Marty (Madagascar)

Voiced by: Chris Rock - in the films and specials Phil LaMarr - in the video games Thomas Stanley - as a foal

Marty is a plains zebra who used to live at the Central Park Zoo, and good friend of Alex. He once had an iPod before Alex accidentally broke it. Marty likes seaweed on a stick.

Marty is a hopeless optimist; he usually sees the brighter side of many things, taking every situation in stride. He has black and white stripes, a furry coat, a mane, and a tufted tail. He strives to be unique, which proves difficult when he meets his own kind in Africa, who look and act almost exactly the same. Marty is best friends with Alex and the two are rarely at odds. His carefree lifestyle tends to get on the nerves of his friends, but mostly serves to impress them; he is the one who helps hold the group together when things seem to get down.

Marty lived a life of comfort in the zoo. After his tenth birthday had come and gone, meaning that his life was already half over, Marty decided that never having seen the wild, he must travel to the wild, for at least a short time.

In the movie, Alex says he's black with white stripes, as he has 30 black, and only 29 white, but this was partly because Alex had to give an explanation as to why he was licking Marty, as he thought he was the steak in his dream.

The film begins on Marty’s 10th birthday (middle-aged for a zebra). His friends try to give him a great birthday, but somehow, Marty wants more. He escapes the Central Park Zoo, where he had lived for the past ten years, and makes a dash for the wild. His friends, Alex the Lion, Melman the Giraffe, and Gloria the Hippopotamus, flag him down, but as they are about to take him back to the zoo, police officers and animal control officers appear in all directions, tranquilize the animals, and send them on a ship to a wildlife preserve in Kenya. The penguins take over the ship and the four friends are washed up on the shores of Madagascar.

Once on the island, Marty had his dream fulfilled. Marty sets up a "bar" on the island, known as Casa del Wild (in English Home of the Wild). Alex is mad at Marty for getting them shipped to the wild, but he later apologizes to Marty and actually begins to enjoy himself on the island. Unfortunately, his enjoyment brings on his killer instincts, causing him to attack the resident lemurs and his friends, including Marty. Alex does not "go savage" for long, and is later able to rejoin his friends as they head back to the zoo.

Marty, along with his friends, has only a few small cameos in The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper. He, Alex, and Gloria are seen at the beginning decorating Melman's neck with Christmas lights. At the end, he, his friends, and almost all the other zoo animals are seen singing their own version of "Jingle Bells".

In Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Marty (along with Alex, Melman, Gloria, the lemurs, and the penguins) finds himself stranded in Africa after a failed attempt at flying to New York. There, he joins a herd of zebra that all look and sound exactly like him. While he enjoys this new lifestyle at first, he quickly becomes depressed when it becomes evident he has no individuality in a herd. Marty also becomes upset when Alex is unable to tell him apart from the other zebras. Ultimately, Alex is able to make amends by picking Marty out of the herd (later revealed to be due to the bite mark left on his backside from the previous film, and the fact that he is black with white stripes, while the other zebras are all white with black stripes.) Marty accompanies his friend to unblock a dam set by stranded New Yorkers in the jungle (which causes the watering hole to dry up). When Alex is caught, Marty gets the other animals to help rescue him.

In Madagascar 3 Europe's Most Wanted, Marty joins the circus along with the others. His circus act is cannon along with Stefano. In the middle of the film, you can tell he loves the afro. At the end of the film, it is shown that Marty is dancing in his afro (along with the others) to the tune Afro Circus / I like to Move it.