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This Article Contains Spoilers -
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| “ | Violence is the universal language. | „ |
| ~ Macrinus to Lucius “Hanno” Verus and one of his most famous quotes. |
| “ | I happen to have with good fortune and not a little skill, the remaining emperor's ear. I can speak logic to it and tame the madness in the street. But, to restore order, I must have power. And command over the Praetorian army. Ballot? Or hand? | „ |
| ~ Macrinus to the Senate after presenting Geta's head to them and convicing them to follow him. |
Marcus Opellius Macrinus of Tisdra, also known as just Macrinus, is the main antagonist of the 2024 historical epic film Gladiator II, the sequel to the 2000 film Gladiator.
Originally a slave during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, he is a ruthless and manipulative wealthy arms dealer and power broker from Tunisia who became an influential figure within the Roman Empire’s aristocracy sixteen years after Emperor Commodus’ short-lived reign.
Seeing the potential of a Numidian warrior known as “Hanno”, actually the disappeared Roman throne heir Lucius Verus himself, Macrinus sees a chance to exploit him and many others in his plot to take over Rome from the twin Emperors Geta and Caracalla. Because of his actions, he is the sworn archenemy of Lucius Verus.
He was portrayed by Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington, who also played a possessing Azazel in Fallen, Alonso Harris in Training Day, John Quincy Archibald in John Q., Frank Lucas in American Gangster, Joe Deacon in The Little Things and Macbeth in The Tragedy of Macbeth.
Personality[]
At first glance, Macrinus appears to be a jovial and affable man, who can easily charm others and befriend those in high power, such as in the case of the twin emperors. However, undernath that jovial facade lies an ambitinous and ruthless mastermind, who carefully sets out his scheme to remove the emperors from the throne of Rome and become the nation's new emperor.
History[]
Past[]
Native from Thysdrus, Tunisia, Macrinus was taken by the Roman Empire years ago and turned into a slave after being a prisoner of war. However, Macrinus prevailed and turned into a gladiator, earning his freedom with his will. This led him to become a soldier within the Roman Army, serving Emperor Marcus Aurelius and possibly General Maximus Decimus Meridius during the former’s last days.
In the sixteen years after the events of the original Gladiator film, following Emperor Commodus’ death and Lucius Verus’ disappearance, Macrinus went on to rise to power by becoming a power broker and arms dealer, acquiring soldiers as gladiators for fights and selling food and oil to Roman forces in Europe. However, Macrinus had greater ambitions than that, wishing to take over the empire from the ruling brothers Geta and Caracalla, who lacked the appreciation of their citizens.
To achieve his plans for Rome, Macrinus got associated with the corrupt Senator Thraex, whom he manipulated. Eventually, among the gladiators he acquired, Macrinus got Viggo, whom he assigned as his right-hand to keep all of his men in line.
Gladiator II[]
Sixteen years after Maximus Decimus Meridius’ last stand, Macrinus attends a fighting rally hold for the captured Numidian warriors after the Roman conquest of Numidia, among them Lucius Verus, now known as “Hanno”. Macrinus sits with his fellows to watch how the Numidian warriors fight against savage monkeys and feels attracted to Lucius’ potential when he sees him killing some of the monkeys. Afterwards, Macrinus meets with Lucius and his fellows, testing Lucius’ strength by having him fight Viggo. He then tells him about the potential he has for the gladiatorial games Geta and Caracalla are organizing to celebrate their conquest of Numidia, asking him what he can offer to him. Lucius replies that with General Justus Acasius’ head for getting his wife Arishat killed, so Macrinus agrees as long Lucius doesn’t betray him.
Returning to Rome, Macrinus makes bets with Senator Thraex, whose addiction to gambling gets the best of him. When Geta and Caracalla visit them with their entourage, Macrinus has Lucius fight a rival gladiator, whom Lucius manages to kill, impressing the emperors as Macrinus expected. The emperors try to talk to Lucius, but as he refuses, Macrinus plays it off as Lucius not being able to talk their language, after which Lucius recites a poem of Virgil that impresses both emperors, assuring them that Lucius will entertain the audiences at the gladiatorial games. After claiming some daeneriis, Macrinus shows them to Lucius, but he affirms that the only thing that matters to him is avenging his wife. Later on, Macrinus attends the Colisseum for Lucius’ debut on the arena and sees how Lucius defeats and kills a gladiator mounting a rhinoceros.
After Lucius’ debut in the Colisseum, Macrinus is approached by Lucilla, who suspects “Hanno” is her son due to the poem he recited, but he denies to know anything about “Hanno”’s past. That night, Macrinus talks to Thraex what he spoke with Lucilla and they both drink wine and joke about the rumors of what happened to Lucius and even if Commodus was maybe his father, unaware that he was fathered by Maximus just like Lucilla tells him. Sometime afterwards, the Colisseum hosts a naval battle, during which Lucius comes close to murder Acasius by shooting him an arrow, but this fails and nearly hits the emperors, prompting them to leave their podium with Macrinus and Lucilla and demand Macrinus to punish the culprit, so Macrinus sends Vigo to find who, to no avail. Confirming Lucius is her son, Lucilla confides Acasius about her discovery and asks him to protect her son. Unfortunately, Lucilla’s maid betrays her employers and the following day informs Macrinus and his associates about the truth of Lucilla’s plans, to which Macrinus alerts Geta and Caracalla in order to further win their trust.
Alarmed, Geta and Caracalla have Lucilla, Acasius and their collaborators captured after killing their guards. Though they initially intend to crucify Acasius for his high treason, Macrinus suggests that because of his popularity as a war hero within Rome’s people, they should better send Acasius to his death in the gladiatorial games, an idea the emperors accept. Thanks to Macrinus, Lucilla is shackled to the podim and Acasius is forced to kill four of his former men before fighting Lucius, but Acasius manages to make Lucius listen to him as he has him at his mercy. Ignoring his deal with Macrinus and Geta’s orders to execute Acasius, Lucius declines, so Geta has his archers shoot their arrows to Acasius until he dies. Afterwards, Macrinus questions Lucius why didn’t he kill Acasius if that’s what he wanted and tells him that he no longer owes him anything.
As Macrinus had warned, Acasius’ death causes an uproar upon Rome’s population, challenging the Imperial rule. Macrinus goes to the palace to see the brothers discuss what to do, witnessing how Geta loses his nerves on Caracalla and his pet monkey Dundus. Following Caracalla out of the room, Macrinus skillfully manipulates Caracalla into believing that Geta could be a threat to him, which Caracalla agrees due to Geta allegedly trying to kill him in the womb. Convinced that his brother is too dangerous to stay in power, Caracalla comes across Geta hours later with a knife at hand. Caracalla attempts to kill Geta with it, but struggles as Geta wrestles with him in self-defense, so Macrinus comes to the scene and helps Caracalla stab Geta to death.
The following day, Caracalla announces his brother’s death and appoints both Macrinus and Dundus (to the shock and dismay of the court) as his new consuls to assist him ruling Rome as a sole emperor, so once Caracalla leaves the room, Macrinus assures the court that he will depose Caracalla as he is unfit to rule, which the court agrees after Macrinus shows them Geta’s beheaded head. Later that day, Macrinus sits with Caracalla as he holds an execution event for Lucilla and her fellow conspirators by the Praetorian Guard at the Colisseum, but Lucius and his fellow gladiators break into the Colisseum after killing Viggo to free Rome. In the ensuing chaos, Macrinus takes the chance the audience is too busy fighting with the archers to insert a nail through Caracalla’s ear and perforate his brain. However, out of spite towards Lucius, Macrinus takes a bow and arrow and shoots at Lucilla, hitting her fatally, prompting an angry Lucius to chase him down to the outskirts of Rome, where the country’s militaries have gathered to start a civil war.
Ready to assure his power by killing the rightful heir to the Roman throne, Macrinus denounces the late Marcus Aurelius’ dream of a unified Rome as a fantasy, assuring Lucius that the only important thing is power and nothing more. They then engage in a swordfight as Macrinus used to do in his prime, managing to throw Lucius into a nearby river, but Lucius is protected from Macrinus’ constant sword strikes due to wearing his father Maximus’ armor. Eager to kill Lucius once and for all, Macrinus tries to give him one last strike, but Lucius overpowers the old gladiator and ends up cutting Macrinus’ swordhand off and then stabs him lethally, causing Macrinus to fall on the river, making the water all bloody. Macrinus’ corpse remains floating in his watery grave as Lucius calls off a potential civil war and prepares to unify Rome as his grandfather had desired, leaving Macrinus’ plans for conquest in vain.
Quotes[]
| “ | "I own you now! But whose head could I give you to satisfy your fury | „ |
| ~ Macrinus manipulates Lucius into becoming his gladiatorial champion in exchange for the promise to help exact his vengeance. |
| “ | "A man does not become emperor by bloodline alone. It must be taken by force and kept by force! Are you such a man as this? | „ |
| ~ Macrinus attempts to manipulate Lucius into pledging his loyalty to him. |
Trivia[]
- Despite being an epic historical drama, much like its predecessor, Gladiator II takes many historical liberties with the real Macrinus.
- The real-life Macrinus wasn’t a power broker nor arms dealer, instead a Praetorian prefect who did succeed Geta and Caracalla as Emperor of Rome but just for one year and a month with a few days before being overthrown and killed.
- Surviving artwork of the real Macrinus suggests that he may have been olive-skinned instead of black like his actor in the film, as Macrinus was born in Northern Africa, with his origins tracing back to the Amazigh tribes. The film implies Macrinus is from Tunisia given his nickname.
- Macrinus and Senator Thraex bet in gladiatorial fights with gold denariis, which while Roman currency indeed, is incorrect as the denarii was the Roman silver coin, not the gold one, which was the aureau, which was similar to the coins Macrinus gives to Lucius when he is bathing.
- The film shows Macrinus as manipulating Caracalla to murder Geta, but in reality, Macrinus had no involvement in this and Caracalla murdered Geta alone in front of their mother Julia Domna.
- Macrinus did have Caracalla killed, but he didn’t do that personally like in the film. In reality, Macrinus dispatched a soldier named Julius Martialis, who hated Caracalla for not appointing him as a centurion, to kill Caracalla while he declared himself Emperor with the Roman Army’s support three days later.
- In many ways, Macrinus can be seen as a dark reflection of Proximo, Maximus Decimus Meridius’ master and one of the main characters from Gladiator. Like Proximo, Macrinus serves as a mentor to the titular gladiator, but whereas Proximo was content with his lifestyle and offered Maximus to help him regain his freedom, take Commodus down and avenge his family, Macrinus merely promises Lucius to give Justus Acasius’ head to have him on his side and aims to overthrow the Emperors to rise up to power. Macrinus likely serves as an example to what Proximo could have become if he had let his hatred for the Roman Empire’s cruelty towards him consume him until becoming just a power hungry despot as Commodus, Geta and Caracalla.
- Macrinus is Denzel Washington’s second role in a Ridley Scott film, having previously played Frank Lucas in American Gangster. Indeed, it was because of his desire to work with Scott again (calling him and his late brother Tony as filmmakers who never miss) that Washington accepted the part of Macrinus.
- Even before the premiere of Gladiator II, despite the mixed-to-negative impressions from fans and audiences in the lead-up to the film, many agreed that Denzel Washington’s performance as Macrinus looked to be one of the film’s highlights. Now that the film has released, many critics and viewers have deemed Macrinus as one of the best parts of the film, with many industry insiders expecting Washington to be nominated as either Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor at the 97th Academy Awards.
- He has been nominated for Best Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture for 82nd Golden Globes.
- Gladiator II originally had a scene where Macrinus kissed a man on the lips, but it was cut because, according to Denzel Washington, some of the executives “feared” it. Regardless of the scene’s removal, Macrinus was confirmed by Scott to be bisexual prior to the film’s release and his comments that he likes men sometimes as Lucilla’s late husband does imply he likes men.
External Links[]
- Macrinus on the Pure Evil Wiki
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 Duology Villains
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Roman Emperors | ||