MarcusвЂ™s comment in Gears 5, then, about trusting the weapons more than the people who use them, is a loaded one that harks back to his up-and-down relationship with the COG and his place within that system as a career soldier. The Pendulum Wars werenвЂ™t a fight for survival against a monstrous, subterranean horde they were a fight over SeraвЂ™s main energy source, Imulsion, the glowing yellow goo that pumps through the planetвЂ™s underground veins. His motivations to initially pick up a Lancer are much more saturated with a sense of duty towards his people and his government. As a young boy, Marcus made up his mind early that heвЂ™d follow in his fatherвЂ™s footsteps and join up with the COG to fight the UIR in the Pendulum Wars. The Marcus Fenix thatвЂ™s seen in the Gears of War comics set prior to the events of the games, show a somewhat different take on the character. ThatвЂ™s, of course, if you only know Marcus Fenix from the games. Throughout the series, MarcusвЂ™ motivation to fight was one of survival and keeping his loved ones safe it had nothing to do with politics or patriotism.ДЄdam Fenix contemplates his sonвЂ™s future. That is, until Jinn and the rest of the COG spend the next hour or two trying to murder him, his Gear-turned-Outsider son J.D., and his sonвЂ™s friends Del and Kait. When we find him again in Gears of War 4, heвЂ™s living outside the COGвЂ™s political machinations, tending to his familyвЂ™s manor.

Marcus FenixвЂ™s consistent truth is that he hates the Locust above all else, but that doesnвЂ™t mean heвЂ™s in love with the COG either.

Our initial impressions of Marcus as a bruised and battered COG grunt with a major chip on his shoulder and an anti-establishment streak carries throughout the series, even as he rises back up the ranks of the army and eventually ends up saving humanity. And when heвЂ™s acknowledged by Anthony Carmine as a hero of the Battle of Aspho Fields-the victory that enabled the COG to secure the Hammer of Dawn from its Pendulum Wars enemy, the Union of Independent Republics-Marcus comes off resentful at being labeled a living legend. The first time we meet him, heвЂ™s four years into a 40-year prison sentence in the Slab, branded a traitor by the Coalition of Governments for abandoning a mission to save his father. Marcus is something of a political cypher in the Gears of War universe. But, at its core, and from its inception, Gears of War has always been a parable of the dangers of the military-industrial complex. As often as Gears of War shows the human cost of war, it never really broaches the moral questions that come with global conflict, nor is the deep political and scientific world-building mined for overt commentary. ItвЂ™s a statement that stands out because the ethical use of WMDs is rarely something thatвЂ™s discussed in the series. вЂњItвЂ™s the people who use them.вЂќ In other words, satellite-powered superweapons donвЂ™t kill people people kill people. Early on in Gears 5вЂ™s campaign, an aging, gray-bearded Marcus Fenix says something that sounds like it was torn out of the pages of a Second Amendment rights pamphlet: вЂњItвЂ™s not the weapons I donвЂ™t trust, First Minister,вЂќ he tells Jinn after she expresses concerns about resurrecting the Hammer of Dawn weapon system.

Gears of war hammer of dawn