Underworld Characters: Vampires, Lycans and Hybrids

The main Underworld characters are Selene, Michael Corvin, Viktor, Lucian, Marcus Corvinus, Sonja, David and Eve, with antagonists such as Kraven and Marius driving individual films. This is the vampire and Lycan (werewolf) film series, not the Greek myth, and it runs across five films: Underworld (2003), directed by Len Wiseman, Underworld: Evolution (2006), Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, Underworld: Awakening (2012) and Underworld: Blood Wars (released in the US in January 2017). Spoilers follow for every film. If you want the films themselves in sequence first, start with underworld movies in order.

The vampire side of the saga is built around the Death Dealers, the coven's soldiers, and the elders who command them. Selene, played by Kate Beckinsale, is the lead, and she appears in Underworld (2003), Underworld: Evolution, Underworld: Awakening and Underworld: Blood Wars (she is absent from Rise of the Lycans, which is set centuries earlier). She starts as an assassin who hunts Lycans, breaks the coven's rules to protect Michael, and kills Viktor after learning that he murdered her family. In Evolution, the blood of Alexander Corvinus leaves her immune to sunlight. In Awakening she wakes from cryogenic suspension about twelve years later and meets her daughter Eve, and in Blood Wars she is betrayed by Semira, defeats Marius, and ends up as an Elder alongside David and Lena. The full arc sits on the selene underworld page.

Viktor, played by Bill Nighy in Underworld (2003), Evolution and Rise of the Lycans, is the ruthless vampire elder. In Rise of the Lycans he builds a stronghold against feral werewolves, raises Lucian as a servant and puts his own daughter Sonja to death. The viktor underworld profile follows him in more detail. Kraven, played by Shane Brolly, leads the coven in the elders' absence in the 2003 film, kills Lucian, and is himself killed by Marcus in Evolution. Amelia, played by Zita Görög, is another elder, and Lycans kill her in the first film. Blood Wars later names the Grand Elder Amelia as the mother of David.

David, played by Theo James, takes Selene and Eve to his coven in Awakening and becomes the rightful heir to the Eastern Coven in Blood Wars, where he claims leadership and later kills Semira. His father Thomas, played by Charles Dance, gives Eve to the Lycans in Awakening and is killed in Blood Wars. The other vampires of Blood Wars are Semira (Lara Pulver), her lover Varga (Bradley James), the Nordic elder Vidar (Peter Andersson) and Alexia (Daisy Head), who secretly works with Marius. The david underworld page covers the Eastern Coven story.

The Lycans are led in turn by Lucian, Marius and, in Awakening, the Antigen chief Dr. Jacob Lane. Lucian, played by Michael Sheen in Underworld (2003), Evolution and Rise of the Lycans, is the first Lycan able to look human. In Rise of the Lycans he falls in love with Viktor's daughter Sonja and leads the Lycan uprising, and in Underworld (2003) Kraven kills him. Read more on the lucian underworld page.

Sonja, played by Rhona Mitra, is billed first in Rise of the Lycans, and her death at Viktor's hands is the secret that Underworld (2003) reveals to Michael while he is held captive. See the sonja underworld profile for her part in the prequel. Raze, played by Kevin Grevioux, is a Lycan in both Underworld (2003) and Rise of the Lycans. Singe, played by Erwin Leder, is the Lycan scientist who tells Michael he descends from a common ancestor of both races, and Viktor kills him. Marius, played by Tobias Menzies, is the Lycan leader of Blood Wars who wants Selene's help finding Eve. In Awakening, Dr. Jacob Lane (Stephen Rea) heads Antigen, a company staffed by Lycans posing as humans, and Selene fights a huge Super-Lycan called Quint.

The hybrids are the characters who belong to neither camp, and the Corvinus family explains where both races come from. Michael Corvin, played by Scott Speedman in Underworld (2003) and Evolution, begins as a human medical resident, is bitten by Lucian, and becomes a hybrid. Evolution shows him waking in full hybrid form to kill William, and the michael corvin underworld page tracks his path through to the frozen tank in Awakening. Eve, played by India Eisley, is Selene and Michael's hybrid daughter, and Blood Wars shows her finding Selene through their telepathic link. The eve underworld page covers her role.

Alexander Corvinus, played by Derek Jacobi in Evolution, is the first immortal. His sons are Marcus Corvinus (Tony Curran), William Corvinus (Brian Steele), the first werewolf, and a third brother. Marcus awakens as a hybrid at the end of Underworld (2003), wakes early in Evolution, kills Kraven and his followers, and drinks the blood of the exiled historian Andreas Tanis (Steven Mackintosh) to learn where William is imprisoned. Selene eventually kills Marcus by pushing him into helicopter rotor blades. The marcus underworld page covers him, and the family story is laid out in the corvinus bloodline guide and the underworld vampires and lycans guide.

The saga hangs on one hinge: Viktor's killing of Sonja, which sets up two wars at once. In Rise of the Lycans it turns Lucian's rebellion into open war, and in Underworld (2003) it is the secret that Michael learns in captivity. That same film ends with Viktor's confession about Selene's family, so one man is the cause of both Lucian's grief and Selene's. It could be argued that this is why Viktor reads as the franchise's central antagonist, even though Marcus and Marius may look more powerful on screen. The prequel placement matters here, because the chronological order puts Sonja's death before anything else, and the underworld timeline lays that out. Appearances by actor are listed on the underworld cast page, and the full film list is under underworld movies.