Former member of the Time Lord High Council, he led a rebellion and amassed a huge army from different races across the galaxy. Morbius was subsequently placed on trial and executed, his body molecularly dispersed.

However, one of his fanatical followers, the human neurosurgeon Mehendri Solon, removed his brain, keeping it alive in nutrient tanks on Karn while searching for a new body for his master. Morbius' sanity however deteriorated over the years until he became a ranting madman, paranoid and bitter, seeking to avenge his treatment on the whole cosmos.

After an accident, his brain was dropped onto the floor, damaging some of its neural pathways. Solon quickly placed it into a hybrid body he had made up from various alien races that had crashed on Karn. Slowly Morbius' mind began to work again and he challenged the Doctor to a bout of mind wrestling.

The two Time Lords tried to destroy each others' minds but the mind wrestling apparatus shorted, frying Morbius' brain. Screaming in pain, the behemoth stumbled out into the rocky cliffs where the Sisterhood of Karn chased it off the edge of a cliff.