Marvin the Martian

Marvin the Martian, also occasionally known as Commander X-2, is a major character from the Looney Tunes franchise. Considered one of the most notable recurring villains, Marvin is a alien from Mars who constantly has plans to destroy the Earth or claim planets for his home planet. His demeanor is meant as a large contrast to other villains in the series; while calm and polite in presentation he is the most dangerous and destructive of any villain in the series. He is often accompanied with his dog K-9, who aids in his plots. Marvin, at the time without a proper name, appeared in only five shorts during the initial theatrical run, starting with 1948's Haredevil Hare. Four of those were against Bugs Bunny; the fifth, 1953's Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, pitted him against Daffy Duck and Porky Pig and is often considered among the top 10 best theatrical animation shorts ever made.

Marvin later made more frequent roles in further Looney Tunes media. The most notable, 2003's Duck Dodgers, presented a revamped animation television series based off the 1953 short. Marvin returns in a lead role as the commander of the Martian military, who regularly is in war with Dodgers and representatives from Earth. This series has him serve for Queen Tyr'ahnee; Marvin crushes on her, but she has no romantic interest in him, only having feelings for Dodgers.

Marvin has had a long history in the Mr. /co/lympus tournaments, culminating in what's considered one of the greatest surprise runs in tournament history by finishing 4th in Mr. /co/lympus 2021. He remains the lowest seed in any tournament to reach the top 4.

Marvin will next be eligible to compete in 2023.

2019
Marvin first entered the playing field in 2019, when Queen Tyr'ahnee managed to make a Top 16 run in Ms. /co/ 2019 with a positive fan campaign, it was noted that much of the fandom participation included Marvin. As such, campaigns started to form to get Marvin himself a slot in the tournament. This campaign managed to be a success; Marvin got into the bracket with 91 votes and a 53rd seed, which is still his record seeding wise. Marvin was not expected to make much of an impact, as Bugs and Daffy were considered the top competing characters from this series. However, Marvin showed initial success early in the tournament by defeating Groundskeeper Willie in the initial round by a score of 554-371. Marvin would bow out the next round against General Grievous, a character Marvin would continue to have association with in future years, by a score of by a score of 382-309. Bugs managed to get to the Elite 8 later on, the first Looney Tunes character to do so.

2020
2020 would prove to be a bizarre year for Marvin. Over in Ms. /co/ 2020, Tyr'ahnee's campaign from the previous year manage to grant her a deep run into her first Elite 8 and into the finals, where she would lose to Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. Marvin was once again a major force in her campaign, and anons discussed a similar run to compliment Tyr'ahnee's run. With Bugs out of the tournament for the year, it was thought that Marvin could make a deeper run with more focus on him then before. However, when the tournament qualification results came in, Marvin fared significantly worse then in previous years. Marvin would miss the 2020 tournament by finishing 222nd in qualifying with 59 votes, with only Daffy and Wile E. Coyote making the bracket from the franchise. To make matters worse, Daffy managed to also finish in second place, pairing him with Tyr'ahnee. With being cucked the same way in the bracket as he was in the show in a year thought to be his best shot, it looked like the complete humiliation would end any chances Marvin ever had, as small as they might have seemed to many on the surface.

2021
Then 2021 occurred. Many consider the catalyst for the run being Space Jam: A New Legacy, a widely panned sequel film released that summer. Marvin was promoted as a major character in the film, but had a short scene and was used as comic relief later on by getting hit by his spaceship door. Many Marvin fans, even used to the distress he gets, thought that they got screwed over from a major role or even a supporting role like he had in the first film. This might have gained him his initial boost to make it back in the bracket. Some also consider Tyr'ahnee's crown in the initial Ms. /aco/ tournament to be a boost.

While many were banking on Pepe Le Pew making the tournament due to film controversy, Marvin instead took the second of three spots for Looney Tunes characters with a record high 117 votes in qualifiers. This placed him 92nd on the bracket. Bugs returned to the bracket after sitting out a year due to his Elite 8 status; with Daffy out, the final Looney Tunes slot went to Speedy Gonzales, who made it in with a technicality involving Dan Backside, a character in the 'Merrie Melodies' series

Not much thought was giving to Marvin at first; he had only one tournament under his belt with a 2nd round loss, with a low seed and Bugs and Dan taking a lot of the attention. Most notably, Marvin was initially left out of the /co/nquerors group of characters due to expectations he would be out within one round; Marvin was again left out after fans asked for him to be included.

As in character as possible, Marvin took that rejection and silently sliced through opponents. After an initial domination of higher seed Bill Cipher by a score of 409-213, Marvin then got by Dr. Doom by a score of 378-194 to achieve his farthest tournament run yet. At this point, Marvin still was mostly ignored despite being one of the 32 remaining characters; Bugs and Dan were still competing, and he was up against 5th seed Double D, traditionally considered a strong opponent out of his caliber. The public tide finally shifted in his favor when he beat out Double D with a score of 247-194.

Finally, public attention was fully on Marvin sneaking his way into the top 16. Many stated that a sneak run was long coming for a character heavily associated with powerhouses Tyr'ahnee and Daffy; others began to believe he was a spitevote or meme vote for various reasons. Campaigning and OC creation really began to form around this time.

With attention on him, his Sweet 16 opponent was Donald Duck. Making his first Sweet 16, Donald is noted for bad luck in the tournament, which fans sensed impending doom with the sudden popularity of Marvin. Part of this, ironically enough, involves an autistic obsession with seeing Donald match up against Daffy in a tournament. This could have played a role in Marvin's 10 vote victory, 231-221 to secure an Elite 8 slot. Only Iroh, who was one seed below Marvin, has been a lower seed in the Elite 8 in any tournament.

In the Elite 8, Marvin matched up against Skeletor. A popular pick with MOTU: Revelations coming out and traditional success in the tournaments, the Marvin/Skeletor bout was highly looked forward to. A narrative began to form with Marvin at this time; his noted role in being left out of the /co/nqurors would strive for him to beat all remaining /co/nqurors to take the crown. This led to Marvin's victory over Skeletor, 247-189, causing mass seething. On the other hand, several anons inmediatly pointed out that out of all the matchups, Marvin's victory stuck out for having a major vote lead compared to everyone else, leading to several suspcions of rigging and vote inflation despite no conclusive proof ever being provided.

In the top 4, Marvin faced off against General Grievous, the /co/nquror who eliminated him in 2019. Grievous was also going on a monster run, beating many top opponents to reach this stage of the tournament. Despite the support behind him, Marvin finally fell to an opponent by losing 262-160. Grievous would go one and beat Hank Hill in the next round, winning the tournament. Marvin faced off against one more /co/nquror, Aku, in the third-place match. Marvin would lose this by a closer margin, 252-214, having him secure the 4th place finish. The whole controversy surrounding Marvin's win over Skeletor and the similarities he shared with the previous "underdog" winner Tom are most likely the main reason why he lost the semi-finals and placed 4th.

Despite falling short, Marvin's surprise run is considered by many to be the highlight of the tournament. With inconsistent results, it remains to be seen if Marvin can make another deep run.