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I mean they literally call themselves "Malevolent", and their personality appears to begin and end with being edgelords always trying to out-grimdark every other Imperium faction.

Mind, I haven't seen any mention of them outside of wikis. Are they still a thing? Just how canon are they?

Really can't say unfortunately. But if you want meme material look no further then the lamentors. One dude wrote a story (first published in let the galaxy burn I think) of how they lost a battle once and since then they have been that chapter that loses everything. It's quite amazing actually.

Let GW make some dumb memes. The community made loads.

Both the Lamenters and the Marines Malevolent have been in the lore since long before the age of silly internet memes. Lamenters have been around since the original Badab War fluff in the Rogue Trader era, though I think their notoriously terrible luck was not introduced until 2nd edition; the Marines Malevolent date from 2nd edition (or might have been early 3rd?) and were originally introduced as a contrast to the more heroic and humanitarian Salamanders (which is ironic, as the Salamanders themselves had previously been portrayed as civilian-killing donkey-caves back in Rogue Trader).

The philosophy of the Marines Malevolent is one of absolute pragmatism, with the biased view that what helps themselves helps Mankind in the long run. However, this got them into major trouble, as it's caused them to be blacklisted by the Adeptus Mechanicus, which forced them to push their philosophy in an even more extreme direction in order to survive. That's why they're willing to steal, scavenge, and lie to get what they need, because they've lost one of the most important lifelines an Astartes chapter has.

We know they're still around in the Era Indomitus, and it's likely that they received Primaris tech after stealing it from a Custodes they rescued.

-Guardsman- wrote:
I mean they literally call themselves "Malevolent", and their personality appears to begin and end with being edgelords always trying to out-grimdark every other Imperium faction.

Mind, I haven't seen any mention of them outside of wikis. Are they still a thing? Just how canon are they?

They're really not that bad. The worst sin laid at their feet is blowing up some refugees to kill a bunch of Orks who were rampaging around in the refugee camp.
In comparison to destroying entire worlds or killing innocents for no practical reason at all they don't really stand out as particularly bad.

Animus wrote:

-Guardsman- wrote:
I mean they literally call themselves "Malevolent", and their personality appears to begin and end with being edgelords always trying to out-grimdark every other Imperium faction.

Mind, I haven't seen any mention of them outside of wikis. Are they still a thing? Just how canon are they?

They're really not that bad. The worst sin laid at their feet is blowing up some refugees to kill a bunch of Orks who were rampaging around in the refugee camp.
In comparison to destroying entire worlds or killing innocents for no practical reason at all they don't really stand out as particularly bad.

That's the only one we know about, not the only one there is period. Personally, the idea of the worst of loyalist Astartes put together into one chapter is a horribly bad idea. I'd love to see a story where Guiilliman either orders them to clean up their act, be sent to another chapter (with no more than two being sent to a single chapter, and none being sent to one of the original legions), or be transformed into battle servitors.

 ArcaneHorror wrote:

Animus wrote:

-Guardsman- wrote:
I mean they literally call themselves "Malevolent", and their personality appears to begin and end with being edgelords always trying to out-grimdark every other Imperium faction.

Mind, I haven't seen any mention of them outside of wikis. Are they still a thing? Just how canon are they?

They're really not that bad. The worst sin laid at their feet is blowing up some refugees to kill a bunch of Orks who were rampaging around in the refugee camp.
In comparison to destroying entire worlds or killing innocents for no practical reason at all they don't really stand out as particularly bad.

That's the only one we know about, not the only one there is period. Personally, the idea of the worst of loyalist Astartes put together into one chapter is a horribly bad idea. I'd love to see a story where Guiilliman either orders them to clean up their act, be sent to another chapter (with no more than two being sent to a single chapter, and none being sent to one of the original legions), or be transformed into battle servitors.

thats not how marine chapters work dude. they're not like regiments of the military where they each member is part of a greater whole, they're completely autonomous structures each with their own history, doctrines etc.

I wish there were more like them: they really are pragmatic supersoldiers aware of who they are and how to win war. It changes from all the noblebright guys (that are needed too, ofc)

Animus wrote:

-Guardsman- wrote:
I mean they literally call themselves "Malevolent", and their personality appears to begin and end with being edgelords always trying to out-grimdark every other Imperium faction.

Mind, I haven't seen any mention of them outside of wikis. Are they still a thing? Just how canon are they?

They're really not that bad. The worst sin laid at their feet is blowing up some refugees to kill a bunch of Orks who were rampaging around in the refugee camp.
In comparison to destroying entire worlds or killing innocents for no practical reason at all they don't really stand out as particularly bad.

It is not what you do, it is is how much eye liner you have on while doing it.

Marines Malevolent are darwinian donkey-caves to an extreme degree, I feel like they suffer heavily from almost always being the antagonist to some other group. An author like ADB who's good at humanizing maligned factions should take a crack at writing about them. Just so someone other than nick kyme is representing their viewpoint.

That being said, I'm a big fan of their antics. My favorite is that one short story where one of their vilifiers goads a sword brethren into a duel then kills him and takes his stuff. Because if you were a big enough idiot to get tricked into a fight where you underestimate your opponent and get killed as a result your wargear is better served with someone who isn't a complete moron.

Never read anything about this chapter before. But that excerpt makes me like them. Going to have to take a look at them some more.

There's a marine malevolent in one of the Deathwatch stories.

"He is on the marines malevolent, and therefore pragmatic to the point of being an utter b*****d." was the (pretty apt) description.

I think we need a short story where they team up with the Rainbow Warriors.

The fluff is full of edgelords trying to out-donkey-cave each other. The Marines Malevolent will have to step up their game a bit if they want to top the Iron Hands. Those fought a long campaign to retake an Imperial world (not sure if it was regular rebellion or outside invasion) and when victorious had a third of the population killed for being so weak someone had to retake the world at all. In the IoM that's apparently an "uplifting morale boost" to the survivors who will now gratefully work 36 hours a day to rebuild.

Pretty sure "a meme that got out of hand" describes 40k as a whole.

Memes are neither good nor bad, they simply exist. Whether or not you think it's good is mostly up to opinion, and tbh I don't like the marines malevolent much, myself, but I'd say they have a right to exist in 40k.

 Duskweaver wrote:
Both the Lamenters and the Marines Malevolent have been in the lore since long before the age of silly internet memes.

And memes have existed since long before any of that lore was written or the internet existed.

Memes were not created by the internet. They just spread faster.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I think we need a short story where they team up with the Rainbow Warriors.

Only if for some official background. There is naff all proper fluff on the Rainbow Warriors and it's all fanfiction.

Hate is the surest weapon!

Spetulhu wrote:
The fluff is full of edgelords trying to out-donkey-cave each other. The Marines Malevolent will have to step up their game a bit if they want to top the Iron Hands. Those fought a long campaign to retake an Imperial world (not sure if it was regular rebellion or outside invasion) and when victorious had a third of the population killed for being so weak someone had to retake the world at all. In the IoM that's apparently an "uplifting morale boost" to the survivors who will now gratefully work 36 hours a day to rebuild.

Why are they like that anyway? Is it a weird traumatic handmedown from the commanders who fethed up by Ferrus dying?

 Platuan4th wrote:
And memes have existed since long before any of that lore was written or the internet existed.

Yes, obviously. But it seemed like the OP was referring to internet memes specifically.

 Coolyo294 wrote:
Marines Malevolent are darwinian donkey-caves to an extreme degree, I feel like they suffer heavily from almost always being the antagonist to some other group. An author like ADB who's good at humanizing maligned factions should take a crack at writing about them. Just so someone other than nick kyme is representing their viewpoint.

That being said, I'm a big fan of their antics. My favorite is that one short story where one of their vilifiers goads a sword brethren into a duel then kills him and takes his stuff. Because if you were a big enough idiot to get tricked into a fight where you underestimate your opponent and get killed as a result your wargear is better served with someone who isn't a complete moron.

Spoiler:

This is why they're one of the greatest Chapters ever, despite the poor color scheme.

pm713 wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
The fluff is full of edgelords trying to out-donkey-cave each other. The Marines Malevolent will have to step up their game a bit if they want to top the Iron Hands. Those fought a long campaign to retake an Imperial world (not sure if it was regular rebellion or outside invasion) and when victorious had a third of the population killed for being so weak someone had to retake the world at all. In the IoM that's apparently an "uplifting morale boost" to the survivors who will now gratefully work 36 hours a day to rebuild.

Why are they like that anyway? Is it a weird traumatic handmedown from the commanders who fethed up by Ferrus dying?

Basically yes - they weren't strong enough to save Ferrus (and stop the Heresy at Isstvan V), so they must do everything possible get stronger and punish weakness ("the flesh is weak").

beast_gts wrote:

pm713 wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
The fluff is full of edgelords trying to out-donkey-cave each other. The Marines Malevolent will have to step up their game a bit if they want to top the Iron Hands. Those fought a long campaign to retake an Imperial world (not sure if it was regular rebellion or outside invasion) and when victorious had a third of the population killed for being so weak someone had to retake the world at all. In the IoM that's apparently an "uplifting morale boost" to the survivors who will now gratefully work 36 hours a day to rebuild.

Why are they like that anyway? Is it a weird traumatic handmedown from the commanders who fethed up by Ferrus dying?

Basically yes - they weren't strong enough to save Ferrus (and stop the Heresy at Isstvan V), so they must do everything possible get stronger and punish weakness ("the flesh is weak").

Some people take failure very badly.

They were the Angry Marines before the Angry Marines were the Angry Marines.

That said, you must be new to 40K, lol. The whole game was born out of bad memes.

The Dark Angels' primarch is Lionel Johnson, a poet who wrote a poem called "Dark Angel" about having a dark secret.

I always just thought whoever came up with his name was a big Thundercats fan.

The 80s were a different time.

Have they been in anything since the war for Armaggeddon?

Rebel4ever85 wrote:
Have they been in anything since the war for Armaggeddon?

I dunno but, like recently with the Carcharodons, we need an author to try and tackle them and the Minotaurs and stuff. Apparently Minotaurs showed up in a recent novel and apparently a Custodes remarks they would lose in a fight with Asterion or something (BADASS) but that's about it.