If you spent the early 2010s on Tumblr, you know Marshall Lee wasn't just a character. He was a phenomenon.
He was the "bad little boy" with the red flannel and the floating bass, voiced by Donald Glover, and essentially the ultimate 2D crush for a whole generation of Adventure Time fans. But when the Fionna and Cake spinoff hit Max in 2023, things felt... different.
The swagger was gone. The fangs were missing. Honestly, he was just a guy named Marshall living in a studio apartment trying to make rent.
A lot of people were confused. Was this still the same guy? Why did he sound different? Basically, the showrunners took a huge gamble by stripping away the "Vampire King" persona, and depending on who you ask, it either made him a better character or totally ruined the vibe.
Marshall Lee in Fionna and Cake: The Human Side of a Vampire
In the original series, Marshall Lee was a product of the Ice King’s (and later Marceline’s) fanfiction. He was a 1,000-year-old demon vampire who spent his time messing with Fionna’s head and faking his own death for a laugh.
But Fionna and Cake Marshall Lee in the 2023 series is a "normalized" version.
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Because Simon Petrikov (formerly Ice King) lost his magic, the world inside his head—where Fionna and Marshall live—lost its magic too. Everything shifted. The Land of Aaa became a grayscale, boring version of a city like New York or Chicago.
What happened to his powers?
Marshall isn't a vampire in this reality. He’s just a struggling musician. He still has the signature aesthetic—the dark hair, the slight edge—but he’s dealing with very human problems.
- The Mom Drama: Instead of a Lord of Evil for a father, he has a high-powered, overbearing real estate mogul mother named Abadeer.
- The Financial Struggle: He’s renting a place from his own mom, and he's not exactly winning.
- The Insecurity: Without the vampire invincibility, Marshall is actually kinda sensitive. He’s navigating a world that doesn’t really care about his "rockstar" dreams.
The Relationship Everyone Cares About: Marshall and Gary
If there is one thing that kept fans glued to the screen, it was the "Gumlee" dynamic. In the original Ooo, Marceline and Princess Bubblegum had centuries of baggage. They were exes who became "roommates" who eventually became the show's biggest power couple.
In Fionna and Cake, we see the gender-swapped version of this play out in real-time between Marshall and Gary Prince (the human version of Prince Gumball).
It’s way more grounded this time. Gary is a baker trying to start his own shop, and Marshall is the guy who basically falls for him over a batch of cookies. Fans loved this because it felt like a "first love" story rather than a "thousand-year-old feud" story. They didn't have the history of war and kingdoms; they just had two guys trying to find their footing in a drab city.
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Honestly, their chemistry in Episode 6 is probably the peak of the season for anyone who likes the romance side of the show. It felt earned.
Why Does Marshall Lee Sound Different?
This is the big one. If you watched Season 1 and then jumped into Season 2, you probably noticed a voice change.
Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) originally voiced Marshall Lee. He brought that smooth, cool-guy energy that made the character iconic. However, for the more recent appearances, Glover was replaced by Kris Kollins.
The Donald Glover Recast
There was a lot of speculation about why this happened. Some people thought Glover was just too busy or too expensive. But it actually came out that Glover suffered a stroke last year and had to undergo heart surgeries. His recovery timeline simply didn't line up with the production schedule for the show.
Kris Kollins stepped in, and while some fans on Reddit complained that the singing felt "flatter" or less "Gambino-esque," others pointed out that Kollins did a great job capturing the new, more vulnerable version of Marshall.
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What Most People Get Wrong About This Version
A common complaint is that Marshall Lee is "boring" now. People miss the "Bad Little Boy" who floated around and caused chaos.
But here is the thing: the show is about identity. Fionna is struggling with not being a "hero" like Finn. Marshall is struggling with being a "nobody" instead of a king.
If Marshall were still a cool, untouchable vampire, he wouldn't fit the theme of the series. The show asks: Who are you when the magic is gone? For Marshall, the answer is a guy who is scared of his mom and wants to be loved. It's a lot more relatable than being an immortal blood-sucker.
Key Takeaways for Fans
If you're diving back into the Adventure Time multiverse, keep these things in mind about the new Marshall:
- He’s not an AU copy: This is the original Marshall Lee from the Ice King's mind, just "un-magicked."
- The recast is permanent: Because of Donald Glover's health, Kris Kollins is the voice moving forward.
- His relationship with Gary is "the" plot: A huge chunk of his character arc is tied to his romance with Gary Prince, serving as a parallel to Bubbline.
- Watch the background: Even in the "normal" world, Marshall still wears the red and black plaid—a nod to his original character design from Natasha Allegri.
If you want to understand the character better, go back and watch Episode 6, "The Winter King." It shows the contrast between a world with magic and a world without it, and it really puts Marshall's "human" struggles into perspective. Whether you prefer the vampire or the human, there's no denying he's still the heart of the Fionna and Cake universe.
Your next move: Check out the official soundtracks on Spotify. Even with the voice change, the songs written by Patrick McHale and the team still capture that weird, melancholy Adventure Time magic that we've loved for over a decade.