It has been over 20 years since the original Doom was released, and everything the quick-paced demon-killing FPS spawned is still kicking all sorts of ass until this very day. The franchise has also had its fair share of mystery and Easter eggs. One of the larger questions since the first title has always been this – “Who is Doomguy?” Sure, he is one of the most prolific protagonists in gaming history, but who is he? More importantly, who is on the front cover of the original game? Thanks to id Software co-founder John Romero, we finally have an answer.

Don Punchatz, the illustrator who created the DOOM logo and the famous front box cover art came over to id in mid-1993 with a male body model. Don brought a nice camera to take pictures. The model’s job was to strike various poses for the marine who would be on the cover of the box.

This scene took place in the art room where Adrian and Kevin spent their days creating the STARTAN tech base texture set, clay modeling characters, digitizing them with the NeXTCube workstation, scanning hospital slides for bloody walls, and listening to the screams from the dentist’s office next door.”

Romero recently took to his own website to reveal the true identity of Doomguy, and the answer comes as a bit of a surprise. He goes through the details of the day that the cover art was created. A male model had been brought in, took his shirt off, grabbed a plasma gun, and went to town striking a pose. After 10 minutes of this and realizing it just wasn’t working, John decided to take charge of the situation.

Frustrated, I threw my shirt off and told him to give me the gun and get on the floor – grab my arm as one of the demons! Defeated, he deferred. I aimed the gun in a slightly different direction and told Don, “This is what I’m talking about!” Don took several pictures. I moved the gun some, the demon grabbed my leg, other arm, etc. At the end of it we all decided the arm-grabbing pose was going to be the best.

I AM THE DOOMGUY.

(at least on the cover)”

And that’s the story of how the Doom designer and programmer came to be on the game’s cover art. It’s a good thing he is only restricted to the cover, or that would make for a very awkward Easter egg in Doom II. That, or it would lead to one hell of an existential crisis. Stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for more Doom goodness, such as that which can be found below:

• HUGE Doom Update Hits – Unlocks ALL DLC for Free Among Other Major Changes
• DOOM VFR Revealed at Bethesda’s E3 Presentation (VIDEO)
• “Jesus Loves You” – The Eerie Hidden Soundbyte in the DOOM Soundtrack (VIDEO)

What say you, gamers? If you’re a fan of the Doom franchise, doesn’t it just make sense for Romero to end up being Doomguy? Honestly, is there anyone more appropriate? Sound off in the comments section below, and be sure to follow DFTG on Twitter for live gaming and entertainment news 24/7!