permanent co-star in favor of a rotating guest-hero format.
- Morbius escapes X-Men custody following this issue, a plot point later revisited in a flashback in Fear #20 (February 1974).
- The issue contains a known continuity/costume error: the X-Men are depicted in their older uniforms despite having switched to new costumes prior to this story.
- Reprinted numerous times, including Marvel Tales #234 (February 1990), Essential Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1 (April 2002), Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1 (December 2010), the Morbius the Living Vampire Omnibus (2019), and the Morbius Epic Collection #1: The Living Vampire (2020).
Cast · 14 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Giant Team-Up Annual #1 (1970), Marvel Treasury Edition #18 (1978), Spindeln presentalbum #[nn] (1979), Edderkoppen gave-album [Nå kommer X-mennene...] #[nn] (1979), Marvel Team-Up #2 (1980), Marvel Tales #234 (1990), Spider-Man Megazine #4 (1995), Essential Marvel Team-Up #1 (2002), Marvel Monster Edition #2 (2003), Spider-Man På lag med Spider-Man [Alle Tiders Superhelter] #[nn] (2006), Marvel Masterworks: The X-Men #7 (2008), Essential Classic X-Men #3 (2009), Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up #1 (2010), Spider-Man Team-Up : L'intégrale #1972-1973 (2011), Morbius the Living Vampire Omnibus #[nn] (2019), X-Men: Children of the Atom #[5] (2019), X-Men Epic Collection #4 (2019), Morbius Epic Collection #1 (2020), Morbius: Preludes and Nightmares #[nn] (2020), Marvel Team-Up Omnibus #1 (2025), El Asombroso Hombre Araña Especial #2, El Sorprendente Hombre Araña #55, L'Uomo Ragno [Collana Super-Eroi] #120
Key issues in Marvel Team-Up
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.