Space marine

For other uses, see Space marine (disambiguation).

Amazing Stories December 1936, an early illustration of space marines.

The space marine, an archetype of military science fiction, is a kind of soldier that operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill multiple roles: ship defence, landing parties, and general-purpose high-mobility land deployments that operate within a fixed distance of shore. By analogy, hypothetical space marines would defend spaceships, land on planets and moons, and satisfy rapid-deployment needs throughout space.

History

The earliest known use of the term "space marine" was by Bob Olsen in his short story "Captain Brink of the Space Marines" (Amazing Stories, Volume 7, Number 8, November 1932), a light-hearted work whose title is a play on the song "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines", and in which the protagonists were marines of the "Earth Republic Space Navy" on mission to rescue celebrity twins from aliens on Titan. Olsen published a novella sequel four years later, "The Space Marines and the Slavers" (Amazing Stories, Volume 10, Number 13, December 1936), featuring the same characters using a spaceship with active camouflage to free hostages from Martian space pirates on Ganymede.

A more widely known early example was E. E. Smith's Lensman series. While the first story, Triplanetary and most later sequels (Second Stage Lensmen, Children of the Lens and The Vortex Blaster) do not mention them, passing mentions of marines are made in Galactic Patrol (Astounding Stories, September 1937–February 1938) and Gray Lensman (Astounding Stories, October 1939–January 1940), and a more direct mention is made in First Lensman (1950): "Dronvire of Rigel Four in the lead, closely followed by Costigan, Northrop, Kinnison the Younger, and a platoon of armed and armored Space Marines!".

The phrase "space marines" appears in Robert A. Heinlein's "Misfit" (1939) and is again used in "The Long Watch" (1941) which is referenced in his later novel Space Cadet (1948), in all cases before Smith had used the phrase. Heinlein's Starship Troopers (1959) is considered the defining work for the concept, although it does not use the term "space marine". The actors playing the Colonial Marines in Aliens (1986) were required to read Starship Troopers as part of their training prior to filming. Heinlein intended for the capsule troopers of the Mobile Infantry to be an amalgam of the shipborne aspect of the US Marine Corps relocated to space and coupled with the battlefield delivery and mission profile of US Army paratroopers.

As a gaming concept, space marines play a major role in the Warhammer 40,000 miniatures wargame, in which they are genetically altered super-soldiers and the most powerful fighting forces available to the Imperium of Man. In computer games, playing a space marine in action games was popularized by id Software's Doom series, first published in 1993. It is a convenient game back-story as it excuses the presence of the character on a hostile alien world with little support and heavy weaponry. Some critics have suggested it has been overused to the point of being an action game cliché.

Trademark controversy

In December 2012, online retailer Amazon.com removed the e-book Spots the Space Marine by M.C.A. Hogarth at the request of games company Games Workshop. They claimed the use of the phrase "space marine" infringed on their trademark of the term for their game Warhammer 40,000. In February 2013, the row received a lot of publicity, with authors such as Cory Doctorow, Charles Stross and John Scalzi supporting Hogarth, and Amazon.com then restored the e-book for sale.

Characteristics

In film and television space marines often appear in squads, while in video games the protagonist Marine is usually alone or in very small squads. Depending on the mission, they may be deployed via dropship or another specialised insertion craft. Their battledress varies between media, ranging from equipment comparable to modern-day fatigues (or just being contemporary, such as the equipment of Colonial Marines in the re-imaged Battlestar Galactica) to environmentally sealed suits of powered armour. Equipment and weaponry is similarly varied, often incorporating various fictional technologies. Directed-energy weapons are common, though conventional firearms are also used, like the M41A Pulse Rifles the Colonial Marines in the Aliens movie use (which are projectile weapons that use an electric pulse to shoot caseless ammunition). If the marines' armour is particularly bulky, their weapons may be similarly scaled up such as in Warhammer 40,000 where Space Marines carry "boltguns," effectively rocket-propelled grenade launchers, as a standard firearm.

Non-fiction aspects

The United States Marine Corps's Project Hot Eagle considers the use of spacecraft to deliver Marines to a target on the ground. "Within minutes of bursting into the atmosphere beyond the speed of sound – and dispatching that ominous sonic boom – a small squad of Marines could be on the ground and ready for action within 2 hours."

Appearances in fiction

Books and short stories

Author	Title	Year(s) Published	Unit Name
Bob Olsen	"Captain Brink of the Space Marines"	1932	Space Marines
Bob Olsen	"The Space Marines and the Slavers"	1936	Space Marines
E. E. Smith	Lensman series	1934–1954	Galactic Marines
Robert A. Heinlein	"Misfit"	1939	Space Marines
Robert A. Heinlein	"The Long Watch"	1941	Space Marines
Theodore Cogswell	"The Spectre General"	1952	Imperial Space Marines
Carey Rockwell	Treachery in Outer Space	1954	Space Marines
Carey Rockwell	Sabotage in Space	1955	Space Marines
Robert A. Heinlein	Starship Troopers	1959	Mobile Infantry
Harry Harrison	The Stainless Steel Rat	1961	Space Marines
Andre Norton	Star Hunter	1961	Space Marines
H. Beam Piper	Little Fuzzy	1962	Space Marines
H. Beam Piper	The Cosmic Computer	1963	Space Marines
Joe Haldeman	The Forever War	1974	United Nations Exploratory Force (UNEF)
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle	The Mote in God's Eye and related novels	1975	Imperial Marines
Jerry Pournelle and S. M. Stirling	The Prince or Falkenberg's Legion series	1976–1993; 2002	CoDominium Marines
David Weber	Starfire series	1990–Present	Federation Navy Marine Corps
David Weber	Honor Harrington series	1992–Present	Royal Manticoran Marine Corps (RMMC) of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, et cetera
David Sherman and Dan Cragg	StarFist series	1997–Present	Confederation Marine Corps
Ian Douglas	Heritage Trilogy Legacy trilogy Inheritance trilogy	1998–Present	United States Marines Corps, United Star Marine Corps
R. J. Pineiro	"Flight of Endeavour"	2001	United Nations Security Council Space Marines
John Ringo	Into the Looking Glass Vorpal Blade Claws That Catch The Manxome Foe	2005–Present	Allied Space Marines
John Varley	Rolling Thunder	2008	Martian Naval Corps

Films and television

Director	Title	Year(s) Published	Unit Name
Michael E. Briant	Doctor Who serial "Death to the Daleks"	1973–1974	Marine Space Corps
George Lucas	Star Wars	1977–Present	Galactic Marines of the Grand Army of the Republic, originally known as the 21st Nova Corps. Imperial Stormtroopers of the Original Trilogy also fit the role of space marines of the Galactic Empire. The Rebel Alliance has an entire regiment of Space Operations, nicknamed "Rebel Marines".
Lewis Gilbert	Moonraker	1979	United States Marine Corps on a space shuttle armed with lasers
Leiji Matsumoto	Star Blazers	1979–1984	Ground combat units found on the 11th planet are known as "Space Marines"
James Cameron	Aliens	1986	United States Colonial Marine Corps
Douglas Netter and J. Michael Straczynski	Babylon 5	1994–1998	EarthForce Marine Corps (also known as "Gropos" or "GROund POunderS")
Glen Morgan and James Wong	Space: Above and Beyond	1995–1996	United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry
John Weidner	Space Marines	1996	United Planets Marines
Keiji Gotoh	Kiddy Grade	2001–2002	GOTT Marine Corps
Allan Kroeker, David Straiton, et al.	Star Trek: Enterprise	2003–2005	Military Assault Command Operations (MACO)
David Eick and Ronald D. Moore	Battlestar Galactica	2004–2009	Colonial Marine Corps, Colonial Marine Corps Reserve
Brad Wright and Robert C. Cooper	Stargate Atlantis	2004–2009	United States Marine Corps attached to the Atlantis Expedition
James Cameron	Avatar	2009	Former Marines and mercenaries working with the RDA Corporation on Pandora.

Games

Title	Publisher	Game Type	Year(s) Published	Unit Name
Traveller	Game Designers' Workshop	Role-playing game	1977	Star Marines, Terran Confederation Marine Corps, Imperial Marine Force, Solomani Marine Corps, and Zhodani Consular Guard
Space Marines	Fantac/Fantasy Games Unlimited	Wargaming; Tabletop game; Dice game	1977/1980	Terran UnionGuard Heavy Infantry, Azuriach Heavy Infantry
Starfire series	Task Force Games; Starfire Design Studio	Board wargame	1979–Present	Federation Navy Marine Corps
Space Marines	Asgard Miniatures	Science Fiction Miniature Line	1982–Present	Space Marine/Space Trooper. The miniatures in this line were created for use with Laserburn and are currently available through Alternative Armies
Star Frontiers	TSR, Inc.	Role-playing game	1982–1985	Space Marine. The career name for NPCs with a focus in beam weapons.
Metroid series	Nintendo	Action-adventure game	1986–Present	Galactic Federation Marine Corps/07th Platoon
Princess Ryan's Space Marines	Simulations Tacticals (SIMTAC)	1/285 Scale Tabletop Miniatures Game	1986	Princess Ryan's Space Marines
Warhammer 40,000 series	Games Workshop	Miniature wargaming; Tabletop game; Dice game	1987–Present	Adeptus Astartes (Imperial Space Marine) Chapters, and also, to an extent, Chaos Space Marines.
Wing Commander franchise	Origin Systems, Inc.	Space combat simulation	1990–1999	Terran Confederation Marine Corps
Duke Nukem series	3D Realms	First-person shooter; Platform	1991–Present	Earth Defense Forces (EDF)
Doom series	id software	First-person shooter	1993–Present	United Nations Space Marine Corps
Command & Conquer series	former Westwood Studios, now Electronic Arts	Real-time strategy; First-person shooter	1995–Present	Global Defense Initiative can deploy infantry units and vehicles directly from its space stations
Quake series	id software	First-person shooter	1996–Present	SMC (Space Marine Corps) Marines
Outwars	Microsoft	Third-person shooter; Tactical shooter	1998	Colonial Marines
StarCraft series	Blizzard Entertainment	Real-time strategy	1998–Present	Confederate Marine Corps, the Dominion Marine Corps, the Alliance Marine Corps, the Alpha Corps, the United Earth Directorate Powered Infantry and numerous more
Ground Control	Sierra On-Line	Real-time tactics	2000	Crayven Corporation's Marines
Halo series	Microsoft Game Studios	First-person shooter; Real-time strategy	2001–Present	United Nations Space Command Marine Corps, Spartan I (Orion troopers), II, III, and IV super soldiers, and the elite Orbital Drop Shock Trooper divisions (special forces qualified for drop pod insertion).
Red Faction series	THQ	First-person shooter; Third-person shooter	2001–Present	Earth Defence Marine Corps (E.D.M.C.) and Earth Naval Guard (E.N.G.)
Natural Selection	Unknown Worlds Entertainment	First-person shooter; Real-time strategy	2002–2007	Frontiersmen (human space marines)
TimeSplitters 2	Eidos Interactive	First-person shooter	2002	Space Marines (Sergeant Cortez and Corporal Hart)
Killzone series	SCEE	First-person shooter	2003–Present	Interplanetary Strategic Alliance Marines
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect	Electronic Arts	First-person shooter	2005	Space Marines (Sergeant Cortez) (This got changed during scripting as it was pointed out that Space Marine might infringe on Games Workshop name.)
Mass Effect series	Microsoft Game Studios; Electronic Arts	Action role-playing game; Third-person shooter	2007–Present	designated personnel of the Systems Alliance Navy (no branch independence)
Dead Space series	Electronic Arts	Survival horror; Third-person shooter	2008–Present	USM Marine Corps (a branch of the Earth Defense Force)
Turok	Touchstone Interactive	Action game; First-person shooter	2008	Marines (also referred to as Commandos)
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard	D3 Publisher	Action game; Third-person shooter	2009	Space Marines
Alien Swarm	Valve Corporation	Action game; Third-person shooter; Shoot-em-up; Top-down	2010	Space Marines – the game can be single player or 4 players co-op. There are 4 classes with 2 characters for each class: Officer, Special Weapons, Medic and Tech.
Warhammer 40,000 Armageddon	Slitherine	Turn-based strategy	2014	Space Marines

See also

• Space Nazis
• List of United States Marine Corps astronauts
• List of fictional space navies
• Marines
• SUSTAIN (military)