Character page for Back to the Future (the film trilogy and all subsequent media of the franchise).
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The Baines Family
Lorraine Baines
See the McFly Family folder.
Sam and Stella Baines
"He's a very strange young man." "He's an idiot."
Played by: George DiCenzo (Sam) and Frances Lee McCain (Stella)
Dubbed in French by: Jean Pierre Moulin (Sam) and Arlette Thomas (Stella)
Dubbed in French by: Jean Pierre Moulin (Sam) and Arlette Thomas (Stella)
Lorraine's parents and Marty's maternal grandparents. They are seen only in 1955, leaving it unclear whether they are still alive in 1985.
- Happily Married: They argue a bit but in an affectionate way. We certainly get no sense that they're dissatisfied with their lives, as we do with George and Lorraine in the original 1985.
- Housewife: Stella seems to be a pretty typical 1950s housewife. As of 1955, she has cranked out five kids and appears to be pregnant with a sixth.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: Like George 30 years later, Sam seems more interested in the TV than his family, even watching the exact same show.
- Shout-Out: Stella is named after Stella Kowalski from A Streetcar Named Desire, just so that Sam can yell "STELLA!" as a Marlon Brando reference.
- Standard '50s Father: Sam is clearly based on this trope, albeit he's a bit more grumpy than when it's played totally straight.
Joey Baines
- Ascended Extra: Heck, he's an ascended offscreen character (not counting his appearance as a baby). He was briefly mentioned in the first movie when Lorraine's celebration of his return from prison was cancelled because he was denied parole. In the comics, an entire arc centers around the question of what put him in prison to begin with, and its effects on the family are explored in more detail.
- Cool Uncle: Before he was arrested, he and Marty were very close.
- Honor Before Reason: Refused to give away Biff Tannen and his friends to get himself out of trouble, although it means he has to serve a 15-year sentence.
The Parker Family
Jennifer Parker
Jennifer Jane Parker
"Marty, you're acting like you haven't seen me in a week!"
Played by: Claudia Wells (Back to the Future), Elisabeth Shue (Back to the Future Part II and III), Courtney-Mae Briggs (original, London musical), Sophie Naglik (new casting, London musical), Mikaela Secada (original, Broadway musical)
Dubbed in French By: Martine Reigner (Back to the Future), Brigitte Berges (Back to the Future Part II and III)
Voiced in the animated series by: Cathy Cavadini
Voiced in the Telltale Games series by: Claudia Wells
Marty's girlfriend and future wife.Dubbed in French By: Martine Reigner (Back to the Future), Brigitte Berges (Back to the Future Part II and III)
Voiced in the animated series by: Cathy Cavadini
Voiced in the Telltale Games series by: Claudia Wells
- Adaptational Badass: The video game has her as a teen rebel who likes to disrupt a brutal regime oppressing Hill Valley.
- Adaptational Dye-Job: Has light blonde hair in the animated series.
- Agent Mulder: At the start of the second movie, when she learns that the DeLorean is a time machine, she doesn't question it once (although she does sound pretty freaked out when she asks if they're in 2015).
- All a Dream: What Doc expects/hopes she will conclude about her trip to 2015 after waking up from her faint. As expected, this is exactly what she thinks, as, even though she has no recollection of going to sleep on the porch swing, coming face-to-face with her 2015 self is the last thing she remembers before waking up, meaning that from her perspective it took place only a second ago. Marty eventually fills her in on the fact that it was all real.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: In the alternate!1986 in the Telltale game, she's dating an ugly, stupid tool rather than Marty — just because he plays electric guitar in a band (the Marty in the alternate timeline is apparently a grade-A nerd who plays the ukulele rather than guitar). This trope is how the real Marty wins her back, along with showing off his guitar talents.
- Childhood Friend Romance: According to the comic book, she and Marty knew each other in fourth grade, fell out of contact for a few years, then reconnected and fell in Love at First Sight in 1984.
- Deadpan Snarker: In the game. Well, the punk-rock delinquent version of herself, anyway.
- Drowning My Sorrows: A deleted scene from Part II has 2015 Marty Sr. discovering 2015 Jennifer lying unconscious in their house's doorway (having fainted from the shock of encountering her younger self from 1985), and his reaction is a resigned sigh followed by "She's tranked again", implying that 2015 Jennifer (trapped in an unhappy marriage with Marty) regularly intoxicates herself with chemicals to the point that she would arrive home so drunk that she'll pass out cold as soon as she steps through the door, and Marty is used to this.
- Heavy Sleeper: Well, heavy fainter. More than fourteen hours (and a major timeline shift) go by while she's lying limp on a porch swing utterly out like a light from the shock of encountering her older future self. The sudden and deafening roar of a jumbo jet flying right over her does nothing to even make her stir.
- '80s Hair: Especially with her first actress. In alternate 1986, this becomes Delinquent Hair.
- Faint in Shock: As a result of the Bobs not having planned any sort of Character Development for her and not knowing what to do with her in the sequels, this ends up being pretty much her default status in Parts II and III. After encountering her older 2015 self in the middle of Part II, she faints and stays out cold until the end of Part III, which means that despite her unconscious body having physically visited the alternate 1985 created in Part II, her consciousness never even got to exist at any point during this time to experience it before the timeline was rectified!
- Flashback with the Other Darrin: It's even the page image!
- Good Girl Gone Bad: In the game, she's a bitchy, sarcastic, delinquent rocker in the alternate-1986; this is implied to be a form of rebellion against Citizen Brown's rule.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Her most significant role was in the second film. Which involved her running around her future home in a controlled panic. The Bobs have noted that if they'd intended on making a sequel, they would not have had Jennifer go to the future with Marty and Doc as they had no idea what to do with her.
- Hidden Depths: The "Continuum Conundrum" arc in the comic shows Jennifer taking a more active role in the plot than she did in the movies, and consequently displays sides of her that we didn't previously see.
- For instance, she shows some remarkable sci-fi savvy, mentioning how she wishes that Doc had a "time phone" or similar, and she even theorizes that the version of Doc that they've encountered might somehow be from the original (Twin Pines) timeline, or even an Alternate Universe. She says this comes from reading George's sci-fi novels.
- The comics show that she's also quite organized and clever in her thinking, such as when she gains the trust of Goldie Wilson, Jr. in order to get the location of Doc's secret lab. She also chastises Marty for relying too heavily on Indy Ploys rather than coming up with an organized game plan, and is able to get him to focus on the task at hand.
- High-School Sweethearts: Is this with Marty, and we see that they're married with kids in 2015. But the original timeline isn't very happy, though maybe not to the extent of George and Lorraine in their original timeline - they appear to actually be Happily Married. Lorraine even says that she thinks that she married her son out of pity (and this is to her own granddaughter)! Fortunately, it's heavily implied that her and Marty's future becomes much better/happier after Marty prevents the incident that ruined his life from happening thanks to his Character Development.
- In-Series Nickname: Is called "Jen" a couple of times by Marty in Part III and in the game.
- In the comic, Needles attempts to flirt with her and calls her "Jenny". She isn't impressed.
- The Load: Bob Zemeckis and Bob Gale never had any sort of Character Development in mind for her, stating that had they planned to make a sequel to the original film, they would not have put her in the car at the end. Sure enough, less than five minutes into Part II, she's rendered unconscious and pretty much spends the rest of the series that way. Her actress isn't even given top billing in the film credits, even though those who play even smaller roles are.
- Locked Out of the Loop: It's quite clear that she has absolutely no idea what's going on when she climbs into the DeLorean with Marty. Catches up fast, though.
- Love at First Sight: With Marty, according to him when explaining that the trope is possible to Doc.
- The Other Darrin: When Elizabeth Shue took over the role from Claudia Wells, she is introduced after the new timeline has taken hold (Marty has the truck, George is a successful writer, etc.). Marty makes no sign of the change (natch), but it makes sense in-universe that she might have different circumstances as well, but the changes were ret-conned into Marty's memory as well.
- Satellite Love Interest: She appeared very little in the first movie and apparently existed only so that Marty would have someone to spill exposition on in the opening scenes. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale tried to write her out of the sequels, but the way they ended the first movie made that difficult; she did get some development in the second and third movies.
- Secret-Keeper: She becomes this once Marty tells her about (and shows her what's left of) Doc's time machine.
- Totally Trusting Love Interest: When Marty gets temporarily distracted by two women in exercise suits, Jennifer calmly and casually tilts his face back towards her and continues flirting as though nothing had happened. Marty, in turn, loves her very much and never takes advantage of being away from her time-traveling to make moves on other girls (at least in the trilogy).
Alternate Jennifer Parker
Voiced in the Telltale Games series by: Claudia Wells
An alternate version of Jennifer Parker who lives in a Hill Valley turned into a dystopia-disguised-as-an-utopia by First Citizen Emmett Brown and his wife Edna Strickland. This version is no longer the Girl Next Door type like her main timeline version but a teen rebel who dresses like a punk rocker, dyes her hair, and spray paints buildings to stick it to the Brown Administration.- All Girls Want Bad Boys: She breaks up with Marty because he was a goody-two-shoes and hooks back up with him when he proves himself a rebel.
- Like Parent, Unlike Child: While her father is a cop, she is a juvenile delinquent.
- Rebellious Spirit: From her looks, her interests, to even her love interests are all in the name of sticking it to the Brown Administration.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Became a rebellious punk goth that had broken up with Marty when he became a "square" and rebelled against the Browns and their Citizen Plus program, constantly vandalizing buildings. This could also be a case of becoming a Broken Bird because of the terrifying dystopia she's grown up in, and perhaps that her own father supports the regime as a law officer. Of course, she is pretty nasty to Marty before hooking back up with him, and she also quickly ditches her other boyfriend in the process.
- Xenafication: The video game has Jennifer as a more awesome character than she was in the films by making her a street punk disrupting the Citizen Brown regime.
Officer Danny J. Parker, Jr.
Officer Danny J. Parker, Jr.
Voiced in the Telltale Games series by: Mark Barbolak
The son of Detective Danny Parker and Jennifer Parker's father. In the main timeline, he is a shoe salesman. After Marty accidentally creates an alternate timeline in which Emmett Brown and Edna Strickland marry and turn Hill Valley into a utopia, this version of Danny follows in his father's footsteps to become a police officer.- Ascended Extra: After making only a brief appearance in the first movie played by an uncredited extra, he gets a larger supporting role in episode 3 of the game.
- Identical Grandson: In the game, he looks like an older version of his father in his youth, albeit with a mustache.
Detective Danny J. Parker
Detective Danny J. Parker
Voiced in the Telltale Games series by: Mark Barbolak
Jennifer's paternal grandfather. He is a police officer in 1930s Hill Valley.- The Alcoholic: He starts drinking heavily after his encounters with the Time Machine cause his life to fall apart.
- Dirty Cop: At his lowest point, he accepts money from Kid to turn a blind eye to his bootlegging. Eventually, Marty helps him realize the error of his ways and he redeems himself by putting Kid away.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He clearly doesn’t buy any of Edna’s accusations about Marty.
The Strickland Family
Vice Principal Strickland
Vice Principal Gerald Strickland
"Slacker!"
Played by: James Tolkan, Mark Oxtoby (original, London musical), Matthew Barrow (understudy, London musical), Gary Trainor (new casting, London musical), Meritt David Janes (original, Broadway musical)
Dubbed in French by: Jean-Paul Tribout (Back to the Future), Jean-Claude Montalban (Back to the Future Part II)
The Vice Principal of Hill Valley High School.Dubbed in French by: Jean-Paul Tribout (Back to the Future), Jean-Claude Montalban (Back to the Future Part II)
- Adaptational Jerkass: He was already caustic in the original film, but in the Musical, he chews over Marty's audition, saying it was "crap" and outright telling the lad he got no future.
- Adults Are Useless: In the deleted scene where Dixon and his friends lock George in the phone booth with a trident, all he does is reprimand George and takes a hike.
- Bald of Evil: Granted he's not so much evil as much as he's an overly strict jerk, but he's completely bald in 1985, and when Marty is in 1955, he lampshades Strickland's male-pattern baldness.Marty: Jesus, didn't that guy ever have hair?
- Catchphrase Insult: "Slacker!"
- Dean Bitterman: Even in the 50s he was against his students' wild side.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: In the game, Marty finds an old photo of him as a child — dressed like a girl — in his sister Edna's apartment.
- Fun-Hating Confiscating Adult: His name is probably an inside joke on the word 'strict'.
- Future Badass: In the crime-ridden dystopian future of the second movie, he has become an embattled survivalist who semi-successfully defends his home against the heavily armed gangs who plague that version of Hill Valley.
- Grumpy Old Man: Age does not appear to have made him any less of a hardass.
- Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Averted. He's down to the last few dregs of his hair in 1955 and completely bald in 1985. Played for laughs with his grandfather who had extremely long hair (though is still balding on top, as shown in a deleted scene). He's shown to have a full mane of blonde hair in 1946 in "Biff to the Future".
- Hates Everyone Equally: While he may be a hardass and thorn in the McFly family's side, he's shown to be the same way with all of the High Valley High School students, including bullies like Biff.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: In 1955 at least, he kept a bottle of liquor concealed in his office.
- Jerkass: He is hardly a pleasant fellow.
- Jerkass Has a Point: He tells George McFly to shape up.
- Meaningful Name: Strickland. He's really strict.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While he isn't exactly helpful when it comes to George having pranks bulled on him by bullies, if nothing else he is willing to intervene when he sees Biff about to beat up Marty, showing that if nothing else Mr. Strickland doesn't tolerate fighting.
- Took a Level in Badass: In 1985-A. He became a shotgun-wielding survivalist because of the collapse of civilization in Hill Valley. This is presumed to be stemmed from his military combat training during World War II, as shown in an episode of the animated series when a young Strickland is shown as a MP back in the 1940s.
- Villainy-Free Villain: He's a strict hardass, but aside from his survivalist mode in 1985-A nearly getting Marty maimed if not worse and his seemingly confiscating the almanac adding extra complications to Marty’s mission, he's hardly evil or malicious.
Marshal Strickland
Marshal James Strickland
Played by: James Tolkan
Dubbed in French by: Jean-Claude Montalban
Dubbed in French by: Jean-Claude Montalban
Grandfather of Gerald Strickland and Marshal of Hill Valley in 1885.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Marshal of Hill Valley and one of the few people who can put Buford Tannen in his place.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: For all of his strictness, he was a kind and devoted father to his son.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: A strict man, but ultimately he's trying to keep order in Hill Valley.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He’s not quite as uptight as his Dean Bitterman grandson and appears to be a fair-minded lawman.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Once Buford Tannen suggests he smile at the town festival, Marshal responds with this badass threat:Marshal: The only party I'll be smiling at is one that sees you at the end of a rope.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He looks identical to his grandson, except with long hair and a mustache.
Edna Strickland
Edna Strickland
Voiced in the Telltale Games series by: Rebecca Sweitzer (present time) and Shannon Nicholson (younger version)
Sister of Gerald Strickland. A Crazy Cat Lady Marty meets in 1986. Because Marty interacts with her and young Emmett in 1931 they both fall in love, this little mistake throws the timeline into jeopardy and prevents the events of the movie from ever happening.- Adaptational Villainy: She is much more ruthless in the comic book adaption of the game. Not only she considers her action an act of God, she also has no qualm in killing people. On the flipside, in the end she feels remorse and willingly turns herself in to the police in the comic, whereas she has to be dragged kicking and screaming in the game.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: In the game finale, with Kid Tannen, of all people.
- Break the Haughty: Throughout the game, she looks down on almost everyone else as being lowly and wicked, believing herself to be a paragon of purity. It isn't until her very last scene that she finally mellows out.
- Big Bad: The main antagonist of the game.
- The Caligula: In the alternate 1986, she pretty much rules Hill Valley with an iron fist underneath Citizen Brown's nose. Marty even compares her to Nero.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "It's a fact, look it up."
- "Hooligans!"
- She borrows the “slacker” catchphrase her brother uses at least once or twice.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: By 1986C she won't let Doc so much as interact with another woman.
- Cloudcuckoolander: By the time Episode 5 rolls around, Marty exclaims, "Jeez, that lady was always a loon!"
- Crazy Cat Lady: The original 1986 Edna and Crazy, Old 1931 Edna.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Just because she has a fear of dogs, Edna calls dogs a pest and has all dogs in Hill Valley impounded in 1986C.
- Dry Crusader: She sets Hill Valley accidentally ablaze while trying to burn down a saloon.
- Epic Fail: While in 1876, Edna tried to burn down Hill Valley's saloon since her grandfather wouldn't do anything about it. This ended up burning down all of Hill Valley.
- Evil Old Folks: Exaggerated in Ep. 3 when she becomes a dictator.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Whenever Edna gets a drop of power, there are always serious consequences.
- Grumpy Old Man: She's never happy in her old age. At least until her defeat and reformation.
- Hollywood Tone-Deaf: However, her song is actually quite effective when sung by Trixie.
- The Horseshoe Effect: Edna pursues an insanely harsh and fundamentalist interpretation of justice, law and order. In the process, she commits numerous sins while trying to do good deeds, including pride and wrath. By the end of the game, in the alternate 1931, she goes so far as to accidentally burn down the town she claimed to defend, becoming the hooligan she claimed to oppose. Even worse, she acknowledges it.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: Went from an aspiring journalist respected by almost everyone in Hill Valley to a maniac who everyone in Hill Valley turns against, and has thrown all her principles and influence away in the pursuit of destroying alcohol.
- Hypocrite: When encountered in 1986 at the beginning of the first episode, she chides Marty not to romanticize the past. She actually does just that relative to her own past, loving 1876 for how "pure" it is before Beauregard Tannen shows up. Also, see "Straw Hypocrite" below.
- Insane Troll Logic: As Mary Pickford, she claims that Doc/Citizen Brown and Marty tricked her into using the DeLorean and sending her back to 1876, leading her to destroy Hill Valley and puts full blame on them when she regains her memories.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Edna manages to get away with burning down the Hill Valley speakeasy in 1931 in many timelines but by the end of the game and after altering history several times, she is finally arrested.
- Knight Templar: Her views of justice are... petty, to say the least.
- Lethally Stupid: She once burned down the entire town of Hill Valley in her protests.
- Love Redeems: Hooking up with Kid Tannen results in both of them mellowing out a lot.
- Loving a Shadow: After Marty talks with young Edna about the nature of her relationship with Emmett, it becomes apparent that she loves what his scientific genius can do for her causes more so than Emmett as a person.
- Manipulative Bitch: She manipulates Emmett to get what she wants...by turning Hill Valley into a police state.
- Mirror Character: In Episode 3, she ends up becoming one to Part II's Biff, in which both of them end up controlling all of Hill Valley due to the consequences of time travel, including owning the police, but whereas Biff turned Hill Valley into a chaotic, lawless, biker-filled wasteland, Edna turns Hill Valley into a pristine police state where mundane liberties are punishable by brainwashing.
- Moral Guardians: In-Universe. She forces her views on what's right and wrong on everybody.
- Never My Fault: In 1931A, after remembering that she burnt Hill Valley, she puts full blame on Doc and Marty.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: As the second half of the game reveals, she's capable of pretty nasty stuff.
- Obliviously Evil: Like her brother and possibly the rest of her family to some extent, Edna believes herself to be the most moral, righteous person in Hill Valley. She fails to see that she is no different to the "hooligans" that she hates so much. When she confessed to burning down the speakeasy, she admits that she enjoyed watching the building burn but took no consideration that there may be people in there. Her comic book counterpart is even worse.
- Order Versus Chaos: Her reason for persecuting "hooligans" is how they chaotically live outside the normal order of Hill Valley.
- Promoted to Parent: Becomes Biff's stepmother.
- Pyromaniac: Burning down buildings is her go-to method of fighting against vice and corruption, and her Crazy 1931 incarnation shows that she absolutely revels in it.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Young Edna lays this trope on Young Emmett, provoking a hilarious attempt at a smile.
- Red Herring Shirt: She initially seems to be a side character, but eventually becomes the main antagonist.
- Sanity Slippage: When the game begins, Edna is as dignified as you'd expect a good Knight Templar to be. By the end of the game, she has completely lost it, willing to torch Hill Valley's saloon all for sake of banning alcohol in the state forever.
- Shadow Dictator: Citizen Edna, who rules Hill Valley with an iron fist.
- She Who Fights Monsters: She may have had good intentions in fending off "hooligans", at least at first, but as the Straw Hypocrite entry indicates, she's a violent Pyromaniac who's just as evil as the "hooligans" she's fighting against. Though she starts to see the error of her ways when she discovers that she was breaking the law herself.
- Silver Vixen: She aged considerably better in the timeline where she married Emmett.
- Straw Hypocrite: Yells at other people for breaking the law, but broke the law herself by lighting buildings on fire.
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Once she ultimately marries Emmett and takes over Hill Valley by turning it into a police state. Her reign proves to be discomfortable due to her strict rules and banning of all things vice and sin. Even some of the citizens grumble over her husband in hushed whispers.
- The Unfettered: She doesn't start out as this, but she ends up focusing so much on destroying all the speakeasies and other similar establishments that she no longer cares about how the people of Hill Valley perceive her.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Played with. It's a plot point that multiple characters, particularly Citizen Brown, presume that she was kinder and less crazy in her youth than she becomes in her old age, to the point where even though Marty is told that Edna was the arsonist in Ep. 2, nobody really believes it. This becomes Citizen Brown's brief re-Face–Heel Turn, as he comes to believe stopping his younger self from becoming a scientist will prevent her from becoming a monster. However, while she is somewhat more compassionate and sane in the past - helped by the fact that her crusade is against a legitimately evil criminal - she turns out to be no less fanatically closed-minded, and her Start of Darkness was well before the plot even happened. It takes going to jail and ironically getting together with Kid Tannen for her better traits to stick around in her future.
- Villainous BSoD: In the timeline where she inadvertently destroys Hill Valley and becomes a hermit known as "Scary Mary".
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Heavily Downplayed. Her intentions of keeping "hooligans" is good and all, but she goes about burning their places down just to ensure they don't come back again, which basically makes her no better than those villains she's fighting against, especially since she's pretty unhinged even way before the game happened. Trying to have Beauregard Tannen's saloon destroyed might be a good effort to fight crime in Hill Valley in 1876, but her crazy arsonist methods of doing so ended up having the entire town razed to the ground.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Terrified of dogs, at least until the ending.
Other Characters
Goldie Wilson
Goldie Wilson
Played by: Donald Fullilove, Cedric Neal (original, London musical), Jordan Benjamin (new casting, London musical), Jelani Remy (original, Broadway musical)
Dubbed in French by: Gilles Laurent
The mayor of Hill Valley in 1985, having worked his way up from being a cleaner in a malt shop.Dubbed in French by: Gilles Laurent
- Corrupt Politician: Averted. The Save the Clock Tower committee paints him as this, due to his desire to remove the broken clock tower. But when Marty meets him in 1955, he sees that Goldie is actually a Nice Guy who just wants to make a difference.
- Identical Grandson: His grandson Goldie Wilson III makes an appearance in 2015 played by the same actor.
- Nice Guy: As a teenager, he's sympathetic to George and tries to raise his spirits.1955 Goldie Wilson: Stand tall, boy! Have some respect for yourself!
- Only Friend: He's the only friend a teenaged George had.
- Rags to Riches: In 1955, he was a poor black youth whose boss didn't believe he could rise to anything. By 1985, he's the mayor of Hill Valley.1955 Goldie Wilson: Mayor Goldie Wilson... I like the sound of that!
- Young Future Famous People: An In-Universe example in 1955. As a young man, he showed all the traits of a politician: ambition, drive, and the ability to inspire others to better themselves.
Needles
Douglas J. Needles
- Adaptational Villainy: Needles, whose deeds in the movies included the card scam in 2015 and the car race in 1985, is much more antagonistic in the comic book, threatening to beat up Marty on multiple occasions and attempting to steal equipment from Doc's lab. In effect, he becomes Marty's own personal Tannen.
- A Day in the Limelight: Issue #12 of the IDW comic, "How Needles Got Here", is a Whole Episode Flashback showing how he became the bully he is in the films.
- The Bully: Despite not being related to Biff or any of the Tannens, he fulfills the role of bullying a McFly, Marty in his case.
- Casanova Wannabe: Needles tries "flirting" with Jennifer (in front of his own girlfriend, no less) in the comics. It fails, naturally.
- Celebrity Paradox: According to the comics, he's a big fan of Red Hot Chili Peppers. Needles' actor in the movies is Michael "Flea" Balzary, who is RHCP's bassist.
- Create Your Own Hero: When Needles tried to bully Marty into trying to steal from Doc's lab, it never occurred to him that Marty would befriend Doc by using his wits to infiltrate the lab and eventually become the hero he is in Back to the Future.
- Freudian Excuse: In his backstory comic he's the product of Teen Pregnancy, his parents are recently divorced, and they seemingly use expensive presents as an alternative to actually parenting him. As a result, he became the kind of kid who acts out just to get attention.
- Gang of Bullies: He has three buddies who laugh when he harasses Marty and Jennifer.
- Generation Xerox: His relationship with Marty mirrors that of Biff and George. Both Biff and Needles bullied George and Marty in high school and ended up working at the same place together where they continued the bullying. While Biff was more of a physical bully and ended up as George's boss, Needles is a Manipulative Bastard who knows what buttons to push to goad Marty into doing what he wants and inadvertently gets Marty fired in the future.
- Karma Houdini: He ruins Marty's life on at least two occasions and doesn't suffer any consequence. Even when Marty doesn't take his bait, Needles is shown to avoid the collision with the Rolls Royce that would have injured Marty.
- Last-Name Basis: He is only referred to as "Needles"; according to the comic he insisted on it as an attempt to change his image.
- Lonely Rich Kid: According to the comic, his father is rich and a young Doug would frequently buy whatever tickled his fancy as soon as he could. However, his poor attitude meant that Marty was the only person who tolerated him for any length of time.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He doesn't have a lot of screen time, but his goading Marty into a drag race was responsible for wrecking his life in one of the timelines.
- Ungrateful Bastard: According to the comic, Marty tried to be his friend, but this just resulted in Doug making him the butt of his jokes and pranks. The fact that Marty showed incredible patience and didn't just tell him off only inspired Needles to keep doing it, and to go even further (going from childish pranks to strong-arming him into trying to steal from Doc) as time progressed.
- Villain of Another Story: In the movie trilogy, he's responsible for ruining Marty's life on multiple occasions, but he only ever plays that role in the future timeline. The present-day versions of Marty and Doc have bigger and more immediate fish to fry, the former isn't even aware of his presence, and Character Development leads to that future never happening in the first place, rendering Needles into a Plot-Irrelevant Villain.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: After finishing his phone call with Marty in 2015, Needles is never seen or mentioned again in Part II.
Professor Marcus Irving
A temporal researcher in the 20th century.
- Easily Forgiven: For trying to steal the flux capacitor and attempting to kill Doc and Marty twice, to say nothing of lying to Marty and menacing him with evil animatronic doubles of himself. In fairness, that was the older version of himself.
- Evil Counterpart: To Doc Brown, with whom he shares many attributes, such as scientific knowledge and a convoluted way of speaking—though his taste in time-travel vehicles is comparatively underwhelming. His bitterness against Doc stems from the fact that he was on the path to discovering time travel himself, and his arc even goes in a similar direction when he falls in love with a woman and changes his priorities as a result.
- Heel–Face Turn: At the end of the arc in which he first appears, "Who is Marty McFly?"
- Love Redeems: Much of his behavior springs from loneliness, and it's implied that he's starting on the right path when he begins a relationship with a woman, Gabriella Sanchez.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: To an even worse degree than Doc.
- Terrified of Germs: Justified in that he's attempting to avert the Butterfly of Doom.
Libyan Terrorists
Played by: Richard L. Duran (Terrorist Gunner), Jeff O'Haco (Terrorist Van Driver)
A group of terrorists from Libya who come to the Twin Pines Mall after being cheated by Doc in their attempts to build a nuclear bomb.- Adapted Out:
- They're not present in the musical. As such, the main plot kicks off when Marty ignores Doc's warning to not drive the DeLorean at 88 miles per hour, desperate to get medical help to save Doc from dying from radiation poisoning.
- They're also not present in the Pop Classics children's book adaptation. The plot kicks off when Marty accidentally reaches 88 while simply test-driving the DeLorean.
- All There in the Manual: George Gipe's novelization says that they're a part of a six-person cell, their leader is nicknamed "Sam", and one of their ranks is an ex-fashion model named Uranda.
- Big Bad Wannabe: They're murderous terrorists intent on building nuclear bombs, an agenda that could have far surpassed any of the Tannens in threat level. However their attempts to murder one single teen are completely haphazardous, with their vehicle and artillery blatantly unreliable, and after crashing they are never even heard from again. Had they not cold bloodedly shot down a surrendering Doc just moments prior they could have passed as Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains.
- Blinded by the Light: When Marty travels back in time, the flash from the time travel causes the Driver to lose control of his van and crash.
- Child Soldier: Sam from the novelization. He's mentioned as being in his forties and having been a terrorist for thirty years.
- Dark Action Girl: Uranda from the novelization, described as "a twenty-five-year-old ex-fashion model from Damascus who got her kicks by pumping bullets into other people's bodies."
- Evil Duo: The ones that appear in the film: a driver and a gunner armed with an AK-style assault rifle and RPG-7. The gunner appears to be the leader as he gives commands to the driver.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: The shooter uses an automatic weapon while being positioned right behind Marty's car. Still he doesn't manage a single hit.
- Leave No Witnesses: Presumably why they target Marty because he saw them shoot Doc.
- Middle Eastern Terrorists: They're from an Arab country and intend on using a nuclear device on US soil.
- Revenge: Learning Doc gave them a bomb casing full of pinball machine parts, they come to the Twin Pines Mall to kill him.
- Small Role, Big Impact: These guys are personally responsible for Marty going back to 1955 since Marty tries to use the DeLorean to escape; when he hits 88 mph, the flux capacitor is automatically activated, sending the car back in time. Despite this, they're not around for any of the sequels or spin-off material.
- Uncertain Doom: There's conflicting information about whether or not they survived their van crashing. The novelization says that the police show up shortly after they crash and take them into custody, but there's no confirmation of this in any other media.
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: The franchise is for the most part lighthearted and the Tannens have humorous moments with their stupidity, but the terrorists are played completely seriously, with no comical moments whatsoever; if gunning down Doc isn't bad enough we don't know what else is.
- Would Hurt a Child: They had zero issues about going after the teenaged Marty the second they figured out that he saw them shoot Doc.
