Marvin the Martian


Marvin the Martian is an extraterrestrial character from Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. He frequently appears as a villain in cartoons and video games, and wears helmet and skirt. The character was voiced by Mel Blanc, Joe Alaskey, Bob Bergen and Eric Bauza, among others.
The character first appeared as an antagonist in the 1948 Bugs Bunny cartoon Haredevil Hare. He went on to appear in four more cartoons produced between 1952 and 1963.

Conception and creation

Marvin's design was based on a style of armor usually worn by the Roman god Mars. "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 was never named in the original shorts - he was referred to as the Commander of Flying Saucer X-2 in The Hasty Hare in 1952. However, in 1979, once the character attracted merchandising interest, the name "Marvin" was selected for The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie. Before though, Jones personally referred to him as Antwerp, due to his ant inspired conception, as well as Jones finding the Martian’s personality as a twerp. The name was even used for official Looney Tunes media and merchandise before The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie was released.
Marvin appeared in five theatrical cartoons from 1948 to 1963:
Marvin hails from the planet Mars, but is often found elsewhere. He is often accompanied by his dog "K-9", and sometimes by other creatures.
Marvin wears a Roman soldier's uniform, with basketball shoes. The style of these shoes resembles the Chuck Taylor All-Stars brand name, considered to be the "generic" or "standard" basketball sneaker. The helmet and skirt that he wears are green and his suit is red. 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 led to Bugs Bunny referring to him as a "bowling ball wearing a spittoon" in one short. Marvin speaks with a soft, nasally voice, and often speaks technobabble. He is also known for his trademark 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". The original reference to "Uranium Pu-36" changed to "Illudium PU-36" in subsequent cartoons. Marvin always laboriously over-pronounces the name of the device, which resembles a stick of dynamite, in order to avoid any possibility of confusing it with some other similar form of explosive 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. Marvin is consistently foiled by Bugs Bunny. He has battled for space territory, Planet X, with Daffy Duck, a.k.a. Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century.

Later appearances

He has appeared in three animated shows - as a toddler in Baby Looney Tunes, as a primary villain in the Duck Dodgers television series and in The Looney Tunes Show.
Over a decade prior to any of these, he guest-starred in a Tiny Toon Adventures segment titled "Duck Dodgers Jr.", where he was accompanied by an apprentice named Marcia the Martian.
He was also in a Taz-Mania episode "The Man from M.A.R.S." and had a cameo appearance in The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries.
Marvin also made appearances on Animaniacs, notably in the Mindy and Buttons short subject, "Cat on a Hot Steel Beam" and in "Star Warners", along with his dog K-9, and most recently in a MetLife commercial.
Cartoon Network also created a 2-minute filler piece featuring Marvin, entitled "Mars Forever" by Fantastic Plastic Machine. It's a disco-style video combining clips of Marvin and Bugs Bunny from their encounters in "Haredevil Hare", "Hare-Way 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 the Genesis video games Taz in Escape from Mars and Bugs Bunny in Double Trouble, the Super NES game ', and the Game Boy game '. He also appeared in ' for the PlayStation where he was the boss of Dimension X, and in the final level of Sheep, Dog, 'n' Wolf. He is also a recurring enemy in the Quantum Beep stages of Road Runner's Death Valley Rally for Super NES. He also was an enemy in '. He is also a playable character in ', ' and '. He also made a brief cameo in the 2003–2007 CN Fridays intro.
Marvin was also cast as the referee in Space Jam, and then later had a major villainous role in ' where he was hired by the ACME chairman, , to finish DJ 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 and Daffy, 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. 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.
Marvin is the main antagonist in .
In nearly all of his appearances, Marvin is shown using a small pistol that fires either bubbles of pliable plastic or energy beams, and he is seen in Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, with Gossamer, a hairy red monster, as his assistant.
Marvin's descendant Melvin appeared as a one-time antagonist in ‘’Loonatics Unleashed’’.

In popular culture

On July 29, 2008, Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment announced plans for a live action/computer-animated film starring Mike Myers as the voice of Marvin and Christopher Lee as Santa Claus. The film would have involved Marvin trying to destroy the Earth during Christmas by becoming a competitor of Santa Claus but being prevented from accomplishing his goal when Santa wraps him inside a gift box. Alcon compared the project to other films such as Racing Stripes and My Dog Skip. It was initially scheduled for an October 7, 2011, release, but the movie was later taken off the schedule and no word on it has been heard since. Test footage of the film and the Eddie Murphy vehicle Hong Kong Phooey was leaked on December 28, 2012.