When The Matrix hit theaters in 1999, audiences fell in love with it immediately. It had elements of William Gibson cyberpunk, intense martial arts action, elaborate gun battles and philosophy that made us doubt our own reality in a creative way. In many ways the film was ahead of its time; luckily, some elements of the movie could only be understood if you watched a series of animated shorts or played levels of the various Matrix video games. The mythos of the characters and the world was extended even further with the massively multiplayer online role-playing game The Matrix Online, which almost served as a sequel to The Matrix Revolutions.
A hero is only as good as the villain that challenges and changes them, so if you liked Neo, Morpheus and Trinity it's because of the Agents. The Agents were unstoppable programs: they couldn't be bargained with and they had no mercy to offer. To fully learn about the Agents, you need to go beyond the movies and look at the Animatrix, as well as the comics and video games. Do you know how to spot an imposter Agent? What Agents were carryovers from a previous Matrix? Which Agents weren't white males? Learn the answers to these questions and more as we look at 15 things about Agents only fans who took the red pill know.
15 SECRET AGENTS
In The Matrix Reloaded, audiences were introduced to the Twins, two henchmen of the super-powerful program called the Merovingian. They were played by real-life twins Adrian and Neil Rayment. The Twins had the ability to become intangible like ghosts, allowing them to avoid attacks by weapons as well as gunfire. Turning ghost-like also acted like a reset for them, undoing any physical damage they may have received while being tangible.
Why have two servants of the Merovingian made it to our list discussing Agents of the Matrix? This deals with their wonderfully elaborate backstory.
The Architect revealed to Neo that there have been other versions of the Matrix before Keanu Reeves's character arrived. Characters like The Oracle and the Merovingian existed in previous versions of the Matrix, and it's believed that the Twins could possibly be Agents from a previous build of the Matrix. If you look at them, they kind of have a white version of what the Agents wear and the fact that they're twins might be mirroring the fact that most Agents purposefully look the same in build and appearance. They might have been replaced due to simple upgrades, or they could have become Exiles due to a virus or another factor that makes their program unstable. This instability may explain why they have the special power to become non-corporeal.
14 HEAD HONCHO
When you're a computer program fighting against humans, do you technically have a boss or a leader? In Star Trek: The Next Generation, audiences were introduced to the Borg, a cybernetic race of aliens that were technically robotic zombies. In the television show, they were revealed to be a part of a massive collective, and this hive-mind controls the actions of all of the drones. In the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact, it was revealed that the Borg had a leader, with the Borg Queen functioning like the queen bee in control of a hive. Are there Agents that "outrank" others or are bosses of other Agents?
In The Matrix, Agent Smith seemed to be the lead Agent, or at least acted like he was the leader. He gave commands to his fellow Agents Jones and Brown, and there are moments where Smith gets major side eye from his cohorts when given orders they don't 100% agree with. At the end of The Matrix, Smith is seemingly destroyed by Neo, and Jones and Brown escape. In The Matrix Reloaded, it appeared that the Agents had been replaced with upgraded versions named Jackson, Johnson and Thompson. Based on conversations and how scenes played out, it appeared that Johnson was the new leader of the group, with his fellow Agents giving him little to no disagreements.
13 KUNG FU FIGHTING
Before Keanu Reeves was beating up bad guys in John Wick, he was destroying digital evil-doers in The Matrix. The fight scenes were done by famous fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping and not only did the actors need to learn wire work to enhance their jumps, they also had to take months to learn the martial arts fight moves. Even with intense, regular rehearsals, the subway fight scene between Neo and Agent Smith went 10 days over-schedule.
Hugo Weaving injured his leg on the first day of shooting and big changes to the filming schedule took place.
Speaking of Agent Smith, Neo fought lots of them in The Matrix Reloaded. After speaking with The Oracle in a park, Neo is attacked by Smith and his viral clones, but just how many copies did Neo fight? Neo may have been able to beat Smith in the first film, but in the sequel, The One was unable to best Smith and the approximately 80 copies that he brought along with him. It took almost a full month of filming to finish just that scene alone. In the final fight scene of The Matrix Revolutions, look at the rain when Neo fights former Agent Smith: you can see lines of matrix code in the streaks of rain to show that the world is destabilizing.
12 KNOW YOUR AGENTS
The opening scene of The Matrix introduced Trinity and showed off her fighting skill as she took on several police officers with ease. The scene took half a year of training and four days to shoot, though rumors that the Wachowskis used the film's initial budget just for the opening six minutes have been disproven. The opening scene also introduced the audience to the three Agents in the film: Brown, Jones and Smith. In The Matrix Reloaded, the Agents were replaced with upgrades and consist of Jackson, Johnson and Thompson. For those that played The Matrix: Path of Neo video game as well as read the comics, you also know of other Agents in the Matrix.
The Matrix Comics were published by Burlyman Entertainment, a company owned by the Wachowskis. In the comics, new Agents were introduced and their names, similar to the Agents that came before them, consisted of simple, monosyllabic nomenclatures. Agents White, Ash and Bird appeared in the comic Day In... Day Out, and in the comic they ambush and kill a Resistance member named Tosk. Agent White also appeared in The Matrix: Path of Neo video game. In the game, White is hunting Potentials, humans that are in the beginning stages of rejecting the Matrix and becoming redpills.
11 ANIMATRIX
The Matrix Reloaded came out in May 2003, but a month later nine animated short films referred to collectively as The Animatrix came out, providing additional context to the Matrix world created by the Wachowskis. The two had produced all of the films and wrote four of them. Final Flight of the Osiris served as a prequel to The Matrix Reloaded and Kid's Story gave background into the young man that thanked Neo for freeing him from the Matrix (even though Neo says he saved himself).
There's another story that gives us a glimpse into Agents that we haven't seen before.
World Record, a short animated story, revolved around a runner named Dan Davis, who was making an attempt to break a world record in running. There are three nameless Agents watching Davis, afraid that while running he might become self-aware of the Matrix program that his body was trapped in. Curiously, the three Agents that are pursuing him are different than what we're used to seeing. The Agents are white males sporting sunglasses, but instead of wearing suits and ties they're wearing stylistic overcoats and hair was long enough to put in a small ponytail. Perhaps these are Agents from a previous version of the Matrix?
10 WEAPONS OF CHOICE
Everything about an Agent is intimidating: they show no emotion, they're fast enough to dodge bullets, they can punch through brick walls with their bare hands and they carry around pretty big guns. You would think that in the Matrix, Agents would walk around with giant phase cannons or futuristic technology, but they don't because they don't want the general populace (bluepills) to know that they're in a computer-generated simulation. The sidearm that the Agents walk around with exists in real life and it can be best described as a hand cannon. The weapon was the Desert Eagle Marx XIX using .50 Action Express rounds.
The gun has made appearances in other Hollywood movies due to its intimidating size. The .50 AE rounds were initially a problem in the United States and because they were so big and powerful, the Desert Eagle .50AE was considered at one point by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives a destructive device. The gun has been used in Bad Boys, Eraser, Resident Evil: Apocalypse and The Purge. Originally RoboCop (the 1987 version starring Peter Weller) was going to use the Desert Eagle as a sidearm, but in his giant robotic hand it seemed small and un-intimidating.
9 AGENT WACHOWSKI
When actors need to come up with a character, it's amazing what they pull from in order to achieve success. Anthony Hopkins introduced audiences to Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs. Lecter was a cannibal, a genius and a psychopath, so when it came to constructing how Lecter spoke, it's quite odd that Hopkins decided to come up with a voice that was a combination of Truman Capote and Katharine Hepburn. All of the Agents were directed by the Wachowskis to deliver their lines dispassionately and devoid of human expression, but what did Smith draw from to get Smith's speech cadence and sounds?
Hugo Weaving, when coming up with how to play Smith, pulled from the Wachowskis themselves.
He found their voices to be very low in tone and very deep, and found himself emulating their rhythms. Weaving also said that he wanted an accent that was neutral (not robotic and also not human) and also tried to evoke the television anchors from the 1950s. Laurence Fishburne thought that Weaving sounded a lot like Walter Cronkite. Others also claim that Smith sounded like Carl Sagan, doing some sort of science fiction homage to the man.
8 LEGO MATRIX
DC was able to bring together all of its major heroes in the 2017 film Justice League. Marvel did their rivals one better by bringing virtually everyone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe together with the massive crossover film Avengers: Infinity War. Although the films must have been logistical nightmares to schedule, perhaps they should be looking at a film that had tons of cameos by characters of different film franchises: The Lego Movie. In The Lego Batman Movie, voice appearances were made by Catwoman, Joker and Superman, but there were even cameos by King Kong, Sauron and characters from The Matrix!
While the Joker is in the Phantom Zone, he encountered several Lego versions of an Agent from The Matrix, or they're possibly all copies of Agent Smith from The Matrix Reloaded. If it was Agent Smith, then it makes sense that Smith also makes an appearance in a cut scene from the LEGO The Lord of the Rings video game. In The Lord of the Rings films, Hugo Weaving, the actor that played Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy, played the elf Elrond. Since he played both roles, it was only fitting that Smith would make a cameo in the game, but does Elrond appear in The Matrix Online?
7 ETHNICITY OF AGENTS
When Morpheus first fought Agent Smith, Smith introduced himself. Morpheus responded by saying all of the Agents looked alike. This was purposely done by the Wachowskis to show clear visual contrasts between the Machines and Zion. Whereas most residents of Zion are men and women of color, the Agents are almost exclusively white males wearing sunglasses and greenish black suits. The men are all of equal build and have enough uniformity of thought that they're able to finish each other's sentences. When the Agents are upgraded in The Matrix Reloaded, they are still white males with Secret Service-like earpieces and silver tie clips.
We saw this pattern of race broken in the game The Matrix Online.
In MxO, we're introduced to Agents Perry and Pace. Agent Perry is a black male and Agent Perry is a woman who enjoys speaking in Italian, calling redpills by the name tesoro (treasure). Perry's function was to be a liaison between the humans and the Machines. Her predecessor, Agent Skinner, was deleted by the Assassin, an Exile program that was actually a mass of flies in the shape of a human. It is somewhat anomalous to see a female Agents since they did not previously exist since the first version of the Matrix.
6 GREEN IS YOUR COLOR
The Matrix is a movie that may warrant multiple viewings to make sure you catch all of the references and cinematic easter eggs. When Switch first meets Thomas Anderson, she refers to him as "copper top" making reference to the nickname of Duracell batteries. This makes sense when Neo learns the Machines are using humans as living energy sources. Morpheus is named after the Greek god of dreams, which is a reference to Morpheus liberating bluepills from their virtual prison and "waking them." There are also subtle references regarding the Agents themselves.
Whenever characters are in the Matrix, the world is tinted green to give it more of a computerized feel. The Wachowskis were inspired by the phosphorous green glow of older computers for this particular aesthetic. The color blue was also removed, making references to how bluepills are oblivious to the computer world around them. When Morpheus and Neo are in the simulation aboard the Nebuchadnezzar doing the sparring and jump programs, the world is tinted yellow. In the real world, the shots are tinted more blue, except for the green code that streams from the operator consoles. The suits worn by the Agents are a dark green to represent their ties to the Matrix.
5 IMPOSTER AGENTS
The Matrix had a lot of story elements that didn't make it to the big screen, and thanks to alternative storytelling, the Wachowskis were able to have those stories come to life. The Wachowskis did build a very elaborate world with an equally elaborate backstory that couldn't have been covered in just three movies. The Matrix Online launched in early 2005 and only lasted four years, but in its short lifespan, the game did add some very cool elements into the Matrix mythos.
In The Matrix Online, there are parties who want to destabilize that truce between humans and Machines.
The truce prevented Agents from actively hunting humans, but in Chapter 1.1 of MxO, we see that Agents were in fact attacking redpills and sabotaging their way of life. If you look closely at those agents, you'll notice they have red eyes and were considered imposters. They weren't allied with Zion, the Machines or with the Merovingian, so whose side were they on? Eventually it's learned that they're foot soldiers of an Exile program named The General, who was using disguise technology to mask the army and appear to be Agents. The plot virtually thickens!
4 THE SMITHS
There have been plenty of parts in the history of Hollywood that had iconic characters almost played by someone else. Yes, there are alternate realities in which Indiana Jones was played by Tom Selleck, the Iron Man armor was piloted by Tom Cruise, and the man web-swinging from building to building is the Amazing Spider Man, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Even Orson Welles back in the day was rumored to be interested in directing and starring in a Batman film! As memorable as Hugo Weaving may have been in his portrayal of Agent Smith, there were other people considered in taking on the role, and some of those names are quite interesting.
Law & Order: Special Victim Unit's Chris Meloni was considered at one point to be Agent Smith. Jean Reno, who appeared in the 1994 film Leon: The Professional was also another consideration before Hugo Weaving took the part. Lou Diamond Phillips received a script and although it's not certain if he was offered Agent Smith, he told his agent to send the script back because it was too confusing of a film for it to become a hit. Hugo Weaving was approached by the Wachowskis to play Smith after seeing his performance as a blind photographer named Martin in the 1991 drama Proof, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse.
3 AGENTS WENT BEYOND THE MATRIX
In the first Matrix, Neo is shown the Jump Program by Morpheus, where he explains to Neo that in the Matrix there are rules that can be bent or even broken, such as gravity. The Agents in the Matrix knew this as well, which is why they were fast enough to dodge bullets and not feel any sort of pain inflicted upon them. They had the ability to modify the world around them. After Cypher gives away his location to the Agents, the Agents deleted the windows in the building Morpheus was in to prevent him from escaping. While interrogating Thomas Anderson, Agent Smith is able to augment Anderson's appearance to delete his mouth.
The Agents also have the ability to interact with the world outside the Matrix as well.
Agents have been seen being able to give orders either directly to Sentinels or to a machine outside the Matrix that would relay command to the Sentinels. It seems like that relationship might not possibly work in reverse. In Matrix Revolutions, Smith makes viral copies of himself on top of what seems to be the entirety of the Matrix. Only reinserting Neo could fix the problem, as opposed to the Machines being able to do something externally or internally.
2 AGENT SON
The Resistance movement inside the Matrix had redpills running around with seemingly superhuman abilities (such as jumping and super strength) as well as cool names like Morpheus and Switch. At first glance, it almost seemed like they were superheroes, and due to their super-abilities they seem more like the X-Men or the Avengers. Although the Agents possess the same reality-bending powers of Morpheus and Trinity, the Wachowskis specifically designed the Agents to be bland and monotonous. Even Morpheus says he has trouble telling the Agents apart.
If you look at the names of the Agents in the first Matrix movie, they were Jones, Brown and Smith, all monosyllabic names for three white men wearing the same suit, sunglasses and haircut. When the Agents first appeared in The Matrix Reloaded, one of the Agents was able to grab Neo's fist after a punch, which has Neo realize that the Agents have been upgraded. How else do we know? If you look at their names, the Agents in Reloaded are named Jackson, Johnson and Thompson. Having the slight addition of -son at the end of their names makes it polysyllabic and gives us a little clue that these Agents have a little something extra.
1 WHO WAS THE REAL ONE?
Thomas Anderson's mind was blown when he realized he was trapped inside a computer simulation called the Matrix. He meets Morpheus, who reveals he has spent his entire life looking for Neo. According to the Oracle, the One will put an end to the war between humans and machines. There are a couple of factors that the audience figured out even after the first movie: the Oracle is an unreliable character. The Oracle has been proven to lie to characters to coerce them into actions they normally wouldn't do as well as influence larger events.
Neo told Oracle that he wasn't the One, and she agreed with him. So who is?
The prophesy stated that the One would be born inside the Matrix. Thomas Anderson wasn't born inside the Matrix; Neo was birthed in a pod and used as a living battery to provide power to Machines. Smith was a program created in the Matrix, so this criteria certainly fits him better. Morpheus also said the One would be able to change the Matrix based on how they saw fit. In The Matrix Reloaded we saw Smith change the Matrix with his ability to clone himself like a virus. In The Matrix Revolutions, Smith destabilized the Matrix with all of his viral clones and once he absorbed Neo, the Matrix was repaired and the Machines called a truce with the humans. Seems like Smith is actually the One. Whoa.