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| “ | Aw, awww! | „ |
| ~ Stan's catchphrase, usually said when he is frustrated about something |
| “ | Oh my God, they killed Kenny! | „ |
| ~ Stan whenever Kenny dies, also his most famous quote |
| “ | Holy crap! Did you see that?! They arrested Terrance and Phillip! | „ |
| ~ Stan to Kyle and Cartman when Terrance and Phillip were arrested by Mothers Against Canada |
Stanley "Stan" Marsh is one of the main protagonists of the South Park franchise.
He is a 10-year-old boy who lives in the town of South Park, Colorado, enrolled in its titular elementary school as a fourth-grade student. He is most often seen with his friends, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick, between whom prominence levels are consistently exchanged as part of an ensemble cast, meaning multiple characters are allotted equal focus. He is also the love interest of Wendy Testaburger and best friends with Butters Stotch. Like Butters (and by extension most other kids), Stan gets grounded sometimes for his troubles and intolerant mouth.
He is the son of Randy and Sharon Marsh as well the younger brother of Shelley Marsh.
He is voiced by the series co-creator, Trey Parker (who voiced Cartman). In Croatian dub, he is voiced by Zoran Samardžić.
Appearance
Stan is mostly shown wearing a brown jacket with a red collar, a blue hat with a red puffball and rim, and blue jeans. Under his jacket, he either wears a red and blue baseball shirt or a white T-shirt/v-neck. He wear a white Terrance and Phillip shirt inside of his jacket. He also wears a blue Terrance and Phillip shirt to bed and a green suit for special occasions. In some episodes, it is clear he has black hair (like his father Randy) when his hat is partially or completely removed - this was first seen in "A Very Crappy Christmas".
All of the boys' hats are removed and their hair is seen for an extended period during the shower room scene in "Lil' Crime Stoppers", although Kenny's head is only seen from behind. Stan also apparently has blue eyes, as noted by Kyle when Butters draws their cartoon forms in "A Very Crappy Christmas", but this is uncertain because Kyle said it was similar because he had a sharper nose, so it could have been a mistake.
In "Good Times with Weapons", he was portrayed with brown eyes, so odds are it was Butters' error when his eyes were blue. Even at a young age, Stan has always worn his red and blue hat (as shown in "Pre-School") and even sleeps with it on.
Personality
Stan is generally the most depressed, relatable, tender, and sensitive of the four boys. He has a deadpan sense of humor and frequently finds himself frustrated or embarrassed with the eccentric stupidity of his father and the general adult population. Several episodes show him learning how the adult world works and about 90% of the time he winds up walking away in total disbelief of said adult's inane logic. He was also diagnosed with Aspergers and by the end of Ass Burgers episode, he secretly turned to drinking Jameson whiskey to soothe his low mood.
Stan often shows many positive traits, such as kindness, patience, and heroism, often being a very moral kid. Though his super best friend Kyle is arguably the most compassionate out of the four boys, Stan is not that far behind him and is much more consistently nice than nearly all of the characters in the show (with the exception of Butters Stotch). However, despite his kindness, Stan can also be somewhat arrogant and jerkish at times (like almost all of the other characters), especially with regards to certain topics and issues. He also has a tendency to give up doing absolutely anything after being angered (usually by Cartman and, later on in the show's run, his father Randy's stupidity). Stan also has something of a selfish streak, such as in "Butterballs", where Stan is adamant on creating an anti-bullying video to show the dangers of bullying, yet as Kyle pointed out, Stan only made the video for himself so he would look good in front of his classmates, where it would be a smart idea to release the video on the Internet where everyone can view it.
Stan is an avid animal lover, as he has a fondness for most animals, especially whales and dolphins, he even sets out to save them from the Japanese in "Whale Whores". He was willing to give up eating meat after finding out that veal was made from tortured calves.
Stan is usually the one who is unaffected by the many scams, cults, and mass influences that South Park has been subjected to and has a knack for seeing through falsely glorified practices and celebrities. However, this is not always the case. In "Trapped in the Closet" and "Ass Burgers", he is the only one of the boys shown to believe in scams, cults, and that an alien makes everyone see things normal. In two occurrences, Kyle took on this role and it is Stan who is the gullible one, such as in "Chinpokomon", or the metrosexual trend in "South Park is Gay!".
Stan has had a long-running crush on Wendy Testaburger. He had an unfortunate habit of throwing up whenever she talked to him. Stan usually takes on more daring pursuits just to impress her, most notably in the South Park movie where he helped form an organization dedicated to saving Terrence and Phillip. When Wendy broke up with him, Stan was nearly suicidal and decided to hang out with the Goth Kids. This phase predictably ended after one episode when Stan realized that his life was revolving around Wendy too much anyway. After several seasons of giving her the cold shoulder, Stan teams up with Wendy to uncover a conspiracy among the girls. This is enough for them to rekindle their romance and they become somewhat of a couple.
Like the other kids, Stan loves watching the Terrance and Phillip show as shown he and his friends managed to sneak into the Terrance and Phillip movie. Like all men, he hate queefing because it is gross and contagious as what happened to his friend, Butters Stotch. He left the dinner table with his dad, Randy when having enough of queefing.
With his three friends and Butters, Stan is afraid of his old bully from pre-school, Trent Boyett after he and his friends wrongfully arrested him.
| “ | Not Mr. Garrison, ma! He really is a sick weirdo! | „ |
| ~ Stan to Sharon about Mr. Garrison. |
Like every of his classmates, Stan hates Mr. Garrison because he is a sick weirdo which his father, Randy Marsh also agreed to him. Stan called Mr. Garrison as a "son of a bitch" for sending him homework while he is sick. He is shown displeased that Mr. Garrison is still his homeroom teacher when he became a 4th grader.
| “ | Yeah, whatever, ya fat bitch! | „ |
| ~ Stan insulting Mrs. Crabtree |
Stan also hates his previous school bus driver, Veronica Crabtree as he always calls her as a "fat bitch".
According to Craig Tucker, Stan hates baseball more than any of the Boys. Stan also takes old people driving seriously when they ended up kill somebody in an accident. He shown horrified face that the seniors are driving at the same time.
Heroism
Toolshed
Stan's heroic alter ego is Toolshed. Though he has no superpowers unlike Mysterion and Mintberry Crunch, he is a lawful gadgeteer that utilizes various tools to save the day along with the other South Park vigilantes. In South Park: The Fractured But Whole, he is a member of the Freedom Pals with Doctor Timothy, Mysterion, Tupperware, and Wonder Tweak. He may also work with other superheroes to battle General Disarray, Mark Zuckerburg, and others, saving citizens just like a typical superhero. He has a crush on Call Girl, Wendy Testaburger's heroic alter ego.
Normal Life
Living in South Park, his life is not normal. Due to the controversial nature of the show, Stan is shown committing some minor crimes such as filing a false police report, and framing Trent Boyett for arson that Stan committed.
However, Stan usually learns from his mistakes as shown when he apologizes to the parents for fraudulating their arrest ("The Wacky Molestation Adventure"), and other times his crimes were unintentional. He killed many zombies which seems heroic, but what he didn't know was that all he had to do was kill Zombie Kenny. He also committed arson for pissing on a fire but it was unintentional and doesn't count.
Some of his heroic acts include:
- Shows concern about people.
- After Cartman's attempt at bringing Christmas joy to Iraq (a rare instance of heroism), he convinces Santa Claus to go there only to be captured. Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Jesus Christ then rescue Santa Claus.
- Cures SARS in "Red Man's Greed", after his father telling him that the disease will kill 98% of South Park.
- Is responsible for stopping the shopping network host, Dean, from scamming elderly people, including his grandfather, with fake jewelry. The elderly people call Dean on-air telling him to kill himself, one even saying that the young boy enlightened her.
- Concerned about the kids going missing in town.
- His personality and social standing is supported by his friendliness towards other people. He tried hard to peacefully make peace with Token, and would try to make peace with all people when something outrageous would appear in South Park, such as the unethical Toilet Safety Administration, Blaintology, Dean, and others. He has a strong social standing in general.
- Shows concern about the lives of all of his friends, including Cartman.
- In "1%", he, Kyle, and Kenny try to protect Cartman from Stephen Tamill's "big plans", which almost killed Cartman.
- In "Kenny Dies", he wants to save Kenny, and finds it difficult to see him in his condition. He also tries to prevent him from contracting syphilis from Tammy Warner in "The Ring", a prediction which came true and unfortunately, Kenny dies again. He is worried about Kenny being sent to foster care. Even more unfortunate for Stan in the episode "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining", in a live action sequence, Stan is the one who takes the blame for Kenny's death, stating that he was the one who suggested going ziplining, which resulted in a disastrous boredom trip in which Kenny died. In no episode of South Park did he ever wish for Kenny to die.
- In "Cherokee Hair Tampons", he saves Kyle's life from Miss Information, guilty of hopemongering and child endangerment by giving Kyle bogus holistic medicine. Stan tried to prove Miss Information as a fraud, but failed, though later the Mexicans sold her out and she was beaten to death by angry adults. Stan is responsible for saving Kyle's life at the end of the episode by giving him a kidney from Cartman. He saves Kyle's faith in "Super Best Friends" and "Cartmanland", and in many other instances.
- In "Ginger Cow", Stan is worried about Kyle and him turning into "a dick".
- Stan and his friends threw a party to make amends for the way he acted to the fourth grade class.
- In "Slatty Tomatos", he is concerned about Tweek and helps Kyle look for his brother.
- Shows concern about animals.
- In "Whale Whores", he succeeds in saving the whales and dolphins from the Japanese, taking matters into his own hands and fighting the Japanese.
- In "Fun with Veal", he rescues baby cows to save them from the butcher.
- Various other heroic acts falling under any of these three categories:
Each of the boys (including Cartman) show various acts of heroism throughout the show, with their fair share of crimes. Except Cartman, who is the most villainous and morally questionable, does show heroism, but often the at the least frequency of the boys.
Criminal Record
Stan can be seen doing occasional criminal acts for the comedic and sometimes controversial nature of the show. These show a greyer version of the normally benevolent Stan. Here is the full list:
- Eco-terrorism/breaking and entering: Attempts to save baby cows' lives by stealing them from Farmer Carl Denkins and locks him Cartman, Kyle, and Butters in his room. Originally it technically is not terrorism but soon Cartman gives demand for a missile, an arsenal of weapons, and the name for veal changed to tortured baby cows.
In "Free Willzyx", him and his friends break into SeaWorld Park and steal the orca named Jambu. The boys were tricked by two employees into believing the whale wanted to be free and misses its family on the Moon. The boys eventually succeed with sending the whale to the Moon with the help of the Mexican Aeronautic Space Agency.
During the events of "Whale Whores", he joins the anti-whaling reality show Whale Wars and sinks many Japanese whaling ships with a flare gun and Molotov cocktails. He, Kenny, and Cartman get arrested by the Japanese and put in a prison cell together.
In "Ass Burgers", he broke into a random building while drunk and under the manipulation of the Secret Society of Cynics and began randomly firing an Uzi gun which contained several restaurant owners plotting to shut down Cartman's hamburger business.
In "The Pandemic Special", Stan breaks into the Build-A-Bear Workshop after it is forced to close because he is desperate to build a bear for Butters.
Illegal downloading: In "Christian Rock Hard", he downloads songs illegally which get him, Kenny, and Kyle arrested. However he never knew this law existed.
Framing: In "Pre-School", he and the others got Trent Boyett to set a fire in their preschool classroom and frame Trent for the crime. However the boys never intended for the fir to grow out of control.
Filing a false police report: In "The Wacky Molestation Adventure", he lied to the police about his parents and sister abusing him.
Hit-and-run: In "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", Stan and Cartman drove a boat into a beaver dam, which resulted in the flooding of Beaverton, and the deaths of 'hundreds of millions', despite the population of the town being only 8,000. It was also reported that people were looting, raping, and resorting to cannibalism (which is a stretch). However this was also an accident because Stan did not know that this accident would go very far and does not count on his criminal record.
Piracy: In "Whale Whores", he sinks a Japanese boat. However, this does not count because the Whale Wars show was supported by national television.
Violation of firearm laws/threatening with a deadly weapon: In "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce", Stan held Kyle's head at gunpoint and began to threaten him before revealing that he was the one who defecated in the school urinal simply to avoid missing out on recess, He was eventually punished by Mr. Mackey for it.
Attempted murder: Stan has attempted to kill Cartman with a laser gun when Cartman almost destroyed the world with his trapper keeper in "Trapper Keeper". In "Spontaneous Combustion" he and Kyle tied Cartman to a cross, knowing full well that he would die, in order to give Kyle's dad a resurrection. He has also been known at attempting to murder his own grandpa (at his grandpa's request). However he unintentionally attempts these assisted suicides.
Murder: In "Pinkeye", he and Cartman killed many zombies by cutting them in half with chainsaws. While this could be considered and generally is a heroic deed, hat neither of them knew at the time that all they had to do was kill the original zombie, Kenny.
Attempted unlicensed surgery: In "Cherokee Hair Tampons", when Cartman refused to donate his kidney to a dying Kyle, Stan tries to take it by force by breaking into his house and removing it with a saw, however Cartman outsmarts him by using the "Kidney Blocker 2000" to prevent this.
Unlicensed surgery: In "Jared Has Aides", He, Kyle and Cartman preformed unlicensed liposuction on Butters with a hose in order to get him thinner in hopes of getting money from a weight loss scam. They even framed Butters by simply running away and hiding, causing yet another grounding for Butters from his parents.
Theft: Cartman misled him into stealing a boat which ends up breaking a beaver dam. But this is mostly Cartman's fault.
Black marketing: In "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000", Stan came up with a plan with the boys in breaking into any rich kid's house and placing a tooth under their pillow and have their parents place money under their pillow only for them to steal it from them afterwards. Though this idea was already used by a boy named Loogie who started a business in doing these and ended up joining his business, thought one of the members of the American Dental Association suspected this and was later caught by them but was not punished for due to Kyle's rather unusual altering reality abilities. Since this is black marketing, this act was illegal and branded on his criminal record.
Underage smoking: He along with Cartman, Kenny, and Kyle smoked in order to not be like the anti-smoking group Butt Out!.
Underage drinking and alcoholism: He was given alcohol by a group of people who supposedly had Asperger's Syndrome, because they all literally saw the world as "shit". They consistently make Stan drink to do "missions", and although Stan later said he was through with that group, he still had a bottle of whiskey in his drawer. However, he had few alternatives because he apparently requires alcohol to cure himself of his cynicism.
Indecent exposure: In "Butterballs", Stan's awareness video about bullying fails and the school ends up being sued by Dr. Mehmet Oz. Stan resorts to going to San Diego, stripping his clothes, and masturbating (or rather dancing) in public though he was never arrested for this act and this rather amused San Diego's populace. He performed this act again in "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" when he successfully raised awareness of how horrible ziplining was for him.
Property damage: In "Skank Hunt", Stan and the rest of the fourth grade boys except for Kenny, destroy all of Cartman's electrical devices into believing he was Skankhunt42. Later on, he and the other boys regretted what they did when they figured out that Cartman was not Skankhunt42.
Skills and Talents
Music
Stan appears to be very musically talented. He was a top 1% player at Guitar Hero, having reached a legendary score, only to be called "Fags" (along with Kyle) by the game's announcer, in "Guitar Queer-O". But he has done the real thing too, most notably as the lead vocalist of death metal band Crimson Dawn ("Band in China"), with Kenny as the bassist, Jimmy as the drummer, and Butters as the lead performance and clean backup vocals. Death growling is a rare musical talent that is tied to the death metal genre of extreme metal, with the technique becoming capable of damaging your vocal cords. Death metal is regarded to be a very difficult genre to perform due to this and the talent it takes with a guitar and drumming.
Another band Stan was in for a short time blended a weird mix of genres to form "a group of Vietnamese people having their intestines pulled out of their mouths", Moop. They did not literally sound like this, it was more of an odd mix of folk rock (Kyle), Latin jazz (Kenny), and Stan states that he's "more R&B and hip hop oriented". This was in the Season 7 episode "Christian Rock Hard", and appears to have no continuity since the Season 23 episode "Band in China" shows Stan to be a death metal vocalist, and because of many other prior instances identifying him with rock music. They were never shown actually playing music since they were on strike to hopefully prevent listeners from illegally downloading their music, and them forgetting to actually play music resulted in Cartman selling 1 million copies of their debut album as Faith + 1, a Christian rock band, which was more along the lines of folk rock.
However, one of his most notable moments of his musical talent surfacing was as a member of the boy band Fingerbang in the Season 4 episode "Something You Can Do With Your Finger", which was formed by Eric Cartman. The Boys were the original lineup, but following Kenny being crushed by an elevator, Randy Marsh and Wendy Testaburger became the other members of the boy band.
Stan has average dancing skills ("You Got F'd in the A"), is capable of both clean vocals and harsh vocals, and knows how to play the guitar well. He is also an expert at Guitar Hero. Contrary to continuity, in "Christian Rock Hard" he claims that he doesn't play music for money any longer, but in "Butterballs" he lets fame get to his head and becomes more self-centered following the success of the lip dub he directed, "Make Bullying Kill Itself".
Other Talents
- Leadership: Although there is no specific leader within his primary group of friends, Stan is often the one to motivate the other boys, due to his moral beliefs, as seen in episodes such as "Fun with Veal".
- Weaponry: For his age, Stan appears proficient with weaponry. In "Red Sleigh Down", he was able to hold an M16 assault rifle (but didn't actually use it), and in "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce", he was able to get hold of a handgun. In "Whale Whores", Stan was able to take a flare gun and fire a flare into the fuel storage of a Japanese whaling ship, resulting in the whole ship blowing up. He commandeered the Sea Shepard in the same episode and sunk a fleet of Japanese whaling ships with a rather impressive arsenal for a 9 year old, including Molotov cocktails and a large caliber deck gun. His proficiency is probably a result of his Uncle Jimbo's influence.
- Driving: Stan is able to drive despite being only in 4th grade. Not only can he steer a car, but also a sleigh ("Red Sleigh Down"), a bus ("Night of the Living Homeless"), and a boat ("Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow").
- Sports: Stan is athletically proficient, but is not an athlete. In school he has a history with soccer, and is competent though inferior to Kyle at basketball, and was a brief member of the school wrestling team and pee-wee hockey team. He also plays dodgeball. Outside of school he has a history of skiing, beating an experienced skiier named Tad. In summer, Stan is a team captain and pitcher in the baseball team although he and his friends hates baseball due to their parents forced them to play.
Quotes
| “ | You don't even know what you're debating about half the time! | „ |
| ~ Stan to Cartman |
| “ | Dude, this is worse than child tracker. | „ |
| ~ Stan to Kyle when bringing their parents to school |
| “ | This is about more than fart jokes. This is about freedom of speech, about censorship, and stuff. | „ |
| ~ Stan in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut |
| “ | What do I do? I Stan ground. | „ |
| ~ Stan in "A Scause For Applause" |
| “ | What would Brian Boitano do? | „ |
| ~ Stan Marsh |
| “ | America may have some problems, but it's our home, our team. And if you don't wanna root for your team, then you should get the hell out of the stadium. | „ |
| ~ Stan in Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants |
| “ | We're all looking for answers, you know. We all want to understand who we are and where we come from, but sometimes we want to know the answers so badly that we believe just about anything... | „ |
| ~ Stan in Trapped in the Closet |
| “ | Why? There's nothing but shit on TV. Video games are all shit and the world's a big turd. The only thing that doesn't seem like total shit to me are my friends and they're all sick! | „ |
| ~ Stan in You're Getting Old |
| “ | How do you go on when nothing makes you happy? | „ |
| ~ Stan in Ass Burgers |
| “ | Dad! You're the greatest. | „ |
| ~ Stan at the end of "The Losing Edge" |
| “ | Mom, will you get Dad out of here? | „ |
| ~ Stan calling Sharon after Randy yells at him for turning off the console in "Guitar Queer-O" |
| “ | I want to be proud of who we are, guys. And anyone who would betray their ideals, just to make money in China, isn't worth a lick of spit! | „ |
| ~ Stan in Band in China |
| “ | I've been acting like this because I can't take these shutdowns anymore and I'm scared what it's doing to me! I'm looking for who to blame. Saying I'm trying to help people to make myself feel better because the truth is I just want to have fun again! I wanted to see that I can go out in the world and do things that I used to do, but I can't! I'm not any better and I don't care any more than anyone else and I did all this because I just want my life back! I just want my life back. | „ |
| ~ Stan's speech in The Pandemic Special about the effects of the lockdown on him |
| “ | John Edwards: Everything I tell people is positive and gives them hope! How does that make me a douche?! Stan Marsh: Because the big questions in life are tough: Why are we here? Where are we from? Where are we going? But if people believe in asshole douchey liars like you, we're never gonna find the real answer to those questions. You aren't just lying, you're slowing down the progress of all mankind, you douche! |
„ |
| ~ Stan's famous speech to John Edwards |
| “ | You don't wanna be home-schooled, fatass. | „ |
| ~ Stan to Cartman |
Relationships
Stan is one of the leaders of the male student population in South Park Elementary, and therefore is well acquainted with most of the students. He is one of the few characters that always gets along with the girls and was voted third cutest by them in "The List". He is respected and liked by pretty much everyone. He also has gone out of his way to make peace with his fellow students, like when he tries to make things right with Token Black after Randy says the N-word on "Wheel of Fortune" (thinking he would win money) in "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson".
Kyle Broflovski
Stan and Kyle's personalities tend to be similar, especially in the earlier seasons, but are not quite interchangeable despite recurring belief, as they have developed more distinct and complex personalities during the show's run. Still, they are considered the closest friends out of the four, though Cartman and Kenny do not have a close bond of their own.
Stan and Kyle have been great friends since the very beginning of the show. Stan seems to be the only character in the show who gets along with all of the main and background characters. They have been known to end up working together in certain adventures, such as in "Fantastic Easter Special", and are often dragged into the same circumstances due to this, such as in "Imaginationland, Episode II". Stan has saved Kyle's life on several occasions without hesitation, most notably in "Super Best Friends", and has once stated that he does not want Kyle to die until he does. He nearly always defends Kyle when Cartman's hatred of him goes over the top, such as in "Cartmanland" and "Cherokee Hair Tampons". Stan often becomes anxious about Kyle when he is tricked by various scams or becomes immersed in his hatred of Cartman, bending over backwards to encourage or reassure Kyle, convince him otherwise, or to get him out of trouble.
| “ | No way, dude. Home ec. is for girls. | „ |
| ~ Stan to Kyle when home ec. is only for girls. |
In "Tweek vs. Craig", Kyle tells Stan that shop class suck and should have picking home economics. Stan says home ec. is for girls.
They are frequently seen together, or talking to each other, even in the absence of Cartman or Kenny, making them rather like twins. This had been shown all the way from the opening credits of the show, where they sing the same lines together. However, their friendship has hit bumps in a number of episodes, such as "Prehistoric Ice Man", "Super Best Friends", "Kenny Dies", "South Park is Gay!", "Douche and Turd", "Follow That Egg!", "Guitar Queer-O", "You're Getting Old", "Ass Burgers", and "Truth and Advertising". They have reconciled on-screen in all of these episodes, with the exceptions of "South Park is Gay!", "Douche and Turd", and "You're Getting Old", although all those times they were shown to be friends in the next episode. The episode "Guitar Queer-O" focuses more than any other on their friendship, as a big argument between the two forms the major conflict of the story. However, in the end they reconcile, with no lasting damage done to the friendship.
When their parents come with them to school, Stan tells Kyle that this is worse than Child Tracker.
Stan also had a great deal of concern when Kyle was voted the ugliest boy in the class in "The List". Their friendship is so strong that Cartman calls them "fags" and has even commented, "You wanna get a room so you can make out for a while?" in "Super Best Friends". It is also notable that in "Imaginationland, Episode III", Kyle was the only person who could hear Stan's voice in his head when Stan was trapped in Imaginationland though it was most likely due the shock he got from the portal.
Eric Cartman
| “ | Come on, fatass. We have to go. | „ |
| ~ Stan to Cartman |
Cartman and Stan are fairly good friends and don't argue as much as Cartman argues with Kyle. Although Stan usually spends most of his time with Kyle, there have been episodes where he has spent time with Cartman. In "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", Stan and Cartman hang out at the boating rack, and Cartman even comments that it is great that they are hanging out with each other without Kyle, implying that Cartman at least would prefer to have a closer friendship with Stan. Stan meanwhile seems to be more accepting or at least tolerant of Cartman than Kyle and even Kenny at times, such as in "Fat Butt and Pancake Head". While Kyle is immediately distrustful of Cartman's truthfulness in his claim that he cannot control the actions of his hand (which has seemed to take on a life of its own), Stan gives Cartman the benefit of the doubt and admits that, with all the stuff that happens in South Park, Cartman could be telling the truth. Stan always called Cartman as "Fatass".
| “ | Here, Cartman. Have some Snacky Cakes. | „ |
| ~ Stan to Cartman when calming him down with Snacky Cakes. |
In "Death", when Cartman insulted by Stan's grandfather, Marvin Marsh, Stan gives Cartman his favorite Snacky Cakes to calm him down from Marvin's provokes in order to kill him.
In "Weight Gain 4000", Stan making fun of Cartman for getting more weight by eating Weight Gain 4000 and calling Cartman as "Super Fatass" when Cartman thinks he is bulking up only to become a big fatass.
When Cartman decided to become home-schooled due to Mr. Garrison ridiculing him, Stan says to Cartman "You don't wanna be home-schooled, fatass".
In "Woodland Critter Christmas", Cartman made Stan the protagonist of his Christmas story (he is described as 'the boy in a red poof-ball hat'), showing that Cartman sees Stan as a heroic figure of sorts. In "Douche and Turd", Stan votes for Cartman's mascot instead of Kyle's, much to Kyle's dismay. Also, in "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus", when Stan appears to be the only boy who hasn't gotten their period, Cartman reassures him that he will get it one day.
In "Fun with Veal", when Stan was hospitalized with 'vaginitis', Cartman seemed concerned and was relieved that Stan was saved just in time. This is a rare occasion when Cartman has put his friends in front of his own personal gain, as he helped Stan stop people from eating veal even though he did not get anything in return for it and would be starving himself for days. He also tells the FBI negotiator that "There's a sick kid up here" (referring to Stan) when negotiating to release the calves, showing that he is worried about Stan's health.
It is implied that in "Prehistoric Ice Man that Stan considers Cartman his second best friend. When Stan and Kyle fell out in the episode, Stan claimed that his new best friend was Cartman (as did Kyle), but they both claimed that 'Cartman sucks as a best friend' when they made up. This could be because Stan really values his best friendship with Kyle. Either way, it is clear that Stan does consider Cartman as a close friend. Also in "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", Cartman wants to kick Kyle and Tweek out of the group, but doesn't want to kick out Stan, which implies that Cartman likes having Stan as a friend.
However, in "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants", Cartman declares that he hates Stan because Stan loves animals. Even so, In "Trapped in the Closet", all three boys de-friend Stan after he becomes the leader of Scientology. As the boys leave, Cartman turns to Stan and says, "I still hate Kyle more than you". The two can also be said to be friends because they admitted to "being friends" in front of the home school kids.
In "Eat, Pray, Queef", Stan and Cartman were looking forward of watching Terrance and Phillip but suddenly disappointed and disgusted of the Queef Sisters (which they considered the new show to be a disgusting crap). Cartman, Stan and the other boys were angry at the Canada Network for making a new show (which is filthy and garbage) instead of Terrance and Phillip. Cartman, Stan and all the boys join with all the male adults to ban queefing, which ended up into a success.
In some episodes Stan is shown having a strong hatred for Cartman, even if Cartman isn't doing anything. In "Trapper Keeper" when the cyborg says he has to kill Cartman, Stan asks if he can do it, and prepares to shoot Cartman before the cyborg decides against the idea. Although Stan is much more tolerant of Cartman than Kyle is, he often holds Cartman in very high contempt for his unacceptable behavior. In "Sexual Healing", Stan and Cartman were seen playing Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 together, hinting that despite Cartman's behaviors, Stan still considers him a "friend". However, in "Bass to Mouth", when Mr. Mackey claimed that Cartman killed himself for being fat when the school faculty "threw him under the bus", Stan was more concerned with keeping Eavesdropper from posting its "biggest story" than with any injuries Cartman may have suffered.
Kenny McCormick
Although Kenny and Stan do not seem to share the same bond that Stan and Kyle do, Stan sees Kenny as a close friend. In "Kenny Dies", out of the 3 boys, Stan has the hardest time dealing with Kenny dying, and cannot even bear to see him in the hospital. When Stan finally realizes that Kenny passed on "for good", he feels like he is Kenny's worst friend (until they hear about Cartman's selfishness). The two boys often hang out with one another when Cartman and Kyle get into their arguments and Stan and Kenny don't want to listen to it, such as in "The Passion of the Jew". In "Best Friends Forever", Stan and Kyle fight against Cartman to not have Kenny's feeding tube removed to save Kenny's life.
However, in "Cherokee Hair Tampons", when all hope seems lost to save Kyle and Stan breaks down crying in front of Kenny because of Kyle's impending death, he doesn't seem to care or even acknowledge the fact that Kenny dies all the time. This angers Kenny and makes him leave Stan to go home - which in turn causes his death by walking under a falling piano, and even then Stan still fails to notice or care.
In "Tweek vs. Craig", Stan calls Kenny a "wuss" for choosing Home ec. instead of Shop Class when Stan says Home ec. is for girls.
| “ | Yeah, but Cartman drank Kenny's remains, and now Kenny's soul is trapped in Cartman's body. | „ |
| ~ Stan to Mr. Garrison when Kenny's soul is inside of Cartman. |
He and Kyle realized that Kenny is inside of Cartman's body after drinking his remains.
During the first five seasons, Stan would almost always be the first to react in horror by saying, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!", after one of Kenny's classic deaths. Of course, immediately after, Kyle would say "You Bastards!" and he wouldn't acknowledge Kenny again after that. The only times that Stan would treat Kenny's death with immediate unconcern was when he was preoccupied with something important such as in "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000", and "Gnomes". In "Chef Goes Nanners", both Stan, Kyle, and even Gerald Broflovski, show a complete lack of horror or concern for Kenny's death after he eats dozens of anti-acid tablets and drinks water at which point he explodes. Instead all of them laugh and clap, finding that particular death "a good one."
In "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", Kenny as Mysterion tries to convince Stan and Kyle about the truth of his deaths and that they never remember, even to the point of shooting himself to prove it. Much to Mysterion's dismay, this does not work as no one who sees it remembers.
Wendy Testaburger
Stan's had feelings for Wendy Testaburger since the pilot episode, where the two worked together with Kyle to save his little brother from the Visitors.. even if he gets so nervous around her vomits uncontrollably every time she speaks. Nonetheless, the two formed a relationship - meeting up for Truth or Dare in his clubhouse, planning fake cruises for Valentine's Day and seeing independent movies together at the film festival.
They shared their very first kiss in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut after Stan impressed her by leading the La Resistance forces into action, but after a sexually-transmitted disease scare and a period of silence, she broke up with him (in "Raisins"), leaving him heartbroken and depressed. He recovered soon after but remained bitter for a while.
| “ | You can't call my girlfriend a bitch! | „ |
| ~ Stan to Butter when calling Wendy a bitch. |
Stan doesn't like anyone who calls Wendy as a "bitch" or else he will kick their asses such as Butters.
They eventually rekindled their relationship through the adventures in Season 11's "The List" and seem to have had a much closer and more involved relationship, planning picnics together and studying together after-school. Wendy paid Dr. Chinstrap to help Stan with his hoarding problem and remained concerned about him when he became a "cynical asshole". Stan has, in turn, tried not to embarrass her too much at Pioneer Village and listens to her stupid muthafuckin' problems.
They've both shown signs of possessiveness - Wendy doesn't take kindly to Stan's other Facebook friends or interest in sexy substitutes and Stan freaked out when she befriended Gregory of Yardale, an exchange student, when he thought Kyle might be interested in her and when she displayed an interest in Bridon Gueermo.
Season 20 saw them breaking up (though this was not by her choice and she was forced into it by the other girls) in a gender war due to SkankHunt42 trolling the girls at school and their moms. Wendy expected Stan to do something about this troll, but Stan had no idea whom the troll was, so at this time their relationship is on hold as Stan tries to find a way to win Wendy back. They are initially on neutral terms until Butters and the other boys (bar Stan and Kyle) protest to the national anthem by pulling their pants down and saluting with a straight arm. They then seem to side with their respective genders. Later in "Oh, Jeez" Stan is shown trying to get Wendy back with the help of Bill Clinton. The meet is interrupted when Butters calls Stan a traitor and "presses pickle" on the window. What happened after that is unknown.
As of "South Park: The Fractured But Whole" they appear to have gotten back together, as evident by the fact that they are listed as dating on the character chart and their continuous flirtatious dialogue between them when they are on the battlefield together as well as Stan referring to her as "his Call Girl" and Wendy referring to him as "her Toolshed".
Butters Stotch
| “ | Butter, seriously! If you don't stop this, I'll kick you ass! | „ |
| ~ Stan to Butters when calling Wendy a bitch. |
Butters Stotch is one of Stan's friends. He, Butters and the two other boys (Kyle and Cartman) stole the baby calves and defying their parents, causing their parents to grounded them despite they've learned their lessons and need to learn the terrorism is never the answer. When hearing Butters beats up Scott Malkinson and locked himself up into the boys' bathroom, Stan and his friends tries to make out with Butters, but instead, he yelled at them. Stan warned Butters to stop calling Wendy as a "bitch" or else he will kick his ass. Stan and the other boys visits Butters who was sicked from queefing abused and took his photo of him being a queefed victim, to ban queefing for life.
Tweek Tweak
Tweek is one of Stan's friends. In Tweek vs. Craig, Stan thinks Tweek is a troublemaker because he always got into troubles. In Child Abduction Is Not Fun, Stan blamed Tweek for letting himself being abducted.
Craig Tucker
Craig is one of Stan's friends and the Boys' main rival. Stan doesn't see Craig as a troublemaker despite his habits of flipping people off.
Clyde Donovan
Clyde is one of Stan's friends.
Tolkien Black
Tolkien (or Token which everyone calls him) is one of Stan's friends.
Mr. Garrison
| “ | That son of a bitch! What kind of sick weirdo is he?! | „ |
| ~ Stan when Mr. Garrison published his homework to him even when he is sick at the hospital. |
Stan hates Mr. Garrison for being a sick weirdo. Mr. Garrison refused to believe Stan how he got a black eye (it was from his sister, Shelley). While Stan was sick at the hospital for having chicken pox, Stan calls Mr. Garrison as a "son of a bitch" for giving him homework even though he is sick. He tells his mother, Sharon that Mr. Garrison is really a sick weirdo which Randy agreed that Mr. Garrison is a sick weirdo. Stan also expressed his disappointment that Mr. Garrison became the next 4th grade teacher.
Mr. Mackey
Stan is shown close with Mr. Mackey.
Family
Randy Marsh
| “ | I'm going too. | „ |
| ~ Stan when going with Randy after his mom queefed. |
Stan has a complicated relationship with his father. While he seems to love him, Randy can be a total dimwit at times, and his relationship with Stan, and even the entire family has gone downhill ever since starting Tegridy Farms in Season 22. Randy has done a lot of things to his family's annoyance, such as flying to China to do business against their wishes, videotaping everyday antics, and buying a Blockbuster Video shop in "A Nightmare on Face Time". The intolerance of Blockbuster being outdated due to digital movie streaming makes Randy literally go insane.
Generally, Randy's actions are not out of intentional abuse, and normally they seem to have a fairly good relationship. Randy genuinely cares about Stan, not wanting him to fall down the same path he took after forming his own boy band, showing that he is protective of Stan. He was also the one to teach Stan how to defend himself from getting "served", to defend himself against the Orange County Crew. Usually though, Stan gets annoyed at Randy's stupidity and alcoholism, his love being more like how one can love a sibling and still be annoyed by one of their frequent habits.
In baseball games, Stan is getting embarrassed when Randy is fighting the other teams' dads and later arrested by the police many times. When realizing Stan and the other team will be disqualified from the game if he continues to fight against Bat Dad, Stan cheers his dad to get up and managed to beat Bat Dad as a result of South Park's disqualification. Before Randy was taking away by the police again, Stan tells Randy that he is the greatest much of his father's happiness.
Randy (like the Stotches) sometimes grounded Stan for his troubles and intolerant mouth as well taking his son to his work while grounded.
Stan and Randy share their favorites of watching Terrance and Phillip and commonly shared that queefing is gross ever since Stan's friend, Butters Stotch got sick as well they both leaves the dinner table when having enough of queefing.
Sharon Marsh
Stan has a good relationship with his mother, who is very protective of Stan. She is very caring towards Stan, showing distress at him being missing in "Pandemic" and at Stan being in school during a school shooting in "Dead Kids". Unlike Stan's father, Sharon is level-headed. But like his dad, Stan dislikes his mom for queefing when it is gross.
Sharon (like the Stotches) sometimes grounded Stan for his troubles and intolerant mouth.
Shelley Marsh
Shelley is Stan's older sister, who lives the life of a violent bully and abusive sibling towards Stan. She acts normal when her parents are around, but around just Stan she would beat him up most of the time as well she beats up Kyle, Cartman and Kenny. The one instance where the parents noticed Shelley's violence towards Stan was in "Over Logging", and since then Shelley rarely shows violence towards him ever since. Despite that, Stan seems to look up to her as her older sister, coming to her for advice on what to do about the bully Trent Boyett. She is mostly, though not always a bully, though she often calls Stan and his friends "turds".
Marvin Marsh
Marvin Marsh, whom Stan often calls "Grandpa", is Stan's grandfather. Stan and his grandpa have a good relationship, and both he and his sister Shelly love him. Due to suffering from Alzheimer's, Marvin always addresses Stan as "Billy", and when Stan is referred to by his real name by other people, he'll ask "Who's Stan?". He's 102 years old, confined to a wheelchair, and is senile. He occasionally asks Stan to kill him in assisted suicide. Unlike him and his father Randy, Marvin hates the Terrance and Phillip show.
Grandma Marsh
Grandma Marsh is Stan's grandmother, whom Stan doesn't get to see. Stan was forced by Randy to friend her on Facebook. She is a mostly unseen character due to being hospitalized, only seen in the episode "You Have 0 Friends", though this was only an avatar Stan saw of her while being literally inside Facebook. Stan feels no relationship with her.
Jimbo Kern
Jimbo Kern is Stan's uncle, whom Stan often calls "Uncle Jimbo", and is a gun nut. They seem to have a fine relationship.
Flo Kimble
Flo Kimble is Stan's great aunt, who first appeared and died in "Spookyfish".
Stan's Goldfish
Stan's Goldfish killed Kenny and Aunt Flo, but people believed Stan to be the killer. The goldfish, which was given to him by Aunt Flo, was eventually killed after an attack from an angry mob of morbid animals led Sharon to believe that Stan's absurdity was the truth all along.
Sparky
Sparky is Stan's dog, that Stan aroused after repeating something Cartman showed him, not knowing what sex is. The dog is also shown to be gay, interacting with Clyde's dog, Rex, and a street dog named Sylvester. For this reason, Sparky briefly ran away from Stan, since Stan did not accept the dog's homosexuality. He later came back to retrieve Sparky from Big Gay Al, coming to fix his homosexuality, though Big Gay Al teaches him that being gay is okay. Sparky rarely makes an appearance, and it is unclear what the relationship with Stan's dog is.
Trivia
- Stan is based off of Trey Parker, like how Kyle is based off of Matt Stone, sharing the same parent names and birthday as him.
- Stan is the only one of the four who has never contracted a terminal illness, as both Kyle and Cartman contracted AIDS in "Tonsil Trouble" and Kenny contracted muscular dystrophy in "Kenny Dies".
- Stan has been shown to be an animal rights activist: he protected baby calves from slaughter in "Fun with Veal", joined PETA (though only to survive because if he didn't he would have starved in the wilderness) in "Douche and Turd", and headed the Whale Wars crew for a while in "Whale Whores".
- In the episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft", the Warcraft executive tells Randy they need to get the sword to a great knight, by the name of 'LUVS2SPWGE'. However, at the start of the episode, when viewing Stan's game screen you can read Stan's character name is "Staniscool".
- Before Season Four, Stan was never seen without his hat, even when he was in bed.
- Stan is the last one of the four boys to have a supernatural power at one point. Kyle has disappeared and briefly became an omniscient being by studying existentialism in "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000". Cartman has the ability to see and hear ghosts, and the ability to fire electricity at people in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Kenny has had the power of immortality throughout the series. Stan obtains momentaneous powers, like flying, apparent telekinesis/superforce and projecting fire from hands and mouth, when Satan possesses him, in order to fight Beelzaboot in "Freemium Isn't Free".
- Stan has said "Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here" on at least three Christmas specials: "Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo", "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!" and "Red Sleigh Down". He says these when something strange happens. In "Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo", he says it when Mr. Hankey appears. In "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", he says it when him and the others go to celebrate Christmas with "Charlie Manson". And in "Red Sleigh Down", he says it when Jesus is shot by an Iraqi.
- Stan has a somewhat stronger digestive system than many others do as shown in "Dead Celebrities", since he is able to eat at Chipotle without bleeding out his ass afterwards. Cartman even remarks that Stan has a "golden rectum of the gods".
- Stan has Asthma. In "Sexual Harassment Panda", Cartman takes Stan's inhaler.
- Stan's anime counterpart from the episode "Good Times with Weapons" bears a large resemblance to Capcom's character "Ryu" from Street Fighter.
- So far, Stan is the only one of the boys who hasn't shown any gender-swapping tendencies. Cartman was shown dressed up as Britney Spears in "AWESOM-O", Kyle had a female avatar in "Make Love, Not Warcraft", and Kenny dressed like a princess in three of the last four episodes of Season Seventeen and South Park: The Stick of Truth.
- As of "201" Stan is the only one of the four boys who does not have a redheaded parent.
- Stan is depicted as a jock by the goth kids in "Breast Cancer Show Ever".
- Stan is the only one of the four boys not to have the "Oh my god, They killed..." quote about him.
- His role in season 19, 20 and 21 somewhat diminished. However, he would later serve as the main protagonist of The Pandemic Special where he is used to represent the emotional effect of the lockdown on individuals.
- In "Band in China", Stan forms a death metal band called Crimson Dawn, of which he is the main vocalist in, who uses the death growl technique synonymous to death metal. Coincidentally, the name sounds very similar to Crimson Thorn, another death metal band.
- The songs they play are actual songs by actual death metal bands: "Useless Sacrifice" by Death Decline, and "Second Skin" by Dying Fetus.
- According to his girlfriend Wendy Testaburger, Stan has short legs.
- In Block 13 (a Kuwaiti parody of South Park), Stan's counterpart is Hammoud.
- Unlike Stan (when having angry issue), Hammoud lacks anger issue when he is not sent to the principal off or being yelled by his teachers. He is good friends with Abboud (who is a counterpart of Cartman) but it was not on and off.
External Link
- Stan Marsh on the South Park Wiki
