Is there someone—or something—else out there?
Ever since humans first looked up at the stars, we have wondered if, among those millions and millions of celestial bodies stretched out across the universe, there is something beyond ourselves. Sometimes we imagine extraterrestrial beings to be benevolent, like E.T. and Alf. More often, we think of alien creatures coming to wreak havoc. Before the space invaders of Independence Day and Men in Black, there was a cartoon alien bent on destroying the Earth. Even if his ray gun didn’t exactly leave us quaking in our boots, and even if he was soft spoken, he most certainly did not come in peace. His name is Marvin. He is a Martian.
Marvin the Martian, like his Looney Tunes brethren, has popped up all over the cultural map over the years. Commercials, television, movies, T-shirts, and tattoos have all served as a canvas for the helmeted, skirt-wearing anthropomorphized void. And his reign of terror is far from over, as Marvin has crash-landed his beloved spaceship in Las Vegas, in front of a highly coveted AAU event at Brooklyn Bowl featuring some of the best up-and-coming ballers from our planet. In search of his next victim, he’s ready to take over and establish his dominance on the hardwood, but it won’t be easy.
With the little green alien invader gearing up for another moment in the spotlight—this time opposite All-Star Blake Griffin and his FlightSpeed-enabled Super.Fly 4s—let’s look back at The Most Notable Marvin the Martian Appearances in Pop Culture History.
Looney Tunes, “Haredevil Hare” (1948)
Looney Tunes, “Duck Dodgers in the 24½ Century” (1953)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
Animaniacs, “Cat on a Hot Steel Beam” (1993)
Air Jordan 8, “Bugs Bunny” (1993)
Space Jam (1996)
The Simpsons, “The Springfield Files” (1997)
Pinky and the Brain, “Star Warners” (1998)
Spirit Mars Rover (2004–2010)
In a lovely moment of science paying tribute to art, the Spirit Mars Rover, which landed on the Red Planet in January of 2004, chose Marvin the Martian as its mascot. The launch patch for the mission (which ended in 2011) featured Marvin saluting in front of a patriotic background.
This is just one of many times Marvin has left the world of film and television to pop up in other areas of culture. Marvin has been name-checked in Ludacris lyrics, has inspired an NHL goalie mask design, and has long been a T-shirt favorite of Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio.
Though Marvin is fast approaching his 70th birthday, pop culture shows no signs of losing its fascination with the soft-spoken Martian who carries a big ray gun.