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Question about James Marcus (spoilers within...)

posted 19 years ago by supraluver247
9 replies | jump to latest

We all know now after playing the game that he was the man who created the T-Virus. What I want to know is whether or not he was related to the Spencer Masion (RE1) incident. I recall one website saying he infected a worker at the Spencer Estate which made all hell broke loose and released the monsters there. I thought that the Spencer Mansion outbreak was a seperate incident, a lab accident. Can anyone clear this up for me? Did Marcus cause the outbreak at the Spencer Mansion?

[–] Field78 19 years ago

It was indeed my understanding that James Marcus/Queen is the one responsible for the Spencer mansion incident. The 'Keeper's Diary' in RE1 (or REmake) mentions an 'accident' in the lab which caused an outbreak of the T-virus, starting the zombie infestation in the mansion. Before the fight with Marcus/Queen in RE0, he more or less admits causing this infestation two months earlier as part of his revenge on Umbrella. I guess he just caused a vial to break or something, rather than infecting a crewman. I strongly believe he released a virus from that particular lab and not his own virus, because the T-virus in the mansion is quite different from the T-virus in the Training Facility. The mansion virus can create Crimson Head zombies, the TF virus creates the occasional Leech Zombie.
RE0 was actually thought up to cover some holes in the all-over RE storyline. That plan worked out okay for the Bravo Team storyline in particular. But along the way, they also managed to dig some new holes that were not completely filled. I think the Marcus character was written into the RE chronology to serve as a stronger explanation for the virus outbreak in the Mansion, i.e. it was willfully released rather than just a cheesy accident. So Marcus was brought in and disappeared for years, to account for him not being mentioned in other RE games. They did a similar (although IMO better) job with Edward Ashford, who co-founded teh Umbrella Corporation, but left for his own lab on Antarctica to work on the T-Veronica virus. But despite that, I think RE0 is quite all right and a worthy addition to the series.

Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony - Morpheus

[–] exsulis 19 years ago

While in my opinion the whole Jame Marcus plot was badly thought out (we didn't need another virus creator with wacked out powers and a grudge), there wasn't two T-virus's in this game and RE the remake. There was the T-virus and the leeches infected with the T-virus. That's why the zombies can even happen in the train, remember there was no lab on there or any form of the virus kept in storage. When the leeches attacked, they bit the people and the T-virus was transfered. Remember the T-virus is a very special thing, it does sooooo many weird things that make no sense.

If you remember when you first see a Leech Zombie in the train, you see that it splits apart into all those leechs before forming together to create the zombie. And when you kill a Leech zombie it splits apart again into smaller leachesThe zombies in the train and in other places in RE0 (not counting Leech zombies) would have turned into Crimson head zombies, but just as the creator said himself, you don't spend long enough in these areas to see that happen. Yeah i know, that doesn't make sense, but it's best not to really question it. Otherwise you end up asking why there weren't no Crimson head zombies in RE2, RE3, Survivor, and Code Veroinica X.

Still i think that it was good to see the explanation of how come certain creatures mutate and others grow to extraordiarny sizes. The explanation in a sense of where the hunters may have come from that infested the mansion, and where the Tyrant from the broken tube in RE2 went. Other than that, this whole game gives me a headache with continuity with the rest of the series... esp RE1.

[–] Kiranta 19 years ago

IMO, 0 is a good addition to the RE universe. And for some people, the T-Virus was made from the Progenitor Virus James Marcus developed after using the Mother Virus Oswald Spencer discovered. Marcus then spliced the Progenitor with Leech DNA to create the T-Virus. And Marcus did claim responsibility for the infection of the masnion, And I qoute from the game "It was I who scattered the virus in the mansion. Needless to say I contaminated the train too." Many belived Marcus was dead and that the leeches were mimicing him. I don't belive that for a second. And before any of you argue that this isn't true, why did he looked shocked when he vomitted those leeches and started to mutate? And what happened to his body in the lab? It wasn't there when you entered it.

[–] Field78 19 years ago

And what happened to his body in the lab? It wasn't there when you entered it.

You are right about Marcus being the Queen. But his body is not in the lab because they didn't leave it there. In the flashback scene at the end, you can see through Marcus' point of view how he is killed in his lab in the church (judging by the ornamented door behind Wesker and Birkin). You can also clearly see that he is subsequently thrown into the water, probably the sewage under the tram that Billy also fell in when he was attacked by the ape zombie. His corpse resurfaced in the factory, probably at the same place Billy washed up (all the sewage must lead that way). But one of his Leeches escaped and found his master (as you can see through the Leech's POV), entering his body and causing the virus to merge with Marcus' cells over the next years, creating a Queen Leech.
The Queen has all of Marcus' memory, so it must be Marcus himself after a long-term viral treatment (same happened with Alexia Ashford in RE:CV), and not a bunch of Leeches just mimicking him. That's only the case with the Leech Zombie in the train and the one Marcus shows to Wesker and Birkin through the monitor. Many Leeches together can impersonate someone, but they lack the intelligence for mimicking behavior and speech.

Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony - Morpheus

[–] Jman1 19 years ago

Do you people skip the Cutscenes? In the cutscene right when you walk up the ladder and arrive at the Umbrella Training Research Facility, Marcus says "It was I who scattered the T-Virus in the mansion, needless to say I contaminated the train too".

The guy in the white robe is Marcus. Like Field78 said in the post before me!

[–] Field78 19 years ago

The guy in the white robe is Marcus. Like Field78 said in the post before me!

That's right. The point is that people were confused whether the guy in white robe is THE Marcus, or just a bunch of Leeches mimicking him. As I explained, it IS Marcus, but with some awesome new powers (e.g. barfing up Leeches). Problem solved?

Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony - Morpheus

[–] lenore_marcus 16 years ago

It's too easy:

Training facility T-Virus:
It's the virus that Marcus created, As I recall, it was not completed.

Spencer state T-Virus:
It's the T-Virus with all the improvements that William Birkin did in it.

Problem Solved?

[–] phantom_pixie 10 years ago

Yes. Marcus let the T-virus loose at the mansion as a revenge.
Spencer ordered Wesker and Birkin to assassinate Marcus, since he wouldn't get in line with Spencers idea regarding Umbrellas future.

Marcus didn't die (as you see in the game) and had his revenge on the mansion hoping that it would kill Spencer, but it didn't. Instead Wesker used the outbreak to run trials on STARS.

X ~We are the people our parents warned us about

[–] The_Phantom_Critic 9 years ago

It should also be added that Marcus infected the Arkley Facility by contaminating it's water supply. That's why John Clemens, Birkin, Wesker and the other researchers could never trace the leak and plug it.

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