Marcus

Marcus ギシン Gishin
Marcus
Gender	Male
Hometown	Michina Town
Region	Sinnoh
Anime debut	Arceus and the Jewel of Life
English voice actor	Jason Griffith
Japanese voice actor	Kōichi Yamadera

Marcus (Japanese: ギシン Gishin) is a character and primary antagonist in Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

In the anime

Marcus, who once was Damos's assistant, had come to resent Arceus due to his belief that it would allow Michina Town to return to being a wasteland if the Jewel of Life was reclaimed. This led Marcus to become the driving force behind Damos's apparent betrayal of it. By using his Bronzong's Hypnosis, he was able to control Damos and force him to destroy Arceus while not returning the Jewel of Life. However during the original turn of events, he had fallen to his death along with Damos after Arceus survived the attack and counterattacked.

After meeting up with Sheena, who had traveled to the past to stop Damos's apparent betrayal of Arceus, he learned how the future would have turned out as well as his own death. He then changed his plans to include silver water as well while attacking Arceus. This proved to be very effective and left the Alpha Pokémon helpless as the overall assault immobilized it. However, Sheena and Damos were able to communicate with the hearts of all the Pokémon, including Bronzong and Heatran, making them turn against Marcus, and Ash was able to make him give up the Jewel of Life by wrestling with him until he dropped it. As Ash caught the jewel and rushed with his Pikachu to return it to Arceus, Dawn, her Piplup, and another group consisting of a Chikorita, a Cyndaquil, a Totodile, and multiple Rattata, cornered Marcus, preventing him from following.

Even then, however, Marcus wasn't defeated yet. Although the Pokémon had stopped attacking and Ash had the Jewel of Life with Marcus unable to get it back, Arceus, now stranded at the bottom of the shrine, was by that time on the edge of death as the silver water continued to bury it. This, in turn, set off a strange sequence that nearly destroyed Ash, Brock, Dawn, Pikachu, Piplup, and Sheena, with Ash and Pikachu disappearing first as Marcus explained to Dawn what was going on.

At that moment, just as all seemed lost, Damos managed to reach the last remaining spark of life in Arceus's heart, giving it enough strength to reabsorb the Jewel of Life and fully recover, thus thwarting Marcus's plans and saving everyone from destruction (except Damos himself and a Pichu he befriended, who did not start disappearing). Marcus's scream was then heard and his crown seen on the ledge where he was standing, implying that he fell.

The fall did not kill him, as it was revealed that Marcus had went on to work for Damos in the end credits.

In the manga

He appears as the primary antagonist of the movie's manga adaptation, fulfilling a similar role to his part in the movie, but with some changes. His plot is the same, but his motivations are much less altruistic, intending to use the Jewel of Life to become a god in his era. His actions are also more violent; for example, when Heatran disobeys him, he kicks it in the head repeatedly. At the climax of the story, when his plan is foiled, he commits suicide by activating a mechanism to cause the temple to collapse, causing a rockfall that is shown burying and killing him.

In the English translation of the manga adaptation, his name is spelled Markus.

Pokémon

This listing is of Marcus's known Pokémon in the anime and manga:

Controlled

		Bronzong
		Bronzong was instrumental in Marcus' plan to destroy Arceus. By hypnotizing Damos, Marcus forced him to betray Arceus and refuse to return the Jewel of Life. However, Bronzong was not acting under its own will, but was being controlled by special armor. Eventually, Damos' special ability to touch the hearts of Pokémon made Bronzong realize what it was doing, and, after the armor was destroyed by Piplup's Peck, Bronzong turned on Marcus and helped defend the Trainers that had rescued it. Bronzong's known moves are Gyro Ball, Flash Cannon and Hypnosis.
Debut	Arceus and the Jewel of Life
Voice actors
Japanese	Unshō Ishizuka
English	Bill Rogers

		Heatran
		Heatran, like Bronzong, was also forced to obey Marcus against its will by special armor. Heatran was also very powerful and also, like all Heatran, had the ability to walk on walls and ceilings with ease. Heatran was forced to battle against Ash and Dawn, but eventually realized what it was doing thanks to Damos and Sheena, and it allowed Pikachu to destroy its armor with Iron Tail. Heatran then turned on Marcus along with Bronzong. Heatran's known moves are Fire Spin, Flamethrower and Protect.
Debut	Arceus and the Jewel of Life
Voice actors
Japanese	Kenta Miyake
English	Tom Wayland

In the TCG

This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Marcus or his Pokémon in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Marcus's Pokémon Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats.
Card	Type	English Expansion	Rarity	#	Japanese Expansion	Rarity	#
Heatran					Movie Commemoration Random Pack		005/022
Bronzong					Movie Commemoration Random Pack		015/022

Trivia

Marcus shares the same voice actors with Sir Aaron, both in English and Japanese.

Name origin

Marcus's English name may be derived from his warlike nature towards Pokémon, as the name itself has some relation to the Roman god of war, Mars.

Gishin can mean both "loyal retainer" and "suspicion," both aspects of his character.

In other languages

This movie article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.