"Martians... You don't even know what you are. We train you not to know, little Martian children all lining up to be the best cogs in the machine. You stopped being human the day you claimed that miserable red planet. You're insects. Prideful insects, the whole hive of you. Scrambling to make their colony bigger. Whatever it costs... Whoever it costs. Well, it only takes one [hybrid soldier] and you'll never stop them all. You should thank me for putting them down, Belter. They'd do the same thing to you in a heartbeat and pat themselves on the back. They're all so fucking smug."
—Augusto Nguyễn, TV series, "Immolation"
While The Expanse and its TV adaptation mostly take place in a Space Cold War where political extremists and war criminals exist on all sides, a few still manage to stand out as being especially vile.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Book series
- Nemesis Games & Babylon's Ashes: Marco Inaros is the commander of the Free Navy. In the past, Marco tricked his girlfriend, Naomi, into helping him sabotage ships' magnetic bottles, allowing him to destroy any ship he wants without any sign of foul play. When Naomi protested this, Marco forbade her from seeing their son, Filip, and brainwashed him into obeying his orders. Marco uses Filip to help carry out an asteroid bombardment of Earth that kills 15 billion people. While Marco claims to be fighting for his fellow Belters, he nearly destroys a large chunk of Tycho Station just to kill Holden for dating Naomi and cripples Ceres Station through looting just to slow down his enemies. Marco justifies his crimes against the Belters by claiming that they weren't "true Belters", but it quickly becomes apparent that Marco defines true Belters as only those who are personally loyal to him.
- The Churn prequel novella: The real Amos Burton rose from humble beginnings and established himself as a feared Baltimore crime boss. Believing himself to be the tyrannical ruler of up to a thousand "disposable lives"—including junkies, prostitutes and children—Burton dabbles in drug dealing, gunrunning, and even pedophilia, owning a brothel where an outbreak of syphilis infected a five-year-old boy. A cruel boss, Burton is happy to sacrifice his subordinates whenever they become a liability to him.
TV show continuity
- Marco Inaros, the head of the Free Navy, is so fanatical and vicious that even other Outer Planets Alliance factions consider him a dangerous madman. Marco is a terrorist who cares nothing for countless deaths in his wake and upon gaining technology, Marco ejects into space everyone aboard a colony ship he captures; bombs the Martian parliament; and bombards Earth with asteroids to devastate the population. Holding mankind hostage with use of a bioweapon, Marco wipes out the other OPA factions and even takes another colony for all he can, leaving the population to die. Brainwashing his son Filip into hating his mother Naomi, Marco attempts a full-on genocide on anyone who will not follow him. While Marco will never sacrifice himself for another, he will gladly let all of his followers die for him.
- Season 2: Staz, one of several OPA militiamen stationed at Tycho Station, starts out as a lowly thug and becomes a radical terrorist when given the resources to threaten Earth itself. Infuriated at Fred Johnson and his moderate politics, Staz stages a violent coup to depose him of power and tries to launch 150 thermonuclear missiles against Earth to kill as many people as possible. By letting thousands of Belters die when the UN decides to destroy Tycho Station in retaliation, Staz hopes to ignite a bloody revolution that will consume all Inners in a fire.
- Seasons 2 & 3:
- Fleet Admiral Augusto Nguyễn is a warmonger from Earth who seeks to use protomolecule hybrid super soldiers to wipe out Mars and its seven billion inhabitants. When Admiral Souther attempts to relieve Nguyễn of command for his acts of treason, Nguyễn murders Souther and several officers loyal to him. When a few UN ships refuse to obey Nguyễn's orders, Nguyễn decides to make an example of the fast-attack boat UNN Jimenez—Nguyễn fires on this ship himself after the CIC watch refuse to fire on a friendly ship. Nguyễn uses his last moments to mock Alex and Naomi for trying to stop him, making it clear that he is motivated purely by racism against Martians.
- Dr. Lawrence Strickland appears to be a kindly pediatrician who treats children with a rare spinal condition. In reality, he is a scientist studying the protomolecule for the Protogen Corporation. Strickland discovered that children with the spinal condition he specializes in treating can be transformed using the protomolecule into controllable super soldiers called hybrids. Strickland kidnaps his patients, many of whom trust him like a father, infects them with the protomolecule, and turns them into hybrids to be sold to fight in wars. In a last ditch effort to save himself, Strickland murders his own assistant and tries to pass himself off as another of Protogen's prisoners.
- Comic Books:
- Origins issue #4—"Amos Burton": The unnamed headmistress of Baltimore's Home For Children is a cold-hearted woman who turns her orphanage into a brothel for pedophiles, perpetuating rape and forcing the innocent orphans under her care into prostitution—her only "rule" being returning the children by morning. So bad are the lives of the orphans that one of them, the best friend of Amos Burton, ultimately commits suicide to escape the torment.
- 2020-2021 Interquel series: Kal, a former colleague of Bobbie Draper, is one of the leaders of a Martian human trafficking ring. Hiding behind the façade of a polite businessman, Kal tricks whole families and people of all classes into trusting him before shipping them off to Laconia for the sole purpose of enslaving them, having kidnapped not only Martians but also many Earthers and Belters as well.
