Kick-A** Characters: Mark Watney of The Martian

He's resourceful, smart and funny—oh and he managed to survive while stranded on Mars. We've got love for Andy Weir's kick-a** protagonist.

By • 2 years ago

It’s the year 2035 and NASA astronaut, mechanical engineer and botanist Mark Watney gets separated from the rest of his team during a brutal dust storm on the Red Planet. Believing him dead, the rest of the Ares III crew leaves for Earth without him but—spoiler alert—he’s alive and must figure out how to stay alive until he’s rescued.

He is wily and creative, never once stopping to bemoan his circumstances, and that’s why he’s one of our favorite kick-a** characters. Watch our stop-motion animation tribute to this resilient funny guy.

Which character would you like to see us immortalize next? Leave a comment below and let us know—they might end up in a future Papercuts episode!

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ANDY WEIR was first hired as a programmer for a national laboratory at age fifteen and has been working as a software engineer ever since. He is also a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects like relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. The Martian is his first novel.
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