| “ | You see, first, you get to see everyone you love die over and over. And that sucks. And on top of that, it's boring. I've been everywhere there is to go. I've tried every kind of food, sex, music. Nothing surprises me anymore. It's been a literal Hell on Earth. | „ |
| ~ Pierce's negative view on immortality. |
| “ | I can actually be with her. I can grow old with her. You're right, Lopez. I totally screwed this up. I need to win her back. | „ |
| ~ Pierce, realizing his genuine love for Chloe after his curse ends, prompts to win her heart at any cost. |
| “ | You made me realize that life is worth living, and I will do anything to stay alive. And if you get in the way of that... | „ |
| ~ Pierce to Chloe during their final standoff. |
Cain, better known as Marcus Pierce and the Sinnerman, is the secondary antagonist of the TV series Lucifer.
He was an ancient immortal who was secretly a powerful and feared criminal mastermind while posing as an L.A.P.D. police lieutenant, as well as the boss of Detective Chloe Decker. While initially wanting to end his eternal life, Pierce fell in love with Chloe and desired to be with her at any cost, thus starting a conflict with her partner Lucifer Morningstar, especially after the Devil realizes who he really is.
He was portrayed by Tom Welling, who also portrayed Kal, Kal-El, Bizarro, and Clark Luthor in Smallville.
Overview[]
Initially introduced as a loyal and stubborn human police lieutenant and the new boss of Chloe Decker, Dan Espinoza and Ella Lopez, Pierce was later revealed to be both a feared criminal mastermind known as the Sinnerman and most notably the ancient immortal Cain, who was cursed to live alone for eternity after murdering his brother, Abel.
Eventually, after getting absolutely bored with living forever, Cain made it his sole purpose to find a way to finally end his own life. After spending countless lifetimes trying and failing to do so, he eventually teamed up with Lucifer Morningstar to try and succeed as an act of spite towards God. Although he eventually succeeded in becoming mortal, Pierce abandoned his crusade after he fell in love with Chloe and desired to be with her no matter the cost.
His intention to fully win her heart had also sparked a rivalry with Lucifer, who was also in love with Chloe. Although he nearly succeeded in doing so by getting engaged, Chloe had ended it much to Pierce's chagrin.
Upon learning that Chloe was more in love with Lucifer than him, Pierce sought to remove him from the equation altogether by ruining his life on Earth and force him to return to Hell. But first, he intended to reclaim his immortality by killing Amenadiel just in case his plan backfired and he had nothing to fear.
However, he failed and ended up accidentally killing Charlotte Richards instead. This mistake had sealed Pierce's fate as he was then hunted down by both Chloe and Lucifer, the latter of whom finally killed him after he nearly got Chloe hurt during a final confrontation.
Personality[]
| “ | You pulled the trigger. You ended her life. You chose to kill her. Deep down... you know you're a monster, and that you belong in Hell where you will torture yourself with that truth for eternity. Because, not matter what you tell yourself, you can't outrun what you've done. What you truly are. | „ |
| ~ Lucifer gloating to a dying Pierce about his fate in Hell because of his inner regret for killing Charlotte Richards. |
At first, Cain (as Marcus Pierce) is shown to be strategic, reserved and well-respected. Like Lucifer, he is charming, charismatic and handsome. He appeared to have a disdain for cops who have previously committed crime and immediately took a disliking to Dan for his past actions of assisting Malcolm Graham. He also appeared to have a dislike towards Lucifer as he deems him reckless and later calls him an idiot for going after the "Sinnerman".
He also appeared to be a compassionate person, as he told Lucifer to keep Chloe Decker out of their search for the "Sinnerman" so they would not put her daughter Trixie's life in danger. Pierce claims to have an admiration for Chloe as a detective, as he said the only reason he arrived at Los Angeles was so he could finally see her in action firsthand.
However, it was shown that a considerable amount of Cain's persona as Pierce is an act, because he only wanted Chloe Decker and Lucifer Morningstar to stay away from the Sinnerman decoy because he feared that it could be trace back to him. Pierce admitted to Lucifer that the decoy was his friend and right-hand man, but that he killed him because he went rogue and had to be "taken out".
It is also proven that his apparent admiration of Chloe was nothing more than a mere lie as while he did come for Chloe, it had nothing to do with her detective skills, but rather because he knew her presence made Lucifer vulnerable and only wanted to see if it worked on him as well. A notable trait of Cain is that he strongly despises his brother Abel, whom he considered an "asshat", to the point that he showed no remorse for killing him. However, after Abel was temporarily revived, he was able to fully reconcile with him after all the years they hated each other.
Pierce's greatest desire is to finally die, to be rid of his curse of immortality. He is tired of being alive. In his words, "I've walked this Earth for thousands of years. I have seen everything, I have done everything. I have watched everything I've ever known turn to ashes over and over again." Pierce agreed to Lucifer's comparison to it being like Hell.
He is very determined in his goal, as shown by his multiple, and often extremely painful, attempts at suicide. Pierce also claimed to Amenadiel that, if it helped him find peace, he would have no problem murdering an innocent man. This showed that when it came to achieving his desire to die, he is willing to take any action, no matter how ruthless.
Pierce's willingness to die goes as far as to fake having any feelings towards Chloe Decker in order to become mortal again. Despite this, it was shown that Pierce came to genuinely fall in love with Chloe, as he ultimately decided against letting her say she loves him so she wouldn't be hurt by his death, which lead to his curse being broken.
After losing his mark, Pierce, having realized his genuine feelings for Chloe, tempted himself out of suicide and decided to do whatever it takes to beat Lucifer at winning her heart, in which he succeeded by proposing to her. He was however, still more than willing to use Trixie as a human shield when Maze threatened to kill him for betraying her.
But, after Chloe ended their engagement, this sparked a secret anger within Pierce as he realized that she was more in love with Lucifer, prompting him to revert back to his old ways except instead of ensuring his suicide, he would try and win her back in a possibly more obsessive way. Pierce has also ironically shown that he wants his mark and curse back, even after all the years he wanted it gone, as for the first time in his life, he became afraid of permanently dying due to the fact he would most likely end up in Hell if he were to.
After finally dying permanently, Pierce noted that he doesn't understand why he was so afraid of death, fully believing that since he didn't regret anything, he was going to Heaven. However, as Lucifer pointed out, since he genuinely did regret killing Charlotte accidentally, Pierce knew deep down that he was in fact a monster and will torture himself in Hell for all eternity for his actions.
Powers and Abilities[]
Former Powers[]
Pierce's mark that had cursed him with immortality.
- Cursed Mark: Upon being marked by Amenadiel on God's orders for killing his brother, Pierce was punished with being doomed to spend a tortured eternity walking the Earth and unable to die. However, after falling in love with Chloe Decker, the mark disappeared and thus ended his curse.
- Semi-Immortality: Being his most notable power, Cain was cursed by God with immortality for murdering his brother. Hence he is unable to die, including being unable to age even after thousands of years. He can be wounded and killed by any normal human, but when he is killed, he resurrects himself after a short amount of time. He can even survive being wounded by demon blades forged in hell, which even angels cannot do.
- Resurrective Immortality: Cain was cursed to be unable to die, hence he is immortal. He can be wounded and killed like a normal human, but when killed he is resurrected after a short amount of time. He can even survive being killed by a demonic blade, which angels cannot do.
- Healing Factor: Cain's body constantly heals from any wounds he is inflicted with. While injuries take time to heal, they seem to heal at an accelerated rate compared to regular humans. Any tattoos or scars fade after a few months. He can even regenerate from being cut in half, melted in an acid bath, and being engulfed by molten lava.
Abilities[]
- Expert Combatant: Due to being a millennia old immortal human, Cain was a remarkably capable combatant, with mastery over numerous martial arts, one of which involved Apkido as well as identified styles that involved Karate, wrestling grappling, able to contend with a human Amenadiel, who still had great physical power and skill, inflicting rather nasty wounds, despite still being outmatched and killed multiple times. Despite being caught off-guard by Maze and easily overwhelmed, Cain briefly managed to gain the upper hand, tackling her down and pummeling her, before she quickly broke out of it, and was eventually able to catch her off-guard to knock her out with a syringe. When fighting Lucifer, he briefly held his own against him and even cut him once with a demon knife, showing he was also proficient with melee weapons, but was ultimately no match for him.
- Marksmanship: As a trained member of the police, Cain has expert ability with firearms. He was able to shoot his decoy multiple times while Lucifer was in close proximity with his target without hitting Lucifer with any stray bullets.
- Superhuman Physical Conditioning: Though the mark only ever gave Cain immortality, millennia worth of training has allowed Cain to condition himself physically to the level of what could be considered inhuman: He was strong and fast enough to contend with a human Amenadiel, injuring and knocking him down with his attacks and able to grapple with him quite well, and with a few punches, he was able to make the demon Maze bleed and was fast enough to tackle her and then stab her with a syringe when she was off-guard. He was also just able to keep up with Lucifer enough to cut him and briefly struggle with him over the knife before being overpowered and stabbed. A noteworthy physical trait is Cain's endurance and durability: Due to his own admission that he still feels the pain that comes with death, Cain clearly trained himself to be able to endure incredible amounts of pain and still be able to function, as shown by how he was able to stand up moments after being killed by Lucifer and walk around with little strain and when fighting Amenadiel, he was able to swiftly recover from his attacks, even the ones that killed him.
- Genius-level Intellect: With millennium worth of lifespan and thus having countless years of experience in handling troubles, with him stating he experienced virtually everything possible in his long life, and the ability to easily recall every memory and experience from his whole life since ancient times, Cain is extremely intelligent. He is an exceptional strategist, manipulator and liar, having been able to effectively conceal his true intentions from the LAPD and manipulate and organize events to end with the death of his rogue right-hand man. He was also able to manipulate Chloe into falling in love with him, which succeeded in removing his curse. After becoming mortal, Cain's intelligence allowed him to still be a formidable foe for Lucifer and the others, having outwitted them until the end. For example, during his fight with Mazikeen, he was able to keep her distracted long enough for him to incapacitate her with a syringe. He was even able to outwit Lucifer during their confrontation at the station, intentionally causing a scene in the precinct so that the officers would keep Lucifer restrained while he got away. He also drew Lucifer and Chloe into a planned ambush that would most certainly have resulted in their deaths had he not faced off against divinity. Eventually, this plan leads to his death after being stabbed in the chest with Mazikeen's blade by Lucifer.
Weaknesses[]
- Flaming Sword: The Flaming Sword (and its component Azrael's blade) could eradicate humans. The human would be permanently gone, no Heaven nor Hell, and cannot be resurrected. Even when Cain was immortal, he would have definitely still be susceptible to the Flaming Sword as it could kill even God, who granted Cain the mark. However, the blade is permanently out of reach in the void with Goddess.
- Demon/Hell-Forged Weapons: These weapons are able to injure and kill human, he was visibly afraid of getting injured by Maze's demon knife. Lucifer killed Pierce with one to the heart, albeit only after he had been rendered mortal by the loss of his mark.
- Mortality: After the removal of his mark, Pierce became completely mortal and was thus vulnerable to any form of death a regular human would be vulnerable to.
Appearances[]
| Appearances of Marcus Pierce |
|---|
Season 3[]
Season 4[]
Season 5[]
Season 6[]
|
Quotes[]
| “ | Lucifer: Where do I find this Sinnerman? Sam: You don't. He finds you. |
„ |
| ~ Sam describing the Sinnerman. |
| “ | At first, I thought it was an emissary on Earth working on dad's behalf, but the more I think about it, the more I think this isn't our father who art in Heaven at all. But something much, much darker. | „ |
| ~ Lucifer Morningstar to Amenadiel about the Sinnerman. |
| “ | I wonder why I didn't work it out sooner. The world's first murderer. Marked by God and doomed to walk the Earth alone for a tortured eternity. It's quite the moniker. Yet, still, nowhere near as ridiculous as "the Sinnerman". Wouldn't you agree...Cain? | „ |
| ~ Lucifer deducing Pierce's true identity as both Cain and the real Sinnerman; thus revealing the latter's true nature. |
| “ | Pierce: I have walked this Earth for thousands of years. I have seen everything. I have done everything. I have watched everything I have ever known turned to ashes over and over again. Lucifer: It's almost like you're in... Pierce: Hell? Yeah. |
„ |
| ~ Pierce explaining to Lucifer his own personal Hell: living. |
| “ | And neither can you. | „ |
| ~ Pierce's last words to Lucifer regarding both of them being aware of their true natures. |
Trivia[]
- In the Bible, Cain is the son of Adam and Eve where he murdered his brother Abel out of jealousy and was punished to walk the Earth forever and unable to die.
- Cain also appeared in the DC Comics along with his brother Abel.
- Through his immortality, Cain did everything a person could do, legal and illegal.
- Whether this makes his immune system repel infections from common colds to cancer and S.T.D.s has not been confirmed.
- His memory appears to be able to retain centuries of experience, including languages, martial arts, and his suicide attempts.
- He likely established the Sinnerman crime boss identity to hide behind to wait out a few decades before choosing a new name and relocating.
- He finds his punishment unnecessarily cruel as murder is committed by other humans. Even fratricide is not unheard of.
- Cain is sometimes spelled as Kane in several episodes' captions.
- At first, Lucifer Morningstar believed that the man who kidnapped him would be an emissary of God.
- According to the show's producers, the Sinnerman is a dark reflection of Lucifer Morningstar who will be a challenge for him in almost every way during the season.
- Arguably, this is proves that Pierce is Lucifer's archenemy since both do favors to other people, both immortal, both conflicting for Chloe's affection, and while Pierce doesn't see himself as the villain of his own story until the last few moments of his life, Lucifer's devil-face proves that he does see himself as a monster but wants to prove he is capable of change. Also, he is the first human that Lucifer has killed and was the main reason his devil-face returned, thus showing Chloe who he truly was.
- However, after the release of Season 5, Pierce became more like his evil counterpart since Lucifer's twin brother Michael was revealed to be more evil than he ever was and also had the biggest impact on his life than anyone else.
- It's possible that had Lucifer not been picked up by Netflix or indeed by any network or streaming service following its cancellation, Pierce would've been considered as Lucifer's archenemy.
- Coincidentally, the song "Sinnerman" by Nina Simone was sang by Lucifer in the opening of the sixth episode "Favorite Son" in the first season.
- Despite feeling slight remorse for his actions, Pierce is one of the least sympathized villains in the series due to his hypocrisy, arrogance, immorality and cowardice, as well as killing Charlotte Richards. Even his mother Eve agreed that he got what he deserved.
- Actor Tom Welling shares a trait with fellow Superman actors Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill as all three of them have portrayed villains after their portrayals as the Man of Steel, with Welling's being Pierce, Routh's being Daniel Shaw from Chuck and Henry Cavill's being August Walker from Mission: Impossible - Fallout.
- As a nod to Tom Welling's previous portrayal as Superman, Lucifer also mentioned kryptonite when he and Pierce were trying to find a way to kill the latter.
- Pierce, Father Kinley and Vincent Le Mec are the only main antagonists of any season who have been killed, whereas Amenadiel and Goddess all redeemed themselves, while Michael was condemned to Hell while still alive.
- It is unknown if he participated in Lucifer's therapy session in order to redeem himself after Season 6, as this has yet to be confirmed, although this might be a possibility, as he would want to redeem himself for accidentally killing Charlotte Richards.
- The executive producers Ildy Modrovich and Joe Henderson revealed in an interview that Pierce was one of many characters they considered bringing back for the series finale.[1]
References[]
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