Doom's protagonists



The Doomguy (or Doom guy), also known as the Doom Marine, The Marine, or Our Hero at the end of Doom II, is the fictional protagonist of the Doom series. In all the games, he is a space marine that is never referred to by name, and in fact never speaks (although there is usually no one around to talk to). In Chinese he is known as "Extermination Warrior" (Simplified Chinese: 毁灭战士; Pinyin: huǐ mìe zhàn shì), which is also the release name of Doom in China.

A different way of naming the protagonist is as the player, although this is a technical denomination similar to that of player character in role-playing games.

Biography
The only thing known about the Doom Marine’s life prior to the events of the game is that he is on the Mars base in the first place because he assaulted a superior officer who ordered fire upon civilians. In Doom 3 is specified that the player has been sent to Mars to “replace one of the guys we lost.”

Name
Many arguments have been made over the real name of the Doomguy, or as to whether a name would be appropriate at all. The original story and in-game cutscenes by id Software is composed in second person, suggesting that there is no single “Doomguy” and that the Doom marine represents whoever is playing the game. However, other possibilities for a Doomguy name exist, most notably “Flynn Taggart”, the name he was given in the Doom novels. A more recent name has come from the Doom movie, where the Doomguy is referred to as John “Reaper” Grimm. In the Doom Bible, the character "Buddy Dacote" has a backstory similar to the Doomguy, although, in that treatment, he is killed at the end of the first episode, though he had to be killed. The Doom Bible also states that Dacote stands for "Dead At Conclusion Of The Episode. The again, the marine seems to die or be close to dying at the end of Episode 1: Knee Deep in the Dead, as a result of the final ambush in the dark room after taking the anomaly's teleporter.

John Romero has pointed out the main reason for the lack of an official name by stating that "[t]he less you know about him [the space marine], the more likely you as the player will feel free to invent your own personality for him".

Classic Doom
The original box art portrays the Doomguy as a rather muscular man wearing green armor as well as a light brown space helmet that conceals his facial features. The player's in-game avatar, as seen in multiplayer mode and in the ending to Doom II, is based on this depiction.

The Marine's face is seen in the game's status bar, where he is shown as having light brown hair and a buzz cut. He also appears without his mask in Doom II's title screen and in the final screen for The Ultimate Doom: but he has a more unusual haircut and his armor and pants are of a darker hue of green.

The Doomguy's personality is never examined in any of the games, though 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.

According to the end game text of The Ultimate Doom, the severed rabbit head shown in the end screen of Episode 3: Inferno is none other than Daisy, the Doomguy's pet rabbit. After completing Episode 4: Thy Flesh Consumed, the player is shown outside of a burning city on Earth, a look of anger and vengeance on his face, with the rabbit's head on his belt, having avenged its death.

Doom 64
The Doomguy looks almost identical to the classic Doomguy except his armor is black instead of being of the same green as his clothes, his boots and helmet are black too instead of grayish beige, his visor is blue rather than gray. Also, his helmet features a radio antenna on the side in a way somewhat reminiscent of Boba Fett's helmet in The Empire Strikes Back.

Doom 3
In Doom 3, the Marine's appearance is roughly consistent with the above, except that his facial features are not concealed, since he does not wear a helmet. His physique is also less exaggerated and more realistic (of course, Doom 3's art was not plagued by a non-standard aspect ratio), although he is still relatively muscular. He has black hair and appears to be in his 20s or early 30s.

Unlike in the original series, the player can talk to various people. Most of them do not say much (other than that they are busy and the UAC base is a frightening place), but a few, such as Sergeant Kelly, give the player some briefing regarding his mission, especially after the demons invade the UAC base. Even on these "chatting" occasions, however, the player character is addressed simply as "marine" and remains silent, likely because most of the discussion is about his orders (this is a similarity to Half-Life).

The Doomguy is depicted as tough and fearless in the game's cut scenes. He never shows fear or panic, despite the increasingly horrific events and creatures he comes to witness, including several bizarre and disturbing psychic visions. He only shows a brief burst of anxiety (stepping back slightly and appearing to mouth a curse) when he first sees the towering Cyberdemon.

The Doom 3 novel Worlds on Fire gives his name as John Kane, along with a similar backstory of military indiscretion as the original Doomguy.

Resurrection of Evil
In the Doom 3 expansion pack Resurrection of Evil the main character is a different Marine, also without a name. This 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 Doomguy, 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 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 than the Doomguy, as he seems to enjoy using the Heart of Hell, which ends up killing almost everyone else at the base. He also shows brief bursts of anger, especially toward the Maledict.

Doom movie
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 (RRTS). Grimm, his commanding officer Sarge, 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.

Reaper looks vaguely similar to the protagonist of Doom 3, except he is of slightly lesser build, and has a stubble. (The latter actually makes sense, and was probably not thought of, or not done for graphics reasons, in the games, as one wouldn't likely bring a razor with oneself into combat, nor would there likely be a comfortable place to shave.)

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 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 Doomguy is capable of assaulting an army of supernatural opponents by himself, shaking off several injuries that would have killed a normal man.

Technical information

 * See Player.

Trivia

 * In Doom's opening splash screen, and in the game, Doomguy is shown to be wearing a helmet with a visor. In the very first Alpha version of Doom the visor framed the screen, and was used instead of a status bar.


 * Doomguy is probably ambidextrous because he can fire the pistol and punches with his left hand but, he fires every other weapon with his right hand.


 * In the original MS-DOS version (and the official 360 port) of Doom, due to the ouch face bug, it was possible to get the Doomguy to make a scary face (which back then frightened many because it was unexpected). It seems you can force it in the 360 port (and possibly in the original game) by standing on a hazardous area (that depletes your health) and after your health has gone below 50%, run onto a platform with health pack on or near the edge. NOTE: Another way is in E3M7, Gate To Limbo. At the beginning, at the supersized damage floor, in the middle on safe ground are several medikits. Also in the area are several demons and shotgun zombies. it seems if the player is quick enough, he can take damage on the hazardous floor, then run on to the medikit. (The 360 face is slightly different from the MS-DOS version)

Other games with references to the Doomguy

 * Duke Nukem 3D
 * Quake III Arena
 * Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (featured in the PC version as a secret skater)