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- "This is heavy."
- —Marty McFly's catch phrase
- "Nobody calls me chicken!"
- —Marty McFly
The photo of Marty used on his driver's license.
Martin Seamus "Marty" McFly Sr.[1] is the world's second time traveler, the first one to travel backwards in time and the first human one. He was also a high school student at Hill Valley High School in 1985. He is best friends with Dr. Emmett Brown who unveiled his first working invention to him.
Biography
Original Timeline
Marty was born in 1968 in Hill Valley, California. He was the youngest of three children to George and Lorraine McFly. He had a brother Dave who was born in 1963, sister Linda who was born in 1965 and girlfriend Jennifer Parker who was born in 1967. His best friend was scientist Emmett Brown, whom Marty (and Jennifer) called "Doc" and referred to as "The Doc". There is a slight impression that Marty was somewhat embarrassed by his family and did not spend much time at home, preferring to hang out with Doc, Jennifer or the guys in his rock band, The Pinheads.
Marty auditioning for the Battle of the Bands with his band, the Pinheads
Little is known about Marty's life prior to 1985, except for the fact that he set the living room rug on fire when he was eight years old and that he got a scar on his left knee from skateboarding down the courthouse steps when he was twelve.
When Marty was either thirteen or fourteen, circa 1982, he snuck into Doc's laboratory. Seeing how Marty found him not to be the mad scientist that others were claiming, Doc gave him a part-time job to look after the lab and feed his dog Einstein.[2] After Marty went to 1955 and returned to the future, the timeline may have shifted for Marty and Doc,[3] and so they consciously met and befriended each other sometime before 1985, because Doc knew they were going to be good friends.
First trip to 1955
By 1985, Marty was 17 years old. On the morning of October 26, 1985, at the request of Doc, Marty met him at the Twin Pines Mall parking lot where Doc demonstrated his new invention - a time machine built from a DeLorean DMC-12. The demonstration was interrupted by the arrival of a group of angry Libyan terrorists. The Libyans had provided Doc with the plutonium to build a nuclear weapon for them, but Doc instead had used it to provide the DeLorean with the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity needed for time travel.
Marty sees his father 30 years younger.
Marty attempted to escape from the Libyans in the DeLorean, only to find himself transported back to November 5, 1955 after accidentally activating the time circuits. He soon crashed into the barn of Old Man Peabody. When Peabody thought he was a space alien, he came under fire once again, but escaped in the DeLorean, running over one of the two pine trees that Peabody had been raising (this would cause the "Twin Pines Mall" in 1985 to be called "Lone Pine Mall" because only one pine tree was left). Marty drove until he saw the undeveloped Lyon Estates where he would live in 1985. Thinking he was having a dream, he hid the DeLorean and ventured into town, where he discovered the date on a newspaper. He went inside Lou's Cafe and encountered his father eating a bowl of cereal. In following George, he accidentally interfered with the first meeting between his future parents. Instead of George falling from the tree from which he was peeping on Lorraine and getting hit by Sam Baines' car, Marty was hit after saving his father.
Marty gets run over
Using the alias "Calvin Klein" (his teenage mother-to-be Lorraine saw the name printed on his underwear and assumed it was Marty's name), Marty briefly had dinner with younger versions of his grandparents, mother, aunts and uncles, before getting directions to 1955 Doc's residence. Upon arriving, Doc disbelieved Marty's claims of being a time traveler, until the young man mentioned how Doc came up with the design for the flux capacitor. After retrieving the DeLorean and bringing to to Doc's lab, Marty showed the video tape of the 1985 Doc, who was describing the function of the time machine. Upon mentioning that the flux capacitor required 1.21 gigawatts to function, 1955 Doc panicked, as he had no access to plutonium. Doc offhandedly noted that only a bolt of lightning would generate that amount of power, but that nobody ever knew when or where lightning would strike. Marty then remembered that he had a copy of the news story about the bolt of lightning that would strike the clock tower on Saturday night, November 12, 1955, on 10:04 PM. Doc believed that he could find a way to harness the bolt's power, but insisted that during the week ahead, Marty had to avoid contact with anyone else, lest he alter future events. As Marty admitted that he "sort of bumped into [his] parents", Doc rechecked the photograph of Marty and his siblings, and realized that the firstborn son, Dave, was being erased from existence because Marty had prevented his parents' first meeting. Marty, the McFlys' third child, would soon risk being wiped out. Marty's mission was to try to get his parents (Lorraine and George) to fall in love, or they would never marry and Marty would never have been born. This was no easy task, as Lorraine now had a crush on Marty instead and George was too scared to ask her out.
- "My name is Darth Vader...I am an extra-terrestrial from the planet Vulcan."
- —Marty McFly
Marty devised a plan to scare George into taking Lorraine to the dance. He donned his radiation suit, a hair dryer, and his Walkman with a tape of Eddie Van Halen. Only after Marty visited George in the night, as "Darth Vader", did George agree to take out Lorraine, having been threatened with the melting of his brain. Marty used chloroform to put out George for most of the rest of the next day.[4] That afternoon, a shaken George found Marty in Courthouse Square, told him of his encounter and that he had overslept. Marty told George to keep the "Darth Vader" story to himself and pointed out Lorraine in Lou's Cafe. When he saw Biff move in on George, Marty tripped Biff and escaped to the square. He ran to a couple of kids on makeshift skateboards, and borrowed a "board on wheels" to avoid Biff and his gang. Marty led the gang completely around the square, avoided getting killed, and sent the gang crashing into a manure truck. Over the next few days, Marty would practice with George on their plan to get him Lorraine next Saturday night; that Marty would become physical with Lorraine and, upon seeing George, would feign defeat.
Marty's mother meeting him in the past
On the night of November 12, 1955, Marty took Lorraine to the 'Enchantment Under The Sea' dance (or "a rhythmic ceremonial ritual", as Doc amusingly titled it). He and George agreed to a plan that would allow George to win Lorraine's heart by "saving" her from Marty's staged aggressive behavior. Unfortunately, Marty made an enemy of high school bully Biff Tannen, and Biff showed up at the dance looking for revenge. Marty was taken away by Biff's goons and locked in the trunk of Marvin Berry's car. The musicians chased them off and attempted to pry open the trunk which had the keys locked inside. When George came to "rescue" Lorraine, he found that instead of having to pretend to save her from Marty, he now had to really save her from Biff. Biff began to twist his arm attempting to break it, but was foiled by Lorraine, whom he pushed to the ground. In anger, George knocked Biff out with a punch to the face, standing up to a bully for the first time in his life, and George and Lorraine fell in love.
Marty on stage during "Earth Angel".
Marty joined the dance band onstage to ensure his future existence after Marvin Berry cut his hand open, in order to provide a romantic atmosphere for his parents so they could kiss. It was almost lost, however, when Mark Dixon jumped in between George and Lorraine, with Marty forgetting how to play the guitar and eventually fading away much like his brother and sister in the photo. George, returns and pushes Dixon away restoring everything between him and Lorraine and finally kiss.
His existence assured, Marty finished the song, and followed up with "Johnny B. Goode" including his own Chuck Berry/Jimi Hendrix/Pete Townshend/Eddie Van Halen-like guitar solo, which, in 1955, left the audience speechless. And also, given the year he plays the song, it is mistaken for his own work (although the guitarist of the onstage band, named "Marvin Berry", phones his cousin, Chuck Berry (the real-life artist who released "Johnny B. Goode" in 1958), who at the time is said to be looking for a "new sound". Marvin held the phone out for Chuck to hear his future hit being performed).
As the storm began to move in, Marty rushed to get back downtown. Marty tried to warn Doc about the night the terrorists come to kill him but Doc refused to listen and tore up the letter given to him. The lightning struck and knocked down a tree which severed the connection between the clock tower and the poles that would channel the lightning into the flux capacitor. While Doc fixed the line, Marty jumped in the DeLorean and headed to the starting line. He set the arrival time for ten minutes earlier to save Doc. When the alarm went off signaling him to hit the gas, the car died. Marty managed to get the DeLorean back running and took off. In a race to reach the poles, Doc connected the line at exactly 10:04pm and Marty attached to the line, sending him back to 1985.
Marty awakens to a new life.
Arriving back in 1985, Marty began to celebrate his arrival, but the DeLorean died on him again. The Libyans passed him on their way to Twin Pines Mall (now Lone Pine Mall). Doc was shot just the same, but when his other self traveled to 1955, he found that Doc was wearing a bulletproof vest. Doc had read the note all along and figured "what the hell".
That next morning, Marty fainted at the sight of his parent's house. And discovered that his family's lives had turned out very differently because George learned to assert himself by standing up to Biff. They were more confident, richer, and Marty even had his own truck, the Toyota that he had been eyeing previously. Jennifer comes over, but before the two can fully reunite, Doc returns in the Delorean from the future. He pleads with Marty and Jennifer to come with him to the future over an urgent matter involving their children. Doc refuels the Delorean with an almost empty can of Miller beer (can and all), a banana peel, and other pieces of trash. A new futuristic generator called Mr. Fusion is planted where the plutonium power system was, and the three of them travel forward to 2015. The Delorean is now upgraded with hovering wheels.
Into the future
Marty pretends to be his son for a day.
Just as Marty and Doc headed to October 21, 2015 to save Marty's future son Marty Jr., from going to prison. Marty pretended to be Marty Jr. in order to stand up to Griff Tannen, grandson of Biff. Marty's "chicken" problem became apparent - whenever someone called him a chicken, he became offended and felt he had to prove he was not afraid. Marty succeeded in preventing his son from going to prison, by causing Griff and his gang to crash into the Hill Valley Courthouse, causing them to be arrested, thereby changing the timeline, and acquired a hoverboard. Afterward Marty entered the Blast from the Past and purchased Grays Sports Almanac, with the intent to use it and the time machine for financial gain. Doc discovered the almanac clearly stated that "I didn't invent the time machiene to win at gambling, I invented the time machine to travel through time." He disposed of the almanac in a nearby trash can. Biff overheard Doc's statement, came out of the alley, and took the almanac from the trash can.
"Nobody calls me chicken!"
While in the future, his girlfriend Jennifer Parker discovered that in 1985, the day after he arrived back from 1955, Marty was involved in a car accident after auto racing a classmate, Douglas J. Needles, on a "chicken" dare. Marty broke his hand and was sued by the driver of the Rolls-Royce he crashed into. He had to give up a career in music and spent many years feeling sorry for himself. He married Jennifer in the 1990s in the Chapel O' Love, and his parents were the only witnesses. The couple had two kids — daughter Marlene, and son Martin Jr. (born 1998). By 2015, Marty and Jennifer were living in Hilldale, a planned community established in 1985 which had deteriorated over the last 30 years in similar fashion as Lyon Estates had between 1955 and 1985. They were having marriage difficulties, and Marty was stuck in a dead end job at CusCo, where his co-worker was his former classmate Needles, who pressured Marty into unwise decisions, much like the way George McFly was bullied by his supervisor, Biff Tannen, in the original 1985.
Marty McFly, aged 47, in 2015.
The 1985 version of Marty, visiting 2015, does not find out any of this, but the 1985 Jennifer. This future version of Marty fell victim to another "chicken" dare from Needles, who convinced Marty to go along with some shady in-company deal. However, the supervisor above Needles, Ito T. Fujitsu, or "The Jitz", had been listening in on the pair making the deal by video telephone, and fired Marty for cooperating with Needles (it is not clear what Needles' fate was as a result of this incident). The 1985 Jennifer did not witness all of this exchange, but did acquire a copy of a printout sheet with the words "YOU'RE FIRED!!!' on it, as every fax machine in the McFly residence printed out the phrase.
1985A and back to 1955
Marty dons his "inconspicuous" attire.
Doc and Marty headed back to 1985, only to find that an elderly Biff Tannen, in 2015, had stolen the time machine and gone back to 1955 with the sports almanac, which he had given to his younger self. As a result, Biff knew the results to all future sports events for the rest of the century. Using this knowledge, Biff was able to bet on the winner every time, becoming an extremely powerful multi-millionaire. Subsequently, Hill Valley became a corrupt, crime-ridden city ruled over by Biff, where he owned the police and had influence towards national politicians. Additionally, Marty learned that his father was murderd, Biff was now his stepfather, and that he had "been attending" a boarding school in Switzerland. Marty had apparently attended, and been thrown out of, other boarding schools in the past.
After confronting Biff about the almanac, Biff revealed how he obtained it, as well as admitting to murdering Marty's father while attempting to shoot Marty with a handgun. Marty now had to steal back the almanac in 1955, so he and Doc quickly headed back to put history back on track, whilst avoiding their younger selves from the first trip. They eventually succeeded (saving Marty's father and returning Hill Valley back to normal), but the lightning storm that struck the clock tower arrived, and struck the DeLorean in mid-air while Doc was inside alone, scrambling the time circuits and sending Doc to the year 1885. At that very moment, a letter from Doc in 1885, which had been in Western Union's possession for 70 years, 2 months, and 12 days, arrived for Marty, explaining everything that had just transpired. Determined to rescue his friend, Marty rushed off to find the 1955 Doc, who was just sending the other Marty back to 1985.
The Wild, Wild West
Marty walks the fifteen plus miles back to Hill Valley along the railroad tracks in 1885.
Marty found the 1955 Doc Brown celebrating his success in sending his counterpart back to 1985 the first time, but shocked him into fainting. He drove Doc back to his residence where Doc began to record the experiment but found Marty there again.
Marty showed Doc the message his counterpart sent him, directing them to the Delgado Mine where the DeLorean was buried. After the DeLorean is fixed, Marty traveled back to September 2, 1885 to find Doc and bring him home. Marty, now using the name "Clint Eastwood", found Doc, but the time machine once again needed repairing after ripping a fuel line by getting caught in an Indian attack. When Doc started romancing Clara Clayton, Marty became weary of his friend's companion and tried distracting Doc from Clara so he could fix the time machine and they could go home. He often cleared his throat to break the silence when Doc and Clara were locking eyes.
- "Eastwood ... Clint Eastwood."
- —Marty McFly
Once again, he encountered a Tannen, this time it was Biff's great grandfather Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen. Buford called Marty "yellow" and Marty ended up facing Buford in a duel. His great great grandfather Seamus alongside wife Maggie told Marty the story of his brother, also named Martin McFly, who was stabbed in Virginia City whilst trying to prove he was not a coward. Marty managed to overcome his complex and told Buford that he did not care what anyone thought about him. But Buford didn't give up easily without a fight. Holding Doc hostage, Marty was forced to use a Clint Eastwood trick from A Fistful of Dollars and defeated Buford in combat.
Marty faces off against Buford Tannen.
Marty managed to get back to the future and found out that everything is back to the way it was after the first trip back from 1955. Upon returning, the time machine was destroyed by an oncoming train, just as Marty leaped from the vehicle. He picked up Jennifer and went go out in his new truck. At an intersection, they met Needles who challenged them to a race. It isn't clear if Jennifer realized that this was the car accident that ruined Marty's life but she did encourage him to say "no". Marty appeared to be ready to race Needles but, when the light turned green he shifted into reverse, speeding backwards as Needles took off. Marty tells Jennifer that he had no intention of racing "that asshole." Needles, now down the road, narrowly avoided hitting a Rolls-Royce, and the car accident was avoided. Marty apparently learned his lesson and Jennifer's future changed to a supposedly better but unknown one. Marty and Jennifer returned to the scene of the DeLorean's wreckage, believing that Doc would be lost in time forever. Suddenly, Doc and Clara show up in a new time machine fashioned from a locomotive. Doc explained to Marty and Jennifer that nobody's future is written yet and that they should make the best of it. Marty and Jennifer watched as the train lifted off the tracks and disappeared in a flash of light.
Family (Original Timeline 1885-1985)
- Lorraine Baines McFly (Mother)
- George Douglas McFly (Father)
- Dave McFly (Brother)
- Linda McFly (Sister)
- Seamus McFly (Great-Great-Great-Grandfather)
- Maggie McFly (Great-Great-Great-Grandmother)
- William McFly (Great-Great-Grandfather)
- Sam Baines (Grandfather)
- Stella Baines (Grandmother)
- Toby Baines (Uncle)
- Joey Baines (Uncle)
- Milton Baines (Uncle)
- Ellen Baines (Aunt)
- Sally Baines (Aunt)
- Arthur McFly (Grandfather) (Game)
- Trixie Trotter A.K.A Grandma Sylvia (Grandmother) (Game)
Family (Original Timeline 2015-Future)
- Lorraine Baines McFly (Mother)
- George Douglas McFly (Father)
- Marty McFly Jr (Son)
- Marlene McFly (Daughter)
- Jennifer Jane Parker McFly (Wife)
Family (Alternate Timelines 1985-Future)
- Lorrain Baines McFly Tannen
- George Douglas McFly
- Dave McFly
- Linda McFly
- Jennifer Jane Parker McFly
- Marlene McFly
- Marty McFly Jr
- Biff Tannen
 |
1986
Six months after Doc's departure, Marty engaged on another series of adventures upon seeing the DeLorean
Marty McFly in Back To The Future: The Game
reappear in front of Doc's garage.
1986B
The Marty McFly of 1986B attended a Math and Magic Competition at the lake in May of that year, while Marty from the original timeline was taking his place. The 1986B Marty also used to date Jennifer but she left him for Leech. The 1986 Marty won back Jennifer afterwards during a guitar battle with Leech.
1990s
Marty and Jennifer ended up at Hill Valley College after graduating from the high school. Marty spent a lot of time visiting the Brown house where Doc, Clara and their sons lived. He accompanied the family on many of their time travel adventures.
Marty still had his "chicken" problem, as seen when Bifficus Antanneny taunted Marty into a chariot race by calling him a "pullus", the Latin word for "chicken".
Marty in the animated series
2090s
In 2091, Marty's music became famous to Elvis-like proportions, as there are Marty impersonators mimicking his act on stage. However, a quote from his great-granddaughter Marta ("If only my great-grandfather was still alive to see that his music continues on...") suggests that the fame surrounding his music may not materialize until some point after his death. The canonicity of the animated series as an extension of the films' storyline is unclear.
Three future versions of Marty from different alternate timelines.
Novelizations
- In the Back to the Future novelization, Marty is trapped in detention with Mr. Strickland and devises a plan to escape to catch his band's audition. After Strickland destroys his Sony Walkman in a vise, he grabs a lens from a projector. Marty applies some gum to the back of a matchbook and shoots it up to a smoke alarm on the ceiling. He then focuses sunlight at the matchbook but is forced to hurry before Strickland closes all the blinds. Marty succeeds in igniting the matchbook and setting off the fire alarm and sprinkler system, escaping out the door to audition.
Personality and traits
Marty's typical sleeping position.
Marty was an easy going adolescent most of the time. He was not the best student academically but his grades were fairly good, although he did have a tendency to be late for school. This was not always his fault, however, as shown when Doc set all his clocks 25 minutes slow, causing Marty to arrive late for school.
Marty played lead guitar with The Pinheads and liked listening to Huey Lewis and the News and Eddie Van Halen. He is also a talented skateboarder. Marty was also shown to be good at singing, as shown in his performance of "Johnny B. Goode" at the Enchantment Under The Sea Dance.
When faced with danger, Marty was always brave and could be very resourceful and clever. His only major character flaw was his persistent desire to show others that he wasn't a coward, which sometimes caused him to take unnecessary risks. He couldn't abide to be called "chicken", a trait he shares with James Dean's character Jim Stark from Rebel Without a Cause (coincidentally made in 1955). However, Marty realized that he doesn't need to constantly prove his bravery and avoids one of the greatest tragedies in his life, a collision with a Rolls-Royce that would have ruined his ability to play the guitar.
Behind the scenes
- Although Marty McFly is 17 years old as of October 25, 1985, his birthdate is not referred to in the film series. Novelty items, such as a California driver's license in Marty's name, often include a birthdate of "06-12-68" and an address "9303 Lyon Drive", neither of which is mentioned elsewhere. There are different versions of the "license" that have been manufactured, as can be seen on sites such as eBay. June is a logical choice for a novelty license, since the photo is of actor Michael J. Fox, who was born on June 9, 1961.
- If Marty's birthday has ever been thought of at all, it was when Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis wrote an early draft for a sequel to Part I. In that script, Marty mentioned that his birthdate was June 20, 1968. The plot point became important when Marty traveled to September 20, 1967, nine months before his birthdate, and again put his existence in danger. As with Marty's middle name (which was "Hopkins", than "Seamus", in the draft script), the idea was dropped before filming.
- Eric Stoltz was originally cast to play the role of Marty McFly. Fox was the first choice of Zemeckis and Gale, but was committed to NBC's hit television show, Family Ties. When the show's producer, Gary David Goldberg, was approached in 1984, he was not willing to let Fox appear in a movie while also shooting Family Ties. After Zemeckis and Gale had filmed a large portion of the scenes with Stoltz, and were not happy with the results, they approached Goldberg again. Goldberg agreed to let Fox work on both the show and the film at the same time, with the condition that the show had to come first.
- How exactly Marty and Doc first met has never been explained, although a draft script for the first film states that a couple of years ago Doc turned up at Marty's garage one day and offered him $50 a week, plus free beer and use of his record collection, to clean his garage. This explanation is not accepted by most fans, however, as it contradicts the characterizations of Marty and Doc we see in the finished film. Co-writers Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale say they once considered expanding on their relationship, but decided against it, reasoning that children and adolescents are often attracted to eccentric or mysterious neighbors.
- Ralph Macchio (actor known for his roles in The Outsiders and in the first three The Karate Kid movies) was turned down for the role of Marty.
Appearances
- Back to the Future
- Back to the Future novelization
- Back to the Future: The Story
- Back to the Future Part II
- Back to the Future Part II novelization
- Back to the Future Part III
- Back to the Future Part III novelization
- Back to the Future (video game)
- Back to the Future Part II & III
- Back to the Future Part III (video game)
- Back to the Future: The Pinball
- Super Back to the Future Part II
- Back to the Future: The Card Game
- Back to the Future: The Game
- Back to the Future: The Animated Series
- "Brothers"
- "Forward to the Past"
- "Witchcraft"
- "Roman Holiday"
- "Time Waits for No Frog"
- "Batter Up"
- "Solar Sailors" (Mentioned only)
- "Dickens of a Christmas"
- "Retired"
- "Clara's Folks"
- "Mac the Black"
- "Put on Your Thinking Caps, Kids! It's Time for Mr. Wisdom!"
- "A Friend In Deed"
- "Marty McFly PFC"
- "Bravelord and the Demon Monstrux"
- "The Money Tree"
- "A Verne by Any Other Name"
- "My Pop's an Alien"
- "Super Doc"
- "St. Louis Blues"
- "Verne Hatches an Egg"
- Back to the Future comic series
Notes and references
- ↑ "Witchcraft"
- ↑ Back to the Future Co-Creator Bob Gale Explains How Doc and Marty Became Friends
- ↑ There is one theory that Doc Brown later simply remembered Marty McFly from their first encounter (from Doc's perspective) in 1955 (during Marty's first time travel) though this would lead to a predestination paradox.
- ↑ Back to the Future novelization
External links
| Individuals | ||
| The McFly Family Marty McFly | George McFly | Lorraine Baines McFly | Jennifer Parker | Seamus McFly | Maggie McFly Dave McFly | Linda McFly | Martin McFly, Jr. | Marlene McFly | Arthur McFly | ||
| The Brown Family Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown | Clara Clayton-Brown | Jules Brown | Verne Brown | Einstein | ||
| The Tannen Family Biff Tannen | Buford Tannen | Griff Tannen | Irving "Kid" Tannen | ||
| The Strickland Family James Strickland | Roger Strickland | Irene Strickland | Edna Strickland | Gerald Strickland | ||
| Other Individuals Match, Skinhead & 3-D | Goldie Wilson | Douglas J. Needles | Marcus Irving |