B.J. Blazkowicz

B.J. Blazkowicz (William J. Blazkowicz) is the Doom Marine in a number of Doom games (according to the Wolfenstein/Doom RPG). According to John Romero and Tom Hall,  B.J. is Commander Keen's Grandfather, and Keen is Doom Guy's grandfather    Doom II RPG would establish the Doom Marine in that game as Stan Blazkowicz further linking the character/s back to Wolfenstein RPG (The Harbinger of Doom predicted that he would return to fight B.J.'s descendents. This concept was also nodded on in Doom: Annihilation.

Introduction
B.J. is the descendent of William B.J. Blazkowicz, the World War II veteran who stars in the Wolfenstein series, and William Blazcowicz "Billy Blaze" II, the protagonist of Commander Keen. His cousin or relative is Stan Blazkowicz of Doom II RPG, but there may be many other clones as well.

According to John Romero and Tom Hall (who only worked on the original Doom), the B.J. Blazkowicz, Commander Keen, and Doom Marine from the original Doom (not the later MachineGames reboots) are all connected in the same timeline. B.J. is Keen's Grandfather, and Keen is Doom Guy's father or grandfather, another Blazkowicz (Tom Hall confirms Doomguy is the grandson of Commander Keen).

The website for Doom RPG does state that the player in Doom RPG is the same character from Doom, Doom II, and Doom 3. "You reprise the role of the Doom Marine made famous in the groundbreaking id Software titles Doom, Doom II, and Doom 3." It also states that it his 'return to Mars" (in reference to Doom 3 taking place on Mars as well). Although its unclear which order they fit if part of a single timeline. Perhaps Doom 3 is roughly the prequel (as it begins with his disgrace and redeployment from Earth), followed by Doom RPG, and then Doom I, and then Doom II. However, the official dating of Doom I's events clearly makes it the prequel by over a century. The backstory for Doom II actually mirrors Doom 3 in that the Marine fought demons at Mars Base. In the game Deimos appears to be missing which seems to be a nod to the events of the original Doom.

Similarly the Doom 3 BFG Edition manual states (implies that the characters from several games are the same individual, and they represent his adventures):
 * Step into the boots of DOOM Marine and experience his adventures for the first time, or all over again. Featuring enhanced versions of DOOM 3, DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil and the all new DOOM 3: The Lost Mission, plus the classics DOOM and DOOM II, DOOM 3 BFG Edition is the consummate DOOM experience.

Interestingly, the introduction seems to go as far to possibly suggest that the marine in Resurrection of Evil is the same marine as Doom 3 (which if true would have to suggest that Marine combat engineer actually did know the nature of the previous incident despite what the original manual suggests). However, it also seems to imply that the Bravo Marine in Lost Mission is the same marine, but this is impossible as its timing overlaps with events of Doom 3 (only 6 hours into the invasion).

However, the Marine of Doom II may not be the same character from the Doom I originally. The Doom II Marine's backstory differs from that of the original Doom character in that he fought on UAC Mars Base and escaped in a drop ship (actually somewhat similar to the plot of Doom 3). Whereas as original Doom character fought in Phobos and Mars and in both original Doom and Ultimate Doom reaches earth via transporter gateways. It is only the later websites and manuals that link him back to the original Doom Marine. Thus this article is mostly applicable to current interpretations of the characters, not necessarily the original intent of Doom II. However the events are mentioned below as they are interpreted within the Doom RPG background game and website. Doom II backstory is ignored unless somehow its actually the same thing as the Doom 3 story.

You find the name mentioned in a log addressed to B.J. Blazkowicz discussing a hidden secret room containing a shotgun for the Marine to find. Originally the official Doom Marine had no name (only described as The Marine, or The Hero or Our Hero). Wolfenstein RPG, however, establishes that the Doom Marine in Wolfenstein RPG, (who fought Kronos' last creation the "Cyberdemon",) was originally known as the Harbinger of Doom. The name B.J. Blazkowicz could have started out as an in-game joke too, (but Wolfenstein RPG expanded upon it, also establishing that he is a  Blazkowicz, one of WWII's WIlliam's future decendents).

Background
''Note: depending on the versions of the games, and manuals the characters of Doom and Doom II maybe separate characters (see Marine (Doom II)), or the same character. Likewise Doom RPG and Doom II RPG are separate characters. Depending on some interpretations Doom 3's (Corporal) maybe a different character from that of Doom as well. Some later sources even claim the character from Resurrection of Evil is the same character from Doom 3 (despite that not being the original intent). Originally Doom 1-Doom 64 were set in the 21st century, although RPG seems to retcon all the events to 22nd century (when Doom 3 took place), rather than having invasions happening in both centuries (but this is not entirely clear). If the dates were retconned it's possible that Doom 3 was a 'prequel' to Doom 1 (as the backstory for the characters in both is somewhat similar).''

Original Backstory (from original Doom's manual)
Blazkowicz is a space marine, one of Earth's toughest, hardened in combat and trained for action. Three years ago (before his transfer to Mars), he assaulted a superior officer for ordering his soldiers to fire upon civilians. The officer and his body cast were shipped to Pearl Harbor, while B.J. was transferred to Mars, home of the Union Aerospace Corporation.

Doom/Ultimate Doom
In the original Doom, we learn that the space marine now spends routine and boring life on Mars, with nothing going on. His day consisted of suckin' dust and watchin' restricted flicks in the rec room.

This changes when Mars received a garbled message from Phobos requesting immediate military support, and reports of something evil coming through gateways. The Doom Marine and his buddies were deployed quickly to Phobos. He was ordered to secure the perimeter of the base while the rest of his team went inside. He spent hours listening in on his radio to sounds of combat, before things went silent. Assuming the worst for his buddies, he decided to investigate things on his own, and take revenge if necessary. Armed with only a pistol he entered the base hearing growls in the distance. Making his way through various facilities on Phobos defeating demons along the way, until he steps into a teleported and is transferred over to the lost moon of Deimos, now orbiting a hellish landscape.

Fighting his way through the facility he finally makes his way off Deimos to surface of hell below. Fighting his way across demonic world he defeats another Cyberdemon (possibly the same demon his ancestor had defeated during World War II).

He ultimately uses a gateway to reach Earth to discovers that a city had been invaded while he was in Hell, and his pet rabbit Daisy had been killed, he vowed to fight back.



Doom II/Final Doom

 * See Marine (Doom II) and Marine Commander.

The Doom Marine reaches earth by drop pod only to discover it has been invaded by the monsters from the Outside.

The Marine join other marine troops to stop the invasion on Earth. When the remnant population of Earth and their ships are trapped on the starport controlled by demon, the Marine and other soldiers goes there to deactivate the force field which contains the last spaceships. Since he had other Hell encounters in the past, the Marine is the only one who survives on the starport. After he reaches a demon outpost, he manages to free the spaceships on the MAP11: 'O' of Destruction, thus becoming the only human left on Earth. After this, the Marine seems to accept his fate and wait for death.

Even at one point the Marine enters a pocket universe of hell that has been built by Nazis, and fights the enemies his ancestor had faced. Tom Hall notes that Keen's grandson, killed four of his grandfathers. According to him, in his story, that was okay.

After the spaceship's sensors locate the center of the invasion, which is located on the Marine's hometown, he abandon his suicidal waiting and goes there to stop Hell on Earth forever. However, after he reaches the main gateway on MAP20: Gotcha!, he learns that the only way to close it is on the other side, going to Hell again. This Hell is sightly different from the one on the original Doom, since it has some demonic urban building - probably part of Earth inside Hell dimension. There, he discovers the Icon of Sin, the biggest demon he has ever seen, who is capable of creating demons and possibly the leader of Hell. After the destruction of Icon of Sin, the Marine returns to Earth to help rebuilding it, and Hell is left in ruins.

In The Plutonia Experiment, following Doom II, its learned that the UAC finally found a way with the quantum accelerator to close all the seven gateways between Earth and Hell. But when the Gatekeeper, another Icon of Sin, leads another demon horde and manages to keep one gateway open, he began a full scale Earth invasion. The Marine, who was on vacation, is called to contain the invasion on the UAC base and prevent another Hell on Earth. The Marine manages both to recover the quantum accelerator prototype and to destroy the Gatekeeper, which leads them to believe that Hell would be back as the place that only the bad people go when they die.

However, in TNT Evilution, we learn that Marine continued to work on the UAC, now as 'marine commander' of marine troops on one of Jupiter's moons. A year or more later, there, the UAC is conducting experiments to close the link between our universe and Hell, and after some successful tests, the base is invaded by an enormous demon ship, which invades the base and kills all personnel, with the exception of the Marine. He, once again, manages to go to Hell and destroys the Gatekeeper (another Icon of Sin).

Doom 64/The Lost Levels
In Doom 64 story (which occurs many years later), the marine has been decommissioned, and all previous military "Doom Episodes" have been classified, and UAC deep space stations have been quarantined and closed off, and bombarded with radiation (this allows one demon to escape, that starts resurrecting the dead bodies and making them stronger).

Many years later a satellite starts broadcasting a signal from the bases showing the growing activity, the demons discovered, now they are led by the Mother Demon. The Marine is recommissioned and sent to stop the horde before it can invade again.

The game's background story text mentions that he is, in fact, the same person from the original games, denoting him as "the only experienced survivor of the DOOM episode" and ''"the only Marine to endure the slaughter." '' This was expanded upon in the official guide for Doom 64 from Nintendo Power (from the Hero's perspective):


 * All of these demons were wiped out during my first mission. I can't explain how they have come back to life. Energy readings indicate that some "force" has been applied here, though, something we've never encountered before. As I move through the installation, the readings grow stronger. Somewhere ahead lies a source, perhaps a vortex leading back to the home world of these alien invaders.

His 'first mission' is a reference to the events of Doom, in which he fought thorugh Phobos and Deimos, aind finally Hell itself.

In the end of Doom 64, the Marine once again goes to Hell and manages to kill the Mother Demon. After this, the Marine accepts his fate of eternal confrontation with demons and decides to close the gateway between Hell and our universe from inside. Staying there forever, the Marine prevents any other Hell invasion once and for all (or so it seems).

Doom RPG
The Doom Marine (B.J. Blazkowicz), still employed by the UAC (after Doom I, II, Final Doom, and Doom 3), is transported to Mars from Earth. He is sent to assist members of the UAC Mars Outpost facility on Mars, who are under attack from the denizens of hell.

The Marine had been dispatched from Earth in response to a distress call from Union Aerospace Corporation's research facility on Mars. The base was under attack by an unknown force and his mission was to acquire intelligence and neutralize the threat. Once his insertion was complete ordered to rendezvous with the other Marines at Junction for further instructions. He was told to expect heavy resistance.

While their Marine meets Dr. Jensen who was accessing a computer terminal investigating his recent dismissal. During the exploration of first few sectors of the installation, the Marine receives help from Dr. Guerard in gaining access to various locked down areas. In Biological Research Facility, the Marine meets Dr. Nadira who quarantines his weapons claiming security measures. Dr. Nadira then commands his mind-controlled hellhounds to attack the Marine and disappears in the process. Eventually, the Marine meets Jensen again. This time he is incarcerated in a prison cell. After freeing Jensen, he informs the Marine that Guerard and Nadira are into an evil scheme and directs the Marine to the next section of the installation.

The next time the Marine meets Guerard and Nadira, it is known that Guerard was behind the invasion and has been attempting to open a portal to Hell in the Reactor Sector. Guerard promptly orders demons to attack the Marine and Nadira. Nadira is killed by a Malwrath and Guerard escapes. The Marine proceeds through the remaining two sectors, acquiring the BFG 9000 and the key to the Reactor sector. By then, a major invasion devastates the Junction.

With the help of Kelvin and Jensen, the Marine gains access to the Reactor sector. Kelvin and Jensen both die in the process.

In the Reactor sector, Guerard reveals himself as Kronos and transforms into demonic form. By this time, he has succeeded in opening the portal to Hell. After defeating Kronos, the Marine closes the portal by destroying the reactors powering it. The Cyberdemon slips through before the portal closes. The game ends with the defeat of the Cyberdemon. The Cyberdemon is likely to be Kronos' creation referred to throughout the base.

Doom 3

 * Note: As previousy mentioned the RPG might have retconned this as a prequel setting up the backstory of Original Doom, and thus reconning the previous games from the 21st century into the 22nd as they had orignally been placed.
 * You are a marine, one of Earth's toughest, hardened in combat and trained for action. Shortly after reporting for duty at the Union Aerospace Corporation's Mars research facility, a massive demonic invasion overwhelms the base, leaving chaos, horror and uncertainty in its wake. As one of only a few survivors, you must use overwhelming firepower and all of your combat skill to battle through the demon hordes, find out what went wrong and prevent the evil from spreading. Only you stand between Hell and Earth.

He is a Corporal who has recently arrived on Mars as a replacement for "Corporal Allen", who was shipped back to Earth for psyche problems.

When he first lands everything appears to be normal, and he is given orders to find a missing scientist. After going through dungeon Mars Underground, and crossing over a short portion of the surface of Mars, he makes it into one of the older facilities and finds the scientist, who was attempting to send a message to earth warning about the research being conducted. But before he can send the message, Mars suffers from an incursion incident, with demons teleporting into the base and killing or possessing most of the staff, security and marines.

Finally the Corporal fights his way into Hell using the Soul Cube he defeats the Cyberdemon. Hell begins to harden, and he is teleported back to Mars. Soon after he is recovered by a contingent of Marines that were sent to look for survivors, and he walks out with them, again he is the only known survivor.

Quake Champions/Doom 2016
In Quake Champions; Doom Slayer is the original Marine from the original Doom and Doom 3 who after (events of Doom 64) travelled back across Worlds and Time fighting the demons for eons in hell, was defeated and had his life functions suspended in a demonic sarcophagus. The Sarcophagus was discovered by UAC in 2145, and the Marine was revived in 2149 to stop yet another invasion of Hell's forces. He is given the Praetor Suit to give him additional powers. However, this appears to be an alternate world of 2145-2149, and not the same world he originally came from. A world that embraced occult rituals for business, rather than just a company that accidently opened portals to hell.

Quake Champions is said to be a prequel to the earlier Quake Arena games. The character Doom from those games is tied into the history of the Slayer in Quake Champions.

Quake III Arena
Going by the name Doom:

Once, Crash was Doom's military instructor.

Long after everyone else on Phobos was dead (the only other survivor came to be known as Phobos (character)), he kept fighting, determined to send out a warning to Earth before the demons could claim him.

Distracted and intelligent sounding, (but not a member of the intelligentsia, more like a well-educated tradesman) this guy may be a few cards short of a full deck, but his training serves him well. He's a bad-ass in the arenas.

Physical Appearance and traits
In Doom, Doom II, and Doom RPG, the character is portrayed roughly the same.

The original box art portrays the protagonist as a rather muscular man wearing green armor as well as a light brown space helmet that partially conceals his facial features (yet his facial appearance is still revealed from the very start of the game as the status bar face). 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 in the game's status bar, where he is shown as having light brown hair and a buzz cut. The protagonist also appears with his head uncovered in the title screen for Doom II and in the final screen for The Ultimate Doom, but in both cases displaying a more unusual haircut and wearing armor and pants of a darker hue of green. The character's personality is never examined to any extent in any of the games, though he appears to have a strong moral compass, as it was his refusal to fire upon civilians and subsequent assault against his commanding officer who gave the order, that got him stationed on Mars in the first place. Also, it could be said he is passionate about battling Hell's hordes as, after a new weapon is picked up, the invaders, thus leading to the events in Doom II and, subsequently, Final Doom.

protagonist grins devilishly, and also grits his teeth intensely when firing a weapon continually. When taking damage, the marine similarly clenches his teeth in anger and pain, and otherwise his eyes are constantly and alertly darting to and fro.

At the end of The Ultimate Doom there is a jocose tidbit about our hero, saying that the severed rabbit head shown at the end of the third episode, Inferno, is the protagonist's pet rabbit, Daisy. After completing the fourth episode, Thy Flesh Consumed, a battered Marine is shown outside of a burning city on Earth, a not too seemly look of vengeful defiance on his face, with the rabbit's head clenched in his fist by the ears, and ready to wreak yet more violence on the Hellish. The Marine in Doom 64 version looks almost identical to the original artwork except that 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, and 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. His face is never shown in Doom 64 since there is no status bar. Though his face may appear in the "Soul Sphere' version of the game, and his helmet appears in the Megasphere.

Although they use the same HUD bar, Doom Marine of (Doom I, II, and Doom RPG) is not the Doom II RPG's Marine (as that prologue of that game makes it clear that they were stationed on Mars after the Mars Incident as there were no known survivors, before having their own issues during a stopover on the Moon). Instead Stan Blazkowicz is one of the three choices.

In Doom RPG, the Marine uses the same weapons as on the original Doom game, with the additional axe and fire extinguisher. On the game, he manages to stop the Hell invasion by killing Kronos and the Cyberdemon. In Doom 3, his appearance is roughly consistent with the classic games, except that his facial features are not concealed, since he does not wear a helmet. His physique is also somewhat less powerful looking, although he is still very muscular. He has black hair and appears to be in his late twenties to early thirties.

The Marine is depicted as tough and fearless in the game's cut scenes, and is silent strong type (uttering only occasional grunts and screams in pain). He rarely shows any fear or panic, despite the increasingly horrific events occuring around him, including several bizarre and disturbing psychic visions. Throughout his entire ordeal, he is only seen once showing a brief moment of fear, (stepping back slightly and appearing to mouth a curse) when he first encounters the towering Cyberdemon.

Titles

 * Doom Marine/DOOM Marine
 * The Marine
 * Doomguy
 * Doom
 * Space Trooper
 * Space Marine
 * United States Space Marine
 * Hound (Chump)
 * Spire (Average)
 * Blues (Baddy)
 * Sarge (Master)
 * Corporal (Doom 3)

Behind the scenes
According to the Doom RPG website "you reprise the role of the Doom Marine made famous in the groundbreaking id Software titles Doom, Doom II, and Doom 3.", suggesting that the Doom RPG stars Doom's protagonist.

The manual for Doom 3 BFG edition similarly states;


 * Step into the boots of DOOM Marine and experience his adventures for the first time, or all over again. Featuring enhanced versions of DOOM 3, DOOM 3: Resurrection of Evil and the all new DOOM 3: The Lost Mission, plus the classics DOOM and DOOM II, DOOM 3 BFG Edition is the consummate DOOM experience.

If following the intent of the original timeline, Doom 3's protagonist exists over a hundred years after events the original Doom series see (Doom Timeline). However, Doom RPG may have retconned all the previous games into its 22nd century plotline (same era as Doom 3), only the SNES Doom set the original timeline in the 21st century (the original games were never specific).

This has lead some to argue barring 'cloning' (a possible explanation given in the Doom RPGs) or 'stasis' (potentially implied in the Doom 64 manual), time dilation (theory introduced in Doom novels)  or (alternate reality versions of the same individual), the hero would be too old to be fighting again. Plus he seemingly been demoted down to 'corporal' (note the Doom II character as a 'corporal' too in the strategy guide). In addition in one of the artifacts discovered in Doom 3, is a stelae showing the original Doom Guy fighting Demons in Hell, and warning of previous invasions (which could be a nod to Doom 64 events), indicating that Doom 3 character sees past events (or possibly alternate universe events).

B.J. himself may have traveled thorugh 'worlds and time' even during his first journey to Hell back in Doom 1 or via time dilation (so there might be 'more' of a link between the 21st and 22nd timeframes sharing the same character).

ID Universe
Some fans had taken to calling this descendent of William Blazkowicz (WW2 Hero): "B.J. Blazkowicz III" as he was the 'third known' individual to hold the William J. Blazkowicz (B.J.) name. However, this was murky at best as it is not known what generation Doom Guy/Doom Guys are in relation to the original William.

As per Tom Hall/John Romero Billy Blaze had a son (possibly Billy Blaze III/B.J. Blazkowicz III), this son would then be the father of Doomguy (B.J. Blazkowicz "IV") who may be the brother or father/grandfather of Stan Blazkowicz (as noted it gets confusing following classic doom history as it has been set in both 21st and 22nd century depending on sources).

Where as, in the MachineGames universe William Blazkowicz III would be the titular characters (Billy and Billie Blaze) of the new Commander Keen mobile game (who along with his twin sister make up the new Commander Keen).

Howeve, the Doom series takes place in a different universe to that of MachineGames Wolfenstein series. However, it appears like Doom universe there are some similarities. Terror Billly of MG series would go onto have two daughters (who use the nicknames Arthur and Kenneth, a reference Wiliam's son in classic universe). One of these daughers became the parent of the first Billy Blaze II.

Billy Blaze II at least in the MG universe is the son of one of the Terror Twins (aka Arthur or Kenneth), who then gives birth to his own son and daughter: Billy Blaze III and Billie Blaze. Perhaps, this generation, Bill Blaze III, might give birth to his universe's Billy Blaze/B.J. Blazkowicz IV.

Novel universe
While this character was not given a name in Doom 3 game, he was referred to as John Kane in the novel (although technically John Kane's background and when he came to the city is different, though certain elements mirror the game).

While his counterpart in the classic Doom novels was named Flynn Taggart.

Movie universe
William J. Blazkowicz (Doom: Annihilation) (Sgt. 1st Class) is a dead marine in the film Doom: Annihilation, who had been on the phobos base before new transport arrived, and before the incident. He is found by Joan Dark decapitated... Some reviewers have noted that Doomguy also dies at the beginning just after the initial Phobos invasion as well in Knee Deep in the Dead, which this might be a reference to as well.