Marshall Law (マーシャル・ロウ Māsharu Rou?) is an American fighter of Chinese descent who was introduced in the original Tekken game, and has returned for all subsequent Tekken games, except Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament (where he was replaced by his son, Forest Law though he made a cameo in his son's ending and in the opening in the former). He is a very close friend of Paul Phoenix and is married to Mrs. Law.
Biography
Marshall Law is a very talented martial artist. He's mostly known for owning a dojo and then owning a restaurant (although he had to resort to being dishwasher in Japan since he was penniless after being defeated in the 4th tournament). Marshall is best friends with Paul Phoenix, despite of having their fair share of arguments.
Marshall always wanted to teach in his own dojo, so when he heard the announcement of the King of the Iron Fist Tournament, he took this opportunity. Law would eventually draw against Wang Jinrei. Despite this, Marshall would eventually open his own dojo. Unfortunately, his dojo was attacked and all students were injured by a Dojang Master named Baek Doo San. Law was enraged and wanted to confront his attacker. Law entered the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2, he would eventually face his villainous assailant and successfully defeated him.
Law then ran his own dojo alongside his restaurant called "Marshall China," along with his son Forest. However, Law found out that his son eventually joined the tournament, disobeying him since he forbid his son fighting outside of the dojo. If it didn't feel like it got any worse for Marshall, he found out that Paul got him in the tournament without his knowledge, which would cause a rift between Marshall and Paul.
Marshall eventually would become a successful businessman running his restaurant and dojo. Unfortunately, he had to declare bankruptcy after losing a battle with a rival franchise and fell into a deep depression. After sometime, Law would eventually get notice of the 4th King of the Iron Fist Tournament. Marshall quickly saw this as an opportunity to redeem himself after his business crisis. Unlucky for Marshall, he failed in winning the tournament.
Prior to the events of Tekken 5, Law stayed in Japan to work as a dishwasher since he was deprived of money. If things seemed like it couldn't get any worse, Marshall got a phone call from his wife, informing him that his son got into an accident while joyriding on a motorcycle, which belonged to Paul. Marshall joined the tournament, attempting to claim the prize money to pay his son's medical bills. However, Marshall was deported back to America after it was discovered he was working in Japan illegally. Therefore, he had to forfeit the tournament. He would then feel hopeless once more. That was until Paul approached him and requested he could team up with him and Steve Fox in the 6th tournament. Although they did well in the 6th tournament, they failed to reach the top prize.
Law would then enter the 7th tournament, although he was also searching for someone to run his dojo since he was losing students, and he is also still struggling to pay off his son's medical bills.
Personality
Marshall usually gets along well with his friends and family. Marshall has been friends with Paul Phoenix since Tekken 1 and have shown to not only friends, but fighting partners also. Marshall also got along with Steve Fox when they teamed up in Tekken 6. Law also likes to joke or make fun of his friends. For example, in his Tekken 6 ending, Marshall puts laxatives in his "special-recipe" pizza, and feeds it to Paul and Steve. Also, Marshall also likes to make fun of Paul's inability to perform a somersault kick at times. It's also shown that Marshall Law is a very good martial arts teacher. He has taught his son very well, and in some cases, Forest performed moves that his father could not. Marshall also taught Lee Chaolan some of his moves before the events of Tekken 1. It's also shown that Law cares deeply not only for his family, but his dojo students also. After he finds out that Baek Doo San attacked his students, he would go find Baek and would successfully avenge his students.
However, Marshall is also quick tempered at times. In his Tekken 4 ending, he causes brawl in his restaurant only because someone criticized his food harshly. He also became angry when he found out that his son joined the 3rd King of the Iron Fist Tournament, but with good reason. It also seemed Law and Paul weren't that good of friends in Tekken 4, since they looked to be rather distant from each other, possibly due to the fact that Marshall was still holding a grudge against him for allowing his son to participate in the 3rd Tournament. However, it appears they're friendship has been revived, since in Tekken 6, Law and Paul would team up along with Steve Fox.
Concept
Marshall Law is Namco's tribute to legendary martial artist Bruce Lee. Every Tekken game has Marshall wearing at least one outfit similar to one worn by Bruce Lee in one of his movies. Law has also several throws that are in Bruce Lee's films.
Outfits
Story
Tekken
Law worked in a Chinatown restaurant in San Francisco while dreaming of opening his own martial arts school. He took part in The King of Iron Fist Tournament to open his own school with the prize money, while at the same time to make himself world famous.
Ending Description, "The Master": Marshall finally got his own dojo. Students were performing somersault kicks while Marshall watched them. Marshall yelled something at them with the students not paying attention. Marshall continued talking to them. Then, he performed three somersault kicks while the others watched him. After he finished, he puts his hands on his hips.
Tekken 2
In the previous tournament. Law would draw against a very old man named Wang Jinrei. Law would go home, and almost felt hopeless after his failed task in winning. However, Manji Clan leader Yoshimitsu came storming into Law's poor neighborhood and gave money to Marshall and the other poor residents within the small area. Law would use the money he received and fulfilled his dream in owning his dojo, but not after thanking Yoshimitsu for his generosity.
Law ran his own martial arts dojo. Unfortunately, his students were attacked and severely injured by a Tae Kwon Do teacher who was participating in King of Iron Fist Tournament 2. Law decided to enter the tournament to avenge his students and to restore the reputation of his gym.
Ending Description, "Oops!": Marshall puts his hands together and looks to his left. Paul Phoenix is shown standing next to him. Marshall performs a somersault kick. When he finishes, Paul tries to perform a somersault kick, but he fails and lands on his stomach. Paul rests his head on one of his hands. Marshall shrugs.
Tekken 3
The villain that attacked Law's dojo turned out to be Baek Doo San, another martial arts master with a competing dojo. Law defeated him in the tournament; he later learned Baek mysteriously disappeared along with most of the martial artists from the second tournament. Law felt pretty safe going on the business trip he had planned. On the other hand, he feared for his son, Forest.
Marshall Law does not appear as a playable character in Tekken 3, but he does appear in the Tekken 3 PlayStation opening movie and Forest Law's Tekken 3 ending.
Tekken 4
Marshall Law in Tekken 4
Marshall Law was a successful businessman - he managed a newly established dojo and even owned a nationwide Chinese fast food chain called Marshall China. Unfortunately, he lost a franchise war against a competitor and had to declare bankruptcy a year later. Unable to deal with his failure, Marshall fell into depression and spent his days at home in a drunken haze. Then one day, a notice for the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 arrived at his doorstep. Marshall's eyes flashed with renewed vigor. After a month of intense training, he beat himself back into top physical shape. "This is it," he said to himself. The fire within raged hotter than ever before.
Ending Description: Law won the Tournament and the Mishima Zaibatsu fortune. His fighting spirit was then focused on rebuilding Marshall China. The scene shifts to a successful Marshall China restaurant having customers. Marshall walks around, only to hear from a person that "his food sucks". Law tries the food, asserting it's good, and beats up the person and his three friends. Marshall China goes out of business, and once again, he starts his dojo (Marshall Dojo) and trains the four people.
Tekken 5
Tekken 5 Law Interludes
Tekken 5 Official Version
Law failed to win the last tournament to try and revive his career, He stayed in Japan to make money as a dishwasher. A month later, Mrs. Law called and told him Forest had been in an accident concerning Paul Phoenix's bike. Law decides to enter The King Of Iron Fist Tournament 5 to pay for his son's medical bills.
Ending Text:
Marshall returns to America after his success at the tournament. He meets with a lawyer to discuss how to repay his debt.
End of the text
Ending Description: The outside of a building is shown. Marshall walks out of it, lowers his head, sighs, and says, "Broke again." Someone on a bicycle is approaching Marshall. Marshall goes into a fighting stance. The person on the bicycle is revealed to be Paul Phoenix. Paul appears to be having difficulty pedaling. When Paul reaches Marshall, the bicycle falls apart, and Paul falls to the ground. Paul hands a stack of papers to Marshall and says, "Here..." Marshall looks at the paper on the top of the stack and opens his mouth wide in shock.
It is a bill for $34,500.00 from BikeShop XYZ. Apparently, this is a bill for Paul's motorcycle. Paul signed "Marshall Law" on the bill. Paul says, "Come on, man. Pay the bill already." Marshall nervously groans for a few seconds. Then, the screen changes to make it appear as if the two are about to fight (there are health bars above their heads, they are in their fighting stances, and an announcer says, "Round 1. Fight!"). Marshall performs an uppercut that knocks Paul into the air and completely takes out Paul's health bar. Paul falls to the ground, landing on his back. Marshall runs away, dropping the papers that were handed to him. Marshall is shown running away and leaving a paper trail as the scene ends.
Tekken 6
During the middle of the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5, it was discovered that Marshall Law was working illegally in Japan, and as a result he was immediately deported to his home country of the United States of America.
With the deadline to pay for the damages of his son’s accident fast approaching, hopes of getting the money needed were slim. Just then, his best friend Paul Phoenix approached him with the idea of forming a team—securing a high-ranking prize alone would certainly be difficult, but if he was part of a team, the probability of winning would be much higher.
Marshall accepted Paul’s invite, but thinking a three-man team was better than a two-man team, the renowned boxer Steve Fox caught his attention.
Ending Description: In a distant house, Marshall was seen celebrating with Paul Phoenix and Steve Fox over their win in the tournament, which is obvious due to the many large money cases in the background. Unfortunately for both Paul and Steve, Marshall was holding a small bottle that had "Strong Laxatives" labeled on the front. And with super-swift hands, he puts the laxatives onto a whole pizza.
"It's ready, My special recipe pizza!". Marshall places the pizza onto the table "It's about time!" Paul says as he takes a slice. "It looks delicious." Steve complimented. Paul and Steve eat the pizza, and they sat there telling Marshall how good it was, until their faces turned pale blue. Steve and Paul stood up grasping their stomachs, and rushed to the bathroom. Unfortunately for Paul, Steve arrived first, leaving Paul shouting at him and holding it in. Unnoticed, Marshall sneaks out of the house, carrying all the money cases on his back, saying "Sorry, guys. See ya!" as he leaves.
Tekken 7
TEKKEN 7 - Marshall Law Ending & Intro (TEKKEN 7 Character Endings)
Preoccupied with paying off his son's debts, Marshall Law didn't realize how many of his students had quit his dojo until it was almost too late. With a large sum still to repay, Law was running out of ideas. As a last resort, he decided to search for a capable fighter to run the dojo.
He asked his friend Paul if he knew anyone, and in his usual manner, Paul said he himself would be the perfect candidate. However, thinking that the dojo would go bust in half a day if Paul took control, Law politely refused.
Instead, he put the word out that if any strong fighters wanted to try out for the job, they should come and prove their skills in combat. Challenger after challenger appeared, but none of them were good enough for Law.
Then, one day, Law heard a rumor that a martial artist living in rural China was set to be the next God Fist master. Seeing this as his best chance yet, Law set off for his ancestral homeland.
Ending Description: While fighting Feng Wei, Law is knocked far away but is saved by Paul from behind. Despite Feng's amazing power and skill, the duo ultimately achieve victory. They high five each other and leave the arena. But suddenly, Feng gets up with an overwhelming aura surrounding him. Terrified after seeing how dangerous Feng is, Paul and Law ran away.
Other Appearances
Tekken 2010 Movie
Marshall Law appeared in the Tekken 2010 live action movie, he is played by Cung Le. From what is known he was the people's choice in the previous tournament and it is known in that tournament he knocked Paul out in 28 seconds. In the movie, he was defeated by Jin.
Street Fighter X Tekken
Marshall Law appeared in Street Fighter X Tekken alongside Paul as his partner. Law has a mountain of debt, but after learning of Pandora from the news program and smelling the scent of money, he decides to travel to the South Pole with Paul.
Ending Description: Paul and Law finally reach Pandora and try to look inside, but Pandora sucks them inside and flies them into outer space.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2
Marshall Law appeared as a playable character in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Marshall Law's Arcade Ending
Ending Description: Marshall is seen practicing nunchucks. Forest is seen watching him. Forest compliments him afterwards and then asks to let him try while holding out his hand. Marshall hands over the nunchucks to Forest. Forest then attempts to do the same, but the nunchucks accidentally go through an open window. It causes a lot of civilian reactions and disturbances. Marshall then looks at his son shaking his head and clicking his tongue in disappointment. Forest just puts his head down in shame.
Tekken Revolution
Marshall appears in Tekken Revolution as a playable character.
Tekken Card Tournament
Marshall appears as a playable character in Tekken Card Tournament. His cards are considered to be an all-around type with an average assortment, but he mainly focuses on nullifying and weakening his opponent's cards. He doesn't seem to have many noticeable drawbacks, making him perfect for all skill levels.
Gameplay
Law is an up, close and personal fighter that has a strong poking game and very scary mix-up game. He relies on completely conditioning the opponent, whether its making them duck through his highs and hitting them with a mid, or annoying his opponent with high/low mixups only for them to hesitate for a split second in order for them to eat a damaging counter hit combo. Law also has a stance pro players call DSS, or Dragon Sign Stance, which gives Law even more offensive capabilities and a wall game that is to be feared.
Law suffers from poor range, and struggles when he is outside of his opponents face. Law also struggles heavily when he is not in control of the momentum, as he has to rely on a hard read in order to get his opponent off of him.
Law is a character that forces his opponent to play his game, and puppets them to their death with offensive shenanigans.
Fighting style
Law's fighting style is listed simply as "Martial Arts". His actual moveset, however, is heavily inspired by Bruce Lee's moves, so it's safe to assume that Law's actual fighting style is based on Jeet Kune Do.
Quotes
Character Relationships
- Forest Law - His son, student, and employee.
- Mrs. Law - His wife.
- Paul Phoenix - His close and family friend, whom he trained with prior to the events of the first Tekken game and later teams up with in Tekken 6. Paul is also Marshall's partner in Street Fighter X Tekken.
- Lee Chaolan - Trained with him prior to the events of Tekken.
- Baek Doo San - His enemy after he attacked Marshall's dojos in Tekken 2.
- Steve Fox - Steve is Marshall, Forest and Paul's friend.
- Wang Jinrei - Their fight ended in a draw in Tekken.
- Feng Wei - His opponent in Tekken 7.
- Lei Wulong - Fought Lei in his ending at Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (non-canon). Law also appears in Lei's Tekken 7 reveal trailer.
- Jin Kazama - His opponent in the 2010 film (non-canon).
Trivia
General:
- Marshall is the only character excluded from Tekken Tag Tournament to reappear in further games.
- Marshall seems to have financial troubles in almost every game, which serves as his motivation for joining the tournaments (winning the prize money).
- In his son's Tekken 3 ending, Marshall could not do a "Frogman" (d+3+4). However, in Tekken 4 and Tekken 5 / Dark Resurrection, he can successfully do it. Though the player can purposely make him fail to do so by holding the down directional button (i.e. D+3+4).
- Marshall's voice actor in Tekken 6, David Vincent, also voices Shin Kamiya in Tekken: Blood Vengeance, T. Hawk in the Street Fighter IV, and Jin Kisaragi and Hakumen in the BlazBlue series.
- Law's 1P pants in Tekken 5, TK6, TTT2 and Tekken Revolution resemble Maxi's 2P pants ("Dragon Slacks") in Soul Calibur 2, SC4 and Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny. The two characters are also their games' respective Bruce Lee homages.
- His sub-boss is Wang Jinrei.
- Marshall's sub-boss is Baek Doo San.
- Marshall's 2P outfit resembles the costume worn by Son Goku, the protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise.
- He appears in the opening theme and his son's ending.
- In his ending, a customer complains to Marshall about a dish at his restaurant, Marshall China, being too spicy. In Tekken 6, when Asuka Kazama encounters Marshall during the Scenario Campaign story, she tells him that she wants to try this spicy dish, and he insists that it is not spicy at all.
Tekken 5 and Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection:
- Marshall can be customized to resemble his son, Forest Law.
- In Marshall's ending, the music that plays in the short round between Paul and himself is the City at Sunset theme.
- Marshall is Baek Doo San and Paul Phoenix's sub-boss.
- For the first time since Tekken 2, Marshall is cleanly shaved which led many people to assume that he was Forest Law in early screen shots of the game, though players can customize him in-game to have his mustache back through the Dragon Beard.
- Marshall's item move is wielding nunchaku, which unlike other item moves, can be used infinitely with no delay. This makes him resemble Maxi from Namco's Soul Calibur series.
- In the Scenario Campaign mode, Marshall is a boss at West District, Chinatown.
- Marshall is one of the two characters that does not fight Azazel in the "Arena" mode. The other is Raven. Marshall doesn't fight Jin Kazama either. His final boss is Ganryu.
- He appears in Paul's ending in his primary outfit while Steve and his endings was his Player 2 outfit.
- Marshall can be customized to resemble Jann Lee from the Dead or Alive series, who is also based on Bruce Lee, as well as Kenshiro from the manga/anime series Fist of the North Star.
- He can also be customized to resemble the 1960's version of Robin the boy wonder from the Batman series, Billy Lo from Game of Death, Tang Lung from Way of the Dragon, Kato from the 1960's version of The Green Hornet, and Maxi from the Soul Calibur series.
- He appears in Lei's ending as a owner of the noodle house before being tripped by him and both had a fight.
- He is portrayed by Alexandre Vu in the live-action short film.
- The Arcade version of the game only shows the name "Law", however, in the console version, it was changed to "Marshall Law".
- His ghost battle partners (in order from lowest to highest ranks) are Baek Doo San, Slim Bob, Forest Law, Steve Fox and Paul Phoenix.
- In his ending, Marshall imitates one of Fei Long's win animations in Super Street Fighter II when he practices his nunchaku and makes a final pose with a loud noise.
- He is the only character without a new costume who did not change costumes between the original arcade version and the Fated Retribution update.
Other:
- Marshall Law makes a playable guest appearance, along with Paul, in Urban Reign, another game made by Namco.
- In the game Pacman World 2, Pacman uses an attack similar to Marshall Law's many somersault flip kicks.
- Marshall Law's Tekken 7 render resembles his Tekken 4 render. Coincidentally, both depict him shirtless with yellow trousers, though his Tekken 7 render has his face cleanly shaven.