Craig Marduk

**Craig Marduk** is a character from the *Tekken* franchise.

A huge, brutal Vale Tudo fighter, at the top of the world. Then he gets in a drunken brawl with Armor King, and killed him. He pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and was put in prison. Then someone managed to buy him out of prison, and gave him tickets to the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4. Curious, he visits.

In the AWA fics, Craig is set to appear in a future AWA storyline.

## **Appearance**

Craig Marduk is an Australian bald man with brown eyes. He also has slight chest hair.

Marduk wears bright green MMA shorts with a purple trim and has matching kneepads with his name imprinted on them and fights barefoot. He also wears a long, loose purple necklace around his neck and his gloves are in different shades of purple.

## **Personality**

Marduk is an extremely violent and short-tempered individual. He is very brash and tends to be quite unkind to others around him. He is also incredibly cocky and has a huge ego. Marduk's mannerisms are very questionable and usually border on mental instability, as he is usually seen before or after a fight screaming and acting like a vicious wild animal and breathing heavily and violently. Other actions that contribute to this is when Marduk killed King II's mentor Armor King in a bar brawl just because he was in a bad mood (albeit it may have been unintentional). The only people that Craig seems to actually care for are his loving parents as whilst unconscious in a hospital, King saw a family photo of Marduk's mother and father on a desk next to his bed. Although just as cocky and belligerent as before, he has since become progressively more good-natured after befriending his ex-rival King II.

## **Abilities**

Craig fights using Vale Tudo. Vale Tudo is a combat sport with few rules that hosts a variety of fighting styles, ranging from wrestling to Judo to Sambo to Muay Thai.

Fitting the name *Vale Tudo*, which literally means *anything goes*, Marduk does not seem to have a specific fighting style and is more acquainted to that of Brawling, much like Miguel. However, some of his moves are derived from wrestling as he can be seen using moves such as leg locks, throws and takedowns. Marduk's iconic *mount* attack, as the name suggests, has him tackle his opponent to the ground and brutally pummel them into submission, similar to techniques seen in mixed martial arts. The way he can tackle the enemy by the legs is also a common technique in Vale Tudo (as it is not forbidden like in most other fighting sports).

## **Trivia**

* Marduk holds great similarity to real-life (now retired) pro wrestler, Nathan Jones. Both are about the same size, Australian, bald, served prison time and are often portrayed as crude muscle-heads. However, unlike Marduk, first Jones went to prison, then he took up wrestling, not the other way around. Also, Marduk's style is Vale Tudo, & Nathan Jones's style is Muay Thai.
* Fans have also speculated that Marduk may be a tribute to professional wrestler and Football player Bill Goldberg.
	+ Ironically enough, in Tekken 7; one of his victory outros resembles Goldberg's Taunt after he spears his opponents.
* Not surprisingly, Marduk has some moves taken from the Japanese mixed martial artist Kazushi "Gracie Hunter" Sakuraba. Like Mongolian Chop from the mount position, jumping stomp, etc.
* Marduk is the only character who uses a knee for a low kick. (This is possibly because, due to being based on Nathan Jones, both used knee strikes, a common move used in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Karate, Muay Thai, & Tae Kwon Do.)
* Despite being Australian, in *Tekken Tag Tournament 2*, it is implied that he seems to hate kangaroos.
* Many of Marduk's attack animations were later reused and slightly altered for *Tekken 7* newcomer, Gigas. This, alongside similar physical features led fans to speculate that Gigas was in fact Marduk before the games release, (this was later de-confirmed in-game).
* From his inclusion in *Tekken 4* until *Tekken 7*, he was the only character in the series who directly interacts with the screen or "cameraman" in an intro/win pose, as in one of his win poses, he would violently grab the camera and say, as if speaking to the audience: *"The name's Marduk. And don'tcha forget it!"*
	+ In *Tekken 7*, while Marduk is not the only character with an intro/win pose like this anymore, he now does hold the distinction of being the only character who interacts with the camera in their Rage Art (if not counting Miguel's one which is partly seen from the opponent's point of view) as in his, he is seen briefly tackling the opponent into the screen, before continuing his assault.
* The "minor scandal" that led to Marduk being expelled from the professional circuit in *Tekken 4* is never outright stated or explained. If one looks at the prologue artwork that appears around the time the scandal is mentioned, however, one can assume that perhaps it had to do with a sexual scandal involving women. His sub boss battle with Anna Williams also seems to support this, especially with his win pose against her seeming to imply darker intentions upon defeating her.