Doomguy

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The Doom Marine battles a horde of demons, as seen on the cover of the Doom 1 game box

The Doomguy, also known as Doom Dude, Doom or 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 the Doom novels, the main character is referred to as Flynn "Fly" 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. This is a twist because the audience likely expects Sarge (played by The Rock) to take that role.

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.

1 Incarnations
2 References to Doomguy
3 Article References

[edit] Incarnations

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Classic Doom and Doom II

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 tan-grey (possibly unpainted) space helmet that conceals his facial features. He is firing a chaingun and fighting off a demon that is grabbing his left wrist. The Doomguy's fellow marine, depicted on the Doom box art in the background, wears the same type of uniform though it is grey instead of green, although there is debate as whether this is shading or lighting. The introduction screen of Doom is slightly different, as he still has his chaingun but is also clutching a shotgun in his left. The player's in-game avatar, as seen in multiplayer and in the ending to Doom II, is based on this depiction. Colours in multiplayer include green, red, brown and indigo^[1].

The HUD picture of the Doomguy in original Doom

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 helmet in the cover art of Doom II and also in the ending to The Ultimate Doom Episode IV Thy Flesh Consumed. In Thy Flesh Consumed, the marine's face is identical to what is depicted in the HUD, although for some reason his armor and pants are black instead of green, perhaps due to wear and tear.

The Doomguy's personality is never examined in any of the games, although his past suggests that he has a strong sense of right and wrong. In the prologue of Doom, it is told that he assaulted a superior officer when ordered to fire upon civilians. At the start of Doom II, shortly after having arrived on Earth and realizing that a zombie is attacking the humans, he instantly blows away the monstrosity with his sidearm. Later, having fought his way to the spaceport and deactivated the force fields to allow the earth's population to escape, he nonetheless volunteers to stay behind and find the source of hell's incursion.

In Doom, Doom II: Hell on Earth 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 end game text for Thy Flesh Consumed also reveals that the rabbit killed in a previous cutscene was his pet rabbit Daisy- he is shown holding its severed head with a look of anger and vengeance on his face.

The Doom coverbox picture of Doomguy fighting is the same as the inscriptions found on the martian tablets in Doom 3, where the Hero is seen fighting the demon horde; however, on the Doom 3 tablet, the location of the demons is reversed and the Hero is depicted as a muscular figure holding the Soul Cube rather than a rifle.

[edit] Doom 3

The Doom Marine as depicted in Doom 3

The Doom Marine at the end of the game, after killing the Cyberdemon.

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 muscular. He has black hair and appears to be in his late twenties or early thirties. The 'ab-spot' on the armour is also covered.

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 on the planet, 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. When Dr. Betruger opens the gateway to Hell, he somehow manages to avoid being transformed into a zombie and ends up fighting through the UAC facility to survive.

This time, Doom's plot is similar to that of the original Half-Life (which itself shared similarities with the original Doom); before the unexpected accident, the player can talk to several people, but most of them do not say much other than the fact they are busy and the UAC base is a frightening place. However, there are several characters, such as Sergeant Kelly, who give the player some briefing regarding his mission, especially after the demons invade the UAC base. Even on these "chatting" occasions, the player character is addressed simply as "marine" and remains silent, likely because most of these discussions are about his orders (this is another similarity with the original Half-Life).

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 comes to witness, including several bizarre and disturbing psychic visions. He only shows a brief burst of fear (stepping back slightly and his mouth opening in horror) when he sees the towering Cyberdemon just before the final battle of the game.

[edit] 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 (simply called The Artifact, also known as the Blood Stone), 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.

[edit] Movie

John "Reaper" Grimm played by Karl Urban

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 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 chromosome pair that opens the gateway to the soul.

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 gains superhuman strength, reflexes, and regenerative abilities. These powers allow him to stride through the infested base with ease, single-handedly mowing down a small horde of demons; the demons killed include many zombies, several imps, two Hell Knights, 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, a single marine can fight an entire army of invading demons and survive otherwise fatal injuries to no ill-effect.

[edit] References to Doomguy

Doomguy parody in Duke Nukem 3D

In the PC version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, the Doomguy is a secret skater [1] [2]. This was included because Activision, publisher of THPS and Doom 3, wanted to promote the latter, still in development.
A mod for Quake II allowed the player to access the original characters, weapons, and enemies from Wolfenstein 3D, Doom 2, and Quake. Depending on the character used in normal gameplay (playing through the normal Quake II scenarios), the weapons they receive 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). Notably, the mod used content taken directly from the games in question, and for this reason was contacted by id Software and ordered to stop it[3].
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."