Doomguy, also known as the Doom Slayer, is the protagonist of id Software's Doom franchise. He was created by American video game designer John Romero and was introduced as the player character in the original 1993 video game Doom. Within the Doom series, Doomguy is a demon hunting space marine dressed in green combat armor who rarely speaks on-screen. In Doom Eternal, he is voiced by Matthew Waterson Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources. and Jason E. Kelley in that game's downloadable content The Ancient Gods: Part Two, followed by the 2025 prequel Doom: The Dark Ages. A different character with a role similar to that of Doomguy was portrayed by Karl Urban in the 2005 film adaptation.
Doomguy has appeared as a guest character in several other games, including Quake and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater as well as including his likeness as a customizable skin for the Mii Gunner character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and being added as an outfit in Fall Guys and Fortnite. He has received mainly positive reviews.
Concept and creation The protagonist is not referred to by name in the original 1993 Doom game. In 2002, designer and programmer John Romero described this choice as increasing player immersion: "There was never a name for the marine because it's supposed to be YOU [the player]". Romero further humorously stated in 2020 that the name of the character was "Doom Guy". The character sprites were created by lead artist Adrian Carmack, based on an initial sketch and clay model he made. In 2017, Romero stated that he was the original model of the character for the cover box art. In 2021, Doom Eternal director Hugo Martin revealed that a female Doomguy was nearly added to the game, but was scrapped due to how much of an endeavor it would have been.
Tom Hall's original design draft, "The Doom Bible", described several planned characters, all of whom went unused in the final version. The sole non-playable character, Buddy Dacote, bore the most similarities to the original game's eventual protagonist. "Dacote" is an acronym for "dies at conclusion of this episode", and Buddy was supposed to be killed by a boss at the end of the planned third episode. In the finished product, this nearly happens to Doomguy in the final level of the first episode, but the character survives. Later, when asked, Hall and Romero confirmed that Doomguy is a descendant of B.J. Blazkowicz, the protagonist of Id Software's other game series Wolfenstein.
Characterization
Doom and Doom II The box art for the original Doom (1993), which was done by Don Ivan Punchatz, shows Doomguy firing a weapon (which does not make an appearance in the final game) at a horde of demons below him as one of them grabs his left wrist, while a fellow marine (similar battle dress uniform, except in grey) in the background is rushing to catch up. This image is also used in the introduction screen of Doom, in which Doomguy has a shotgun clutched in his left hand, while a Baron of Hell kills the grey-uniformed marine in the background. The Doomguy appears without a helmet in the ending to The Ultimate Doom episode IV "Thy Flesh Consumed", and again in the cover art of Doom II (1994) where he is fighting a Cyberdemon with a shotgun.
For the character's in-game sprite (seen at the ending of Doom II), Doomguy wears green armor and a light grey helmet that conceals his facial features. Several corpses of other marines are occasionally encountered, and they feature the same uniform. In multiplayer mode there is a palette swap applied; with players either green, indigo (gray), brown, and/or red, depending on player number.
For Doom, Doom II, and Final Doom (1996), Doomguy's face is seen in the game's HUD, where he is shown as a white male with blue eyes and light brown hair in a buzz cut. Doomguy’s face displays a stern glare, and his eyes constantly dart left and right. Upon the player taking damage, the face provides feedback with an angered reaction, and the tilt of his face indicates the direction he has been attacked from. As the player’s health drops, Doomguy’s face also becomes increasingly bloodied and disheveled. Doomguy grins upon picking up a new weapon, and the most emotional face is seen when the player suffers 20 hit points or more taken away during a single attack, whereupon the HUD is supposed to show a shocked face. However, this behavior is actually broken in the original versions of Doom, Doom II and Final Doom, as said expression only shows if the player heals 20 health during the period a large amount of damage was taken; several third-party Doom source ports have corrected this bug. In Doom 64 (1997), Doomguy has a slightly modified green armor with black highlights, a black helmet with an antenna, and a blue visor.
Doom 3 and Resurrection of Evil In Doom 3 (2004), an alternate version of the Doomguy appears as the protagonist. He wears green armor with exposed arms, his facial features are not concealed, his muscular build is less exaggerated, and he has thick black hair. During the game, the character can interact with several characters, most of whom, like Sergeant Kelly, give the player some briefing regarding his mission. The character remains silent throughout and is portrayed as tough and fearless in the game's cut scenes, generally only glaring at the demons he sees; when he discovers the towering Cyberdemon for the game's final battle, however, he steps back in fear and mouths a curse word.
The Marine in the expansion Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (2005) is a different character than the Doomguy in Doom 3, being an older-looking and somewhat more heavyset and weather-beaten combat engineer with a dark brush cut who wears pale blue armor. This character is also shown to take enjoyment out of using the demonic powers available in the game, as cutscenes show him grinning with glee upon discovering the Artifact.
Doom (2016), Eternal and Dark Ages In Doom (2016), Doomguy is more vaguely characterized: Doomguy's title is now "The DOOM Slayer", he is never seen nor heard other than from the first person, and other than gameplay at the beginning of the game that shows him having a white skin color and the muscular masculine suit seen in the introduction, practically no details are revealed. The DOOM Slayer's eyes and nose can be made out through the visor of his helmet on the game's box art, the 3D model viewer, and his Quake Champions appearance. It has been also noted for its visibly irreverent tone conveyed by its hand gestures, fist bumping a small Doomguy figurine, shaking his fist in rage before punching a monitor whilst looking at the corpse of a UAC worker, and a late-game moment where the DOOM Slayer decides to make a backup of a friendly AI rather than erasing it.
Doom Eternal is more detailed about the Slayer's characterization relative to the previous game: Doomguy is seen without a helmet in first person perspective, and for the first time in the series' history, he also speaks, voiced in a flashback cutscene by Matthew Waterson. He is stated to be immortal, and he does not need to sleep, eat, drink or excrete. A room in his Fortress of Doom is filled with comic books, collectible figurines, and guitars. Some people consider that, "according to his computer log-in screen", his name is revealed to be Flynn Taggart, confirming the name the 1995 Doom novels assigned him. However, that is not a login screen but a password to open the original Doom II .wad from within Doom Eternal. Some question this logic, as of why would he put his own name as a password, while others consider this to be nothing more but an Easter egg. Among those, there are "Taggart" comic books spread about, as well as the book on the shelf, titled "RET-CONNED: The Life and Times of Flynn Taggart", which could, also, suggest that the developers retconned that name. Additionally, the expansion for Doom: The Dark Ages entitled Revelations contains flashback sequences where Doomguy is referred to as "Taggart" by a superior. Furthermore, codex entries found in game detailing a counterinsurgency and following court martial that led to Doomguy being sent to Phobos refer to him as "Flynn Taggart," confirming that Doomguy's name is Flynn Taggart.Doomguy also has access to alternate costumes, including a winged unicorn skin. Some speculate that he stands about tall and weighs in armor; without it, with a weight of , though it is uncertain where exactly these claims have originated from. A life-sized figure of the Slayer made by Studio Oxmox for Doom (2016) stands tall. However, a substantial portion of this height is provided by the figure's base, making it unclear how tall the figure portrays the Doom Slayer himself as. Other figures suggest a more modest height of 6 feet in armor.
Appearances Doomguy appears as the lead of the original 1993 video game Doom, its sequel Doom II, and their spinoff Doom 64. Visually-different Doomguys appear in Doom 3 and its expansion pack Resurrection of Evil. As the Doom Slayer, he appears in the 2016 series reboot Doom, in its sequel Doom Eternal and in the prequel Doom: The Dark Ages.
Doomguy also appears in the mobile game Doom RPG, Doom II RPG and in 2016's Doom Pinball, the virtual pinball adaptation of that game developed by Zen Studios as one of the three tables of the Bethesda Pinball pack, an add-on for Zen Pinball 2 (2012), Pinball FX 2 (2010) and Pinball FX 3 (2017). He also appeared in Mighty Doom (2023) as the Mini Slayer, a toy-like version of the character.
Other appearances A space marine's corpse appears in a secret area in Duke Nukem 3D (1996); they are seen halfway through their Classic Doom death animation clutching their throat and gurgling, surrounded by various Satanic iconography. Upon seeing them, the protagonist Duke Nukem says, "That's one doomed space marine". Doomguy appears in the PC version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (2001) as a secret cheat character. In the Sega Saturn version of Quake (1996), Doomguy briefly appears at the end of the bonus feature "Dank & Scuz". Doomguy also appears in Quake Champions. In Quake III Arena (1999), he appears in three levels under the name "Doom". The character "Phobos" is also a Doom space marine, though his skin is darker and his armor is orange rather than green. The third space marine in the game, a woman named "Crash", is mentioned as being Doom's training instructor before arriving at the Arena. A Doomguy costume was made available in Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, along with Cyberdemon and Cacodemon on January 12, 2021, for a limited time. Doom Slayer appears as a Mii Fighter Costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018), which was released as downloadable content in October 2021. On December 4, 2022, the Doom Slayer appeared as an outfit alongside multiple other Doom themed cosmetics in the Fortnite Chapter 4, Season 1 battle pass. The Doom Slayer appears in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, remakes of Pro Skater 3 and Pro Skater 4, similar to his appearance in the PC port of Pro Skater 3. The Doom Slayer appears as a playable Operator in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Call of Duty: Warzone, as part of a limited-time event pass; the Slayer's appearance is based on The Dark Ages, as well as his classic Doomguy outfit.
Novels In the 1990s Doom novels, Doomguy is referred to as Flynn "Fly" Taggart. However, that name was unpopular among some in the Doom community, including John Romero, who stated online in 2002 that he was "not too hot on Flynn Taggart like everyone else."