| “ | I was set to spare the lives of you original arkists... for experimentation... For old times, Erwina... (proceeds to kill Erwina Prowley) After all, your uselessness is what spared my life. | „ |
| ~ General Cross on killing Erwina Prowley. |
Being forced underground after losing the Authority Wars so badly didn't stop him from being a monster.
20th PE Proposal! After two years of being away from PE stuff, I've finally decided to make this write-up for a villain from a series I liked: RAGE. With that being said, let's begin!
What's the Work?[]
RAGE 2 is the anticipated sequel of the first RAGE game, released on May 13, 2019. Taking place 30 years after the events of the first game, in the year 2165, thirty years after Nicholas Raine awakened all Arks at the end of the first game, the Authority was forced underground following their crushing defeat during the Authority Wars.
Players assume the role of Ranger Walker, aka the Last Ranger of the Wasteland, as he plans on a one-man campaign against the bandit clans across the wasteland and especially the Authority, who assumed to have been long gone after 30 years up until they razed Vineland in the prologue, which led to the deaths of Walker's mentor figure and aunt Erwina Prowley.
Who is He?/What He Has Done?[]
General Martin Cross is the main antagonist of the RAGE franchise, being the overarching antagonist of RAGE and the main antagonist of RAGE 2.
He is the leader of the Authority, an authoritarian faction who seeks to rule all of Wasteland after the 99942 Apophis hit Earth back in 2029, where he is known as the Visionary by some. Having handpicked a select group of soldiers from the former U.S. Military to have them stored inside his so-called "Super Ark" (which would be known as Capital Prime) after the asteroid fell, Cross would leave the rest of the other Arkists dead. To do so, Cross would change the timing of the emergence of his Ark to 2105, 76 years later, so that his Ark would emerge first out of the Wasteland while leaving the rest of the Arks unburied for the next 30 years. This would allow himself to start his goal of reshaping the Wasteland to his own image, thus creating the Authority.
He and his other comrade, Colonel James Casey, would use the Authority as means to instill order into the now-lawless Wasteland and put their goals into motion, but not without instilling fear and dread from the Wastelanders (as evident in the first game that the Wastelanders try to protect the protagonist from being taken away by the Authority). But not all of them have high opinions on Cross, especially John Marshall and half of Casey's men, who justifiably called him mad, with Marshall even wishing that he would have been dead during the Apophis.
In 2135, 30 years after his Ark emerged, his goals would be in direct opposition with one Arkist: the newly-awakened Nicholas Raine from Ark 437a. While Cross was unseen throughout the first game, Cross would send the Authority to hunt down Raine. Later on, it is revealed that Cross and the Authority arrested Mayor Redstone for hiding the Resistance and Raine (after the latter stormed the Power Plant), before taking over Subway Town, where he was heard giving pre-recorded propaganda to its residents.
After Raine stormed Capital Prime and awakened the remaining Arks at the end of the first game, Cross and the Authority were defeated by the joint forces of the Resistance and the newly-minted Vineland Rangers during the Authority Wars, with Erwina Prowley apparently killing him and left for dead. But unbeknownst to Prowley and the Wastelanders, Cross (who was critically wounded) and the Authority were forced underground. Thanks to science and genetic modifications, Cross' life was saved, thus making him immortal in the process.
For the next 30 years in 2165, Cross led the Authority remnants in clandestinity, effectively making them a myth. In the prologue of 2, Cross, with his head transplanted to a cyborg body, was giving a speech to his army about his plans on hunting down the last of the Arkists following Raine's actions in the first game. Dubbed as "the cleansing" by him, he wanted to instill his new Social Darwinist ideas through culling "the weak" by razing countless Wasteland settlements, as well as everyone he deems as such, and attempting to reshape the Wasteland once again to his twisted image, only this time where what he considers as "strong" would inhabit it with him as its ruler.
Cross and the Authority, with an army of his mass-produced mutants, would emerge out from hiding, initiating the attack of the Vineland settlement that led to the deaths of several Rangers. Cross would then round up Erwina Prowley, gloating at how he finally saw her again after the Authority Wars. He then murdered the Ranger leader in cold-blood, before he and the Authority would kidnap most of Vineland's citizens to be used as test subjects for his Longevity Project, which clones them so that his immortality would be extended.
He then used the Goon Squad as a proxy to initiate his goal. First, he makes a deal with Mayor Clayton's son Klegg Clayton, the self-proclaimed richest man in the Wasteland, who was Loosum Hagar's rival for the position of the mayor in Wellspring. With Klegg in leagues with the Authority, he would proxy the attempted assassination attack of the incumbent Wellspring mayor with the Goons. However, the failure of Loosum's assassination thanks to Walker's efforts had caused Cross's patience to run thin, before he gives Klegg the cold shoulder for his failure. In response to Klegg trying to "justify" his failure in an egging manner, Cross smugly ordered his mutants to kill Klegg while leaving his corpse (including his head) as a trophy.
Later on, when Walker infiltrated the genetic research station to find the mad General's DNA for Project Dagger, Cross gloated to walker at how killing his aunt figure Prowley was not enough and how he deemed it as unsatisfactory, instead relishing on the idea of prolonging their suffering and pain before killing them. After he was stopped by Walker, he gave him his parting words by gloating at how his plans would become successful. He would soon kill himself after that.
Or so the Walker thought, since it is revealed during the final mission that he is still alive, albeit in the body of another clone complete with his previous memories and his personality fully intact. This time, Cross taunted to Walker at how he finally had the chance to kill him personally. Once Cross finally meets up with Walker, the general would then use the Colossal Titan to kill Walker. However, despite his efforts, the Last Ranger would kill the Titan, leaving a badly-weakened Cross. Walker then injected the nanotrite virus onto Cross' right eye, causing the General to scream in agony. But in an act of defiance, Cross would then exhale the virus onto Walker, before giving him a parting word that he and Walker would spend the rest of their lives in hell. But Walker was cured moments after. Cross' death ended the Authority's ambitions and their terror across the Wasteland for good this time.
Heinous Standards[]
He easily sets the series' heinous standards. He is the only villain to have especially heinous crimes including genocide, as well as kidnapping Ark Survivors to be experimented and turn them into his mutant soldiers, and razing all of Vineland in 2's prologue out of spite for no reason other than to use "the Cleansing" as a mere justification after losing the Authority Wars. In fact, what cinched it was his brutal murder of Erwina Prowley, Ranger Walker's aunt and mentor figure, which is textbook personal villainy since her death was what led to Walker on a one-man rampage against the Authority.
Mitigating Factors[]
Absolutely not. One would think that in the first game he was a Well-Intentioned Extremist as he wanted to seek and restore order to the Wasteland albeit through anti-Resistance propaganda. But the second game makes it absolutely clear that he discarded what left of his redeeming qualities he had in mind, clearly content in razing anyone from his living path just because he lost the Authority Wars so badly. His loyalties? The only person whom he had loyalty with is himself, as he cares to absolutely no one. This is made apparent as he killed his associate Klegg Clayton after failing to take over Wellspring, thus showcasing that loyalty is not something that this guy is known for.
Verdict[]
I'll let the rest of you to vote.