Marcus was an old friend of Steve Johnsons, the two grew up together in an orphanage. Marcus became a plastic surgeon and moved to Salem in 1987 where he took a job at University Hospital.
Marcus' past was a blank to him and he wanted to learn more about it. At the hospital he met and romanced Gail Carson, who was an ISA agent posing as anesthesiologist. Marcus, Gail, and Patch all went to South Carolina to talk to Marcus' aunt about his past. Surprisingly his aunt gave him very little information and warned him not to dredge up his past.
Marcus then performed surgery on his friend Steve Johnson in which he reconstructed the bone around Steve's patched eye and he gave him a glass eye. The surgery was necessary for an ISA mission Steve was about to undertake, the infiltration of Saul Taylor's camp.
When Saul Taylors Revival tent collapsed a beam struck his daughter Faith. Faith was taken to the hospital where she met and befriended Marcus. However Faith was ordered by her father to stay away from Marcus. Marcus went to the camp with Gail Carson after a panicked Kayla had told Gail what she had seen at the camp. Both Marcus were attacked and Marcus was almost killed. Unconscious Marcus recalled his past and realized that Saul Taylor and his partner Jericho had blown up the church that his parents were inside of. After the entire fiasco was over Marcus learned that Gail was really an ISA agent.
In 1992 Marcus fell in love with Kayla Brady Johnson, but when she told him she couldn't return his love, Marcus left Salem.