Kevin Marlow

**Kevin Marlow** is a private detective living in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. He is the legal guardian and godfather to **Jessica Jones** and is the owner and operator of the **Marlow Investigation Agency.**

## Description

### Appearance

Marlow stands about 6'01" with a broad build. He has dark eyes and graying red hair, with a thick beard. He is usually unkempt and smells of cigarettes and scotch, though he can clean up when the occasion calls for it.

### Personality

Gruff and a bit ill-mannered, Kevin Marlow is old and doesn't take anybody's shit. He can be affable and charming when he wants or needs to be, but he is normally blunt and unfiltered.

He has a number of vices, especially alcohol, and is friends with a number of shady folk from New York's criminal underworld. He seems to have no compunctions about people with criminal habits.

Despite his demeanor, Marlow has a soft side and works hard to make sure that justice is done. He won't accept just any case; he's willing to break the rules--and even the law--from time to time, but he won't do anything blatantly cruel or immoral.

## Biography

### Background

Kevin Marlow was born the younger of two children to Michael and Diane Marlow in 1964. Michael was a military veteran and alcoholic, who beat his children.

Michael moonlighted as a criminal associated with local organized crime, whose exploits made brought "bad weather with the name "Marlow". Growing up, he was always "one of those *Marlows*". This caused more problems than he liked; he got into a lot of trouble with the cops growing up, for fighting and stealing things.

Eventually, he decided that he wanted to get out. When he graduated high school, he left Glasgow for the United States. He tried to get his sister to come with him, to no avail.

Once in New York, he enrolled at Empire State University. As the son of a career criminal, he felt he should give back as a police officer. His roommate was a man named **David Jones**, a budding young chemistry and engineering double major. The pair quickly hit it off and grew as close as brothers.

### The Destroyer

Marlow joined the NYPD out of school, but only two years in he stumbled upon a ring of corrupt cops. He refused to play along and, after trying to take some action, was targeted by the dirty cops, who shot him several times outside of a bar one night. David, a brilliant chemist, pulled a Hail Mary to save his friends' life: he injected him with an experimental serum meant to replicate the **Super Soldier Serum.** It worked. Maybe too well.

The serum gave Marlow superhuman strength, enhanced speed and durability. Donning a mask, Marlow took the fight to the dirty cops, eventually exposing them for the criminals they were. He left the force and, along with David, opened a private detective agency. He intended to use the serum and do some real good, with his new agency to gather information and provide income.

For the next 20 years, Marlow operated as "The Destroyer" and David Jones served as a sort of shadow ally, assisting in investigations and using the University's equipment off the books to analyze evidence and help Marlow find the truth.

In 1998, the Destroyer managed to track down and stop **The Beetle.**

### Going Downhill

Kevin was best man at David's wedding. He didn't particularly like David's wife, **Danielle,** but he was happy that David was happy. Only a few years later, David asked him to be the godfather of his daughter, Jessica. Kevin humbly accepted.

Not long after, things went to shit. He started drinking and gambling, and got into some debt. He borrowed money from David. This of course caused some friction between them. It didn't take long for things to go from bad to worse.

Due to a few conversations he'd had with David and some observations he'd made on his own, he began tailing Danielle. He soon discovered that she was carrying on an affair with one of David's supervisors as **OsCorp**. After showing David the evidence, they had an awful falling out and David punched him in the face. They broke all contact and they never really recovered.

For the next fifteen years, he would continue to run his agency and sink deeper into depression, alcohol, and eventually, heroin. It is unknown when he stopped being the Destroyer, though it is implied he did this at some point before Jessica was born.

### Today

In the winter of 2016, he received a call that David Jones had died in a car accident, along with his entire family--except for his daughter, Jessica. His goddaughter. And, according to their will, they wanted Jessica to live with Marlow in the event of his death.

For the sake of the girl, and for his former best friend and brother, he decided to try to clean up for Jessica and take care of her as best he could. He also began to look into David's death; the story, the details, none of it lined up right. His detective's nose was twitching. Something was wrong. Their death was no accident.

### Appearances

#### Volume 1

* **Chapter 1 -** *"The Accident"*
* **Chapter 2 -** *"Private Eyes"*
* **Chapter 3 -** *"The Devil's Due"*

## Relationships

### David Jones

Kevin's former best friend, David was like a brother to him. There is nobody on Earth that Kevin trusted or cared for more than David Jones and the man's death has pushed him into sobriety and back into full swing as a private eye. He believes his death was no accident and is determined to find the real culprit, no matter what it takes--even if it takes recruiting his daughter.

### Jessica Jones

His goddaughter, Marlow is taking a liking to Jessica. She's smart as a whip, tough as nails, independent, and a natural investigator. All far too much so for her own good. He's doing his best looking after her, trying to teach her the trade of the private eye and how to survive in the real world. While they are becoming closer, he is scared for her; her recently revealed powers have made him worried for her future and safety.

## Character Information

### Notable Items

* **Chrysler K-Platform:** Marlow owns this small, reliable car.
* **Glock 19:** This 9mm handgun is light, versatile, and has gotten him out of a number of scrapes.
* **Handcuffs:** Marlow always carries a pair of steel handcuffs, identical to the kind used by police officers.
* **Tracker & Other Gear:** Marlow has a number of gadgets used by private investigators, including trackers, telephone bugs, lockpicks, and other gear.

### Abilities

* **Boxing**
* **Disguise**
* **Larceny**
* **Marksmanship**
* **Private Investigator**
* **Streetwise**

## Quotations

* *"Angry makes you stupid, and stupid makes you dead."*

## Trivia

* His favorite bands are *Led Zeppelin,* *Creedance Clearwater Revival* and *Bob Marley.*
* His nickname on the rugby team in high school was "The Destroyer", a nickname he occasionally went by in college, though he was more famous for 'destroying' kegs at that point.
* Strongly dislikes Irish beer, especially Guinness.
* He is distantly related to **Moira MacTaggert**, on his mothers' side.