Doom's protagonists

A rendition of the protagonist on the Doom cover art showing Tom Halls rendition of the Marine in the game, Dylan Flinders Petersen

Doom's protagonist (Our Hero Space Marine, Doom Marine/DOOM Marine or Doom Slayer, but often called Doomguy by fans and designer John Romeros claims, or just "Marine") represents the player's characters of Doom and its sequels or offshoots, who are also referred to as the Doom marine or the Marine (the latter especially in Doom 3), as well as our hero at the end of Doom II. In all the games (sans Doom II RPG), these protagonists are futuristic marines that are never specifically referred to by name. In Chinese, the character is known literally as "Doom Warrior" or "Doom Fighter" (Simplified Chinese: 毁灭战士; Pinyin: huǐ mìe zhàn shì), which is also the release name of Doom itself in China. The China names for the genre are obviously not correct as according to the american real full name for the canon Doom franchise is Doom Annihilation.

A different way of referring to each protagonist is as the "player," although this is a technical denomination similar to that of the player character in role-playing games. And so, the player knows the player isn't the only marine and will see a bunch of other marines that were killed on their missions.

The Doom Marine of the classic Doom series originally had no actual name because, according to John Romero, The protagonist is supposed to be the person playing Doom or an FPS generated player. The only game to give the traditional armored male marine a name is the Doom RPG series (in the second however the player can select one of three people, two marines, and a scientist). Tom Hall and John Romero have since confirmed that he is actually one of the Blazkowicz clan, descended from B.J. Blazkowicz. Doom RPG series assigned at least two members to the Blazkowicz clan as well, one who was the original Doom Marine, and another named Stan.

Doom II may or may not be the same character or a separate character from the Doom I character depending on different manuals and websites. His backstory differs from that of the original Doom character in that he fought on UAC Mars Base and escaped in a drop ship. Whereas as original Doom character fought in Phobos and Mars and in both original Doom and Ultimate Doom reaches earth via transporter gateways. Of any regard to these noted differences all the Doomguys, low classified marines, and key promotional characters all have Leo astrology personality, good looks, and have a personal fascination or a proficiency for eloquent immersive personalities and fighting styles, most associated with extremely technical combat soldiering and ultimate survival, and these elements could be the very depiction of the persona requirement elements of being a Doomguy, Doom Marine, Doomslayer ect.

It should be noted that the Marine in Doom RPG (whose name is apparently B.J. Blazkowicz (Doom RPG)) and Stan Blazkowicz are two separate individuals (apparent clones or relatives) as Stan Blazcowizc is the cousin of Commander William Blazcowizc in the PSX Final Doom; this is made more clear by the Doom II RPG comic, which refers to the Mars Incident and says that there were no known survivors (at least that UAC was willing to divulge) and in which Stan Blazkowicz had not previously encountered the demons. The Doom RPG website states, however, that the Marine in the game is the same one from Doom, Doom II, and Doom 3. There are allusions/predictions of future events on the Phobos moon of Mars, and Earth as well in the Doom RPG series which may suggest a possible prequel.

There are other Marine characters introduced in some of the Expansion Packs as well. Including the Marine Engineer (of Resurrection of Evil) and the one Bravo Marines (Lost Mission).

In the literature, the Marine of Doom novels (Flynn Taggart) and Doom 3 Novels (John Kane) are inspired by the Doom Marine character from their respective games but are given different past histories, and events do not follow exactly like the games, including many different outcomes. Taggart story merged details from both Doom and loosely inspired by Doom II (taking a different route from the game ultimately Deimos is in hyperspace rather than Hell, with much different set of events and no Daisy, and Demons are actually aliens from another planet).

In the Quake series the classic marine is given the code-name Doom (character), and battles alongside and against female marine Crash, and fellow marine Phobos (character) (the latter possibly inspired by one of the four co-op doom sprite skins colors). The Doom and Crash characters were later commissioned by ID Software as Doom 20th Anniversary toy figures by Symbiote Studios as a set reflecting both Doom Space Marine character, and Phobos (including each's link to the Doom and Quake series) each with the BFG 9000/BFG 10000 and helmet.

Name

In the original series, the protagonist is only ever referred to as "Our Hero" in the game ending, and strategy guides. While the manuals indicate that he is a Marine.

Understandably, many arguments have been made over the proper name for the player characters, or as to whether names would be appropriate at all. The original story and in-game text screens by id Software are composed in the second person, suggesting that there is no definable "Doom guy" and that the character simply stands for whoever is incidentally playing the game. John Romero has pointed out the main reason for the lack of a name for the game character by stating the following: The less you know about him, the more likely you as the player will feel free to invent your own personality for him. There was never a name for the DOOM marine because it's supposed to be YOU.

In the early Doom Bible, a character named Buddy Dacote is described in a way that, of all the characters described, makes him most similar to the game's eventual protagonist, which was officially changed by Tom Hall from being Dylan Flinders Petersen(The name identity intended for the DOOM I player marine) later on before the Doom Bible was officially released. The Doom Bible notes that Dacote stands for Dies at conclusion of this episode, and correspondingly the marine in the finished game seems to die or to be close to dying at the very end of Doom's first episode, Knee Deep in the Dead, as a result of the final ambush in the dark room after taking the anomaly's demonic teleporter. According to Tom Hall, Buddy was meant to be the character that foreshadowed bad things ahead through fuzzy HUD transmissions for the player, and occasionally telling what to do. The player was supposed to try and to get to him, and when they did, the boss at the end of the episode shredded Dacote in half. In some ways his role was similar to that given to the character Sarge in Doom III.

Other products that extend the Doom franchise to provide a name for the main character. The Doom novels roughly based on the classic games give the marine the name of Flynn Taggart. This name was re-used in the famous Call of Duty series, where the main character was just called "Taggart" for short. In the Doom movie, the name of the protagonist is John Grimm, nicknamed Reaper. Another game from id Software, Quake 3, includes a playable character named Doom that is presented as an incarnation of the Doom Marine (as well as a female version named Crash, and another male marine named Phobos). In Doom, RPG material it is confirmed that the Marine is the same Marine from Dooms I through III, and it's implied in-game that his name could be B.J. Blazkowicz like his ancestor (who fought in WW2 and defeated the Harbinger of Doom, and it was predicted that in Wolfenstein RPG that B.J.'s ancestor/s would end up fighting the creature again. The Cyberdemon reconstructed by Kronos appears at the end of Doom RPG). In Doom II RPG the playable marine character is named Stan Blazkowicz, who is a descendant of William "B.J." Blazkowicz of Wolfenstein 3D. Stan also fights the Harbinger of Doom, but although as a boss, there is no direct plot point to his appearance (unlike in the original game).

John Kane is the marine of the Doom 3 novels (and perhaps not coincidentally, the protagonist of Quake 4 is named Matthew Kane).

According to John Romero and Tom Hall, the B.J. Blazkowicz, Commander Keen, and Doom Marine from the classic ID series (not the later MachineGames reboots) are all connected in the same timeline. B.J. is the grandfather of Keen, and Keen is the father or grandfather of Doom Guy and is, therefore, a Blazkowicz as confirmed in the RPG series.

The mobile version of Commander Keen ties into the MachineGames universe (the Keen Twins are son of Billy Blaze, and great-grand children of Terror Billy from the MachineGames universe), and could imply that a version of Doom events might occur in the MachienGames universe as well in the distant future (which the Keens might own Doom Marine descendent). If its the same universe established in Doom 2016 (were cultists run the UAC) or another is not known.

Game versions

There are a few possible different protagonists in all Doom games.

It's very important to note that there is little or no official information which states that these protagonists live in the same universe — although some cutscenes in Doom RPG and Doom II RPG imply that all Doom games happen in the same universe. The website for Doom RPG definitely states that the "Doom Marine" in Doom RPG, is the same character from Doom, Doom II, and Doom 3.

Tom Hall has confirmed that Wolfenstein, Commander Keen and Doom all occur in the same universe all following the Blazkowicz family.

Some evidence, such as the resemblance of Doom Marine (B.J. Blazkowicz) and Stan Blazkowicz with the original Doom's protagonist support the theory that they are, in fact, the same person living in the same universe or clones/relatives of each other (the classic Doom protagonist, therefore, is the same person in the RPG'S), which coincidentally also has the Mars base from Doom 3 (However, Mars City and Mars Outpost are two different facilities on Mars).

Similarly the Doom 3 BFG Edition manual suggests 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."

― Doom 3 BFG Edition Manual

Interestingly the introduction seems to go as far to possibly suggest that the marine in Resurrection of Evil is the same marine as from Doom 3. This would mean that he knows more about the previous incident than he first seams to (it is possible that his curiosity of the previous incident Is referring to what happened with the Martians, rather than the invasion a years ago). 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, presumably around the time that the Marine witnesses Bravo Team get destroyed). One possible way to explain this is that the marine was included into bravo team during Doom 3 and The Lost Mission actually takes place after Doom 3 or between his fight with the cyberdemon and his rescue, while the cutscene in the beginning is a flashback. This is a stretch though. However it is supported by Resurrection Of Evil as it mentions that there was only one survivor of the previous incident. This would however beg the question of why Richard Myers wasn't counted. But its possible that with is position being so top secret that his whereabouts were kept from public knowledge.

However, backstory for Doom II would imply that he is at least a separate individual than the one from original Doom as each reach earth by different methods. Both endings of Doom put the original marine as having reached earth by gateways/teleporters, and Doom II marine was a survivor of an invasion on Mars who escaped by drop ship. However it is also possible that the marine returned to Mars after returning from Hell. This is most likely true as most official sources seam to say that they are the same.

SPOILER WARNING: Plot details follow.

Classic Doom

Classic Doom originally followed the story of a Marine or Marines (Doom II has a different backstory) stopping invasions throughout the Solar System around the year 2022 (though this was apparently retconned to the 22nd century with later releases (Doom RPG most noteably)).

(NOTE: Following text contains details as stated in each game's respective manuals)

Doom Bible

The unreleased Alpha Doom Marine, Buddy Dacote (Can be revealed in the Official Doom Bible, which was changed by Tom Hall from originally being Dylan Flinders Petersen, the real name of the Doom I player marine), Doomguy was to be one of several protagonists who fight invasion on Tei Tenga. Dacote was a code came for “dies at the conclusion of the episode” regarded with ID Softwares speculation of continuing Doom further than Knee Deep in The Dead remaining Doom as a single game of 9 levels, the speculation was prejudicely disregarded as nonsense by Adrian and John Carmack to ID's development engineers and was kept as Buddy(Buh-dee) Dacote(Dack-uht) in the Doom Bible due to defaming the principles of ego-death fanatics with the U.A.C. Marines.

Alpha Doom

In Alpha Doom the player Marine is unarmed (but likely Buddy Dacote ) according to the Bible . There are a few different alphas used for testing the engine. With one of them having test map for “Tei Tenga”.

Doom/Ultimate Doom

In the original game the character has light brown (blonde) hair and green/brown eyes, is the son or grandson of Commander Keen, and descendent of WWII's B.J. Blazkowicz.

Notably he has no given rank (but presumed to be Corporal or less, as he's left behind by his commanding officers, and Sergeants to communicate back with base). The official guide states former sergeants are those he once knew and hated (possibly in reference to the superior officer he left in a body bag), and it implies they are ranked above him.

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.

Doom Marine's face

The Marine's face is seen in the game's status bar, where he is shown as having light brown hair and a crew 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 the game, 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

Doom Marine in battle at the main hangar on Phobos

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. In these classic games, he has a 100% pain chance, meaning he freezes/cringes in pain when taking damage at any time. At the end of The Ultimate Doom there is a jocose tidbit about our hero, saying that the severed rabbit head

Doom Marine fighting The Spider Mastermind

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 invaders (foreshadowing the plot of Doom II).

In both 'endings' of Doom and Ultimate Doom, it is explained that the Marine reached earth through gateways/teleporters from Hell dimensions he was stuck in.

Doom II/Master Levels

See Marine (Doom II)... and Marine (D2: TOSG).

In Doom II, the Marine, auburn/red hair and black eyes, was a survivor of a parallel invasion of the UAC Mars Base on Mars. He escaped in a drop ship back to earth, only to discover it had come under attack. He is often considered to be the same marine as the one from Doom, however this creates a plothole because the marine from Doom 2 returned to Earth from an invasion on Mars while the marine from Doom teleported back to Earth from Hell. It’s possible if they are the same marine that he was called back to Mars to deal with the invasion and while there the invasion on Earth started. This would mean that Thy Flesh Consumed took place after his return from Mars rather than right after Inferno.

He joins 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 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.

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 slightly 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.

Doom II Prima Guide does state he is same hero from Doom 1. And tells a different backstory tieing closer into ending of episode 3 or episode 4. With him standing in a field looking at the burning city after he teleported in from Hell. Effectively merging the two characters into one. Marine (D2: TOSG). Those who issue orders to him are Staff Sergeant, Sergeant Workman, and Sergeant Swann (back on Earth).

Final Doom

However, in TNT Evilution, we learn that classic Doom Space Marine, a Marine with orange/auburn hair and blue eyes, (now promoted to "Marine Commander, commander in chief of Marsec) continued to work on the UAC, now as a sergeant of marine troops on one of Jupiter's moons. 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 Icon of Sin again.

A year later, in the The Plutonia Experiment, 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 Icon Of Sin (Referred to as The Gatekeeper in the PSX Final Doom) returns once again, he leads yet 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 Icon Of Sin, which leads them to believe that Hell would be back as the place that only the bad people go when they die.

Doom PSX/Saturn Doom

In these versions, the PSX manual refers to the character as the "The Toughest Space Trooper Ever To Suck Vacuum". On the boxart cover of the Doom Custom Playstation Edition resembles the marine from the original Doom 2 box art and title screen.

His adventure is a mix of Doom 1 and Doom 2, as one giant campaign. Some enemies from Doom II can be found in Ultimate Doom campaign (except the Arch-Vile), along with a couple of new enemies.

SNES Doom and PSX doom share a few connections as well such as the DOOMNL manual, although it lacks the Doom II enemies.

Doom Enhanced

See Marine (Doom Enhanced).

You're a marine--one of Earth's best--recently assigned to the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research facility on Mars. When an experiment malfunctions and creates a portal to Hell, the base is overrun by blood-thirsty demons. You must shoot your way out to survive. Doom II Enhanced Hell has invaded Earth, and to save it, you must battle mightier demons with even more powerful weapons.

This comprises a trilogy of Doom I Enhanced, Doom II Enhanced, and Doom 64 (2020 remaster) (and three official Add-ons related to Final Doom, and No Rest for the Living). It is roughly similar to PC doom order of events, with the addition of Doom 64. However, it places the setting of Episode I at the UAC Mars Research Facilities (from Doom 3). And Doom 64 is reimagined as a followup to the Mars research facilities invasion.

Doom + Doom II would go onto change the story back to it being set on Phobos (or at least Mars like Doom 3 and it's two moons). Leaving Doom 64 remaster with its setting on Mars (see Doom Classic Bundle).

Legacy of Rust

Legacy of Rust is an ID24-compatible expansion, with two new episodes The Vulcan Abyss and Counterfeit Eden. It features six new enemies, two new weapons, and many new textures all based on unused and cut content. The player takes on the progressive role through Doom II as the canon unamed Space Marine of UAC.

Doom 64 (console)

The Doom 64 Marine.

Note: There are a few versions is the Doom 64 backstory this covers the version from the manual (it differs somewhat in the remaster). Doom 64 is somewhat of a sequel to Doom PSX/Final Doom PSX.

However, years later Hell tries once again to reach our universe in Doom 64 by using one of the old bases invaded by demons (it's never specified except in website and Nintendo Power which stated it was Phobos which, although there is a reference to 'planetary' twice in manual which could indicate UAC Mars Base from Doom II manual, but if it was not meant to be taken literally could be reference to Phobos or Deimos), but now they are led by the Mother Demon.

The Marine is recommissioned to fight again.

In this version he looks almost identical to the Doom I and Doom II marines, 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 it may appear in the Soul Sphere graphic). It is unknown if he is the same marine, however, the game's background story text implies 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."

Doom 64 (2020 Remaster)

According to Doom 64 (2020): "Welcome, to DOOM 64! The cult classic returns, 22 years after its 64-bit debut. In this follow up to DOOM II, you'll fight through demonic hordes, hunt down the Mother of Demons, and stop Hell's invasion as you battle more than 30 action-packed levels!"  Thus Doom 64 apparently takes place directly after "Doom II" (the "Marine Commander").

Years have passed since you stopped Hell’s invasion of Earth. Quarantined for humanity’s safety, the UAC research facilities on Mars were abandoned and forgotten...until now. A signal from a degraded satellite suggests a single entity remains, and it has the power to resurrect the demons. As the only surviving marine who fought Hell’s forces, you are sent on a lone crusade to hunt down the Mother of Demons and stop a renewed demonic invasion.

The reference once to UAC research facilities is an odd reference to the events of Doom 3 which takes place on the same location, and which the Doom Marine was the only known survivor.

In the end of Doom 64, the Space 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, thereby staying in Hell forever to prevent any further invasions once and for all.

Its confirmed in Doom Eternal and Dark Ages that Doomguy, in the 2016 reboot, became Doom Slayer after the events of Doom 64 giving up the classic nickname " Space Marine ", the background information given for "Doom Slayer" in Quake Champions further supports this history. The developers have further said that The Lost Levels campaign is meant to further link Doom 64 with Doom 2016. The ending of Lost Levels quotes the Slayer Codex indicating that he is the one who will become the Slayer, and tear up hell for millenia. Doom Eternal also has cutscenes and codex entries showing Doom Marine being captured by the Night Sentinels and being trained into the Slayer.

Doom 3

The Doom 3 protagonist

In Doom 3, the Marine's (aka Marine Transfer, Marine Security, and Corporal (ID# 381 9X-22)) 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. He is first seen arriving to Mars with Elliot Swann and his bodyguard from a Phantom Class Dropship.

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.

His background remains a mystery although he appears to have a rank of a "Corporal", as heard from a member of the rescue team in the final cutscene. He also recently arrived on Mars as a replacement for "Corporal Allen", who was shipped back to Earth for psyche problems.

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 the forces of hell invade the UAC base. Even on these "chatting" occasions, however, the player character is addressed simply as "Marine" and remains silent, either because most of the discussion is about his orders (this is a similarity to the Half-Life series), or due to the silent protagonist narrative. Although the marine never truly speaks, he utters grunts of pain when injured or a scream when killed and he coughs when in contact with poisonous gas.

The Marine is depicted as tough and fearless in the game's cut scenes. He rarely shows any fear or panic, despite the increasingly horrific events occurring 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.

Doom RPG summary states:

The same Doom Marine from Doom 1, Doom 2 and Doom 3 was returning to mars to fight the forces of Hell again.

The manual for Doom 3 BFG Edition went as far to suggest that the "DOOM Marine" was the same character throughout all previous Dooms (including Expansion Packs and the classic games) who had multiple adventures.

Doom RPG (B.J. Blazkowicz)

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." (though he may be a 'clone' of the original character) Although its unclear which order they fit if part of a single timeline. Perhaps Doom 3 is roughly the prequel. But how Doom I and II fit into its not known (they were originally chronologically set a century before). This seems to ignore the backstory to Doom II which had the marine a survivor of an invasion of Mars Base (but Doom RPG actually mirrors that backstory as well as Doom III) Though the website summary does seem to suggest it’s his return to Mars after the events of Doom 1-3.

The Marine in Doom RPG is the same "nameless" marine (though a log may indicate his name is B.J. Blazkowicz, and another that suggests that he may be a clone), and he is said to be the same protagonist of the original Doom from the classics and Doom 3 (according to the Doom RPG website). It is strongly implied by background story and UAC website that it probably takes place after events of Doom 3. It is his return to Mars after recovering on Earth and he returns to fight the forces of Hell.

Although they use the same HUD bar, it is not the Doom II RPG's Marine (as that prologue comic of that game makes it clear that they are sent to investigate the Mars Incident as there were no known survivors, before having their own issues during a stopover on the Moon). In Doom RPG, the Marine use 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.

While his rank is not given, one of the endgame score nicknames lists him as "Sarge" (assuming he gets a promotion after stopping the hell portal).

Doom (2016), Doom Eternal & Doom: The Dark Ages

In the 2016 reboot of Doom, rather than the character being a direct representation of the player, he is rumored to be Doomguy from the original classic Doom. The protagonist is an ancient/superhuman warrior called the "Doom Slayer" that was either banished to hell or chose to stay there; he was captured by hell's forces and sealed in a tomb. He was later retrieved by the UAC where he was "held captive" and studied until hell invades the base; he then escapes and arms himself with a pistol and his typically thought named Praetor Suit.

Unlike some of the other protagonists, the Doom Slayer shows a little more emotion, evident when he angrily destroys the communication panels that Samuel Hayden tries using to ask for assistance from the marine. Noteworthy, the Doom Marine is not persuaded by Hayden's excuses when the chairman justifies the risk in mining Argent plasma from Hell, as it is clear the consequences took the lives of many UAC personnel. He also demonstrates this during the penultimate mission, when he decides to take a back-up of VEGA's code before destroying it in order for the AI to continue existing, despite not being asked to do it.

The Slayer's face is obscured; however, the jawline and general structure of his face resembles B.J Blazkowicz from Wolfenstein: The New Order to some extent. This may be a reference to how the original Doom and Wolfenstein player models were very alike, also having been told to be related somehow. His full face is shown finally in Doom Eternal. He has dark hair somewhat like the Doom 3 marine (rather than reddish brown of the classic games).

While nothing was confirmed (until Doom Eternal), it had been speculated that this is in fact the same marine from the Classic Doom games, as in game documents found in Hell say the Doom Marine has traveled through "Worlds and Time" and was described as being extremely powerful and dangerous. The texts also say that the demons have been plagued by him for "eons of time", during which he would have became a legend in their world. Interestingly enough, the Praetor Suit has many similarities to the Marine Armor Doomguy wears in the classic Doom games, even so far as to have company logos, and production numbers located on the armor. This is all despite the fact that the suit is told to have been made in Hell for the Doom Slayer to better fight the demon hordes. A scripture can be picked up and read and on this scripture shows the Doom Marine from the classic Doom games wearing the classic Doom Armor while talking about The Doom Slayer, meaning that the armor could have originally been made on Earth, but later altered in Hell with the remains of his original Marine Armor into the Praetor Suit

Furthermore, the Doom Slayer is shown to be somehow connected to an order of "knights" of the Argent D'Nur world, called the Night Sentinels in-game. While the Doom Marine has their symbol on his armor, his armor itself is far different, having a futuristic and military look, whereas the knights have armor closely resembling that of medieval European civilization. Strangely, the Doom Slayer fully comprehends English, which would make no sense if he were to be from Argent D'Nur, an "alien planet" where such a language would not exist. It is possible that the Doom Slayer is not actually from this world, but rather came there from a different time in the human universe, or from an alternate version of this, to the alien world. It can be assumed he would then have assisted the alien civilization to fight of the demons, which were apparently invading.

Classic Doom Marine can be see in the Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 and Demon Destruction mini games, as well as if the character is killed in one of the classic doom levels. And as a optional HUD display in Doom: TDA.

In Doom Eternal though it is finally confirmed that the Doomslayer is indeed the original Doom protagonist.

Doom Slayer is an apparent fan of Flynn Taggart having a book discussing retcons in the life of the character and using the name as a password on his computer, as well as owning comic books tied to Taggart name.

Below is a vague timeline of events based on the "combined Doom universe theory" where the Doomslayer is the original classic era Doomguy (which is confirmed in Quake Champions, which also includes details of events of Doom 3, but its placement is not clear):

BEFORE DOOM

An ancient group of warriors called the Sentinels exist to combat the forces of Hell. They are betrayed by one of their own and the demons gain the upper hand. UAC took many measures before the martian encounters and invasion started, most notably military colonization on Mars and its moons, as well as toxin control and disposal units, some measures of mining crews were placed mostly on Diemos, in Denver Colorado the first Marsec was killed in action whilst a time travel teleporter went haywire, the Z-security was killed in the explosion.

DOOM 1

There are two alternate backstories the first appears in Doom I Enhanced placing the events of Episode I on Mars itself (as a prequel to Doom 64, tie-in to Doom 3):

You're a marine--one of Earth's best--recently assigned to the Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research facility on Mars. When an experiment malfunctions and creates a portal to Hell, the base is overrun by blood-thirsty demons. You must shoot your way out to survive. Doom II Enhanced Hell has invaded Earth, and to save it, you must battle mightier demons with even more powerful weapons.

The second appears in Doom I + Doom II which is a simplified version of Doom's original manual story but makes reference to the moons:

DOOM, you're a space marine, one of Earth's toughest, hardened in combat and trained for action. Three years ago you assaulted a superior officer for ordering his soldiers to fire upon civilians. He and his body cast were shipped to Pearl Harbor, while you were transferred to Mars, home of the Union Aerospace Corporation. The UAC is a multi-planetary conglomerate with radioactive waste facilities on Mars and its two moons, Phobos and Deimos. With no action for fifty million miles, your day consisted of suckin' dust and watchin' restricted flicks in the rec room.

In the original PC timeline (which included Doom I, Doom II, and Final Doom) the basic summary is that Doomguy is taken out of normal duty and shipped to Mars to assist the UAC after assaulting a senior officer for ordering him to engage civilians. Teleportation experiments go wrong and hell breaks loose on Mars' moons. A team including Doomguy go to check it out, everyone but Doomguy dies, and it's up to him to take care of business. Doomguy takes the fight through a portal to hell where he defeats the Spider Mastermind and returns to Earth. The Doomguy is revealed only as the soldier or the UAC Space Marine, whos family back on Earth were killed during the invasion of Earth. The Space Marine is a soldier of battle hardy wits, of honor, and with the will to survive and pull through a mission, only his mind kept intact by the odyssey of his mission, and doing what he was always trained to do best, is disperse of the enemy in the quickest way possible and restore order on his assigned post.

DOOM 2

Pretty Straight forward in modern releases both Doom II Enhanced and Doom I + Doom II the game establishes the hero to be the same hero as Doom I, having just come back from earth (via the teleporter) after saving Mars (and/or Phobos) and Deimos. The Enhanced summary is fairly limited, but a little longer in the Doom I plus Doom II release.

Hell has invaded Earth, and to save it, you must battle mightier demons with even more powerful weapons.

Taking place on Earth, DOOM II leaves the moonbases of Mars for more familiar territory. Demons have invaded Earth, and the only force to resist them is you, fresh off of staving off the invasion of Mars. DOOM lI takes you through a space station to save the last strands of humanity, continues through Earth's abandoned and destroyed cities, and then takes you back through hell, in order to confront the source of the Earth invasion, the Icon of Sin.

Upon returning to Earth, the Space Marine finds it already ravaged by demons. The survivors plan to flee the planet, but the only remaining functional spaceport is under Hell's control. He fights to take back the spaceport and the remaining humans succeed in fleeing to space. Doomguy then travels to the Demons' entry portal on Earth to close it and succeeds after killing the Icon of Sin. Humanity returns to rebuild. Workman returned from Phobos duty post in the Hangar, from his assistance and maintenance of returning aircraft and spaceships, Workman has been everywhere, toxin units, sentry posts at the anomaly, and stationed in the barracks at the Military Base on the outside southern of Clustril.

In the original games (and Doom II GBA), the Doom 2 marine was a different character from the original marine (Marine (Doom II)) who landed on earth from Mars in a space pod. Although different guides and releases have merged the two characters at times (instead going with the teleporter ending from Doom). DOOM 64 (2020 remaster)

Something survived the research facilities on Mars (Doom 2 Manual/Doom 3), however. The Motherdemon works to resurrect the fallen armies of hell. Doomguy returns to Mars to take out the trash, journeys into hell again and kills the Motherdemon. This time however he closes the portal from the inside. He has decided to remain in Hell to keep the demons from ever escaping it.

However, he finds himself kicked out into another UAC base, fights his way back into hell kills the sister of the Mother Demon, and finally remains in hell.

The player marine is the original star player marine in Doom II, now a green and black marine, who can be spotted running along the back in the Doom 64 intro cinematic.

In the original story Marine (Nintendo) both Doom I and Doom II were set on Phobos (or at least an unnamed space station), and it was worked in as a direct sequel to Doom I (with no indication that Doom II took place).

BETWEEN GAMES/The Dark Ages

While in Hell, he spends roughly 12.8 billion years fighting the demons. He is captured by the Sentinels around 80 million years ago, who examine his strange marine uniform... and force him to train with them...they exist to fight the demons but lost their fight long ago. Some where during this time, an entity known only as "The Wretch" supplies him with the Praetor suit to better survive in Hell with inhuman powers. He trains with the Sentinels and at some point the Maykr's put him into the divinity machine where he is given god-like powers. He is given a controller and is forced to fight for the Sentinels and Maykr. As time may flow differently in this dimension, the Doomslayer torments Hell for "thousands of years". The demons, unable to defeat him, devise a way to contain him. He is captured by the forces of Hell and trapped in a sarcophagus, sealed by demonic power. The Sentinels are later all killed.

DOOM 2016

The demonic forces again escape onto Mars and the UAC (possibly an alternate Mars across worlds and time sharing some elements from Doom 3 but also very different business structure and history) retrieve Doomguy from Hell to dig them out of their own mess. He is released from the sarcophagus, supplied his Praetor suit and sent to work. He journeys between worlds, destroying the Gore Nests that serve as Hell's links to the Doom world.

Quake Champions/Quake Arena series

In the Arena Eternal the Doom Slayer (codename: "Doom") is brought once more to fight champions from across time and space, and parallel earths and worlds. His codexes contain lore including details from original Quake Arena “Doom” and Doom 3. The Doom 3 references even make mention of the original Doom 3’s flashlight (which was a feature removed from BFG Edition.

Other Marines

Resurrection of Evil

The Resurrection of Evil protagonist

In the Doom 3 expansion pack Resurrection of Evil the main character is a different Marine. This Marine is a combat engineer (Marine Engineer), and thus is trained to operate a remote manipulation device known as the grabber. He has black shaved hair, wears blue armor, and appears to be somewhat older than the one in Doom 3, based on his heavily weathered facial features.

It has been almost 2 years since the mysterious incident shut down the UAC base on Mars. Several months ago, one of the UAC satellites still monitoring the red planet detected a beacon originating from Site 1. This early research facility was long forgotten, even before the invasion. Now, you're a Marine combat engineer, part of the massive research and security team lead by Dr. Elizabeth McNeil. Your team is being sent back to Mars in an attempt to find and investigate the source of this strange signal. What you'll find, nobody knows, but hopefully it will offer new insight into the ancient civilization that once inhabited Mars.

As your transport nears the surface, you cannot help but wonder what type of "accident" could have killed so many years ago... and could it happen again?

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. Some sources claim that he is the same marine as the one from Doom 3. This seems to conflict with the fact that he seams unsure of what the previous incident was (as it says in the quote above). It is interesting to note though that he said years while the incident in Doom 3 only took place two years ago (which seams a rather short amount of time to call years in such a way). It is possible that he is referring to the Martians when the artifact was active in the past (with the artifact added to the demonic invasion of Mars it is possible that the Martins were killed in much greater quantities, thus creating a death count that even the normal demonic invasion could not explain).

The Marine in Resurrection of Evil appears to be more anti-hero in outlook than the Doom 3 protagonist, as he seems to enjoy using the Heart of Hell, which uses human souls as a source of power and also ends up killing almost everyone else at the base. Though it is never explained whether or not the artifact truly consumes souls or if it simply is powered by them being present and he doesn't appear to intentionally kill his fellow humans. He also shows brief bursts of anger throughout the game, especially toward the Hell Hunters and Maledict. However, one could say he has more "personality," than the Marine in Doom 3. As he has better interactions with the characters, on occasion, he smiles, and even shows intrigue at one point.

Some fans believe his name is John Kane the protagonist of the Doom 3 novel, and it is believed that the cancelled third novel for ROE may have brought back John Kane as the protagonist. Only BFG edition claims that both are the same character in an odd retcon.

The Lost Mission

In Doom 3: BFG Edition, the extra solo mission "The Lost Mission", the player assumes the role of the last surviving Marine from the ill-fated Bravo Team (November 15, 2145) which is John Kane from the Doom 3 novels Worlds on Fire and Maelstrom, the Lost Mission being produced and written as a novel to the collection was canceled by ID Software and made into an addon episode to Doom 3 instead. After witnessing the carnage of his team, this wounded Marine escapes in a ventilation shaft, armed with a pistol, before dealing with a pair of Wraiths. The Bravo Marine is guided by Dr. Richard Meyers as he fights his way through to reconnect the dimension gateway to get help from Earth.

Doom Resurrection

In the iPhone game Doom Resurrection, which happens before Doom 3, the protagonist is a normal marine the a Bravo Team in June, 2145 (six months before the events of Doom 3). After his survival from the outbreak, the Marine has to fight the remaining demons on the Mars base to escape the facility and warn Earth of the threat. He teams up with a drone named Sam who later appears in Doom II RPG.

Doom II RPG

In Doom II RPG one of the three playable marine characters, named Stan Blazkowicz, bears a striking resemblance to the protagonist of the original Doom. In the game's storyline he is a descendent of William "B.J." Blazkowicz, the Wolfenstein 3D hero. He is apparently the cousin of the Doom RPG hero and is Sarge from the Doom movie, hinting this by showing Stan as Sarge at the end of the game. There is a connection between Doom II RPG and Doom Resurrection as Sam exists in both games (with Sam's remains found in the RPG).

Novel Versions

Classic Doom Novels

In the Doom novels, Doom Marine was given a personality that was shunned by many fans and members of the Doom community. His name is Flynn Taggart, or "Fly" for short. The novels describe him as somewhat cocky, rather intelligent, well-worded, mechanically gifted, loyal, and in some ways, arrogant. He is a faithful, yet long-suffering Catholic with a strong belief in God, having attended four years of Catholic school. He ended up joining the Marines as a result of a strong belief in honor, and also because of his father, a person he held much disdain towards, a petty criminal who was frequently at odds with the law. Flynn's father never understood the concept of honor, as Flynn sees it, and also never understood why Flynn joined the Marines in the first place (nor did Flynn admit that he was one of the main reasons he did so; to not end up like him). He is also shown to have an aversion/hatred to officers.

Doom Knee Deep In Dead cover with Fly on it

In the novels he is given the rank of Corporal in "Fox Company" and is best friends with another Marine named Arlene Sanders, Fox Company's best scout. In the prologue, his CO Lieutenant Weems orders his company to shoot monks, believing them to be enemy soldiers incognito. However, Flynn tries to reason with him and, when he is unable to, he tries to punch him out in order to prevent the upcoming slaughter (echoing the beginning of the PC title's original story.) He is sent to Phobos to stand trial for assaulting a superior officer, but as he arrives, a distress message was sent from scientists working on the Two Gates, and Fox Company was sent to investigate sans Flynn, who was forced to stay behind. He was still able to incapacitate his two guards, "Ron and Ron 2", and make his way through the Phobos compounds alone.

The way Flynn's appearance is described in the Doom novels is identical to the original Doom games, though at times he removes his helmet.

Doom 3 Novels

On the Doom 3 novels Worlds on Fire and Maelstorm, which has similar Doom 3 storyline with few modifications (when John Kane came to Mars is different, and the outbreak occurs earlier in the year than in the game, and the ending and Kane's escape is very different), the name of the protagonist is John Kane, who has a somewhat similar backstory of military indiscretion as the original marine (Original Doom), though instead of attacking his commander, he was the commander and disobeyed an order to save his fellow marines.

Movie Version

Doom (2005 movie)

John "Reaper" Grimm (played by Karl Urban) 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 nicknamed 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 monsters created by an ancient Martian retrovirus released by the UAC. Grimm also differs from the protagonists in the games due to having an actual name and interacting with other characters via his own dialogue.

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 (also known as Sam), 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 demon (all seen by the audience in the game's classic first person perspective). This plot device is apparently the film's way of incorporating the berserk powerups in the games (see Berserk pack and Berserker).

Spoilers end here.

Doom: Annihilation

See Joan Dark and William J. Blazkowicz (Doom: Annihilation). The Doomslayer Willian Blazcowizc(Canon name finally revealed, gets killed a ways through the movie and is discovered by Joan Dark and her UAC Z-security team). Showing the canon Doomslayer to get killed in the movie reveals Doom Annihilation to possibly be the last events that happen in Doom throughout the storyline.

Technical information

See Player for details on the character entity from a technical perspective.

Trivia

• In Quake III Arena the Doom Marine is a playable character, referred to simply as Doom. He is 6ft (1.83 m) tall and weighs 180 lb. (80 kg), according to the character description from the game. He is the second to last opponent in single-player.
• Almost all installments depict the Doom Marine wielding either the shotgun or super shotgun as his primary weapon.
  • Ending of Thy Flesh Consumed shows the Marine wielding a shotgun while holding the severed head of Daisy.
  • Doom II's end cast features "our hero" firing what sounds like a Super Shotgun (minus the reloading sound).
  • Doom 3's Marine wields a Shotgun in official artworks and most cutscenes of the game.
  • Doom (2016)'s main box art depicts the Doom Slayer wielding a Super Shotgun.
  • Doom Eternal's Super Shotgun is reputed by VEGA to be the Doom Slayer's relic of his past and his

Other media with references to the marine

Games

• Duke Nukem 3D
• Quake III Arena / Quake Live
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (featured in the PC version as a secret skater)
• quake:Quake Champions
• Fortnite

Gallery

Doomguy as he appears in Quake III Arena

Preator Suit

DOOM 3

Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil

See also

• Player
• Models

Sources

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Doom's protagonists. As with Doom Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

• Interview with John Romero and Sandy Petersen in Jonathan Mendoza's The Official Doom Survivor's Strategies & Secrets (Sybex, 1994).