List of Back to the Future (franchise) characters

The Back to the Future franchise, including film trilogy and subsequent animated series feature characters created by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.

The lead character of the series is Marty McFly. During the course of the trilogy, he travels through time using a DeLorean time machine invented by his friend Emmett Brown. He also encounters the central antagonist, Biff Tannen, in several different time periods and visits his ancestors and descendants.

Martin Seamus ("Marty") McFly (portrayed by Michael J. Fox in the films and voiced by him in Lego Dimensions, voiced by David Kaufman in the animated series) is the protagonist of the trilogy. He is the son of George and Lorraine McFly and the youngest of 3 children. Marty travels between the past and the future, encountering his ancestors and descendants. Marty and his friend Doc Brown help restore the space-time continuum while encountering Biff Tannen (or members of the Tannen clan) at various points in time.

Doctor Emmett Lathrop ("Doc") Brown (portrayed by Christopher Lloyd and voiced by him in Lego Dimensions, voiced by Dan Castellaneta in the animated series) is the eccentric inventor of the DeLorean time machine. At various points in time, Doc helps Marty restore the space-time continuum and reverse the changes that were caused by time travel. During the 50's, he was shown to be a failure of a scientist but between then and 1985 became successful and discovered time travel.

In 2008, the character was selected by film magazine Empire as one of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time, ranking at No. 20.

George Douglas McFly (portrayed by Crispin Glover in Back to the Future, Jeffrey Weissman in Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III, voiced by Michael X. Sommers in Back to the Future: The Game) is married to Lorraine McFly (née Baines) and is the father of Marty, Linda and Dave. Although he is one of the main characters in the first movie, George only makes cameos in Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III.

In the first film, George is portrayed as a weakling with low self-esteem and the main target of Biff Tannen's bullying. The novelization of the film expounds on George's history of weakness, describing two incidents in which he is unable to stand up for himself. In 1955, in contrast with Marty, George did not have any friends for support and was targeted not only by Biff and his gang but also other kids in school. He has a penchant for science fiction, and writes some of his own but never allows himself to share them with anyone due to his fear of rejection. In 1955, Marty suggested George play the hero and save Lorraine at the dance while Marty pretends to be antagonistic towards her. Instead he winds up witnessing Biff rape her and rather than back down, he stood up to him, and upon seeing Biff physically shove Lorraine to the ground, he gets the courage to stand up to Biff, knocking him unconscious. As a result, he and Lorraine fall in love and George becomes popular in school for defeating Biff in a fight. During the dance someone decided to steal Lorraine away in the middle of the song, so George showed that same courage in reclaiming his date, resulting in the kiss he and Lorraine shared. In the new future, they are both married with George working as a college professor and being a successful writer while Biff is running a door-to-door car waxing service. In the dystopian timeline in Part II, George was murdered by Biff in 1973.

Glover didn't like the sequel's script, and when he demanded more money than the producers were willing to pay him, the role was recast with Jeffrey Weissman. Weissman wore prosthetics to resemble Glover and imitated Glover's rendering of McFly, and his scenes were spliced with shots of Glover from Back to the Future. The result was so convincing that many people were fooled by it. However, Glover did not appreciate this and sued. While the lawsuit was settled before a legal precedent could be set, it did result in the adoption of stricter rules by the Screen Actors Guild to help prevent similar situations from occurring again. According to Hollywood Reporter, Glover had initially asked for $1 million, and the settlement sum amounted to $760,000.