Mark Faba (also known as "The Undying") was the first Elusive Target in HITMAN™ 2. He is a former MI5 Agent turned freelance assassin who specializes in killing his targets using explosives in elaborate and over-the-top plots.
He is famous for his apparent uncanny ability to rise from the dead, having being confirmed killed more than 25 times, including two assassinations by Agent 47 himself.
He is voiced by and modeled on famous actor Sean Bean, who is known for appearing in many roles where his character is killed off - Often prematurely. Bean also appeared heavily in promotional material for the game.
During the promotional release of the Miami Pack, Mark was reactivated as "The Undying Returns". Players who have previously completed (or failed) The Undying were still be able to participate in the second iteration of the contract.
The Undying[]
Sometime prior to the events of HITMAN™ 2, Mark Faba is hired by Robert Knox to kill Pavel Zhukov - A Russian national and Knox's former business partner whom was cheated out of being a Kronstadt stockholder and threatened to expose the company's sinister beginnings.
Travelling to the Kronstadt Bayside Expo Centre in Miami, Mark is briefed by Dave Ready, an ICA informant who can help 47 infiltrate the meeting, and also meets with Timothy Yu, a weapons technician developing several gadgets for Mark based on his own specifications.
If 47 infiltrates the briefing dressed as an engineer and takes a seat across from the target, Mark will engage him in a hypothetical conversation about which method he would use to kill him. 47 vividly describes poisoning him with a cup of coffee, then luring him to his death by falling from a ledge and finally killing him by throwing a knife into his head - The latter of which seems to impress Mark greatly.
Impersonating Timothy provides the most feasible means of assassinating Mark, allowing 47 many other ample methods of killing him. These include the android PALLAS, an experimental bomb built using the Kronstadt Octane Booster and various other gadgets around the room. Mark seems frustrated that Timothy can not develop an explosive pen for him. When inspecting the pen Timothy has provided, Mark remarks unfavorably; "What am I supposed to do with this thing? Stab the man!?".
His apparent ability to rise from the dead is revealed to be a ruse - When eavesdropping on a phone conversation with an unknown accomplice, it is revealed that Mark uses theatrics and "social engineering" to manipulate and fool would-be assassins, using cadavers to fake his deaths at the hands the ICA and other rivals. Despite this, however, he manages to actually survive at least one assassination attempt by Agent 47 - Making him possibly the only person to do so.
Mark is responsible for informing the ICA of his location, anticipating that Agent 47 will be sent after him next after so many failed attempts on his life. While this is partly a display of brashness, In a phone call with Alice, another accomplice, Mark ponders if 47 is more than an urban legend, expressing his hope both that he is and that he will show, musing that if 47 is succesful, he's "had a good run", remarking thaT "If I go by anyone's hand, I want it to be the best in the business.".
Regardless of the method used to kill Mark, he miraculously survives and must be killed a second time.
The Undying Returns[]
There were no differences between this contract and the previous, except that Mark Faba now possesses an eye patch over his right eye - Implying that 47 eliminated him the first time by impaling him with a pen. The rest of the mission occurs exactly the same as the first, with the exception of a few added lines in the briefing where Diana will remark that "this may ring a bell" and that "I feel like I'm repeating myself here". It is unknown if this second attempt on his life was successful or not.
Briefing[]
A disgraced MI5 agent, Faba developed a unique "shock and awe" methodology inspired in equal terms by terrorism and performance art. He goes to great lengths to eliminate his targets as loudly and viscerally as possible.
At 18, he had become smitten with the flamboyance of the late 1980's hacker scene. But after a series of hacks against the government, Faba was arrested and given a non-choice. Hone his skills with the Secret Service and work for Queen and country or face years of incarceration.
At MI5, Faba became an ace marksman and demolitions expert. He learned infiltration techniques and worked for years on domestic surveillance projects aimed at journalists, politicians, corporate heads and members of the upper class. Eventually, the work peeled away every shred of decency and humanity and the boundaries between right and wrong dissolved.
While on a job to install surveillance equipment in the hotel suite of a visiting foreign diplomat, Faba's cover was blown. A struggle ensued and Faba ended up killing his intended surveillance target. He tried to cover his tracks but forensic experts at MI5 soon suspected foul play. As the evidence mounted, Faba felt the ground burn beneath him. In his desperation, he turned to his old hacker connections and with their aid, Mark Faba disappeared from the world. Soon after, he was presumed dead by his own hand.
Flash forward ten years. When an Mi6 agent was murdered under spectacular circumstances, the investigation revealed that Mark Faba was in fact alive and working as a freelance assassin in various conflict zones around the world.
An ICA contract was issued on Faba, requesting his immediate termination.
The agency dispatched one of its most seasoned agents, who successfully eliminated Faba in Somalia. Or so it seemed. A few years later, however, Faba reappeared in Kosovo alive and well, and so began one of the most enigmatic cases in ICA history. From that initial contract to the present day, ICA has confirmed the death of Faba no less than 25 times. Yet somehow, he keeps reappearing, growing bolder with every unsuccessful attempt – even having the audacity to send us clues to his whereabouts.
Faba - with the internal nickname "The Undying" - has proven to be an un-erasable embarrassment for the agency. And now, he has sent us another taunting invitation: "if you're not busy, come to Miami during the innovation race. It's sure to be a crowd pleaser."
The Board has decided that enough is enough. This time, they're sending their absolute best. if anyone can send Faba to an early – and not to mention permanent - grave, it is you 47.Trivia[]
- Mark Faba is one of only two people to have survived an assassination attempt by 47, the other being Diana Burnwood, and is the only one 47 did not intentionally spare.
- Players who successfully eliminated Mark gained access to the Explosive Pen. Playing The Undying will complete the "Explosive Penmanship" Challenge and add the item to players' inventories. The Pen is also available in the mission if players opt to use it as part of his elimination.
- Mark Faba is the only known Elusive Target to have unique dialog when held at gun point by Agent 47.
- Mark Faba is the only Elusive Target to have a mission story.
- Similarly, players who took part in The Undying Returns contract will recieve Lil' Flashy, a remotely-detonated concealed flashbang explosive.
- Mark Faba is renowned for cheating death in various ways. This is a nod to Sean Bean's reputation for appearing in movies wherein his character dies.
- Completing both versions of the contract will count toward two completed targets for Challenges such as Elusive Targets V.
- He currently stands as having the longest activation window of any Elusive Target with players having had an entire month to attempt the reactivated contract.
- He also shares his date of birth, as well as his birthplace of Yorkshire, with Sean Bean, the actor who portrays him.
- Canonically, Mark has an eyepatch on The Undying Returns, suggesting that the first time he was killed, he was killed with either the pen on the stand, PALLAS, a kitchen knife, or a firearm.
- In the end of the HITMAN™ 2's 2019 Roadmap, a skull can be seen that turns into Mark Faba, hinting that Mark Faba is still alive.[1]
- The name "Mark Faba" is in itself a reference to Sean Bean, the actor who portrays him, with "Faba" being the latin word for Bean, and "Mark" being Sean Bean's middle name.
- Mark Faba presents a number of references to the Bond Franchise.
- Sean Bean famously played Bond villain Alec Trevelyan in the 1995 movie GoldenEye, and his elimination earns you the Explosive Pen, an item which also appears in the same movie.
- In addition, Mark Faba shares his gift for cheating death with Bond villain Baron Samedi from the 1973 movie Live and Let Die. Baron Samedi also appears in a secret level in the 1997 game GoldenEye 007, where he is repeatedly killed, only to mysteriously reappear alive.
- Mark Faba's pistol, as shown in the video briefing, has the word "Hereford" with an anchor in front of it. This is a reference to the scene where Sean Bean's character (Spence) is exposed by the question "What's the color of the boathouse at Hereford?", in the movie Ronin (1998).
- The pistol shown in the briefing is appears to be a custom made Bartoli 75R, similar in shape to "Rude Ruby", though obviously without the pink colour scheme and fitted with a silencer.
- His handgun only ever appears in the briefing, however, with even in the live action trailer showing Mark using a silenced Glock instead of this pistol.
- During the meeting, 47 has the option to tell Mark how he would kill him with a cup of coffee. This is also a reference to the same scene in Ronin, where Robert De Niro's character tricks Spence into spilling a hot coffee on himself and quips "I ambushed you with a cup of coffee!".
- The pistol shown in the briefing is appears to be a custom made Bartoli 75R, similar in shape to "Rude Ruby", though obviously without the pink colour scheme and fitted with a silencer.
- During a phonecall to one of his colleagues about setting up a hit, Mark will respond with "they fell for the exploding Fire Extinguisher a few years ago". This is a reference to criticism that the fire extinguisher in HITMAN™ is overpowered, due to it being extremely common and for counting as an Accidental Kill, which HITMAN™ 2 addresses by making the fire extinguisher a non-lethal item.
- In a phonecall to another of his associates, Alice, Mark mentions Agent Davenport and Agent Swan, who failed to assassinate him in the past. It is now known that these two were ICA Agents who were later featured in HITMAN III as Targets in the mission Apex Predator, Berlin.
- After completing the Mission Story "Ready, set, GO!" and attending the meeting with Dave, Mark Faba asks 47 about ways he would hypothetically kill him. One of 47's responses has him explaining that he would create a distraction, lure Mark to the balcony and push him to his death, but Mark disagrees, stating that the bushes below would break his fall and leave him unharmed. However, if the player is ever given the chance to throw him off said balcony, he will seemingly die from the fall.
- In March 2024, IOI announced the Season of Undying, where Mark Faba was reactivated as an elusive target after many years.
- The event also included the Elusive Target Arcade escalation The Ouroboros, featuring both The Undying and The Undying Returns, available for free for a limited time, as well as the Undying Pack DLC, unlocking the ET Arcade Escalation permanently, as well as several Kronstadt-themed items and Freelancer cosmetics.
- The suit The Undying Look, unlocked by completing 12 Elusive Targets, is inspired by Mark Faba's suit, though with some notable differences.
- The real suit worn by Mark Faba, called the Ephermeral Suit, was made available to players who started the Elusive Target The Undying Returns during the Season of Undying.
- The Undying Pack DLC also included an additional suit, The Ephemeral Suit with Eyepatch, based on The Undying Returns.
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References[]
- ↑ HITMAN 2 April Roadmap 2019, HITMAN, April 4, 2019.