Marcus Hamilton

For the professional American football player, see Marcus Hamilton (American football).

Marcus Hamilton
Angel character
Adam Baldwin as Marcus Hamilton
First appearance	"Underneath"
Created by	Joss Whedon, Elizabeth Craft, Sarah Fain
Portrayed by	Adam Baldwin
Information
Affiliation	Wolfram & Hart
Notable powers	Superhuman strength, stamina, durability and reflexes Immortality

Marcus Hamilton is a fictional character that appeared on the final season of the TV series Angel. The character is played by actor Adam Baldwin, who also worked with Angel creator Joss Whedon in the series Firefly, playing mercenary Jayne Cobb. (The casting of Baldwin may echo Cordelia's suggestion in the first season episode Hero that they hire "one of the cheaper Baldwins" to make commercials for Angel Investigations.)

Biography

Hamilton is one of the final villains to appear on Angel. He is not a human being, as Illyria refers to him as a "creature". In fact, Hamilton is one of the Children of the Senior Partners, but unlike Eve, he wasn't created recently merely to act as the Senior Partner's liaison. Hamilton was created by the Senior Partners a long time ago, as he had already clashed with Drogyn the Battlebrand before he became the Guardian of the Deeper Well. Their history is unknown but each clearly considers the other to be a worthy adversary.

Because Eve urgently seeks Angel's protection, Angel and crew at first believe Hamilton has been sent by the Senior Partners to kill her. However, Hamilton's assignment is merely to replace Eve as Angel's liaison to the Senior Partners. Eve clearly views this as a death sentence of sorts, since she enjoys the benefit of eternal youth, which is revoked upon her termination from the Senior Partners' employ.

Having succeeded Eve, Hamilton makes it clear from the start he is not like her and will not be pushed about as the Senior Partners presumably felt Eve had been. He begins advising Angel very closely when the latter joins the Circle of the Black Thorn, going so far as to kidnap Drogyn to use as a sacrifice during Angel's initiation into the Circle. However, Hamilton remains wary of the ensouled vampire, suspecting he might yet betray Wolfram and Hart. With his enhanced strength, he is able to withstand a vampire attack (albeit from Harmony), as well as to defeat the weakened Illyria.

Upon realizing Angel has been using Harmony to pass bad intel and that his loyalties must, therefore, still be tied to the powers of goodness, Hamilton immediately attempts to kill him. Hamilton seeks to stop Angel before he can kill Archduke Sebassis, whom Angel had claimed was his selected target. Having thrown Angel aside after an attempted punch, Hamilton states that he regards Angel as merely guttertrash who got lucky and became a vampire with a soul, who nevertheless still fails everyone around him, asking him if he seriously thought he could kill Sebassis. Angel, however, reveals he already killed the Archduke by spiking his drink – the blood of a slave demon, concluding Hamilton was the one he needed to confront. He does admit that he thought the fight would be going better.

During the ensuing struggle, Hamilton wonders why Angel continues to fight after signing away his Shanshu, but Angel simply replies the people who don't care will never understand the people who do. Their battle nearly comes to an abrupt end when Hamilton almost stakes Angel, but Angel fends him off with timely help from his son, Connor. Although neither Angel nor Connor can inflict much damage at first, Hamilton himself inadvertently reveals the source of his power. Hearing the strength of the Senior Partners fills Hamilton's blood, Angel promptly assumes his vampire form and drinks from him. Absorbing the strength and power in such supercharged blood gives Angel the edge he needs to defeat his opponent. Near the end, Hamilton asks if Angel really thinks that he can defeat the Circle, saying "We are Legion, we are forever." Unimpressed, Angel punches Hamilton so hard it snaps Hamilton's neck and says, "I guess forever just got a hell of a lot shorter" as Hamilton falls to the floor dead.

Hamilton's death prompts the Senior Partners to rescind Angel's contract with the firm and unleash their punishment, which includes an earthquake that destroys the W&H Los Angeles branch, followed by a horde of demons sent to make an example of Angel and his crew.

Powers and abilities

Marcus Hamilton is physically powerful. During his confrontation with Illyria, he quickly gets the upper hand and beats her unconscious, albeit after her powers are reduced by the effects of the Mutari Generator. He is seen withstanding strong punches from Angel. He can gut a normal human with one blow.

In addition, his status as liaison to the Senior Partners granted him immortality and a psychic link to them, which allowed him to commune with them and access information whenever they saw fit. It is seen he is longer-lived than normal humans, even before his connection to the Senior Partners, due to his past encounters with Drogyn.

Hamilton's weakness is that his power is based in his blood and can be stolen that way.

Appearances

Hamilton has been in 5 canonical Buffyverse appearances:

• Angel season 5 (2003, 2004) – "Underneath", "Origin", "Time Bomb", "Power Play", "Not Fade Away"