Doom's protagonists



The Doomguy is a space marine and the protagonist in the Doom games.

Biography
The only thing known about the Doom space marine’s life prior to the events of Doom is that he ended up on Mars in the first place because he assaulted a superior officer who ordered fire upon civilians. In Doom 3, the story is slightly different: the player finds he 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 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 referred to in the Doom novels. A more recent name has come from the Doom movie, where the Doomguy is referred to as John “Reaper” Grimm.

According to John Romero, “The 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.”