History Main / Underworld

* '''''Underword''''' (2003) introduces the basic setting, as well as the main characters: Selene and Michael, who are caught in the conflict between Viktor's vampire court and the rebellious Lycans led by Lucian.

In the modern day, Lycans have been "hunted to near extinction", or so the Vampire nobles think, but in reality they are gathering in numbers and planning on wiping out the vampire leadership with a plot to create their own hybrid on the eve of the vampire elders switching power. This is where Michael comes in. He is, among the descendants of the Corvinus clan, the only one with the genetic makeup capable of letting him be turned into a vampire ''and'' a werewolf. Normal humans can only be turned into one or the other, trying to "mix" causes death. Selene, a vampire Death Dealer with a personal vendetta against all werewolves, notices the Lycan's botched kidnapping of Michael, and helps him escape capture. Along the way, they begin to fall in love, an issue that gets all the more complicated when he gets bitten and starts turning into a werewolf. Can their love survive their species' natural hatred?

The series consists of three movies at the moment, plus [[TrilogyCreep the fourth one currently in production]]:

** She does it again with the bottom of a rapidly descending elevator in ''Awakening''. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], ''[[OhCrap it doesn't work.]]'' [[spoiler: The elevator lands on her, but the bullets made the floor weak enough (and she's ''tough enough'') that it doesn't particularly bother her]].

* CallingTheOldManOut: Selene in ''Evolutions'' to Alexander Corvinus, in response to his NotSoDifferent lecture.

* CleanupCrew: Alexander Corvinus leads a group of men, appropriately called [[ShapedLikeItself The Cleaners]], who cover up the evidence of lycans and vampires. [[spoiler: They are all killed by Marcus in ''Evolution'', which is what probably led to humans learning of the existence of lycans and vampires in ''Awakening'']].

* DyingLikeAnimals: [[spoiler: In ''Awakening'' after the humans have hunted vampires and lycans to the brink of extinction. Lycans apparently went out like boars, rose up and fought the humans; and were massacred. Vampires seem to be chickens, mostly just hiding. The leader of one coven is like a mouse; but in fairness he saw what happened to the boars. Subverted in that the lycans weren't wiped out, they were able to infiltrate the government. They used humans to wipe out vampires, while secretly making themselves stronger.]]

* TheMasquerade: It's revealed in the second film that Sir Derek Jacobi and his merry men have been following the vampires around and cleaning up their mess. They even mention bribing witnesses to keep their mouths shut. [[spoiler: The fact that Markus kills all of them is probably what led to the BrokenMasquerade]].

* NighInvulnerable: Hybrids are TOUGH. [[spoiler: Markus, original vampire, has a magazine emptied into his face (courtesy of Selene) and then crushed between a truck and a cliff-side. He shrugs it off. Selene is only able to kill him after impaling him through the head, with his own razor wing, and throwing him into helicopter blades. WordOfGod is that while the HelicopterBlender killed him, he would have recovered from the impaled head. Michael is [[ImpaledwithExtremePrejudice impaled on a pipe]], which does seem to kill; only for him to be OnlyMostlyDead. Selene, a vampire immortal hybrid, might actually be indestructible]].

-->'''Selene:''' ''(on whether or not Corvinus could have stopped the war)'' Yes!
-->'''Alexander Corvinus:''' Could you kill your own sons?
-->'''Selene:''' You know what Marcus will do! If he finds me, he finds William's prison! You have to help us stop him!
-->'''Alexander Corvinus:''' You are asking me to help you kill my son - YOU, a Death Dealer? How many innocents have YOU slain in your six-century quest to avenge your family? Spare me your self-righteous declarations! You are no different from Marcus and even less noble than William - at least HE cannot control his savagery!

* ReplacementGoldfish: Kraven, probably accurately, believes that Viktor only turned Selene because she reminded him of his dead vampire daughter. [[spoiler: Which becomes ''really'' awkward when its revealed Viktor killed his daughter, and Selene's family.]]

* ImmuneToBullets: Not exactly, but they don't seem to be very effective. Older werewolves can just push them out of their flesh (or skull, in Lucians case), and vampires seem able to survive all sorts of impalements. In the second film, Selene takes a shotgun blast to the torso without visible injury, and Marcus survives five or six such shots in a row and is only slowed down with minor bleeding.

* TheMasquerade: It's revealed in the second film that Sir Derek Jacobi and his merry men have been following the vampires around and cleaning up their mess. They even mention bribing witnesses to keep their mouths shut.

** She does it again with the bottom of a rapidly descending elevator in ''Awakening''. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]], ''it doesn't work.'' [[spoiler: The elevator lands on her, but the bullets made the floor weak enough (and she's ''tough enough'') that it doesn't particularly bother her]].

** She does it again with the bottom of a rapidly descending elevator in ''Awakening''.

* MonsterProgenitor: William Corvinus is the Progenitor of all Lycans. Markus Corvinus, his brother, is the progenitor of all Vampires. Unlike other Lycans, William cannot change back to a human. Markus, unlike other vampires, is capable of changing form to that of a vampire with bat wings, giving him flight; but only after he becomes a hybrid.

** Dr. Lane in ''Awakening'' [[spoiler: has his neck ripped out through his throat by the hybrid he created.]]
** The super lycan in the same film is [[spoiler: doomed by his own HealingFactor. See LuckilyMyPowersWillProtectMe.]]

** Michael started out as a lycan with the dormant Corvinus gene who had the [[spoiler: vampire]] DNA added later. [[spoiler: Marcus]] was the other way around. Subject 2, on the other hand, was born from Michael's already-existent hybrid DNA mixing with Selene's vampire DNA [[spoiler: which had already mixed with pure immortal DNA from Alexander Corvinus]]. These different combinations and scenarios could explain the different appearances of the hybrids.

** Dr. Lane in ''Awakening'' has his neck ripped out through his throat by the hybrid he created.
** The super lycan in the same film is doomed by his own HealingFactor. See LuckilyMyPowersWillProtectMe.

** And for the ladies, Michael almost always fights shirtless, while in the third film Lucian shows off just about ''everything''.
*** [[HardGay Not just the ladies.]] Grrrrr.

** Dr. Lane in ''Awakening'' has his neck ripped out through his throat by the hybrid he created.

* HybridMonster: Michael Corvin becomes one, specifically [[spoiler:the first Half-vampire-half-Lycan]]. Later, [[spoiler:Marcus also becomes one.]] There's also Subject 2, the daughter of Michael Corvin created in a lab. Oddly, none of them are quite the same kind of hybrid, despite being mixes of the same species.

** Somewhat justified as, in Evolution, she [[spoiler:became a hybrid 'True Immortal' and Vampire thanks to Alexander Corvinus.]]

* HybridMonster: Michael Corvin becomes one, specifically [[spoiler:the first Half-vampire-half-Lycan]]. Later, [[spoiler:Marcus also becomes one.]]

** Dr. Lane in '''Awakening''' has his neck ripped out through his throat by the hybrid he created.

* '''''Underworld: Awakening''''' (2012) is set approximately twelve years after ''Evolution'' and revolves around Selene, fresh out of torpor, trying to find her and Michael's daughter in the midst of [[BrokenMasquerade the extermination of both Vampires and Lycans at the hands of humanity]].

Not to be confused with TheUnderworld, [[{{Hell}} that underworld]], ''UltimaUnderworld'', the band {{Music/Underworld}}, [[CoronationStreet this one]] or a MetroSpecificUnderworld, which it may loosely reference.

* ColdBloodedTorture: On Lucian, in Rise of the Lycans.

* FollowTheLeader: The setting was similar enough to White Wolf's ''WorldOfDarkness'' tabletop RPG that there was a legal fracas over it around the time of the first film's release. Otherwise, the film is generally thought of as ''TheMatrix'' with vampires and werewolves.

** And Viktor again, in Rise of the Lycans. When Lucian is born, he gets the feeling that he should kill the infant, but doesn't, leading to the following exchange:

* HumansAreBastards: In ''Awakening''. [[spoiler: Subverted when at least part of the anti-monster purge and subsequent genetic research turns out to be a lycan plot.]]

** That depends on which movie you're watching. In Rise of the Lycans, Lucian can change at will, rather than under a full moon.

** Silver bullets do kill lycans, but they can heal from it. The silver nitrate liquid rounds kill them very quickly; and the UV bullets are similarly effective against vampires. Marcus can shrug them off ''because he's that tough'', and Selene's corset may be bulletproof.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Selene does this in Awakening [[spoiler: first to search for Michael and later to rescue Eve]]

** Selene [[GenreSavvy shows signs of being aware of this]]. She recognizes that Kraven is not enough of a warrior to have actually killed Lucian, but as the only survivor could claim that he did. She also initially comments that the Lycans started the war, but then admits that that is what is said anyway. By the second film, she's (accurately) assumed virtually everything Viktor has said is a lie.

** Subverted a few times, actually. I've seen Selene reloading her pistols more than once in the movies. I suppose you just have to be watching for it.

* '''''Underworld: Awakening''''' (2012) is set approximately twelve years after ''Evolution'' and revolves around Selene, fresh out of torpor, trying to find her and Michael's daughter in the midst of [[BrokenMasquerade the extermination of both Vampires and Lycans at the hands of the humanity]].

* '''''Underworld: Awakening''''' (2012) is set an unspecified time after ''Evolution'' and revolve around Selene, fresh out of torpor, trying to find her and Michael's daughter in the midst of [[BrokenMasquerade an all-out war between humanity and both Vampires and Lycans]].

* '''''Underworld: Awakening''''' (2012) will be set an unspecified time after ''Evolution'' and revolve around Selene, fresh out of torpor, trying to find her and Michael's daughter in the midst of [[BrokenMasquerade an all-out war between humanity and both Vampires and Lycans]].

* {{Gorn}}: There's a scene in Evolution where an exiled vamp is having a threesome. One of his partners bites him. [[HemoErotic Bleeding just made it hotter.]]

* MamaBear - [[spoiler: Selene in Awakening]]