Marco is the resident comedian of the Animorphs. He is best friends with Jake.
General Information
Name: Marco
Gender: Male
Age: 13 - 16 (Series Time Span)
Personality: Humorous, easy going.
Battle Morph: Gorilla
Best Friend: Jake
Famous Quote: "Are you INSANE?!!"
Biography
Throughout the war Marco always maintains a sense of humor, able to crack jokes and make sarcastic remarks in the midst of battle as easily as when he is chilling in the barn with his best friend Jake and the others. Marco is also very clever, and is good at thinking strategically. He was also the one who came up with the name "Animorphs" in the first book.
Marco is forever the cautious one, and at the start of the series he was the most reluctant to fight in the war. A major reason was he felt his dad was still suffering over the loss of Eva (Marco's mom), and wouldn't be able to bear it if he lost his son as well. Marco stayed in the war in honor of Jake's brother, but the stress began to get to him. He soon decided that he would quit, that is until he made a tragic discovery. Marco's mother was infested by the Yeerk Visser One. Her death had been faked so that the Visser could use her body as a host. Marco's desire to save his mother and reunite his family was more than enough to make him continue the fight.
Marco has been called the most ruthless member to the Animorphs, often looking at the big picture and willing to make sacrifices in order to secure a win. This is in contrast with Cassie, who always considers emotions and morals in the equation, even when it comes to her enemies. They sometimes get on each other's nerves because of this. However Cassie has gotten through to Marco on occasion, sensing that he sometimes uses his humor to mask the pain he feels over his family situation. Marco desperately wants to save his mother, and yet he knows that in order to win the war he may have to destroy her. Later in the series, when Marco's dad remarries he is affected so much that his morphing goes wrong, causing him to become weird hybrid creatures. He recovers after he comes to terms with this.
Late in the series Marco's father (an engineer) gets in to some work involving Z-space which attracts the attention of the Yeerks. Despite knowing the consequences of saving his father from becoming a Controller, Marco cannot bring himself to let it happen. He makes a difficult decision and rescues his dad, revealing everything about the Animorphs and the war, including his mother's existence. It is this action that sets the wheels in motion for the end of the war.
The Chee fake Marco and his father's death. Soon after, the Animorphs are able to save Marco's mother from an execution, during which Marco kills Visser One. Marco's family is reunited. After the war, Marco goes on to become a rich celebrity, writing books, appearing on talk shows and doing commercials. When Jake hears about Ax's abduction by The One, he asks Marco to come on the rescue mission. Jake affectionately notes Marco "would have killed [him]" if he had left without him.
Relationships with the other Animorphs
- Jake: Jake and Marco have been friends since their childhood. Although their friendship is tested at times, they generally retain a strong bond. Towards the end of the series this begins to deteriorate, as Jake sinks into depression and Marco regains his family. After the war, Marco and Jake no longer seem to be close, though Marco is concerned for Jake and attempts to reach out to him. However, when Jake asks Marco to rescue Ax from The One, it appears that their old friendship has been restored.
- Tobias: At the beginning of the series the two aren't close, as Marco seems annoyed by Tobias's presence in Jake's life and frequently insults or hassles him. Eventually a strong camaraderie between them develops.
- Rachel: Rachel and Marco's relationship is characterized by their insults and banter that gradually turns more hostile as the war progresses. They generally side together on group votes, as both are more interested in pragmatism than ethics. Their similar personalities are beneficial in understanding how the other thinks, but also serves as the basis for their frequent fights. They dated in the alternate universe of Megamorphs #4.
- Cassie: Cassie describes Marco as cute, but not her type. Although they are generally on good terms, Marco is often impatient with Cassie's moralism. They are frequently united by their love for Jake, and work together to keep him grounded when necessary.
- Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill: At first Marco dislikes and distrusts Ax, but the two develop a close relationship. Ax's dry sense of humor becomes more obviously influenced by Marco as the series goes on. After Marco's cover is blown and he has to leave his regular life, he goes to live with Ax at his scoop, and the two bond over electronics and soap operas.
Morphs
- Battle Morph(s): Silverback Gorilla, Wolf
- Raptor Morph: Osprey
| Morph | Book Acquired |
|---|---|
| Silverback Gorilla (Big Jim) | The Invasion |
| Osprey | The Visitor |
| Female Wolf | The Encounter |
| Trout | |
| Dolphin
Seagull | |
| The Message | |
| Lobster
Black Ant |
The Predator |
| The Capture | |
| Fly
Cockroach | |
| Mouse | The Andalite's Gift |
| Termite | The Secret |
| Great Horned Owl | |
| Striped Skunk ("Mama") | |
| Irish Setter | The Android |
| Wolf Spider | |
| Bat | |
| Spider Monkey (Unusable, Sario Rip morph) | The Forgotten |
| Jaguar (Unusable, Sario Rip morph) | |
| Parrot (Unusable, Sario Rip morph) | The First Journey |
| Chameleon (Unusable, Sario Rip morph) | |
| Llama | The Reaction |
| Racehorse | The Unknown |
| Parrot | The Escape |
| Hammerhead Shark | |
| Mole | The Underground |
| Mosquito | The Decision |
| Leeran | |
| Tyrannosaurus Rex (Unusable, Sario Rip morph) | In the Time of Dinosaurs |
| Cobra Snake (Spawn) | The Discovery |
| Flea | The Threat |
| Rhinoceros | The Solution |
| Anteater | The Suspicion |
| Baby Seal | The Extreme |
| Polar Bear (Nanook) | |
| Giant Squid | The Exposed |
| Chimpanzee | The Experiment |
| Eel | The Sickness |
| Grizzly Bear (Unusable, Sario Rip morph) | Elfangor's Secret |
| Human (Mr. Grant) | The Reunion |
| Mountain Goat | |
| Hork-Bajir | The Prophecy |
| Squirrel | The Proposal |
| Cockatiel | |
| Toy Poodle (Euclid) | |
| Orca Whale (Swoosh) | The Mutation |
| Cheetah | The Weakness |
| Honeybee | The Other |
| Hork-Bajir | The Unexpected |
| Beaver | The Resistance |
| German Shepard (Champ) | The Diversion |
| Mallard | The Absolute |
| Human (Madame Governor) | |
| Dragonfly | The Answer |
He has 53 usable morphs. He has 57 morphs in total. This dosen't count for non canon morphs ( Morphs acquired in The First Journey).
Books Narrated By Marco
- #5 The Predator
- Megamorphs #1 The Andalite's Gift
- #10 The Android
- #15 The Escape
- Megamorphs #2 In the Time of Dinosaurs
- #20 The Discovery
- #25 The Extreme
- Megamorphs #3 Elfangor's Secret
- #30 The Reunion
- #35 The Proposal
- #40 The Other
- Megamorphs #4 Back to Before
- #42 The Journey
- #45 The Revelation
- #51 The Absolute
- #54 The Beginning
Trivia
- He has the WAA username Cassie98, which he uses to annoy Jake in instant messaging by pretending to be Cassie, although he likely has another account for primary use.
- Marco has utilized 52 different morphs (the most of all the Animorphs) in the series and it is implied he has obtained even more. This is ironic in that originally Marco was the least willing of the Animorphs to be drawn into the war and yet he has acquired the greatest number of morphs overall.
- Cassie describes Marco as having "incredible eyelashes."
- Marco is one of the characters whose battle morph is often forgotten for merchandising and illustration purposes; although he very rarely uses anything besides his gorilla morph in regular battle, he was illustrated morphing into a wolf on the cover of Megamorphs #1, and a cobra in Megamorphs #4, while the other characters were all shown morphing into their preferred battle morphs.
- Marco is the second animorph to have a transgendered morph. The first is Tobias in The Test. Marco morphs the governer in The Absolute.
- The cover of The Predator is very different in international covers. On the U.S cover, Marco morphs a Silverback Gorilla. While on the U.K cover, he morphs a lobster.
- Marco has the most morphs out of all the animorphs.
- From the Anibase: Want to know the real reason Marco got a haircut in The Android ? One day, K.A.'s editior, Tonya Alicia Martin, called K.A. up and said, "We have this really cute Marco model, but he has short hair" -- much shorter than Marco's hair in the books. K.A. agreed to give Marco a trim and had fun having the other characters tease him throughout the book -- and Marco has had short hair ever since.
- In the Animorphs TV series, he was usually portrayed morphing into a wolf (Cassie's usual battle morph), rather than a gorilla.
- In 1999, four different Transformers toys of Marco were made. Two of the larger ones that were sold in stores turned into a Gorilla and a Fire Beetle, while the third was one piece of the Tyrannosaurus Rex made up of Jake, Cassie, and Marco figures. The smaller Transformer was part of a Taco Bell children's meal promotion and turned into a hammer head shark.
- Marco frequently uses the word "insane."
- Marco has a strained relationship with the other Animorphs.
- He is the only Animorph to update his re-release profile.
- Marco has the most book covers showing him morphing into an insect with 4 total (Books 10, 30, 40, 45).
- Because of many of his interactions with Jake and Ax, large numbers of LGBT readers considered Marco to be same-gender attracted, but not overtly due to Scholastic censorship. In response to being asked about this speculation in a dicussion about representation, Michael Grant wrote on Twitter that "Marco was bi[sexual]."
Gallery
