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- "That was the uniform that Mars wore: that helmet and skirt. We thought putting it on this ant-like creature might be funny. But since he had no mouth, we had to convey that he was speaking totally through his movements. It demanded a kind of expressive body mechanics."
Marvin the Martian is a fictional character that appears as one of Bugs Bunny's primary enemies in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons.
Creation
Chuck Jones noticed that Bugs Bunny soon began to outwit Yosemite Sam (the creation of senior director Friz Freleng), so he decided to create the opposite type of character; one who was quiet and soft-spoken, but whose actions were incredibly destructive and also suitably dangerous. Marvin the Martian made his debut in the 1948 cartoon Haredevil Hare.
Unlike the other Looney Tunes villains, Marvin can be actually evil at most points, and not just daft. However, he is a funny cartoon character similar to the other villains. Marvin is the quietest of the Looney Tunes villains, and the most soft-spoken, and unlike most of the other villains, he is very clever.
Marvin was never named in the original shorts (although he was called "Commander Flying Saucer X-2" in the 1952 film-short The Hasty Hare), but decades later, when the character attracted merchandising interest, the current name was selected.
History
Marvin hails from the planet of Mars, but is often found elsewhere. He is often accompanied by his dog K-9, and sometimes by other creatures (one gag, first used in Hare-Way To The Stars, being candy-sized "Instant Martians" that become full-size on addition of drops of water).
He wears a Roman soldier's uniform, with old-fashioned basketball shoes. The style of these resembles the Chuck Taylor All-Stars brand name, considered to be the "generic" or "standard" basketball sneaker. His head is a black sphere with only eyes for features. The curved crest of his helmet appears, with the push-broom-like upper section, to comically resemble an ancient Greek hoplite's or a Roman Centurion's helmet. The appearance of the combination of Marvin's head and helmet allegedly led to Bugs Bunny thinking he was a "bowling ball wearing a spittoon" in one cartoon. Marvin speaks with a soft, nasally accent and often speaks technobabble. The helmet and skirt that surround him are green and his suit is red (in a few of the original shorts, his suit was green). He is also known for his quotes "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering kaboom!", "Isn't that lovely?", and "This makes me very angry, very angry indeed."
On numerous occasions, Marvin has tried to destroy the Earth with his "Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator" (sometimes pronounced "Illudium Pu-36"). Marvin always laboriously over-pronounces the name of the device, which resembles a mere stick of dynamite, in order to avoid any possibility of confusing it with some other similar technology. Marvin attempts to destroy the Earth because, he reasons, "it obstructs my view of Venus"; he has been trying to destroy the Earth for more than two millennia, suggesting that members of his species, and possibly martian creatures in general, have extremely long lifespans. The original reference to "Uranium Pu-36" changed to "Illudium Pu-36" in subsequent cartoons. Marvin is consistently foiled by Bugs Bunny. He has battled for space territory, Planet X, with Daffy Duck.
He has appeared in three animated series on Cartoon Network: Baby Looney Tunes, Duck Dodgers, and The Looney Tunes Show.
Over a decade prior to any of these, he guest-starred in a Tiny Toon Adventures segment entitled "Duck Dodgers Jr." where he is accompanied by an apprentice named "Marcia the Martian."
He also appears in the Taz-Mania episode "The Man From M.A.R.S." and makes a cameo in The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries ("What's the Frequency, Kitty?").
Marvin also made appearances on Animaniacs, notably in the Buttons and Mindy short subject, "Cat on a Hot Steel Beam" (which also featured the cute kitten Pussyfoot) and in "Star Warners", along with his dog K-9 And most recently in a MetLife commercial.
Cartoon Network also created a two-minute filler piece featuring Marvin-- "Mars Forever" by the Plastic Fantastic Machine. It's a disco-style video combining clips of Marvin and Bugs Bunny from their encounters in "Haredevil Hare," "Hareway to the Stars," as well as bits of "Duck Dodgers in the 24th-and-a-half Century" and "Rocket Bye Baby."
Marvin has also appeared in a number of video games. He served as the main antagonist in both the Mega Drive/Genesis game Taz in Escape From Mars and the Super Nintendo game Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions. He also appeared in Bugs Bunny Lost in Time for PlayStation where he was the boss of Dimension X, and in the final level of Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf. He was a common enemy in the Quantum Beep stages of Road Runner's Death Valley Rally for Super Nintendo. He also made a brief cameo in the 2003-2007 CN Fridays intro.
Marvin was also cast as the referee in Space Jam (though he did not stay to referee the whole game, due to Bupkus beating him up), and then later had a major villainous role in Looney Tunes: Back in Action where he was hired by the ACME chairman, Mr. Luther J. Chairman (Steve Martin), to finish DJ (Brendan Fraser) and the gang at Area 52. In the film's climax, he reappears to bring the Blue Monkey diamond to the ACME satellite, but is thwarted by Bugs (who he duels in a parody of Obi Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones) and Daffy (who arrives as Duck Dodgers to save Bugs after he is exhausted from the battle), resulting in Marvin trapped in a bubble floating through space.
Marvin appeared in the Looney Tunes version of A Christmas Carol, Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas as an employee at Daffy Duck's "Lucky Duck Super Store". Marvin was homesick for his planet, Mars, and wanted to go back for Christmas (but also mentions, as usual, that he's planning to destroy the Earth as well). At first, Daffy doesn't let him take Christmas off, since he expects the employees to work on Christmas Day. After being visited by the abrasive yet well-intentioned Christmas ghosts, Daffy is redeemed, and as part of a surprise Christmas celebration, gives Marvin a rocket that will go faster than the speed of light, allowing him to make it to Mars by yesterday.
In nearly all of his appearances, Marvin is shown using a small pistol that fires either bubbles of pliable plastic or energy beams. He is also apparently immortal or long-lived, since he mentions doing over two thousand years of research to create the Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator, and he is seen in Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, with Gossamer, a hairy red monster, as his assistant.
Jobs
1. In older Looney Tunes cartoons, Marvin is unemployed; later, he does secret missions for someone named "E=M.C. Squared."
2. In Looney Tunes: Back In Action, he is an evil villain working for Mr. Chairman at ACME.
3. In Duck Dodgers, he is a Martian commander/super villain for the queen.
4. In one Duck Dodgers episode, he is demoted to slave boy as punishment for hurting Duck Dodgers.
5. In The Looney Tunes Show, he makes pizzas and helps deliver them.
6. In Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, he puts prices on products in a super store, until the end of the film when he is promoted to assistant manager.
7. Marvin is a referee in Space Jam.
Other media
- Marvin's likeness appears in miniature on the Spirit rover on Mars as well as on the mission patch.
- Marvin the Martian appears in the South Park episode "Imaginationland Episode III". Here, he marches among myriad other evil fictional characters to battle against the surviving good characters. This version of him has a mouth filled with teeth. There are two other Looney Tunes "villains" in the evil character army, as well: An evil-eyed Gossamer and a possibly rabid Wile E. Coyote. Marvin is also indirectly referenced in the name of Stan's grandfather, Marvin Marsh.
- Marvin the Martian appears in two Drawn Together episodes: "Charlotte's Web of Lies" (where he is seen in Ling-Ling's Anger Management group with Hulk, Skeletor, and Yosemite Sam) and "Toot Goes Bollywood".
- He appears in the FBI lineup in "The Springfield Files", an episode of The Simpsons (wearing purple helmet and skirt, instead of the usual green for both) in which he utters his famous catchphrase "This makes me very angry"; with other {TV} aliens-such as Gordon Shumway aka Alf; Chewbacca; Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still); and one of the Kang and Kodos team.
- In a deleted scene on the Futurama episode "That Darn Katz!", Marvin is seen as a student in Mars University.
- Marvin the Martian makes a cameo appearance in the feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but the movie takes place in 1947 while his first cartoon appearance appeared during the following year.
- Marvin the Martian also makes a cameo appearance in episode 14 of the cartoon series Animaniacs when Buttons reaches the moon.
- Marvin the Martian appears in a background shot during the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, shown on a television in lead character Roy Neary's living room. The segment shown is from the feature cartoon, Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century.
- The Pu-36 explosive space modulator is referenced in several songs, including T-Pain's "Time Machine," as well as Ludacris' "Mouthing Off."
- In the pilot episode of the TV series Weird Science, Lisa comments that she would have a lot more power had Wyatt installed a "Neutronian space modulator" before her creation.
- NHL Buffalo Sabres Goalie Patrick Lalime's goaltender mask features Marvin the Martian on the front.
- In the Pinky and the Brain episode "Star Warners", Marvin was briefly shown on a date with Minerva Mink. K-9 is sleeping next to them.
- Marvin briefly appears in Diane Duane's 2010 novel A Wizard of Mars, when one of the main characters gets caught in a spell that brings their stereotypes of Mars into existence.
- In the MAD News segment, Marvin appeared, letting his sink run water on Mars.
- Reach Records artist PRo referenced Marvin the Martian and the space modulator in his song "Mission to Mars" from His 2011 album "Dying to Live".
- In the Young Justice episode "Secrets," Miss Martian takes on the form of a gigantic Marvin the Martian to scare a teenager (coincidentally, also named Marvin) who is committing a War of the Worlds-style prank. When Marvin/Miss Martian roars, he sounds like Godzilla.
- During the University of Southern California-Stanford University football game, the Drum Major of the visiting Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band dressed as Marvin the Martian as a Parody on the USC Spirit of Troy Trojan Marching Band's Drum major.
- In 2009 Bi-Mart Membership stores in Oregon sold University of Oregon vs University of Southern California buttons featuring Marvin the Martian as the Trojan "Mascot"
- In a MetLife commercial that aired during the 2012 Super Bowl, Marvin made a cameo in the ad.
- Marvin appeared on ABC World News Tonight as the program was discussing the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. The announcer was mentioning that earthlings have long wondered what life on Mars was like, showing Marvin and the robots from War of the Worlds.
- Marvin appeared as a figurine floating in space in the 2013 film "Gravity" passing Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in the damaged space shuttle.
Planned film
- Main article: Marvin the Martian (film)
Voice Actors
- Eric Bauza: The Looney Tunes Show
- Damon Jones: The Looney Tunes Show (singing voice), Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run
- Joe Alaskey: Duck Dodgers, The Plucky Duck Show, Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas, Looney Tunes: Stranger Than Fiction, Tweety's High Flying Adventure, Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal, Looney Tunes: Space Race, Looney Tunes Racing, Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time
- Mel Blanc: 1948 - 1989
- Eric Goldberg: Looney Tunes: Back In Action, Superior Duck
- Jeff McCarthy: Another Froggy Evening
- Neil Ross: Pinky and the Brain
- Rob Paulsen: Taz-Mania
- Mike Myers: live-action film
Gallery
- Main article: Marvin The Martian/Gallery