20 Things You Didn't Know About Gears Of War

One of the defining features of Marcus is the facial scar that runs down his right cheek. Cycling through the plethora of nasty creatures in the Gears universe, one may guess that Marcus got entangled with a sharp-clawed Wretch or got sliced by shrapnel in an explosion.

The answer actually lies in the novel Gears of War: The Slab, written by Gears of War 3’s lead writer Karen Traviss. The story follows Marcus through his time in Jacinto Maximum Security Prison after abandoning his post in the Battle of Ephyra. The Slab is where we find Marcus at the start of Gears of War.

One of the book’s antagonists is a prison officer named Campbell. Harbouring an extreme hatred for Marcus after the death of his son, he decides to lock him in a room with a pack of rabid dogs. Of course, the battle-hardened Marcus proceeds to fight off the crazy canines bare-handed, but not before one decides to make a quick snack out of his face. Yikes.