Corvinus Bloodline in Underworld: Who Descends From Alexander Corvinus

The Corvinus bloodline is the ancestry that links the vampire and Lycan sides of the underworld movies into one family. It starts with Alexander Corvinus, whom Underworld: Evolution calls the first immortal, and it passes to his sons Marcus and William, who become the series' great antagonists. Fans also search for it as the Corvinus strain or the Corvinus clan, and all three phrases lead to the same story.

The idea is planted early. In Underworld (2003), also directed by Len Wiseman, the Lycan scientist Singe explains that Michael Corvin descends from a common ancestor of both races and could become a hybrid of the two. That is why the Lycans track him and why Selene cannot simply kill him. Underworld: Evolution then supplies the missing history, naming the ancestor and showing what his sons did with the power they inherited.

The story does not stop with the old brothers. Michael becomes a hybrid, Selene takes a share of Alexander's power through his blood, and their daughter Eve becomes the prize that drives Underworld: Awakening (2012) and Underworld: Blood Wars. If you want the full run of films before reading on, the underworld movies in order page sets out both release and chronological order.

Alexander Corvinus is the first immortal and the father of the bloodline, played by Derek Jacobi in Underworld: Evolution. The film calls him the first immortal and gives him no other label, so if you are asking what kind of immortal he is, that is the answer the story supplies, and it does not describe him as a vampire or a Lycan.

He appears under the name Lorenz Macaro, and at first he refuses to help Selene and Michael. That reluctance matters, because Marcus is hunting for him.

His end is quick and costly. Marcus attacks, fatally wounds him and takes the second half of the pendant. Alexander asks Selene to drink his blood, which gives her great strength and healing, and he dies by destroying his ship. In other words, the first immortal spends his last minutes handing his power to someone outside the family.

Marcus Corvinus is Alexander's son, one of the three vampire elders, and a hybrid, played by Tony Curran in Underworld: Evolution. The 2003 film ends with Marcus awakening as a hybrid, which in this series means a mix of vampire and Lycan, and Evolution is the story of what he does next. You can read more on his own page, marcus underworld.

In 1202, Marcus, Viktor and Amelia raid a werewolf village and take William, Marcus's twin brother, as their prisoner. Centuries later Marcus wakes early, kills Kraven and his men, and begins hunting for the pendant that opens William's prison. He is ruthless about it. He drinks the blood of the historian Andreas Tanis to learn where the prison is, then impales Michael and reads the location from Selene's blood.

His defeat is a set piece built on a practical hazard. Selene kills Marcus by pushing him into helicopter rotor blades, which ends the Corvinus brothers' threat to the vampire world.

William Corvinus is Marcus's twin brother and the first werewolf, played by Brian Steele in Underworld: Evolution, and he was dangerous enough that Viktor hid him away in a secret prison in 1202. He is the origin point of every Lycan. Andreas Tanis tells Selene that her own father built that prison, and that the pendant is its key.

The film shows his power through the lengths others go to in order to contain it, more than through a long fight. Marcus has already freed William by the time Selene and Michael reach the prison. Michael, who seemed dead after Marcus impaled him, wakes in full hybrid form there and kills William.

That result says a lot about the bloodline. The oldest Lycan in the series is stopped by a hybrid who combines both sides, which is the outcome the 2003 film promised when Singe described what Michael could become.

The third son of Alexander Corvinus is never shown or named in the films. Underworld: Evolution has Andreas Tanis tell Selene and Michael that Marcus, William and a third brother were all sons of Alexander, and then the story follows Marcus and William exclusively.

That is a real gap in the lore, and an honest one to leave open, because any name given elsewhere goes beyond what the films established. If you want to see where the brothers fit among the other characters, the underworld characters page covers the main figures in the series, and the underworld timeline places the 1202 raid in the full story.

Michael Corvin is a hybrid who descends from a common ancestor of both races, played by Scott Speedman in Underworld (2003) and Underworld: Evolution. In Underworld (2003) he is a human medical resident, tracked by Lycans, bitten by Lucian during an attack and protected by Selene against the coven's rules. His story is covered at michael corvin underworld.

In Underworld: Evolution Michael is a hybrid on the run, nearly killed by Marcus and then revived in full hybrid form to kill William. Underworld: Awakening picks him up in a cryogenic tank. Selene frees him and has to leave him as he thaws so that she can stop the Lycans from taking Eve, and when the group returns, the tank is empty.

Underworld: Blood Wars gives the final answer. When a drop of Marius's blood passes his memories to Selene, she sees Marius killing Michael Corvin. So Michael is dead by the end of the saga, though his daughter Eve survives him.

Selene is not born into the Corvinus bloodline, but she carries a piece of it after Underworld: Evolution. Kate Beckinsale plays her across the series, and her page at selene underworld covers the whole arc. When Alexander asks her to drink his blood, it gives her great strength and healing, and she later finds that it has made her immune to sunlight.

That gift is the strongest case for calling her the most powerful vampire in the series. The films do not publish a ranking, so it is an argument, not a rule, but she has the first immortal's blood and she kills Marcus, a hybrid elder, with her own hands. Viktor, whom she kills in the first film after learning that he murdered her family, is the other obvious candidate.

The gift also links her to the line in another way. Her father built William's prison, and her blood lets Marcus find it. She is tied to the Corvinus story at both ends, long before her daughter Eve makes it a family matter.

Eve is the hybrid daughter of Selene and Michael, and she is the bloodline's heir in the later films. India Eisley plays her in Underworld: Awakening, where Selene wakes from cryogenic suspension after about twelve years and finds that the girl held in the same facility is her own child. More on her is at eve underworld.

The Lycans want her because her DNA could strengthen their race. Dr. Jacob Lane, who runs the Antigen company for Lycans posing as humans, plans to use it, and Eve ends up killing him herself. In Underworld: Blood Wars, Marius wants Selene's help finding Eve because Eve's blood could let him build an army of hybrids.

Blood Wars ends with mother and daughter reunited, after Eve finds Selene through their telepathic link. Selene had hidden her own knowledge of where Eve was, specifically to protect her. The Corvinus line survives in the one person both sides tried hardest to take.

In my opinion, the Corvinus bloodline is the best piece of structure in the series, because it turns a war between two monster factions into a story about one family. Underworld (2003) asks why the Lycans want Michael, and Evolution answers by showing the family tree behind the war: a first immortal, a twin pair of sons and a pendant that locks one of them away.

The cleanest way to read it is as three layers. The origin layer is Alexander, William and Marcus. The inheritance layer is Michael, who combines both sides and kills William. The future layer is Eve, whom Blood Wars treats as the thing everyone is fighting over. It could be argued that Awakening and Blood Wars lean on the third layer a little too heavily, since Eve is a young character who has to carry a lot of lore.

Perhaps the most interesting case is Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), directed by Patrick Tatopoulos, which sits outside the line entirely. It follows Viktor, Lucian and Sonja, and it is a prequel set centuries earlier, so the Corvinus story is not on screen. That is also why Viktor, who killed Sonja after she fell in love with Lucian, reads as a different kind of villain from Marcus. His cruelty is about rules and pride, while Marcus is about family and inheritance.

If you are new to the series, start with the underworld vampires and lycans page for the two sides, then watch Evolution right after the first film. The underworld cast page shows who plays each member of the line.