Marshall J. Flinkman (born 29 December 1971) is a computer genius employed by the CIA and later APO. He originally worked for SD-6, unaware that it was in fact a criminal organization and part of the Alliance of Twelve. He was recruited to the CIA after SD-6's collapse and helped them through many difficult circumstances either through extremely complex technical hacking or by the creation of useful yet eccentric devices.
Personal information
- ID-CLASS: 30408-00811
- Case File: MOSCOW-E640, TAIWAN-E630, BRASILIA-E651, MADRID-E645, BERLIN-E647, VIRGINIA-E641, MOROCCO-E650
- Present Location: Los Angeles
- Date Of Birth: 12/29/71
- Place Of Birth: Los Angeles, CA, USA
- APO Call Sign: Merlin
- Height: 5'8"
- Weight: 145
- Training/Special Skills: Engineering, Physics, Inventing.
- Languages: English, Ewok
- Education: Ph. D, Cal Tech (Robot Physics)
Family
- Wife: Carrie Bowman
- Mother's Maiden Name: Feldman
- Son: Mitchell Flinkman, two other sons
Personality
Marshall has an equally eccentric personality to go along with his work. He is also socially inept, having a tendency to speak very rapidly, often babbling about tangential subjects in the middle of technical briefings (before someone impatiently brings Marshall back on to the topic at hand). He has a fondness for unnecessary visual aids when giving a presentation, once even playing a full drum set to make a point. However, his expertise in almost any subject imaginable is unparalleled, being well-versed in robotics, chemistry, acoustics, electronics, biometrics, explosives, computer networks and many other subjects. He also has a photographic memory.
Working for SD-6
Season 1
Marshall gave Sydney and Dixon several gadgets for a mission in Taipei (Truth Be Told). Whilst preparing a device that caused instant unconciousness, Marshall knocked himself unconscious and fell and banged his head on his desk. When Sydney returned to work after a three month absense, Marshall said he was sorry that her fiancée was killed and that he was glad she was back. He helped her to deactivate a nuclear bomb (So It Begins). When Sloane revealed that Milo Rambaldi had discovered a machine code in the 15th century, Marshall revealed that the concept of zero had been around since before Christ, with the numeral one preceeding that. He stated that Ptolemy used zeroes as punctuation and in Indian text, zero was more of a spiritual concept than a number. After Sydney and Dixon returned with the Rambaldi sketch, Marshall was unable to open the case, so Jack Bristow was called in to help (Parity).
Season 2
Working for the CIA
Season 2
Season 3 Marshall goes to work for the CIA with Dixon as the new director. Marshall goes on more missions this season including him getting shot at the end of the season by Lauren Reed.
Working for APO
Season 4
At their CIA office, Marshall spoke to Weiss about how he no longer knew anyone at the agency except Weiss and Sark who was there in federal custody. After Sydney, Vaughn, Jack and Dixon left he had no co-workers he was friends with besides Weiss. He admitted to visiting Sark and eating eggs with him. Weiss advised him against it. As he left that day he was detained by CIA agents for plugging in an unauthorized device to their systems; his PlayStation 2. However it was revealed that he was not being arrested and it was simply a cover so that he could join Authorized Personnel Only, a covert, black-ops branch of the CIA which required its employees to appear that they had no affiliation to the US government, the reason for Marshall's "arrest". Upon arriving he was shocked to see Arvin Sloane there, but Sydney assured him it was alright and so he embraced her.
Marshall was brought in to assist with APO's mission to break in to the Hazunaga Asian Museum in London to steal the Shintaro sword in an effort to coax Kazu Tamazaki (who greatly desired the sword) out of hiding. Whilst working on the mission in the van when Vaughn and Sydney were inside the museum, Marshall spoke to Dixon, who was in the van with him, about how strict he was whilst the head of the CIA. Suddenly realizing he may have offended Dixon he tried to make a joke but Dixon was not amused. The mission went ahead as planned and Marshall enjoyed being part of the team again (Authorized Personnel Only, Part 2).
Season 5
Several years later, Marcus Dixon visited Sydney and Vaughn at their beach house and informed them that Marshall and Carrie had another two boys, and had a fourth on the way (All The Time In The World).
Trivia
- Marshall appears in all but three episodes of Alias. See Character appearances for more information.