|
"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | Nothing anyone did to her was any different than what happens to every girl at every high school. She just wanted attention. And leaving those tapes... That's a f-cked up thing to do! No one deserves that. | „ |
| ~ Marcus to Clay regarding Hannah’s suicide and the nature of the tapes. |
Marcus Cole (known as Marcus Cooley in the original novel) is a major antagonist in the 2017 Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why, an adaptation of the 2007 novel of the same name. He serves as a major antagonist in Season 1 and a supporting antagonist in Season 2.
Marcus is the student body president of Liberty High and a part of Hannah Baker’s club called the Baker's Dozen and is the subject of Hannah Baker’s 6th tape from her list of reasons why she killed herself.
He was portrayed by Steven Silver.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
- While he seems to be a good person who is kind and friendly to everyone, this is all an act to hide his true nature.
- Although his past sounds quite tragic with him being bullied online and his father pushing him to be the perfect representation of a young black man and not another "racial stereotype", this is too petty to excuse his actions and it's never played for sympathy.
- He attempted to rape Hannah Baker on their first date at a restaurant and only went out with her because of a bet between him and Bryce rather than any genuine affection towards her.
- When Hannah forcefully shoves him off the table to stop him from touching her leg, he yells at her out of rage and when she tells him to get away from her, he tries to rationalise his attempt to molest her by saying that "he thought she was easy" just to spite her.
- He tries to justify his attempted rape of Hannah as natural order, stating to Clay that what happened to her "was no different than what happens to every girl at every high school", refusing to show any sympathy for what Hannah had been through.
- Despite being against violence as it draws attention, this is solely pragmatic as he prefers manipulating and lying to others to solve conflicts, which isn't any better.
- Him telling Justin to be more considerate of Hannah is pure hypocrisy given that Marcus is not genuinely nice to anyone.
- He's a coward, as he is willing to use his friend Bryce as a scapegoat to avoid any punishment for his crimes, showing no sense of loyalty towards anyone.
- Along with the other members of the Baker's Dozen, his actions led to Hannah committing suicide after she got raped by Bryce at a party.
- He is willing to harm others to protect himself and the others on the tapes by intimidating Clay and framing him for being a marijuana user. As a matter of fact, he clearly doesn't mind if his actions hurt someone or not, unless he wants a specific person to get in trouble.
- Unlike Bryce who tried to redeem himself and Monty who has sympathetic moments in the third and fourth seasons of the show, Marcus has absolutely no redeeming qualities and is taken completely seriously, making him one of the evilest and darkest villains in the series.
- While him being covered in paint by Tyler and Cyrus can be seen as comedic, he still maintains his seriousness in the scene and it is seen more as karmic. Even before the bag of paint explodes in his face, there is tense and edgy music in the background as he approaches it.
- Also, him falling victim to Tyler's pranks is not played for sympathy or laughs and is seen more as well-deserved, given that he is such a narcissistic and vile pervert who attempted to molest Hannah in public just to impress his friends. It additionally shows that Tyler has grown incredibly sick of Marcus and his actions (and by extension, his obsession with reputation).
Why Doesn't He Stand Out?[]
- While he passes the baseline by trying to force Hannah to have sex with him against her will (which counts as sexual abuse), he still fails the heinous standard to Bryce Walker and Monty de la Cruz, who committed far more heinous acts such as the former raping ten girls and the latter having one brutal rape that goes over standard sexual assault and ruining way more lives than Marcus ever did. He also fails to Tyler Down, who attempted to shoot up the school and kill hundreds of students. His high resources don't help, as he is the president of the entire student body at Liberty High.
Trivia[]
- His Villainous Benchmark status makes sense, as his arch-rival Tyler Down is a Heroic Benchmark.
External Links[]
- Marcus Cole on the Villains Wiki
- Marcus Cole on the Hate Sink Wiki
- Marcus Cole on the 13 Reasons Why Wiki
[]
 Villainous Benchmarks
| ||
|
Animated Television Anime Live-Action Television See Also | ||
 Villainous Benchmarks
| |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Liberty High School Others See Also | |||||||||||