Doomguy
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The Doomguy, also known as The Marine, is the protagonist of the Doom series of computer and video games created by id Software. In all the games, he is a space marine working for the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC), who never speaks (as there is usually no one around to talk to) and is never referred to by name. In Spanish-speaking countries he's known only as Doom.
In the Doom novels, the main character is referred to as Flynn Taggart, which is universally suggested to be the Doomguy from the games. In the Doom film adaptation, the main character, John "Reaper" Grimm (played by Karl Urban) is also suggested to be the Doomguy.
All of the computer-game renditions of the Doomguy wear green armour. Reaper from the film adaptation wears combat gear reminiscent of a S.W.A.T. operative.
Incarnations
Classic Doom
On the box art for the original Doom, the Doom Marine is portrayed as a rather muscular man wearing green armor as well as a white space helmet that conceals his facial features. The player's in-game avatar, as seen in multiplayer and in the ending to Doom II, is based on this depiction.
The Doom Marine's actual face is seen in the game's HUD, where he is shown as having light brown hair and a buzz cut. The Doom Marine also appears without his mask in the ending to The Ultimate Doom. His face is identical to what is depicted in the HUD, although for some reason his armor and pants are black instead of green.
The storyline establishes that the player-controlled Space Marine was deported to Mars after assaulting a superior officer after being ordered to fire upon civilians, and forced to work for the Union Aerospace Corporation.
Unfortunately contact is lost on Mars' moon Phobos and Deimos following their teleportation experiments. He was on the squad sent to investigation the UAC base on the moon Phobos, where he was ordered to hold position outside the hangar while the rest of the team went inside.
Hours drift by and he could hear the sounds of conflict and of his buddies being cut down, leaving him the last surviving human on Phobos. He decides to fight his way through the base to possibly one of the teleporters situated on the moon, presumably to take him home.
The Doomguy's personality is never examined in any of the games. But in Doom, Doom II and Final Doom, he appears to take pleasure in killing demons: after he picks up a new weapon, he smiles devilishly; he also grits his teeth after firing his weapon for a brief period of time. He clenches his teeth in anger whenever he takes damage, and his eyes are constantly and alertly darting left and right.
The Doom coverbox picture of Doomguy fighting is the same as the inscriptions on the tablets in Doom 3 of the Hero fighting the demon horde (the location of the demons are reversed) except that in Doom 3, it was a muscular figure holding the soul cube.
Doom 3
In Doom 3 the Doom Marine appears nearly identical to his Classic Doom incarnation, with the exception that his facial features are not concealed, since he does not wear a helmet. His physique is also less exaggerated and more realistic, although he is still relatively muscular. He has black hair and appears to be in his 20s or early 30s.
There is no background history on the Marine in the remake; apart from that he had just recently arrived on Mars, and is the newest member of the Marine detachment sent to Mars, his past remains a mystery. It is established he is a corporal and was sent to replace one of the Marines that had mysteriously disappeared. Somehow, he manages to avoid being transformed into a zombie when Dr. Betruger opens the gateway to Hell, and ends up fighting through the UAC facility to survive.
The Doom 3 Marine is depicted as tough and fearless in the game's cut scenes. He never shows fear or panic, despite the increasing horrific events and creatures he becomes witness to (including several bizarre and disturbing psychic visions). He only shows a brief burst of fear (stepping back slightly and appearing to mouth a curse) when he sees the towering Cyberdemon just before the final battle of the game.
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil
In the expansion pack to Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, the main character is a different Marine from the protagonist of Doom 3. This particular Marine is a Combat Engineer, and thus is trained to operate a remote manipulation device known as the Grabber. He has a shaved head, wears blue armor, and appears to be somewhat older than the original Doom marine, based on his heavily weathered facial features.
The game presents very little information on his background, only that he is part of a detachment of Space Marines under the command of Dr. Elizabeth McNeil sent to investigate the Mars UAC facility in the aftermath of the demon invasion. While investigating the Martian ruins he finds and touches the Heart of Hell artifact, which releases a wave of energy that disintegrates the rest of his squad and opens another portal to Hell underneath the UAC base.
The Marine in Resurrection of Evil appears to be more anti-hero in outlook, as he seems to enjoy using the Heart of Hell artifact, which ended up killing almost everyone at the base because of him. He also shows brief bursts of anger, especially at the Maledict.
Movie
Reaper looks vaguely similar to the protagonist of Doom 3, except he is of slightly lesser built, and has a stubble beard.
In the film, John "Reaper" Grimm is the son of UAC scientists who were killed in an accident during the early excavation of the Martian dig site. Reaper abandoned his scientific heritage and joined the military to forget about this personal tragedy, eventually becoming a member of the UAC's elite Rapid Response Tactical Squad. Grimm, his commanding officer Sarge (The Rock), and the other members of the RRTS are dispatched to the UAC Mars Facility to investigate the disappearance of several scientists, which ultimately pits them in a confrontation against genetically engineered "demons" created by an ancient Martian retrovirus released by the UAC.
Grimm's personality can be seen as rather angsty, as he is still dealing with his guilt over his parents' deaths and his concern for his sister, Dr. Samantha Grimm, a researcher at the UAC Mars Facility. However, like his computer-game renditions, he has no problem killing multiple demons and even his own commanding officer, Sarge, after the latter begins to murder unarmed civilians in order to contain the outbreak.
Notably, at the end of the film Grimm is injected with the Martian genetic material. Instead of turning him into a monster, he instead gains superhuman strength, reflexes, and regenerative abilities. These powers allow him to stride through the infested base singlehandedly mowing down a small horde of demons including many zombies, several imps, a Hell Knight, and a Pinky Demon (all seen by the audience in the game's classic first person perspective). This plot device is apparently the film's way of explaining how, in the games, the Doom Marine is capable of surviving incredible amounts of damage and defeating an army of demons single-handedly.
References to Doomguy
- In the PC version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, the Doomguy is a secret skater[link]. This was specially because Activision, publisher of THPS and Doom 3, wanted to promote the latter, still in development.
- A mod for Quake II allows the player to access the origional characters/weapons/enemies from Wolfenstein 3D, Doom 2, and Quake. Depending on the character used in normal gameplay (playing through the normal Quake II senarios), the weapons they recieve and the appearances of powerups and ammo change to fit that character's game. There is a story mode that also utilizes the appearances of the various enemies all together (the player must fight off zombies, demons, Strogg, and Nazis all at the same time).
- In Quake III Arena, the character of Doom's backstory is an alternate version of that of Doomguy, in addition to his appearance being the same. Also, the character Phobos resembles Doomguy, though his armor is orange and yellow instead of green. And the character Crash is mentioned as being Doom's training instructor before arriving at the Arena.
- Doomguy's corpse makes an appearance in a secret area in Duke Nukem 3D, he is posed halfway through his Classic Doom death animation (clutching his throat and gurgling his own blood), surrounded by various Satanic iconography. Upon seeing him, Duke Nukem remarks "That's one DOOMED space marine".
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