Marshall Lee: ‘Adventure Time’s Cool Alternate-Reality Vampire King Explained
The Ice King may have (sorta) created Marshall Lee, but Fionna and Cake’s spin-off series brought the Vampire King to life.
While Marceline is Adventure Time‘s famous Vampire Queen, her alternate dimension male counterpart is known as Marshal Lee. He’s every bit as cool, brooding, and musical as Marceline. And thanks to the Ice King, they have a similar backstory and few of the same adventures. But with the addition of the Fiona and Cake spin-off series, we have a few moments that are unique to the Vampire King as well.
Starting as a Fanfiction Character
The original Adventure Time series was a very popular animated show that ran from 2010 through 2018. It produced nearly three hundred episodes, dozens of memorable characters, and countless quotable moments. If you’ve somehow managed to make it almost to the year 2025 without watching any Adventure Time, minimize this window for the next fifty or so hours and watch through all of it. Or check out this breakdown of the basics and characters of Ooo. Either way, I’ll be here when you get back.
You did that? Wasn’t it good?! You didn’t see some of those heart-wrenchers coming when you first start it, right? Anyway, Marshall Lee.
Much of Adventure Time was made up of one-off adventures, mostly staring Finn the Human and Jake the Dog. Periodically an adventure would point us in the direction of a clue regarding the state of the rest of the world, or would further the plot in some small way for one of the characters—usually Finn.
Sobering realizations were mixed in with episodes that could be described as eleven-straight-minutes-of-goofs. And the one character who perfectly embodied both ends of this sillies-to-sobs spectrum was Ice King. Sometimes the show’s antagonist, often just some sad, cursed loner, Ice King became a fan-favorite character, known for doing some of the wackiest stuff in the already very wacky setting.
“Not so bad? I’m the son of a demon and the vampire king. It’s not something I have to try at.”
– Marshall Lee, Adventure Zone.
One of these wacky things the Ice King did was write gender-swapped fanfiction starting all his frienemies in Ooo. Finn’s adventures were portrayed by a young girl named Fionna, Jake the Dog became Cake the Cat, and Marceline the Vampire Queen was written as Marshall Lee, the Vampire King.
This episode was first introduced as a silly one-shot. But fans liked it and so another episode was made, and then a third. And then an entire spin-off series with the Adventures of Fionna and Cake. This solidified the characters of Fionna, Cake, Marshall Lee, and all of the other gender-swapped citizens of Ooo as their own similar-but-different characters.
READ MORE: This Jake the Dog Explainer Will Show You How It’s Done
Marshall Lee
In many regards, Marshall Lee is a lot like his female counterpart, Marceline. He is a vampire, drinks the red out of things instead of blood, is a musician. We see him rapping from time to time even though Marceline does not. He can also shapeshift into a bat.
When we see Marshall Lee as a vampire, he’s pale and gray, similar to Marceline. He’s got short, messy but straight-ish black hair. He is usually wearing a red plaid shirt with jeans and dark red high-tops. But when we see him as a human, Marshall Lee is portrayed as a Black person with dreadlocks that go just past his shoulders and a red hooded sweatshirt instead of the plaid.
Marshall Lee and Marceline have very similar personalities and relationships with their friends. He, like her, often sees himself as a villain despite having a good heart. He is good friends with Fionna and has a tense but romantic relationship with Prince Gumball—Princess Bubblegum‘s counterpart.
Who is Marshall Lee In Love With?
Prince Gumball is Marshall Lee’s romantic interest and partner. In Fionna and Cake, Gumball’s human counterpart is known as ‘Gary Prince.’ In that universe, Gary is also his love interest.
Who Voiced Marshall Lee?
Donald Glover. You may think his casting is why Marshall Lee is later portrayed as Black as a human, but it’s more likely the other way around. In flashbacks to Marceline’s childhood, we see that her mother was a Black woman. Making this another aspect of Marshall Lee’s character that comes directly from Marceline.
How Old Is Marshall Lee?
In Fionna and Cake as a human, he is in his mid-to-late 20s. As the Vampire King, he is 1003 years old.
How Many Episodes Does Marshall Lee Appear In?
Throughout Adventure Time and Fionna and Cake, Marshall Lee appears in twelve episodes. In Adventure Time we first see him in the episode ‘Bad Little Boy,’ but he makes appearances or is mentioned in four other episodes. After that, he appears in seven episodes of Fionna and Cake‘s spin-off series.
How Would You Make Marshell Lee (or Marceline) for D&D?
I’d start by making them Dhampirs, it’s sort of vampire-lite, and I think that works perfectly for these characters.
From there, between singing, rapping, and playing a literal axe as a musical instrument, they are obviously Bards. This would give them music as well as Polymorph, but they need to fly, too. A few classes would give access to the Fly spell, but my favorite for this case is Warlock. Their patron can be their demonic parentage. And the in-game story is only more interesting for the terse relationship they have with said patron.
Stay mathematical, adventurers!
