Stan Marsh

Stanley "Stan" Marsh is the show's main protagonist, with Kyle being the deuteragonist; but, they very often change roles.

Background
Stan attends South Park Elementary as part of Mr. Garrison's Fourth Grade Class (formally Third). Stan's father Randy is a geologist, and his mother Sharon is a secretary at Tom's Rhinoplasty.

Catch Phrases and Mannerisms
Since its beginning, the series has had a running gag where when Kenny is killed, Stan will announce, "Oh my God, you/he/she/they/we killed Kenny!" Kyle will then respond: "You/that/those/we're bastard(s)!", or vice versa.

Stan's often-used catchphrase during the early seasons was "Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here," which originated in the second The Spirit of Christmas short (the profanity was bleeped out). In recent episodes however this catchphrase faded.

In many episodes, Stan sums up the episode's main points in a small speech that often begins with, "You know, I learned something today." However, it is more common for Kyle to do it, and a few other characters such as Cartman and the Mayor have as well. Stan is often shown with his hands in his coat pockets as he walks, or when in deep thought.

In the later episodes, Stan also has a habit of pinching the bridge of his (unseen) nose and shutting his eyes tightly when frustrated or exasperated, saying phrases such as "Oh no." A good example of this is in "Manbearpig" where he does this motion when on the phone with Al Gore. Another example is in "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", when he does it all the way home from the set of Wheel of Fortune. His mother is also seen doing the motion in that scene. He also does it the whole time when the reporter is talking to Randy in "Goobacks". The gesture seems to be a learned habit developed by his constant frustration with his parents. Kyle also has a mannerism like this, often closing his eyes when stressed. This isn't uncommon with Stan and Kyle, often throughout the series being criticized as having the same personality.

Stan often groans, "Aw-awww!" when he's upset, which seems to be an inherited habit; his father does this sometimes as well. This is the same catchphrase Trey Parker used in BASEketball.

If he agrees with someone or is unsure of something, he will often state "sure" or "yeah" in a very dull, unimpressed manner. Whenever he gets mad, frustrated or gets dragged into something, he often says "Goddamnit!", not to be confused with Cartman's catchphrase, "Aw! God-damn it!" Often in school, he'll say "Oooooh....." with a slightly higher pitched tone than his normal voice. He will often express shock with "Jesus Christ!" This is evident in "Super Fun Time" and "About Last Night...".

Criminal Record
Eco-Terrorism/Breaking and Entering: Attempts to save baby cows' lives by stealing them from Farmer Carl Denkinsand locks him Cartman, Kyle, and Butters in his room. Originally it technically isn't terrorism but soon Cartman gives demand for a missile, an arsenal of weapons, and the name for veal changed to tortured baby cows. In the episode "Free Willzyx", him and his friends break into SeaWorld Park and steal the orca named Jambu. The boys were tricked by two employees into believing the whale wanted to be free and misses its family on the Moon. The boys eventually succeed with sending the whale to the Moon with the help of the Mexican Aeronautic Space Agency. During the events of "Whale Whores", he joins the anti-whaling reality show Whale Wars and sinks many Japanese whaling ships with a flare gun and Molotov cocktails. He, Kenny, and Cartman get arrested by the Japanese and put in a prison cell together. In "Ass Burgers", he broke into a random building while drunk and under the manipulation of the Secret Society of Cynics and began randomly firing an Uzi gun which contained several restaurant owners plotting to shut down Cartman's hamburger business.

Illegal Downloading: He downloads songs illegally which get him, Kenny, and Kyle arrested. However he never knew this law existed.

Arson/Framing: In "Pre-School", he and the others got Trent Boyett to set a fire in their preschool classroom and frame Trent for the crime, and in "Butt Out". However both of these arson's were accidental and unintentional and therefore do not count on his criminal record.

Hit and Run: In "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", Stan and Cartman drove a boat into a beaver dam, which resulted in the flooding of Beaverton, and the deaths of 'hundreds of millions', despite the population of the town being only 8,000. It was also reported that people were looting, raping, and resorting to cannibalism (which is a stretch). However this was also an accident because Stan did not know that this accident would go very far and does not count on his criminal record.

Piracy: In "Whale Whores", he sinks a Japanese boat. However, this does not count because the Whale Wars show was supported by national television.

Violation of Firearm Laws/Threatening with a deadly weapon: In Mystery of the Urinal Deuce, Stan held Kyle's head at gunpoint and began to threaten him before revealing that he was the one who defecated in the school urinal simply to avoid missing out on recess, He was eventually punished by Mr. Mackey for it.

Attempted Murder: Stan has attempted to kill Cartman with a laser gun while Cartman almost destroyed the world with his trapper keeper and he and Kyle tie Cartman to a cross, knowing full well that he would die, in order to give Kyle's dad a resurrection. He has also been known at attempting to murder his own grandpa (at his grandpa's request). However he unintentionally attempts these assisted suicides.

Murder: In "Pinkeye", he and Cartman killed many zombies by cutting them in half with chainsaws. What neither of them knew at the time that all they had to do was kill the original zombie, Kenny.

Attempted Unlicensed Surgery: In "Cherokee Hair Tampons", when Cartman refused to donate his kidney to a dying Kyle, Stan tries to take it by force by breaking into his house and removing it with a saw, however Cartman outsmarts him by using the "Kidney Blocker 2000" to prevent this.

Unlicensed Surgery: In "Jared Has Aides", He, Kyle and Cartman preformed unlicensed liposuction on Butters with a hose in order to get him thinner in hopes of getting money from a weight loss scam. They even framed Butters by simply running away and hiding, causing yet another grounding for Butters from his parents.

Theft: Cartman misled him into stealing a boat which ends up breaking a beaver dam. But this is mostly Cartman's fault.

Black Marketing: In "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000", Stan came up with a plan with the boys in breaking into any rich kid's house and placing a tooth under their pillow and have their parents place money under their pillow only for them to steal it from them afterwards. Though this idea was already used by a boy name Loogie who started a business in doing these and ended up joining his business, thought one of the members of the American Dental Association suspected this and was later caught by them but wasn't punished for due to Kyle's rather unusual altering reality abilities. Since this is black marketing, this act was illegal and branded on his criminal record.

Underage Smoking: He along with Cartman, Kenny, and Kyle smoked in order to not be like the anti-smoking group Butt Out.

Underage Drinking & Alcoholism: He was given alcohol by a group of people who supposedly had Asperger's Syndrome, because they all literally saw the world as "shit". They consistently make Stan drink to do "missions", and although Stan later said he was through with that group, he still had a bottle of whiskey in his drawer. However he had little other choice because he apparently requires alcohol to cure himself of his cynicism.

Indecent Exposure: In "Butterballs", when Stan's awareness video about bullying came to a failure and the school ended up being sued by Dr. Mehmet Oz. Stan resorts in going to San Diego, stripping his clothes and began masturbating (or rather dancing) in public though he was never arrested for this act and this rather amused the San Diego's populace. He preformed this act again in "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining" when he successfully raised an awareness on how horrible ziplining was for him.

Driving
Stan has been shown to be quite able to drive in quite a few episodes, despite his age and height, such as in "Towelie" (with Kenny operating the gas and brake pedals), "Red Sleigh Down" (he piloted Santa's back-up sleigh after Santa was shot down over Iraq), "Bloody Mary" (when he drove Randy to the Virgin Mary statue), and "Night of the Living Homeless" (when he drove a modified bus through the hordes of homeless and then lured them away to California).

Grounded Moments
Like the other South Park Boys, Stan is also rarely grounded. He usually does not understand why he gets grounded after doing something that causes him to be grounded and unlike the other boys, Stan's grounding limit is usually determined by a random time by his parents and is usually not set to two to three weeks. Stan has been grounded on the following occasions:

"Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!"- For sneaking out of his house to go Nebraska with the other boys.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut- Stan was grounded for two weeks by Sharon Marsh for going to see an R rated Terrance and Phillip Movie, which caused Kenny's death when tried to imitate a stunt seen in the film.

"Proper Condom Use"- Stan was grounded for ten months for masturbating his dog, Sparky in front of his family's book club during one of their meetings. His grounding was immediately lifted when Randy and Sharon found out that Stan had no knowledge of sexual education.

"Fun with Veal"- For stealing the baby cows from Farmer Carl Denkins' ranch.

"Butt Out"- For smoking outside school but it was not mentioned.

"Goobacks"- Stan was grounded for calling the people of the future "Goobacks", which was a timecist slur in a fast food restaurant. His grounding was lifted after Randy's job was stolen by one of these people from the future.

"Titties and Dragons"- Stan was grounded for supposedly defecating in a man's garden. However, Kyle and Cartman were the real culprits, and framed Stan so the kids wanting Playstation 4 consoles on Black Friday would be leaderless. He later snuck out, infuriating his mother, who called Randy, who was more concerned that Stan was in the mall during the deadly Black Friday rush.

Leadership
Stan shows his leader skills as (Pirate) Captain Marsh of the "Sea Shepard" in "Whale Whores". He sinks several of the Japanese boats to protect the whales and dolphins in the Ocean, until their boat was hit by Japanese kamikaze planes. Stan is often selected to be the captain of assorted sporting events such as captain and pitcher of the baseball team in "The Losing Edge" and captain/quarterback in football as seen in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". When the boys are playing police in "Lil' Crime Stoppers", Stan acts in the role of a lead detective during the investigations. Although there is no specific leader within his primary group of friends, Stan is often the one to motivate the other boys, due to his moral beliefs, as seen in episodes such as Fun with Veal.

Superhero Alter-Ego
Toolshed is the alter ego of Stan Marsh, and is a member of "Coon and Friends". He has a Coon and Friends siren in his house, courtesy of Cartman, which Randy cannot get down because Stan has stolen all his tools. Toolshed's "power" is that he has mental powers over every type of tool. It is noteworthy that, excluding Kenny and Bradley, he, along with the rest of Coon and Friends, do not actually have superpowers.

In "Coon 2: Hindsight", he is part of the vigilante group Coon and Friends. His alias is Toolshed, and uses a power drill. It is revealed in "Coon vs. Coon & Friends" that his superpower is being able to control electric tools with his mind.

Music
In earlier episodes, such as "Summer Sucks" and "World Wide Recorder Concert", Stan began to show an aptitude for music. He is also shown to be capable of writing music, as seen in "Chef Aid".

In "Something You Can Do with Your Finger", he and the boys started a boy-band group named Fingerbang. They made a video for the song "Fingerbang" and performed it at the South Park Mall.

In "Die Hippie, Die", he was seen playing a guitar. He was also seen playing a guitar in "Smug Alert!", where he wrote and performed a song about the importance of hybrid cars.

In "You Got F'd in the A", his father taught him how to line dance to the song, "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus. He and the rest of The South Park Diggities participated successfully in a dance competition with The Orange County Crew.

In "Christian Rock Hard", the boys formed a rock band, called Moop. The group refused to play their music in a protest of illegal music downloading on the internet.

Stan has been shown to be able to play Guitar Hero very well in "Guitar Queer-O". He was able to successfully achieve his goal of scoring 1,000,000 points with Kyle in cooperative mode.

In "Night of the Living Homeless", he and the boys sang "California Loves the Homeless" to a large crowd of homeless people, in an effort to drive them away from South Park.

In "Pandemic" and "Pandemic 2: The Startling", the boys formed a Peruvian flute band with Craig Tucker. They played "Mary Had a Little Lamb" at an outdoor mall in Colorado, where they were arrested by the Department of Homeland Security.

In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and "Eat, Pray, Queef", Stan was shown to be a talented vocalist.

In "Elementary School Musical", in an effort to become more popular, like Bridon Gueermo, he and the boys performed a musical number, similar to those of High School Musical.

In "Butterballs", his musical talents were shown again, where he was shown to have written and directed the musical video for "Make Bullying Kill Itself", a "lip-dub" video aimed to stop bullying.

In "The Cissy", he is shown singing "Feeling Good on a Monday" in the "Cissies" bathroom.

Sports
Stan is quite athletically proficient, and is regularly the captain or star player of his school's sports teams, except in basketball where Kyle is the best player in the school and dodgeball where Pip is the best player. He was the quarterback of the school football team in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". In baseball, Stan is seen hitting home runs and is the pitcher (though this is rare in professional baseball) and apparent captain of South Park's team in "The Losing Edge". He and the other boys also play baseball in "Child Abduction is Not Funny". He was also a member of the South Park dodgeball team that won the world championship and was on the pee-wee hockey team when he was 4 years old, revealed in "Stanley's Cup". Stan also coached a pee-wee hockey team that episode, and showed he quit from hockey after failing to win a hockey game for the team on a 'breakaway'. His favorite sports team, regarding the setting is in Colorado, is the Denver Broncos. He also manages to go from a beginner skier to a near-professional in only two days in the episode "Asspen" (thanks to the timely use of a montage). The episode ends with him successfully skiing the K-13, "the most dangerous run in America", in order to beat a much older man who repeatedly insulted him and challenged him to the run. He also tries out for the South Park wrestling team in "W.T.F.", but leaves after the coach makes Butters do a "gay" move on Cartman. In the episode he goes on to form a wrestling league with the other boys.

Weaponry
For his age, Stan appears proficient with weaponry. In "Red Sleigh Down", he was able to hold an M16 assault rifle (but didn't actually use it), and in "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce", he was able to get hold of a handgun. In "Good Times with Weapons", Stan wields a pair of tonfa. In "Whale Whores", Stan was able to take a flare gun and fire a flare into the fuel storage of a Japanese whaling ship, resulting in the whole ship blowing up. He commandeered the Sea Shepard in the same episode and sunk a fleet of Japanese whaling ships with a rather impressive arsenal for a 9 year old, including Molotov cocktails and a large caliber deck gun. His proficiency is probably a result of his Uncle Jimbo's influence. He was also able to kill Scuzzlebutt in the episode "Volcano". Also, in "Make Love, Not Warcraft", he uses the Sword of a Thousand Truths successfully. He also broke into a building while wielding and firing an Uzi gun at random areas of the building while intoxicated in "Ass Burgers".

Voice Acting
In "Cartmanland", Stan changes his voice in order to get into Cartman's theme park, Cartmanland, pretending to be a child named "Mick Ganer". In "A Very Crappy Christmas", he changed his voice to sound like Cartman in order to finish a Christmas short; the two of them are also voiced by the same person, Trey Parker.

Appearance
Stan is mostly shown wearing a brown jacket with a red collar, a blue hat with a red puffball and rim, and blue jeans. Under his jacket, he either wears a red and blue baseball shirt or a white T-shirt/v-neck. He also wears a blue Terrance and Phillip shirt to bed and a green suit for special occasions. In some episodes, it is clear he has black hair (like his father Randy) when his hat is partially or completely removed - this was first seen in "A Very Crappy Christmas".

All of the boys' hats are removed and their hair is seen for an extended period during the shower room scene in "Lil' Crime Stoppers", although Kenny's head is only seen from behind. Stan also apparently has blue eyes, as noted by Kyle when Butters draws their cartoon forms in "A Very Crappy Christmas", but this is uncertain, because Kyle said it was similar because he had a sharper nose, so it could have been a mistake.

In "Good Times with Weapons", he was portrayed with brown eyes, so odds are it was Butters' error when his eyes were blue. Even at a young age, Stan has always worn his red and blue hat (as shown in "Pre-School") and even sleeps with it on.

In "The List", he ranked third in the initial corrupt list of which boy was cutest. However, he was not mentioned among those who had to change places due to the corruption, so it is possible that he remained the third cutest boy, behind Clyde (who was actually in the bottom five somewhere) and Token.

In the original Christmas short, he had a different appearance; his hat was the same, but it was fully red, he also had a dot as a nose and his jacket was blue.

Personality
Stan is generally the most tender and sensitive of the four boys. For example, in "Kenny Dies", he finds it difficult to see Kenny in his ill state, and in "Raisins" he becomes depressed after losing his girlfriend to Token. Also, in "Fun with Veal", Stan is the only one who stopped eating meat completely when the boys found that veal was actually "tortured baby cow." However, in some episodes he doesn't seem to care when people die, as in "Dances With Smurfs" and "Chef Goes Nanners".

Stan is often very moral. This is evident in "Cherokee Hair Tampons", when he, Kenny, Timmy, and Butters challenged the character Miss Information and her shop of alternative medicine, in "Super Best Friends", when he helped battle David Blaine's suicidal cult, and in "The Biggest Douche in the Universe" where he accuses the psychic medium, John Edward, of being a fake. In this episode he also gained possession of his own show (while trying to prove that cold reading was fake) and battled with John Edward in a "Psychic Showdown".

He also showed some heroism in "Cherokee Hair Tampons" by stating he would gladly donate a kidney to Kyle, even if it "hurt a whole lot". In "Whale Whores", he was also the only one in South Park to stand up and help whales and dolphins that were being slaughtered by the Japanese. He was angry that the cast of Whale Wars wasn't doing enough to help whales and dolphins and took matters into his own hands. It also shows Stan is a whale and dolphin lover and he tells the Japanese that it was a cow and a chicken that nuked Hiroshima, not a whale and a dolphin, in order to save them all being wiped out by the Japanese.

He is usually the one who is unaffected by the many scams, cults, and mass influences that South Park has been subjected to, and has a knack for seeing through falsely glorified practices and celebrities. In "Trapped in the Closet" and "Ass Burgers", he is the only one of the boys shown to believe in scams, cults, and that an alien makes everyone see things normal. Conversely, sometimes Kyle takes on this role, and it is Stan who is the gullible one, such as in "Chinpokomon", or the metrosexual trend in the episode "South Park is Gay!".

However, Stan has been shown to have an overwhelmingly clearer understanding of scams and corporate corruption than anyone else in South Park, and has an especially good grasp of the dangers of cults. It is notable that he has a tendency to ridicule, make enemies out of, and/or bring shame to a very large number of celebrities that are shown in a poor light within the show. This may be because his father (Stan's major adult influence) has shown to be rather incompetent and immature, so Stan is suspicious and distrustful of adults.

Stan and Kyle's personalities tend to be similar, especially in the earlier seasons, but are not quite interchangeable, and they have developed more distinct and complex personalities during the show's run. Still, they are considered the closest friends out of the four, though Cartman and Kenny do not have a close bond of their own.

Stan's depression is also a recurring theme throughout the show. He became terribly depressed when Wendy broke up with him in "Raisins", briefly joining the Goth Kids. Stan also became incredibly depressed and adopted a cynical world view in "You're Getting Old" and "Ass Burgers", where everything to him literally sounded and looked "like shit". In "Ass Burgers", he uses alcohol to make the world seem happier.

Stan may suffer from asthma, as an inhaler was shown among the things Cartman claims in "Sexual Harassment Panda", although this was never mentioned in the series again.

Stan is an avid animal lover - he gets a dog in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". He resists the influence of his uncle Jimbo to hunt in "Volcano" (he mentions this in "Death"), became a P.E.T.A. member in "Douche and Turd" (although he had the choice of joining them or being killed), tried to save baby cows in "Fun with Veal", and attempted to return a goat to its rightful owners in "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants". Although well-intentioned, these interventions often lead him and his friends into serious trouble. Stan (as well as the rest of the boys from 4th grade) also went to Mexico and managed to get the Mexican Space Program to take an orca to the moon in a bid to save it (with all the kids in South Park having been led to believe he was a killer whale from the moon) in "Free Willzyx". In "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", after he and Cartman crash a boat into a beaver dam and swim to shore, seeing the boat blow up, Stan says, "I hope we didn't hurt any beavers." In "Fun with Veal" he briefly turned to vegetarianism, but he quickly gave it up when he was plagued by a disease that literally "turned him into a pussy", sprouting actual vaginas on his body, a disease called Vaginitus. He also sets out to save the whales and dolphins from the Japanese in "Whale Whores". It is revealed in "Rainforest Shmainforest" that he is afraid of snakes.

Stan is shown to sympathize with others, most evidently seen in the episode "Manbearpig", in which he partially defendsAl Gore because he feels sorry for him, due to him "not having any friends". However when this pity backfires and lands him in a cave where Al Gore almost (unintentionally) drowns him, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny, he lashes out and brings Al Gore into a cold, hard reality, shouting, "Stay away from us, asshole! I only felt sorry for you because you didn't have any friends! But now I know why you don't have any friends! You just use Manbearpig as a way of getting attention for yourself because you're a loser!" This doesn't affect Al Gore however; as he dons a cape and says he'll go and make a movie starring himself (An Inconvenient Truth). Ironically, Al Gore is also responsible for the deaths of Stan and everyone else in Imaginationland, even though they were revived by Butters.

When angered however, Stan is often quite reluctant to continue/do anything that will further contribute to the obscurity or direness of the situation. Shown when in "Woodland Critter Christmas" after he finds out the Critters, whom he helped, were giving birth to the Anti-Christ, he decided not to attempt to set things right (although did eventually after much nagging from the episode's narrator) also in this episode, we found out that Stan was a Christian. Technically, though, this wasn't him - just a fictional version of him created by Eric Cartman for his Christmas story. For the first seven seasons of the show, Stan's sporadic girlfriend was Wendy Testaburger. In the early days of the series a running gag would be that Stan would throw up out of nervousness whenever Wendy spoke to him. As the show progressed, however, the Stan-Wendy storyline diminished greatly. In the penultimate episode of the seventh season, "Raisins", Wendy had Bebe tell Stan that "she breaks up", for Token, causing Stan to go into extreme depression and join the Goth Kids. He recovered, thanks to Butters, who was dealing with his own heartbreak and had decided that he would rather be "a crying little pussy than a faggy goth kid". Stan eventually got over the break-up by telling Wendy "you're a bitch" and giving Token the middle finger while saying "Token, right here, buddy". Wendy has played a much smaller part in the series since this episode. It became apparent that Stan had some lingering feelings for Wendy in the episode "Follow That Egg!" when he grew insanely jealous of Kyle working with her. He, however, decided to show her up by responding to her compliments with "as if I give a crap about what you think, Wendy." At the end of "The List", however, Stan and Wendy reconciled. They inadvertently have an adventure together, and at the end, Wendy admits to having a good time with Stan, and believes he has changed since they were last together. They lean in to kiss, but in a near-exact copy of a scene at the end of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", Stan pukes on Wendy. Their status as boyfriend and girlfriend is affirmed in "Super Fun Time". Also, in the Season Thirteen episode, "Butters' Bottom Bitch", Butters tries to get Wendy to work for him in his "Kissing Company" referring to her as a "bitch" and Stan says "Butters, Dude, you can't call my girlfriend a bitch" and threatens to hurt him if he continues. Stan is shown to be bully at times, when he and Cartman mention that they sat on a kid and farted on him. He and Cartman also beat up a random third grader when they enter fourth grade. He also threatens Butters for attempting to steal the video from him in "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" while trying get to the Video Store.

Stan is frequently embarrassed or infuriated at the stupidity of his parents and the other adults of the town, and he often goes against what his parents do. This is prominently shown in "My Future Self n' Me" when he finds out about the actor portraying his future self and goes so far as to trick Randy to cut the hand off of the actor to try and get them to admit they lied. In "Child Abduction is Not Funny", the escalating paranoia over child abductions leads the parents to send all the town's children away, in fear that they (the parents) will abduct their own kids. As the children wander off on their own, Stan remarks to Kyle, "Dude, sometimes I think our parents are really stupid," and as they rejoin their families at the conclusion of the episode, "Jesus Christ, dude, they've done some stupid crap before, but, Jesus Christ....." In "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" he admits to breaking a beaver dam, and the adults assume that this was instead a message urging them not to waste energy on pointing the finger of blame. After several failed attempts to explain that it actually was him who broke the dam through everyone saying "I broke the dam", he shouted, "I BROKE THE FUCKING DAM!" and explained the exact sequence of events without any effect on the adults. The rather displaced cynicism that he exhibits when dealing with adults, as well as his inability to be impressed by celebrities or fads may also come from the fact that, due to his parents, he has probably never respected or trusted adults. Also in "Crème Fraiche", he says "You guys, my dad is retarded but he is not that retarded" when Cartman presents his idea to Stan on how to trick Randy into not wanting to cook.

In "Trapped in the Closet", Stan was thought to be the leader of Scientology having scored the highest thetan levels since L. Ron Hubbard and was quickly approached by Tom Cruise, whom Stan called an average actor. After hearing this Tom Cruise shouted, "I'm a failure in the eyes of the prophet!" and locked himself in Stan's closet. After unsuccessfully attempting to get him out, Stan shouts down the stairs to Randy, "DAD! Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet!" (Which is a reference to the rumors that Tom Cruise was gay, with "coming out of the closet" meaning when a gay man admits he is gay). Stan is later told that Scientology is a fake, and that if he writes anything almost everyone would believe it and he could make up to $3 million. Later on, when he reads his new writings to his loving public, his morality objected to it and he told everyone that Scientology was fake and that it was a wrong way to answer the many questions. Stan was then sued by almost everyone, including Cruise and the head of the church, without anyone taking any action until he lost his temper, shouting, "Well go on then! SUE ME!"

In "Douche and Turd", he is the only kid in the school who finds the option of voting between a giant douche and a turd sandwich "ridiculous", and is beleaguered by Kyle, the school officials and his parents, eventually bringing Puff Daddy to South Park to tell him about the Vote or Die campaign, and then chased Stan around town with a gun and literally told him to "vote or die". He is later banished from town for not voting and is rescued by PETA members, the leader of which tells him that in actuality all elections are between a douche and a turd, which convinces him to go back to town to vote.

In "The Passion of the Jew", he is disgusted with The Passion of the Christ, calling it a "snuff film" and going, along with Kenny, to Mel Gibson's house to get their money back. Mel Gibson turns out to be insane and rabidly masochistic, and attacks the two of them with a gun in a manner reminiscent of Daffy Duck after Stan calls him "daffy". Stan and Kenny then steal the money from Gibson's wallet and flee back to South Park, pursued by him. Later, when Gibson asserts that Stan cannot say that his film sucks because it is saying that Christianity sucks, Stan counters by saying that Christianity is fine, but focusing on how people died ends up with really bad results, convincing the town that Mel Gibson was wrong all along.

In "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus", Stan is led to believe he is the only boy of the four that hasn't yet had his period, and is left out by the other three due to him not being "mature enough". He later uses the only question available every two millennia to ask God (who had come down to Earth briefly) why he hasn't given him his period. After a long pause, God states the obvious: that he is a boy and shouldn't get periods. The episode ends with everyone trying to kill Stan for using the only question on something so dumb.

In "Fantastic Easter Special", he was made a member of a rabbit-worshipping cult-like group called the Hare Club for Men, which his father, grandfather, and the entire male side of his family has been members in for generations.

After his tenth birthday in "You're Getting Old", Stan became extremely cynical, viewing almost everything as "shit" and even seeing people poop out of their mouths. His cynicism becomes so serious his friendship with the other characters is destroyed. His parents also separate, causing Stan to move out of his childhood home, though it was shown in the next episode.

In "Ass Burgers", the follow-up to "You're Getting Old", Stan is shown to still be depressed. Everything is still viewed as "shit" to him, he rides the bus alone, and appears uninterested in everything around him, later outbursting in class. Mr. Mackey tries to talk Stan out of his depression, to which Stan breaks down, crying, wanting everything to go back to what it was. Mr. Mackey incorrectly assumes that Stan developed Asperger syndrome from his flu shot last year. Sharon brings Stan to a clinic to get help, which is a front for a group who sees the world as Stan does. The temporary cure for Stan's cynicism is alcohol, which Stan takes to see the old world. Finally happy again, Stan observes the old world, watches a movie, then sees Kyle to attempt to reestablish and save their friendship. Kyle coldly tells Stan they need to move on, angering a drunken Stan, who gives Kyle the finger, saying "Fuck you, Kyle, you're a piece of shit!" As Kyle dejectedly walks away, Stan says "...Kyle, I love you." Only to tell Kyle off again. Stan is later captured by a group of restaurant owners trying to shut Cartman Burger down. At sniper point, the group forces Stan to ask Kyle what the secret ingredient is. After an ensuing shoot out, Stan refuses anymore of the alcohol saying he would be happy with everything going forward. Stan was optimistic of a new life, new adventures, until Randy drives up, telling him everything worked out with his mom. Stan is seen stunned as Sharon and Randy move back in, and he shares a picnic with Wendy. The closing moments of the episode show everything has returned to normal, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman come in his room saying they going off to see "Zookeeper 2: Zoo-Keepier". Stan chases after them to watch it, but not before taking a sip of whiskey he hid in his room.

Randy Marsh
Randy is Stan's father. They generally have a good relationship, although Stan often gets annoyed by Randy's obsessiveness (this is especially true with the video camera), pushiness, and melodramatic antics. Randy also tends to be very naive, which exasperates Stan all the more. Like the rest of the family, the relationship was getting bad due to Randy videotaping everything the family did in "Pandemic" but Stan may have been indifferent due to the Peruvian flute bands. Stan also dislikes his father's stubbornness, alcoholism and general stupidity.

Outside of Randy's antics, Stan seems to enjoy being around his father. Randy taught Stan how to dance in "You Got F'd in the A", and Randy went to extra measures to help Stan win in "Pinewood Derby", although the extra lengths of cheating may have simply been to defeat a rival family.

Randy seems to want to live his life through Stan to an extend, but also to prevent Stan from his failures. In "Something You Can Do with Your Finger", Randy was enraged at Stan attempting to form a boy band, because he first hand had a taste of fame and failure from it. In "Stanley's Cup", Randy woke up from a nightmare of Stan missing the winning shot in his pee-wee hockey game, and was emotionally unstable at the end when Stan's team lost to the Redwings.

Randy does seem to want to have a stronger relationship with Stan, in "Make Love, Not Warcraft" he logs onto Stan's teamspeak during the battle with the nerd and asks to play with Stan and his friends, despite him being weaker than all of the 4th grader's characters. In "Guitar Queer-O", Randy sees the boys playing Guitar Hero, and thinking they like playing guitar, wants to teach them how to play the real instrument.

In "You're Getting Old", Randy tries to bridge another gap by listening to Tween-wave, while this serves as a chance for him to live his failed dreams, he tries to share passion in the music that Stan and his friends hear, but he cannot. At the end of the episode, Randy and Sharon separate, Randy talks to an gloomy looking Stan, and he drives off, with their house in his side mirror.

Later in "Ass Burgers", towards the end of the episode when Stan was finally ready to accept change, Randy and Sharon reconciled, with everything going back to the way they used to be with the only exception of Stan still drinking alcohol which wasn't referenced again in the next four episodes, and probably won't appear later.

Sharon Marsh
She is Stan's mother. His relationship with her is often more stable than that with Randy. However, she has told him that she considers his happiness and Shelly's happiness secondary to her own (yet this was likely a joke on parents breaking up, because Sharon has never demonstrated this behavior aside from in Clubhouses). She did freak out when Stan was missing in "Pandemic" (he had been arrested by the military), taking the arguments with Randy about the video camera to the next level. Stan's jacket is almost the same as Sharon's shirt. Stan is very similar to Sharon in the way he is level headed, and it is likely that they have a good, loving relationship with each other.

Shelly Marsh
She is his violent and abusive teenage sister. She frequently insults him by calling him and his friends turds and physically harms him. However, she refuses to let anyone else harm him, as seen in "Pre-School" when Stan asked for her advice on what to do about the bully Trent Boyett. After asking for her help, she seemed to genuinely listen to his problem. Also, Stan even stated at one point that she used to be somewhat nicer to him before she got her headgear installed. She sometimes is nice to Stan, but would later prefer to run him over with a lawnmower. However, she has not been violent to Stan since "Over Logging".

Marvin Marsh
He is Stan's paternal grandfather. He is 102, confined to a wheelchair, and a tad senile. He continually addresses Stan as "Billy", and in occasionally asks Stan to kill him. It turns out that this is a family trait involving the men in the Marsh family, dating back at least a couple of generations. He is said to have had the same relationship with his own grandfather.

Grandma Marsh
Stan has very little contact with his grandmother, due to the fact she is hospitalized with an debilitating illness and also separated from Grandpa Marsh. However, she is an avid Facebook user, and often has her son Randy bully Stan into checking his Facebook in regards to messages and posts she sends him.

Jimbo Kern
He is Stan's paternal half-uncle. He and Randy were birthed by the same mother, but each have different fathers.

Aunt Flo Kimble
She is Stan's great-aunt on his mother's side of the family, and possibly the only family member from his maternal side who has been seen on the show. She was first seen and killed in "Spookyfish".

Sparky
Sparky is Stan's dog, who is a homosexual. He has had many gay relationships, to Stan's chagrin, including one withClyde's dog, Rex, in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". Sparky made its second appearance in "Proper Condom Use", during which Stan played "Red Rocket" by masturbating Sparky. Its third appearance was in "Good Times with Weapons", where its fur was used to make Butters look like a dog.

Evil Goldfish from the Parallel Universe
The goldfish Aunt Flo gave Stan, and who killed many people, including her and Kenny, and framed his owner, Stan for it. Sharon nearly went insane covering up these murders, in an effort to protect her "precious, handsome little boy".

Roy
Roy was Stan's step dad. After Sharon "divorces" Randy in "Clubhouses", she immediately "marries" Roy (though it is actually more likely as presented from the timeline that his parents were starting out on a trial separation). Roy is shown to be extremely emotional, and possibly bi-polar, particularly whenever Stan attempts to speak. Where one moment he tried to be 'friendly' with Stan, he immediately begins screaming that Stan is ungrateful and doesn't let up on him. He seems obsessed with cutting firewood, forcing Stan to do it for an entire day. Sharon and Roy stayed together until Sharon reconciles with Randy in Stan's Clubhouse, and the two of them proceed to have sex. Roy meanwhile is held captive in a beartrap set by Stan. What happened to him afterwards is unknown, but its assumed that he died while being hung from the beartrap.

Relationships
Stan is one of the leaders of the male student population in South Park Elementary, and therefore is well acquainted with most of the students. He is one of the few characters that always gets along with the girls, and was voted third cutest by them in "The List". He is respected and liked by pretty much everyone. He also has gone out of his way to make peace with his fellow students, like when he tries to make things right with Token Black after Randy says the N-word on "Wheel of Fortune" (Thinking he would win money) in "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson".

Kyle Brofloski
Stan and Kyle have been great friends since the very beginning of the show. Stan seems to be the only character in the show who gets along with all of the main and background characters. They have been known to end up working together in certain adventures, such as in "Fantastic Easter Special", and are often dragged into the same circumstances due to this, such as in "Imaginationland, Episode II". Stan has saved Kyle's life on several occasions without hesitation, most notably in "Super Best Friends", and has once stated that he does not want Kyle to die until he does. He nearly always defends Kyle when Cartman's hatred of him goes over the top, such as in "Cartmanland" and "Cherokee Hair Tampons". Stan often becomes anxious about Kyle when he is tricked by various scams or becomes immersed in his hatred of Cartman, bending over backwards to encourage or reassure Kyle, convince him otherwise, or to get him out of trouble.

They are frequently seen together, or talking to each other, even in the absence of Cartman or Kenny, making them rather like twins. Also, in the opening credits of the show, they sing the same lines together. However, their friendship has hit bumps in a number of episodes, such as "Prehistoric Ice Man", "Super Best Friends", "Kenny Dies", "South Park is Gay!", "Douche and Turd", "Follow That Egg!", "Guitar Queer-O", "You're Getting Old", and "Ass Burgers". They have reconciled on-screen in all of these episodes, with the exceptions of "South Park is Gay!", "Douche and Turd", and "You're Getting Old", although all those times they were shown to be friends in the next episode. The episode "Guitar Queer-O" focuses more than any other on their friendship, as a big argument between the two forms the major conflict of the story. However, in the end they reconcile, with no lasting damage done to the friendship.

Stan also had a great deal of concern when Kyle was voted the ugliest boy in the class in "The List". Their friendship is so strong that Cartman calls them "fags" and has even commented, "You wanna get a room so you can make out for a while?" in "Super Best Friends". It is also notable that in "Imaginationland, Episode III", Kyle was the only person who could hear Stan's voice in his head when Stan was trapped in Imaginationland though it was most likely due the shock he got from the portal.

Eric Cartman
Even though Stan does not really consider Cartman a friend, the two are often seen together. In "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow", Stan and Cartman hang out at the boating rack, and Cartman even comments that it is great that they are hanging out with each other without Kyle, implying that Cartman at least would prefer to have a closer friendship with Stan. Stan meanwhile seems to be more accepting or at least tolerant of Cartman than Kyle and even Kenny at times, such as in "Fat Butt and Pancake Head". While Kyle is immediately distrustful of Cartman's truthfulness in his claim that he cannot control the actions of his hand (which has seemed to take on a life of its own), Stan gives Cartman the benefit of the doubt and admits that, with all the stuff that happens in South Park, Cartman could be telling the truth.

In "Woodland Critter Christmas", Cartman made Stan the protagonist of his Christmas story (he is described as 'the boy in a red poof-ball hat'), showing that Cartman sees Stan as a heroic figure of sorts. In "Douche and Turd", Stan votes for Cartman's mascot instead of Kyle's, much to Kyle's dismay. Also, in "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus", when Stan appears to be the only boy who hasn't gotten their period, Cartman reassures him that he will get it one day.

In "Fun with Veal", when Stan was hospitalized with 'vaginitis', Cartman seemed concerned and was relieved that Stan was saved just in time. This is a rare occasion when Cartman has put his friends in front of his own personal gain, as he helped Stan stop people from eating veal even though he did not get anything in return for it and would be starving himself for days. He also tells the FBI negotiator that "There's a sick kid up here" (referring to Stan) when negotiating to release the calves, showing that he is worried about Stan's health.

It is implied that in "Prehistoric Ice Man that Stan considers Cartman his second best friend. When Stan and Kyle fell out in the episode, Stan claimed that his new best friend was Cartman (as did Kyle), but they both claimed that 'Cartman sucks as a best friend' when they made up. This could be because Stan really values his best friendship with Kyle. Either way, it is clear that Stan does consider Cartman as a close friend. Also in "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", Cartman wants to kick Kyle and Tweek out of the group, but doesn't want to kick out Stan, which implies that Cartman likes having Stan as a friend.

However, in "Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants", Cartman declares that he hates Stan because Stan loves animals. Even so, In "Trapped in the Closet", all three boys de-friend Stan after he becomes the leader of Scientology. As the boys leave, Cartman turns to Stan and says, "I still hate Kyle more than you". The two can also be said to be friends because they admitted to "being friends" in front of the home school kids.

In some episodes Stan is shown having a strong hatred for Cartman, even if Cartman isn't doing anything. In "Trapper Keeper" when the cyborg says he has to kill Cartman, Stan asks if he can do it, and prepares to shoot Cartman before the cyborg decides against the idea. Although Stan is much more tolerant of Cartman than Kyle is, he often holds Cartman in very high contempt for his unacceptable behavior. In "Sexual Healing", Stan and Cartman were seen playingTiger Woods PGA Tour 11 together, hinting that despite Cartman's behaviors, Stan still considers him a "friend". However, in "Bass to Mouth", when Mr. Mackey claimed that Cartman killed himself for being fat when the school faculty "threw him under the bus", Stan was more concerned with keeping Eavesdropper from posting its "biggest story" than with any injuries Cartman may have suffered.

Kenny McCormick
Although Kenny and Stan do not seem to share the same bond that Stan and Kyle do, Stan sees Kenny as a close friend. In "Kenny Dies", out of the 3 boys, Stan has the hardest time dealing with Kenny dying, and cannot even bear to see him in the hospital. When Stan finally realizes that Kenny passed on "for good", he feels like he is Kenny's worst friend (until they hear about Cartman's selfishness). The two boys often hang out with one another when Cartman and Kyle get into their arguments and Stan and Kenny don't want to listen to it, such as in "The Passion of the Jew". In "Best Friends Forever", Stan and Kyle fight against Cartman to not have Kenny's feeding tube removed to save Kenny's life.

However, in "Cherokee Hair Tampons", when all hope seems lost to save Kyle and Stan breaks down crying in front of Kenny because of Kyle's impending death, he doesn't seem to care or even acknowledge the fact that Kenny dies all the time. This angers Kenny and makes him leave Stan to go home - which in turn causes his death by walking under a falling piano, and even then Stan still fails to notice or care.

During the first five seasons, Stan would almost always be the first to react in horror by saying, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!", after one of Kenny's classic deaths. Of course, immediately after, Kyle would say "You Bastards!" and he wouldn't acknowledge Kenny again after that. The only times that Stan would treat Kenny's death with immediate unconcern was when he was preoccupied with something important such as in "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000", and "Gnomes". In "Chef Goes Nanners", both Stan, Kyle, and even Gerald Broflovski, show a complete lack of horror or concern for Kenny's death after he eats dozens of anti-acid tablets and drinks water at which point he explodes. Instead all of them laugh and clap, finding that particular death "a good one."

In "Coon vs. Coon & Friends", Kenny as Mysterion tries to convince Stan and Kyle about the truth of his deaths and that they never remember, even to the point of shooting himself to prove it. Much to Mysterion's dismay, this does not work as no one who sees it remembers.

Wendy Testaburger
A recurring topic in the early seasons was Stan's relationship with Wendy Testaburger. Her first appearance in "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" shows Stan going on a date with her. A running gag in the early seasons of their relationship showed Stan vomiting out of nervousness whenever she tried to say anything to him or kiss him. Stan was the first of the four main boys to get his first kiss in "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut."

Wendy dumps Stan for Token in "Raisins", which drives Stan into a state of depression and even causes him to briefly join a local goth clique. After this, the two spent two seasons barely on speaking terms and rarely saw each other eye-to-eye. However, the two still had feelings for each other lingering in the air, as seen in "Follow That Egg!", in which Stan worries about getting paired with Wendy on a school project and is jealous when she ends up paired with Kyle. However, at the end of "The List", the Season Eleven finale, the two both work together to expose the secret corruption of Wendy's school list-making society and ultimately reconcile at the end, in a near copy of the end scene of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe": Wendy is about to kiss him, when he vomits in her face. This was the last time he threw up on her, even when she kissed him a few times later in the series.

Their reconciliation was confirmed in the Season Twelve episode, "Super Fun Time", in which they pair up at their school field trip by holding hands, refusing to let go for a long time, and Stan confirms Wendy is once again his girlfriend. In "Breast Cancer Show Ever", he is concerned about Wendy fighting Cartman, but feels that he can't do anything about it. However, he cheers her on when she beats him up. "Elementary School Musical" concerns Stan's efforts not to lose Wendy to a popular boy at school called Bridon Guermo by singing songs based on the style from High School Musical, despite Wendy's reassurance that she will not leave him and that the whole school likes Bridon. Wendy also kisses Stan on his cheek when she closes her locker and leaves, and Stan does not throw up. It is shown however in "You Have 0 Friends", that after the second time they resumed their relationship that she doesn't plan on letting him go for any other girl, even go as far as judge him by his Facebook account rather than him in real life should she see his status say single and or see any other girls comments on his Facebook page.

In "Ass Burgers", she becomes increasing concerned about Stan's cynicism, and tries to talk Kyle into talking with Stan about it, but he refuses. Both Stan and Wendy are shown at the end of the episode sitting on a picnic blanket, presumably reconciling their relationship once again.

Trivia

 * Stan is the only one of the four who has never contracted a terminal illness, as both Kyle and Cartman contracted AIDS in "Tonsil Trouble" and Kenny contracted muscular dystrophy in "Kenny Dies."
 * Stan has been absent the least throughout the series out of the four boys.
 * Stan is the only one of the four boys who has actually managed to maintain a relationship for more than one episode.
 * Stan has been shown to be an animal rights activist: He protected baby calves from slaughter in "Fun with Veal", joined PETA (though only to survive because if he didn't he would have starved in the wilderness) in "Douche and Turd", and headed the Whale Wars crew for a while in "Whale Whores".
 * In episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft", the Warcraft executive tells Randy they need to get the sword to a great knight, by the name of 'LUVS2SPWGE'[3]. However, at the start of the episode, when viewing Stan's game screen you can read Stan's character name is "Staniscool".
 * Stan is one of the three main characters to have never been absent for more than one episode in the same season, the others being Kyle and Cartman.
 * Before Season Four, Stan was never seen without his hat, even when he was in bed.
 * Stan is the last one of the four boys to have a supernatural power at one point. Kyle has disappeared and briefly became a omniscient being by studying existentialism in "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000". Cartman has the ability to see and hear ghosts, and the ability to fire electricity at people in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Kenny has had the power of immortality throughout the series. Stan obtains momentaneous powers, like flying, apparent telekinesis/superforce and projeting fire from hands and mouth, when Satan possesses him, in order to fight Beelzaboot in "Freemium Isn't Free".
 * Stan has said "Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here" on at least three Christmas specials: "Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo", "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!" and "Red Sleigh Down". He says these when something strange happens. In "Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo", he says it when Mr. Hankey appears. In "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", he says it when him and the others go to celebrate Christmas with "Charlie Manson". And in "Red Sleigh Down", he says it when Jesus is shot by an Iraqi.
 * Stan has a somewhat stronger digestive system than many others do as shown in "Dead Celebrities", since he is able to eat Chipotle without bleeding out his ass afterwards. Cartman even remarks that Stan has a "golden rectum of the gods".
 * Stan has Asthma. In "Sexual Harassment Panda", Cartman takes Stan's inhaler.
 * Stan's anime counterpart from the episode "Good Times with Weapons" bears a large resemblance to Capcom's character "Ryu" from Street Fighter.
 * So far, Stan is the only one of the boys who hasn't shown any gender-swapping tendencies. Cartman was shown dressed up as Britney Spears in "AWESOM-O", Kyle had a female avatar in "Make Love, Not Warcraft", and Kenny dressed like a princess in three of the last four episodes of Season Seventeen and South Park: The Stick of Truth.
 * As of "201" Stan is the only one of the four boys who does not have a redheaded parent.

Absences

 * Season Two
 * "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus"
 * Season Three
 * "Cat Orgy"
 * "Jewbilee"
 * Season Four
 * "Pip"
 * Season Ten
 * "Cartoon Wars Part II" (seen in recap of Part I)
 * "A Million Little Fibers"
 * "Go God Go XII"
 * Season Eleven
 * "Le Petit Tourette" (background only)
 * Season Fifteen
 * "City Sushi" (background only)
 * Season Sixteen
 * "Jewpacabra" (background only)
 * Season Seventeen
 * "Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Posers" (background only)
 * Season Eighteen
 * "Handicar"