Duke Nukem

Duke Nukem is a fictional character and action hero who has been the protagonist  in over a dozen video games.

The character first appeared in the 1991 video game  Duke Nukem  (also temporarily known as "Duke Nukum") developed by Apogee Software. He has since starred in multiple sequels developed by 3D Realms, and presently by  Gearbox Software  who have since bought the rights to Duke Nukem and own the intellectual property.| [2]  The character was created by  video game developers   Todd Replogle , Jim Norwood, George Broussard, and  Scott Miller  of Apogee Software. The character was redesigned into the present tough guy incarnation by George Broussard and Allen Blum for the 1996  game  Duke Nukem 3D . In the dozen or so Duke Nukem games since Duke Nukem 3D, this incarnation of the character has been constant, and voiced by voice actor Jon St. John .| [1]  A sequel to Duke Nukem 3D,  Duke Nukem Forever , had been in  development hell  since at least 1997. The game was released in the US on June 14, 2011 and was released worldwide on June 10, 2011.| [3] | [4]

edit ] Personality / appearance
In the original two games Duke Nukem barely spoke and was portrayed as a self-proclaimed hero, initially hired by the CIA  to save Earth from Dr. Proton. According to the information from the backside of the Duke Nukem Character Memory Card he is 6'4" (1,93 m)| [5] and weighs 240 lbs. (109 kg).| [5]  Duke's personality in all his games since the third game in the series,  Duke Nukem 3D , has been that of a wise-cracking,  hyper-masculine  tough guy. It should be noted that in Duke Nukem II he starts to move more into the direction of a traditional action hero. His missions generally involved killing  aliens  that had invaded  Earth . He is apparently sexually adept and irresistible to women, and circumstances generally find him surrounded by many buxom women. He does, however, frequently mention an estranged love named "Lani" in numerous games, although she is never elaborated on and seems to be the butt of many of his jokes. (Indeed, in  Duke Nukem 3D , it is shown that he has a tattoo of her name on one of his buttocks.) This is widely believed to be a reference to Lani Minella, a voice actress that has done several voices for Duke Nukem 3D.

Duke Nukem's character is a pastiche of a number of Hollywood action heroes, such as those played by  John Wayne ,  Charles Bronson  in  Death Wish ,  Arnold Schwarzenegger  in  Commando ,  Sylvester Stallone  as  Rambo ,  Bruce Willis  as  John McClane  in  Die Hard ,  Kurt Russell  as Jack Burton from  Big Trouble in Little China ,  Roddy Piper 's character Nada from  They Live , and  Bruce Campbell  as  Ash Williams  from  The Evil Dead  series. Even his most famous line "It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum" came from the movie "They Live" with Roddy Piper saying "I have come to chew bubble gum and kick ass and I'm all out of bubble gum". His appearance resembles characters played by Dolph Lundgren  and  Jean-Claude Van Damme .[ citation needed ]

Voiced by Jon St. John  in all incarnations in which the character speaks (with the exception of  Duke Nukem II ), Duke's voice is based on that of  Clint Eastwood  as  Dirty Harry .| [6]

Like the characters often played by Schwarzenegger and Stallone, Duke is a confident, aggressive, and frequently politically incorrect  muscle man, who, although not  superhuman, nonetheless manages to achieve incredible physical feats of violence and conquest through sheer machismo and expertise with automatic firearms. (However, a poster in the "barracks" in Episode 4, Level 1, suggests Duke Nukem may have been genetically engineered.) Other than a wide array of automatic firearms, explosives, and energy weapons, Duke is best known for his trademark jet pack, which gives him the ability to fly short distances in quick bursts. He is also known for his golden Colt 1911 Pistol  and  sunglasses, which completely conceal his eyes and which he has not been seen without (even at night) since Duke Nukem 3D, his leathers, his motorbikes, and his  platinum blond , military-style haircut, which is existent since the first game. In every game, he traditionally wears a red tank top and blue jeans. In some of the games, Duke has a melee attack known as the "Mighty Foot", which is basically a strong kick to the face.

In  Duke Nukem II , it is shown that Duke wrote an autobiography entitled Why I'm So Great. This will later become autographed by Duke in Duke Nukem Forever.

Like the character played by Bruce Campbell, Nukem is also a smart-mouth (although Duke's humor is somewhat less sarcastic and more straightforwardly aggressive, a few of  Duke Nukem 3D 's phrases are taken directly from the Campbell vehicle  Army of Darkness ; Campbell has expressed anger at not being consulted or paid for the use of these phrases| [7]  | [8]  ), and his sneering visage is often found speaking  one-liners  while slaughtering his enemies.