He was created by Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese.
His helmet and skirt
outfit is loosely based on the Roman god Mars. According to Chuck Jones,
"That was the uniform that Mars wore - that helmet and that skirt. We
thought putting it on this ant-like creature might be funny."
The animators faced a special challenge with Marvin. He had no mouth
to animate while speaking! According to Chuck Jones, "We had to convey
that he was speaking totally through his movements."
Voiced by Mel Blanc (but the voice was different in his first appearance -
see "notable quotes" for a comparison.
Assisted by a martian dog named K-9 twice and Gossamer once
Only called by name onscreen once as
X-2, Commander of Flying Saucer (in Hasty Hare)
Repeatedly tried to use an
"Illudium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator"
to blow up
the Earth.
Did you ever notice: that big sneakers seem to be popular
with martians? Marvin, K-9 and Gossamer all wore the same large
shoes. The landing gear on the martian flying saucer
in "Spaced Out Bunny" also had these.
Marvin is one of the most popular Looney Tunes characters today
Haredevil Hare (1948)
[with Bugs Bunny and K-9] Bugs is launched into space
and lands on the moon where Marvin is preparing to blow up the Earth.
K-9 is Marvin's assistant.
The Hasty Hare (1952)
- [with Bugs Bunny and K-9] Marvin and K-9 go to Earth to capture an Earth creature (Bugs Bunny).
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1953)
- [with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig] Marvin and Daffy both want the shaving
creme molecule from planet X.
Hare-way to the Stars (1958)
[with Bugs Bunny] Bugs accidentally ends up in Marvin's
floating city and he tries to stop him from blowing up the Earth again. This time
Marvin sends some "instant martians" after Bugs who has once again
stolen the space-modulator.
Mad As A Mars Hare (1963)
[with Bugs Bunny] Bugs rides a rocket to Mars where it crashes into Marvin's
observatory. Marvin tries to send Bugs forward in time but has his gun in reverse.
Other Films
Duck Dodgers and the Return of the 24 1/2th Century (1980)
[with Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Gossamer] Daffy tangles with
Marvin again,
who now has Gossamer helping him.
Spaced Out Bunny (1980)
[with Bugs Bunny and Hugo the Abominable Snowman] Marvin brings Bugs back to Mars
to give him to Hugo as a pet.
Space Jam (1986)
[with almost every character in the LT&MM history] Marvin
officiates the big game in this movie.
Here are a few webpages with some pictures and sounds taken from each of
the following 3 cartoons. Note - these pages may take a minute to load...
Haredevil Hare
Hare-way to the Stars
Spaced Out Bunny
Websites for more Marvin
Let me know if you have any favorite Marvin sites I should include...
Here are a couple of places where you can find some images of Marvin that
would work nicely for your desktop wallpaper:
