Marcus Fenix

"I've put myself on the line every day since I was eighteen years old. Followed every order. Even the half-assed ones. But now I'm going to save my father. So with all due respect, fuck you, sir."

- Marcus to Hoffman, after being ordered to forget about his father and go to the Chancery Bridge

"Feel that? That's from Dom, and everyone else you killed, you bitch!"

- Marcus killing Queen Myrrah in revenge for all the deaths she caused

Marcus Michael Fenix is the main protagonist of the Gears of War franchise and a Gear soldier in the Coalition of Ordered Governments army.

Early Years
Born Marcus Michael Fenix twenty-one years before Emergence Day in the district of Tyrus and on the planet Sera. He is the son of famed war scientist Adam Fenix and Dr. Elain Fenix.

Marcus was an odd child growing up, constantly jumping from school to school and having an unusual lack of friends. He was never at place wherever he went and it wasn't until he met Carlos and Dominic Santiago that he found a "true" family. Marcus knew that children his age avoided him due to his quiet nature and the fact that his family was rich because of his father's success as leading scientist for the Coalition of Ordered Governments. Because of this, Marcus was constantly bullied and it wasn't until Carlos Santiago stepped in and took a hit for him that he took a stand. Marcus and Carlos instantly became best friends and were inseparable from then on.

Marcus was an entirely different person at the Santiago's. He opened up, was less quiet and felt more comfortable with them than with his own father. It wasn't until his mother disappeared and was assumed dead that Marcus went through another "transformation" of sorts. Carlos and Dominic (Carlos' younger brother) basically took him in afterwards considering the on-going distancing between Marcus and his father.

The Pendulum Wars
When he was of age, Marcus finally decided to join the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COGS) as a basic infantryman alongside his "brother" Carlos despite his father's disapproval. Marcus and Carlos were assigned to C Company of the 28th Royal Tyran infantry after they completed basic training. Due to his impressive accomplishments, it wasn't long before he was promoted to Corporal. The breaking point for Marcus was Aspho fields where the COGs defended the point from UIR forces. It was here that Marcus lost Carlos to a sacrifice he made to turn the tide of the battle and save Marcus' life. Marcus and close friend Bernie kept the secret of Carlos' death from his younger brother Dom for years before finally mustering up the courage to tell him.

E-Day and Early locust encounters
Nearly a year after the first sign of the locust invasion from the subterranean tunnels of Sera, Marcus was serving alongside his best friend Dom, who was now a Commando in the COG's. Marcus and his unit received orders to evacuate the city of Ephyra before the Hammer of Dawn strikes were initiated. The Hammer of Dawn, a powerful weapon designed by Marcus' father Adam Fenix, was believed the only hope to fight against the Locust despite the destructive consequences that were to be left in it's wake.

Roughly a decade after E-day, Marcus was ordered to defend Ephrya which was one of humanity's last strongholds left after being attacked by the locust. It was here that Marcus went from being famed war hero to traitor of the COG's. Marcus was defending his position from the Locust when he heard news of his father being overrun. He abandoned his position in order to try to save his father and cost the COG's the loss of their capital city. Despite this, Marcus arrived too late only to see his father buried under rubble by a crashed Raven helicopter.

Marcus Fenix was then court-martialed for disobeying orders and cowardice and was sentenced to serve 40 years in the Jacinto Maximum Security Prison.

Gears of War
Nearly 14 years after Emergence day and after 4 years of being locked up in prison while the war with the locust raged on, Marcus was finally freed from prison by his long-time best friend Dominic Santiago who was on orders to free Marcus so he could once again fight the Locust. After being freed, Marcus and Dom met up with Lieutenant Minh Young Kim and Private Anthony Carmine of Delta squad. They received orders from Colonel Victor Hoffman himself to retrieve the Sonic resonator and find Alpha team who were in last possession of the weapon.

Delta squad soon teamed up and saved Augustus Cole, a former Thrashball superstar turned super-soldier. He became separated from Alpha squad and joined Delta after the death of Anthony Carmine. Soon after, Delta squad saved Alpha who were trapped inside the Tomb of the Unknowns. The reunion was cut short when the soldiers were ambushed by locust being led by General RAAM of the Locust army. He murdered Lieutenant Kim and Delta squad was forced to retreat back into the Tomb of the Unknowns. It was here that they had to fight a Beserker, a blind massive creature which was used to reproduce for the locust army. With almost no way to pierce it's near-impenetrable skin, Marcus was forced to use the Hammer of Dawn to melt it's armour to get the killing blow. Marcus soon after notified Col. Hoffman about their situation and was promoted to Sergeant and led Delta squad.

Marcus and Delta squad were then tasked with delivering the sonic resonator to complete project Lightmass which consisted of mapping out the Locust tunnels beneath the surface. They made their way to a stranded outpost to find a vehicle to transport them to the Lethia Imulsion facility. They ended up defending the outpost from a massive Locust emergence team before being forced to move on. After saving the outpost, Delta made their way to the facility which would take them down to the locust tunnels so they could plant the sonic resonator. Marcus and Dom fought through countless hordes of lambent wretches while making their way through the facility and down to the cart control room which would take them down to the tunnels.

Once Delta made it into the tunnels, they had to make sure they completed their mission before dawn before the Kryll, which were very vulnerable to sunlight, would be forced to retreat back into the Hollows. Unfortunately for Marcus and Dom, they encountered a Corpser, a massive spider-like creature that digs through the hollows. After killing the Corpser by destroying the platform that was supporting part of the facility they were located on, they moved on to rejoin Baird and Cole at the pumping facility. After killing waves of enemies, they planted the resonator and barely escaped using the elevator before being hit by the effecting shockwave. Unfortunately, the resonator failed to map the entirety of the Hollows. Luckily, they found a data bot belonging to Marcus' father Adam that contained schematics of the entirety of the Hollows.

Learning about this, Victor Hoffman ordered the preparation of the Lightmass bomb which was planned to be sent straight into the heart of the Imulsion fields to devastate the Hollows and potentially wipe out all of the Locust. The plan was to get to Tyro Station and board the train but the fastest way to get there was through Fenix Estate, which was once Marcus' home. After making their way through the Hordes of Locust that had occupied the Estate, Marcus and Dom finally made their way to the Station and met up with Cole and Baird and held off the locust until the Tyro Pillar arrived which held the Lightmass bomb. Unfortunately only Marcus and Dom were able to board the train leaving Cole and Baird to provide support from a nearby Raven. General Raam inadvertently made his way onto the train to stop Marcus' plans of destroying the Hollows but was delivered the killing blow by Marcus and Dom. The Raven caught up with the train to pick up Marcus and Dom before it eventually crashed into the Imulsion fields and the resulting explosion was believed to have eliminated all of the Locust.

Gears of War 2
Taking place nearly 6 months after the Lightmass bombing which evidently failed to eliminate the Locust, Marcus and Dom were ordered to clear out Jacinto Hospital. Marcus met up with new recruit Benjamin Carmine, who was younger brother of Anthony and briefly trained him before assaulting the Locust inside the abandoned hospital.

After Marcus and the newly formed Delta squad consisting of Marcus, Dom, Tai Kaliso and Ben Carmine clear the hospital, they and every other Gear are ordered to assault the city of Landown in part of the plan to drill deep into the Hollows. Marcus and Delta squad board an assault Derrick (massive transport vehicles) with ex-stranded soldier Dizzy Wallin. Even after losing many of their forces due to an aerial assault and an ambush by Kantus high-priest and the Locust Queen's right-hand man Skorge, Marcus and Dom successfully board the Grindlifts that take them straight into the heart of the Hollows while Dizzy and Tai hold Skorge off.

After landing in the Hollows and saving Carmine from the Locust, they make their way further into the Hollow only to discover the reason behind the sinking of humanity's last cities, a giant Riftowrm. The Riftworm is large enough to eat away at a cities foundations causing it to cave in on itself. Marcus, Dom and Carmine witness the sinking of city of Ilima, and infiltrate the sunken warzone to locate any surviving Gears. Delta squad ends up being ambushed before being quickly saved by the Cole Train and they rejoin forces to find Baird who was captured by Locust. The rejoined Delta squad make there way aboard a Locust prison craft, where they find a massively tortured Tai who lost his sanity and blew his own brains out when Marcus offered him a gnasher shotgun.

Shortly after, they escape via Raven which is then swallowed by the Riftworm, destroying their helicopter and causing the death of Benjamin Carmine, who was mauled alive by parasites inside the Riftworm. To escape the Riftworm, Barid suggests to Marcus that the only way to stop the creature would be to disable it's three hearts and they kill the worm by severing through the skin after the worm breaks through the surface.

Once free, they make their way to Mount Kadar and into the highway of Nexus, the Locust stronghold. Dom, desperate to find his wife, begs Marcus to help find his wife who went missing shortly after E-day. When they finally find Maria, she is near death and brain dead after being tortured for years and Dom chooses to shoot her so she wouldn't have to suffer anymore. Once inside Nexus, Marcus and Dom regroup with Cole and Baird and make their way into the Locust palace to confront Queen Myrrah. Unfortunately she escapes and Marcus and Dom are forced to fight off Skorge who they momentarily defeat before escaping on a few Reavers. After a drawn-out chase, Marcus finally kills Skorge by disabling his Reaver and causing him to be impaled on the forest surface below.

Finally reaching Jacinto, humanity's last stronghold, Marcus receives orders from Col. Hoffman and Chairman Prescott to meet them at the COG defensive position. Marcus explains to Prescott and Hoffman that they're only hope of defeating the Locust is too destroy Jacinto's foundations and flood the Hollows, a plan they discovered from a recording that Adam Fenix left Marcus at an abandoned facility when they escaped the Riftworm. Marcus boards a Brumak and makes his way into underground space beneath Jacinto's foundations and after losing the Lightmass bomb, they use the Lambent Brumak as a massive explosion to finally sink Jacinto and successfully flood the Hollows at the loss of humanity's last stronghold.

Gears of War 3
Eighteen months after the sinking of Jacinto, Marcus is aboard CNV Sovereign as part of the rapid reaction force. After being assaulted by Lambent forces, which were found out to be the reason behind the Locust invasion onto surface world of Sera, Marcus hears word that Prescott was still alive after abandoning humanity and was expected to land on the ship. A lambent Leviathan attacks the ship and Marcus, Dom and Delta squad are forced to destroy the ship at the cost of killing the Leviathan. Being stranded on shore, Marcus learns from a dying Prescott that his father was still alive and being held captive by Queen Myrrah all along.

Marcus and Delta squad then head out to find Col. Hoffman, who was part of a resistance force inland against the Lambent forces, to discover the location of where Queen Myrrah was holding his father. They regroup with Dizzy and make their way to Anvil Gate to locate Hoffman. After landing, Hoffman requests immediate assistance in defending the base from Lambent forces and after killing a Lambent Beserker, Marcus and the squad learn about a secret island called Azura which is protected by an artificial hurricane to keep out intruders.

As evident, nothing is as easy as it sounds and they discover a submarine to safely transport them to the island undetected, but first need to receive fuel. Marcus leads his squad to the fallen city of Mercy to retrieve fuel for the submarine from ex-tycoon Aaron Griffin. He only agree's to give Marcus fuel if he get's it for him and Marcus reluctantly accepts after Dizzy is taken hostage by Griffin and his forces. Marcus leads everyone to the Naval ship yards to receive the fuel but are ambushed by remaining Savage locust forces and Dom sacrificed his life for the mission to be successful.

Due to Dom's death, Marcus reaches a breaking-point and explodes on Griffin, forcing him to give up the fuel to Marcus. Marcus and the squad make their way to Azura in the submarine but are assaulted by defensive forces and a rouge Leviathan. Making it through a minefield and a whirlpool, they finally reach Azura and Marcus orders Dizzy to keep the submarine at a safe distance until they complete the mission. Marcus, guided by his father, deactivates the Maelstrom Barrier which was surrounding Azura allowing for the assault forces, led by Baird and Cole to arrive. With Delta squad finally reunited, they make an assault to free Adam Fenix who reveals he knew about the Locust and Queen Myrrah years before Emergence day. Adam reveals that he created a weapon to destroy the Locust and Lambent which were revealed to be a living paradisiacal organism which was slowly killing the planet and leaving humans largely unaffected the blast.

On their way to activate the weapon at Pinnacle tower, Marcus and his team are intercepted by Queen Myrrah who has learned of their plans and vows to stop them using her Tempest, a large moth-like creature. Marcus finally defeats the Tempest using the Hammer of Dawn which crashes down, knocking Myrrah off her mount. Moments before the weapon fully activates, Marcus' father reveals to him that he has been extensively exposed to imulsion over the years and once the weapon is fully primed, he will be killed. As Marcus grieves over his father's death, the inured Queen makes her way out of the rubble and is finally stabbed through the heart by Marcus using Dom's commando knife.

The weapon activates soon after and is shown to destroy all locust and lambent on Sera. As everyone celebrates and praises Marcus and his team for what they did, Marcus strips his armour and sits down a rock near the beach, unsure of what to do now that they have finally won. Anya, Marcus' love interest and long-time friend tells him that they look forward to tomorrow.

Personality
Marcus is a strictly professional, by the books soldier who isn't afraid to veer off a little to get the job done. Marcus is usually seen as cold, aggressive and distant especially after his father's death and his abandonment of his post after E-day. He rose to Corporal quickly when he joined the COG's and eventually Sergeant after Lt. Kim's death at the hand's of General RAAM during the events of the first Gears of War.

Trivia

 * Marcus was named Fenix because Cliff Bleszinski lost everything from his first failed marriage and was rising from his own ashes.
 * Before the game's release, Marcus' face looked a lot thinner and closer to normal proportions and scarless.
 * The game's designers said that they gave Marcus his scars as a way to give him a "used" look, a way of showing that he's seen combat and war before.
 * Marcus, along with Dom, appear in the multiplayer of the Capcom game Lost Planet 2.
 * In Gears of War: Judgment multiplayer, Young Marcus can be unlocked through a pre-order code from Gamestop/Game, among other retailers.
 * In Gears of War 4, five Marcus multiplayer skins are available: Armored Marcus, Biker Marcus, Old Man Marcus, V-Day Marcus and Vintage Marcus. His Old Man skin can only be unlocked via the Brothers to the End Elite Gear Pack players receive for pre-ordering the game, his Biker and V-Day skins are only available in the Marcus Fenix Gear Pack, and his Vintage skin is only available by crafting scrap.