Marv
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- This article is about the fictional character. For other uses see, Marv (disambiguation)
Marv is one of the main protagonists from the graphic novel series Sin City, created by Frank Miller. He first appears in The Hard Goodbye and follows with appearances in A Dame to Kill For, Just Another Saturday Night, and Silent Night. He makes a brief cameo in Blue Eyes (as featured in Lost, Lonely, and Lethal).
He works the streets of Basin City, universally nicknamed Sin City, doing odd jobs for various people who he feels deserve his help.
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[edit] Appearance
Marv is a 7-foot tall man with a heavily scarred face and a flattop buzzcut. He is always seen dressed in a trench-coat, leather pants and boots. He wears a cross around his neck.
[edit] Personality
In the book Sin City: The Making of the Movie, creator Frank Miller describes the creation of Marv as a juxtaposition of his two biggest influences: film noir and medieval stories. The result was the idea for a character he called "Conan in a trench coat."
Despite his presumed Catholic upbringing, Marv is a violent, borderline psychotic who uses his tremendous strength and fighting skills to bring down those who challenge him or break his personal code of ethics.
He suffers from an unnamed mental condition that causes him to "get confused", which, judging from his own awareness of his illness and the effects it is shown to have, probably involves short-term memory loss and possibly hallucinations. Lucille, his parole officer, supplies him with medication to control these effects of his condition. Lucille's girlfriend Claire, a psychiatrist, supplies Marv's drugs and once tried to analyze him, but he claims she got "too scared." He doesn't seem to be supplied with anything that curbs his violent impulses, however.
Marv is convinced that he is not that smart, but he shows a surprising amount of intelligence when needed, noticeably an ability to logically deduce confusing and complex events. However, in most situations he just smashes his way through conflicts, such as kicking down a door and sending police flying, or charging a squad of heavily armed cops whilst only armed with a hatchet.
Marv has a well developed skill and appetite for torture; he never blinks or seems to think twice about inflicting upon his worst enemies the slowest, most painful death he can possibly implement. He speaks in a soft, calm manner, showing no sign of hesitation or fear, even while committing gruesome killings.
While he has no compunction about maiming and killing anyone he feels has wronged him, even he has his limits. He is deeply afraid of winding up as "a maniac [or] a psycho killer" and thus will only kill someone if he "knows for sure he ought to", making it a point to not kill those who have not earned it. He adheres unrelentingly to his own personal code of honor, which also dictates the repayment of debts and chivalry towards women. He may also have a soft spot for children, suggested when he rescues a little girl from pimps in Silent Night.
[edit] Traits
- Carries a .45 ACP Colt M1911 which he took from the toughest person he tangled with in high school who "was dead at the time, so he didn't mind." He named it 'Gladys' after the toughest nun at his school. He believes that the gun has almost lived up to the name.
- Grew up in the Projects of Sin City.
- Loves his mother.
- Once said he "fought in a war," most likely Vietnam. This would explain his scarred face and possibly his mental state.
- Hangs around Kadie's.
- Refers to his hands as his "mitts".
- Is a good friend of Dwight McCarthy and is a sort of a guardian angel for Nancy Callahan, on whom he has an unrequited (and mostly unrealized) crush.
- Has a low opinion of new cars and modern country music.
- Has immense respect for Lucille, despite not being able to fathom her sexuality.
- Is almost superhumanly strong and durable, having shrugged off multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head, being hit by a car, massive blood loss, and even electrocution.
- He is immensely skilled in hand to hand combat. He is shown executing various strikes and disarming movements from Krav Maga, Tae Kwon Do, and Keichu Do. Coupled with his staggering strength and finesse, Marv is victorious in nearly every fight he is involved in, both in the books and film.
- An incessant drinker with an immensely high alcohol tolerance, even for someone of his size. This explains the scene in the movie where Nancy goes to the fridge and pulls out two beers, hesitates with a smirk, and then pulls out more beer from the fridge.
- Would often collect trench coats from the people he killed, especially if he lost or heavily damaged the one he was wearing ("That there is one damn fine coat you're wearing").
[edit] Movie Appearance
He is played by Mickey Rourke in the film adaptation; Rourke took to the role despite the heavy amount of make-up work required and the minimal use of sets and even other actors. Because of the speed at which the film was shot (and the fact that most of the cast who appeared in multiple stories hadn't yet been cast), several of the people Rourke is seen interacting with weren't necessarily there during the day it was shot. During the scenes at Kadie's, he never met or interacted with Brittany Murphy, Clive Owen or Jessica Alba, all of whom were yet to be cast or scheduled for filming (Those scenes were all shot on different days several months after.). Similarly, Rutger Hauer and Elijah Wood never met Rourke either. Hauer was one of the last people to be cast and his scene was shot months after The Hard Goodbye had finished principal photography. Wood and Rourke were shot fighting each other's respective stunt doubles.
Also, on the Sin City DVD, Frank Miller commented that "After [the interview] with Rourke, I was only able to get down one note: 'He is Marv!'"
[edit] Other Notes
In 1999, his likeness was captured in the form of two McFarlane Toys action figures, both depicting scenes from "The Hard Goodbye." One comes with the severed head of Kevin (said to be that of artist Geof Darrow) and a gun while the other, known as "Death Row Marv", which comes with an electric chair. As it was battery operated, when activated, Marv's eyes lit up in red while a voice chip gives the famous line, "Is that the best you can do, you pansies?"
Death Row Marv was comparably rare to most other action figures on the market, as it was offered exclusively to comic book specialty stores and was not made available to larger chains such as Toys R Us and Walmart. Despite the fact that this was a collectible marketed solely towards adults, it caused a considerable amount of controversy. [1]
In 2005, the license for Sin City toys has been acquired by NECA, who has also done their own versions of "Death Row Marv", although these will not likely be eliciting the same amount of controversy, given the mainstream acceptance of Sin City due to the successful film release.
| Sin City | |
|---|---|
| Yarns | The Hard Goodbye | A Dame to Kill For | The Babe Wore Red and Other Stories | Silent Night | The Big Fat Kill | That Yellow Bastard | Daddy's Little Girl | Lost, Lonely, & Lethal | Sex & Violence | Just Another Saturday Night | Family Values | Hell and Back (a Sin City Love Story) | Booze, Broads, & Bullets |
| Films | Sin City | Sin City 2 (in production) | Sin City 3: Hell and Back (in production) |
| Characters | Marv | Jack Rafferty | Nancy Callahan | John Hartigan | Dwight McCarthy | Wallace | Miho | Kevin | Cardinal Roark | Ava Lord | Junior/That Yellow Bastard | Senator Roark | List of characters from Sin City |
| People | Frank Miller | Robert Rodriguez |
Categories: Dark Horse Comics characters | Fictional alcoholics | American comics characters | Fictional Catholics | Fictional characters with mental illness | Fictional homophobes | Fictional mass murderers | Sin City | Fictional people from Washington | Fictional sadists | Fictional Vietnam veterans
