James Marcus (Resident Evil)
James Marcus is a male video game villain that features in Resident Evil.
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Biography
Long before the events of the first Resident Evil, Marcus befriended Ozwell E. Spencer during his college years. Decades later, Marcus would go on to discover the Progenitor Virus in 1967 with Spencer and Edward Ashford. Despite Ashford's ideas to use the new found virus to benefit the medical community, The Wesker Report claims that Spencer focused on using the find to create a powerful biological weapon. To mask their motives, the group formed the Umbrella Corporation, camouflaging their sinister intentions with the benevolent image of a pharmaceutical company.
In 1968, Marcus was appointed as the general manager of Umbrella's training facility, as well as the company's creative output, leaving the financial duties to Spencer. During the late 1970s, Marcus managed to create the T-Virus by combining leech DNA with Progenitor, leading to the development of the a lethal bioweapon known as Tyrant. This remarkable find gave Marcus much attention from his fellow researchers, especially his future protege, Albert Wesker. Intimidated by his findings, Spencer began to grow increasingly paranoid of Marcus. Before Marcus could present his findings to Umbrella's board of directors, Spencer intervened by moving the project's development to the Arklay Mountains facility, the setting of the first Resident Evil.
A growing rift between Spencer and Marcus had been evident since the inception of Umbrella, with both individuals harboring paranoia toward one another. Ashford himself met his demise in a lab accident orchestrated by Spencer. At the conclusion of the 1977-78 school year, Umbrella HQ ordered the immediate closure of the training school and its laboratory, with surviving personnel reassigned to other facilities. Birkin and Wesker were swiftly transferred to the Arklay Laboratory, depriving Marcus of his trusted apprentices. Already suspicious that Spencer was attempting to steal his research data, Marcus chose to remain in his laboratory and continue his experiments. He intended to present his findings to Umbrella's executive directors, believing that this would garner him the necessary support to seize control of the company. During the 1980’s, Marcus was confined to a research facility located in the depths of the Spencer Mansion. After various experiments that lead to the development of Eliminators, Plague Crawlers and Lurkers, Marcus inferred that mammalian organisms would serve as perfect hosts for the T-Virus. After using twenty of his own coworkers as guinea pigs, Marcus made tremendous strides towards completing the Tyrant project. As Spencer’s paranoia culminated, he ordered Albert Wesker to assassinate Marcus whilst he least expected it. However, despite his isolation, Spencer deduced Marcus' intentions and took steps to eliminate the threat posed by Dr. Marcus.
On a mundane day in 1988, Albert Wesker, William Birkin, and a plethora of soldiers from the Umbrella Special Forces Unit stormed into Marcus’ laboratory and killed him. As Marcus slowly began to expire, a Queen Leech, one of his experiments, entered Marcus’ body and bonded with his DNA. Over a period of ten years, the two became one, and Marcus was "reborn." The newborn creature assumed the physical characteristics of Marcus from his younger years, as well as his memories and personalities. The Queen Leech managed to develop a control over the myriad of other T-Virus infested leeches, manipulating them into humanoid shapes resembling Marcus. In Umbrella Chronicles, Marcus does not take on a "younger" form, rather as a leech-like humanoid, still resembling his true, older self.
The revived Marcus managed to release the T-Virus throughout the Arklay Research Facility and Management Training Facility. Afterwards, he attacked the Ecliptic Express, a luxury train devoted to transporting Umbrella employees. All the inhabitants of the train were instantly mutated into "Zombies" due to the high concentrations of the T-Virus Marcus unleashed. Furthermore, Marcus continued his deadly vendetta by attacking and infecting two members of Umbrella’s Special Forces Unit.
During the events of Resident Evil 0, S.T.A.R.S. operative Rebecca Chambers and convicted war criminal Billy Coen encountered several creatures and Marcus mimics during their search of the train and training facility. Marcus, consumed by his anger, displayed a video transmission across the facility, claiming his betrayers will soon receive their ill-fated comeuppance. Eventually, Rebecca and Billy confronted Marcus in an underground location under the facility. Although Marcus transformed into his monstrous leech form and was impervious to small-arms fire, Rebecca and Billy managed to defeat by hatching a brilliant scheme to expose him to sunlight, which weakened him enough for Billy to finish him off with a single bullet.
By 1998, Umbrella had nearly erased Marcus from its official company history, except for remaining materials indicating his early dismissal.
Overview
Personality and attributes
After parasitising the corpse of Dr. Marcus in 1988, Queen Leech consumed his brain and proved itself sentient in gaining his memories and personality. As a result of this parasitism, Queen Leech rationalised that it was indeed Dr. Marcus and had somehow survived an assassination attempt.
Powers and abilities
James Marcus possessed high levels of intellect, particularly in biology and virology and after his revival with the t-Virus, he can control the t-Virus leeches. As the Queen Leech, he can climb on walls, as well as lash with his tentacles and possess high levels of strength. In his second form, the Queen Leech can unleash more powerful brute force attacks and spit acid from his back. However while Queen Leech is resistant to weapons, it can not stand sunlight.
Queen Leech was engineered as Dr. James Marcus' greatest achievement, and its biology differed radically from that of natural leeches. Like natural leeches, Queen Leech was a hermaphrodite, though unlike natural leeches it was capable of self-fertilisation. Queen Leech possessed a sophisticated olfactory organ which allowed it to communicate with offspring via smells. A damp or humid environment was required for Queen Leech to thrive, as with natural leeches, though direct sunlight had the added effect of inducing pain. Queen Leech In keeping with other leeches experimented on, the Queen Leech was known to cannibalise its offspring. In a form of mimicry far beyond that of the leeches, Queen Leech was able to shape its whole body to mimic that of Dr. Marcus, becoming shorter and gaining arms and legs. As a personal choice, it took the form of Dr. Marcus' younger self, rather than the elderly figure that created it. This ability only surfaced after ten years of maturation, it should be noted, and may not have been foreseen.
After being discarded with Marcus' dead body, as a mean of survival the Leech started feeding off Marcus' corpse, accidentally infecting him with the t-Virus, upon reaching his brain, some kind of genetic fusion occurred giving the Leech humanoid characteristics and also Marcus' memories, The Queen Leech was then born. On a scale of intelligence, Queen Leech far surpassed that of annelids and may have been intended to rival that of human beings. The body of Marcus was completely absorbed by the leech and after ten years, a ‘copy’ of the late Doctor appeared at the Management Training Facility. This copy was neither a ghost nor a miraculous resurrection, but a clone created from the Queen due to permanently moulding itself to DNA from his remains.
Notes
- James Marcus was created by Shinji Mikami and featured in the setting of the Resident Evil universe.
In other media
Films
Appearances
- Resident Evil 0: (2002)
External Links
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