RE0 James Marcus Dilemma

[Sonny Bauer]

Alright, so we all know that James Marcus was killed and reanimated into the Queen Leech, which was eventually encountered on July 23rd, 1998.


In RE0, Queen Leech assumes the appearance of a younger James Marcus, De-aged with perfect skin, full head of hair, robes and an operatic voice for no reason.


In Umbrella Chronicles, the Queen Leech assumes the appearance of Marcus around the age he was assassinated and essentially green and grimy and "leechified" if you will.


Honestly, I typically like the Umbrella Chronicles version better because it's a damn leech. It makes sense to have it's core properties while trying to mimic what it has assimilated.


However, one thing bothers me about liking this version and that is the possible connection between the appearances of younger James Marcus and Morpheus Duvall and the idea that Birkin used that as a link to blame the Mansion incident on Duvall. I like Morpheus being blamed and there actually being evidence to back it up through the surveillance. It's an interesting angle for me. That may just be speculation or fan theory unless a source I'm missing says otherwise, but regardless my question is-


Is there any valid explanation out there in which the Queen Leech could have assimilated Marcus and over time it just essentially, through his strain of the t-Virus, regenerated his cells to the point where it de-aged him to his younger self before obviously becoming unstable and mutating into its second and final forms?

 

[Weskers Report]

I too love the rendition of Marcus in UC.

It’s the only thing that makes sense for the Queen’s assimilation.

Nice theory though on the cameras catching a Young Marcus looking like Morpheus!

As for your last thoughts I think not.

It’s interetsing to think that the Queen leech naturally would like to make Marcus look younger and by regenerating his cells to the point where he would’ve looked at said age thus becoming too much for her towards the end and being ‘taken over’ amidst her speech to Billy / Rebecca.

But one would wonder why she would resort to operatic singing as well as wearing a robe that looks like something that would come out of a Final Fantasy game (-;


good stuff though.

 

[Captain Redfield]

The Umbrella Chronicles version of Marcus was way better, the switching to his younger appearance in RE0 kind of bothered me and is one of those "Was this really necessary?" moments in the series.

 

[Evil Resident]

Okay, first of all, it's important to note that the REAL Marcus was never resurrected. There are no cells to regenerate and de-age, as the Queen Leech isn't a reanimated corpse.


The Progenitor Virus bonded well with the Leeches, making them and the Stairway to the Sun flower the only modern Progenitor Animals (Lisa sort of sits in the middle of reject and adapter). The t-Virus was created with Leech genes because it was the first host to display truly evolutionary results and survive in Umbrella experiments. The Marcus Leeches are essentially a new species of animal, as is the true power of Progenitor. As such, it has abilities not seen before in any known organism. One of these abilities is to perfectly mimic other organisms, particularly Marcus.


The Queen fed on his corpse and absorbed his memories to better replicate him. It can "choose" whether or not to look like Marcus when he died as an old man, or to alter it's appearance based on Marcus' memories of his younger self. It isn't really using his actual body though, nor is it really him. It's similiar to Natalex in regards to his mind - a copy, not the original.

As for why it wears robes, I suspect you'd have to ask the Queen itself (or CAPCOM).


His first boss form was just the Queen dropping the disguise, while the second form was in response to damage (V-ACT).

 

[Weskers Report]

It’s fun to theorize.

The Queen fed on his memories and my only explanation is therefore that Marcus as a young adult use to dress up in that robe and sing as such because there is no other explanation that makes sense.


I thought Sonny was alluding to leech cells during the assimilation process but it doesn't make much sense in this context i.e. it took 10 years for the leech to gather his all life thoughts and mimic him.

 

[Smiley]

I actually remember debating someone a while back who preferred the abridged version of RE Zero as told in The Umbrella Chronicles

I prefer the younger incarnation for the questions surrounding his character prior to RE Zero's release. Back when it came out on the Gamecube and before any leaks there was an air of mystery that kept the game intriguing. From his appearance he didn't look like a Resident Evil character. Jokingly referred to as a Final Fantasy reject. Unraveling his role in things to come and learning how and why he started the outbreak was a puzzle in itself waiting to be unlocked. Even when you learn of James Marcus it is merely just another means of surprising you when you see the final Queen Leach form.

Not entirely sure the execution played out as intended with audiences when it came to RE Zero, but UC took, in my opinion, a lazy way of handling the character.

 

[An Herb Sandwich]

@Smiley makes a good point in having the younger Marcus service a twist in the story. But it is still rather weird to have some barefoot larper singing in an Re game. Logically the UC version makes more sense, but in the end either or works since I’m sure the real reason for anime Marcus is just because Capcom thought it was a good idea. That, and trying to appeal more towards their Japanese audience (there was pretty big marketing push for 0 in Japan I’ve heard, especially in regards to Rebecca being the main character)

 

[Yoke]

I could see both versions working. When the Queen Leech "wakes up" she assumes that she is Marcus reborn but as the events play out. She slowly becomes unstable and reverts back to being Queen Leech.

The Queen fed on his memories and my only explanation is therefore that Marcus as a young adult use to dress up in that robe and sing as such because there is no other explanation that makes sense.

This is what I always thought and it gives Marcus more character outside of "lol mad scientist". Perhaps, in his youth, Marcus loved operatic singing and one of his favorite memories was during a performance when he was in college. The robes shown being what he wore during said performance. Another thing that adds to this. To me, it doesn't seem like Queen Leech needed to sing to her leeches to control them.