Characters / Sicario

Sicario

Kate

Kate Macer

Played By: Emily Blunt

An FBI agent recruited by the CIA to track down a druglord operating between the USA and Mexico.

---

• Action Survivor: For most of the film due to being in over her head with the mission. This is especially notable when she fights Ted in her apartment.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl
• Butt-Monkey: Ultimately, she is this. She is constantly belittled by Matt, the other CIA members couldn't take her less seriously if they tried, gets beaten up, shot (with a bullet-proof vest saving her but leaving her in obvious pain), and is left a broken mess by the end.
• By-the-Book Cop: Kate is an honest law enforcer who starts to question the CIA's methods and when it is revealed that the CIA is using her to make sure their actions are going according to the law and that Alejandro is a sicario of the Medellín cartel, she is decided to tell the truth. But Alejandro forces her at gunpoint to sign that everything went OK in the operation.
• Damned by Faint Praise: At one point, Alejandro claims that Kate reminds him of someone who was close to him. At the end, we learn he was talking about his daughter. The baby girl thrown into acid by cartel enforcers. While Alejandro seems to genuinely mean the 'praise' part of the exchange, it nevertheless reveals just how out-of-her-depth he feels she is.
• Deadpan Snarker: A character played by Emily Blunt. There was no way Kate would not be this.
• Decoy Protagonist: As Sicario progresses, it becomes increasingly clear that her story isn't the one being told but rather Gillick's.
• Faux Action Girl: In spite of being an FBI SWAT team leader, showing capability during the raid in the movie's opening scene, and being described by her boss as a "thumper", Kate Macer's adherence to the law in a lawless world and her growing confusion and frustration toward the team's increasingly baffling methods lead her to make mistakes and bad judgment calls that nearly get her killed a few times spends most of the movie getting shot and beaten up by men. The fact that she is the only woman in a predominantly male team is also used against her, especially when she is easily overpowered twice by tall, burly men. Ultimately this is an invoked trope as Matt admits Kate was deliberately chosen to be the most redundant - and therefore, useless - member of the team, whose only use is to use her status as a federal agent to take advantage of a loophole that allows them to operate on America soil.
• FBI Agent: Kate and her best friend, Reggie, are both FBI Agents pulled into a multi-agency operation.
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: The big reason why she doesn't kill Alejandro at the end.
• The Load: Kate is treated like this by the CIA, with them often ordering her to stay put and not get in their way. It's less because she is useless and more because if she knew what was going on she'll probably stop the operation and report the wet work they are doing.
• Married to the Job: She doesn't have much of a social life outside of her work. It's also stated that she recently got divorced, probably for that reason.
• Must Have Nicotine: Seems to be her primary coping mechanism.
• The Peter Principle: She is a considered a rising star as part of the kidnap response unit in the FBI's Phoenix office but she finds herself completely over her head once she's recruited for the joint task force.
• Pinball Protagonist: She's told practically nothing about her mission and Matt and Alejandro do pretty much everything of actual importance to the plot. This turns out to be because the CIA is not allowed to operate on American soil except when working with a domestic agency, so literally her only purpose on the team is to be present and allow them to use the loophole.
• Smurfette Principle: Kate is the only female enforcer recruited in the team.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: She is a genuinely good person who follows the law and stays true to her beliefs. It doesn't go well for her.
• You Remind Me of X: Alejandro says she reminds him of of his daughter.

Matt

Matt Graver

Played By: Josh Brolin

A CIA operative that recruits Kate for his mission to stop Fausto Alarcón.

---

• Affably Evil: Depending on your viewpoint. He's pretty laid back, well spoken and respectful to his fellow officers despite being a Manipulative Bastard trying to keep the cartels in control. Though it overlaps with Faux Affably Evil, since his affability to Kate and particularly Reggie is frequently laced with smug condescension.
• Anti-Hero: He's an absolutely ruthless CIA agent who believes the end justifies the means, but is otherwise extremely friendly and charming as long as you don't get on his bad side.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Matt comes to the FBI's office with sandals and the first thing he does after boarding the plane is to sleep. Even though he is calm and seems unprofessional, he's still good at his job.
• Cowboy Cop: He and his team think nothing of using Cold-Blooded Torture, in US government facilities and upon US citizens, to extract much needed information in his quest to bring down the Sonora cartel. They're also fully ready to threaten Kate at gunpoint so that she'll sign a waiver that'll allow them to get away with their underhanded (and blatantly illegal) methods.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Every single armed confrontation he and his men get into ends swiftly and bloodily in their favor.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: An operative in the CIA's Special Activities Division. The plot doesn't delve into his backstory very much, but in real life many Special Activities Division operatives are recruited from the U.S. military's special operations units.
• Karma Houdini: Matt gets away with everything; every dirty trick, every cynical abuse of a loophole, everything.
• Loophole Abuse: He rather ruthlessly uses Kate to operate on American soil.

Alejandro

Alejandro Gillick

Played By: Benicio del Toro

A mysterious second recruit.

---

• Ambiguously Trained: He was once an attorney and family man, nothing out of the ordinary. Now he's a badass black ops operative with skills on par with those of the CIA's most elite personnel. How he made that huge of a leap is never really elaborated upon, though The Power of Hate may certainly explain some of it.
  • Through his close association with Matt, it's possible that he was recruited as an asset and put through training with the Special Activities Division of the CIA.
• Anti-Hero/Anti-Villain: Alejandro becomes something of a protagonist at the climax of the film, as he goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. From this point on, it becomes very clear that he's motivated solely by vengeance and is willing to commit all kinds of evil acts to achieve his goal.
• Crusading Widower: One of the many reasons he was recruited by the CIA aside from his Colombian cartel connections and professional killing, was that Fausto had murdered his wife and daughter.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Alejandro's wife and daughter were murdered at Fausto Alarcon's orders years ago.
• The Determinator: He will stop at nothing to achieve his goals. It's especially pronounced in the second film, in which he is shot in the face while tied up yet still manages to escape from his constraints and make his way across the U.S./Mexico border. What he endured would have killed most people in the same situation, yet he simply doesn't give up.
• The Dreaded: He's known to the Mexican drug cartels as "Medellin", a ruthless hitman who has killed countless numbers of Sonora Cartel members.
• Facial Horror: In the second film, he is shot in the left cheek while tied up and assumed dead. It's not particularly gory, but it's still a quite gruesome injury to behold. During the final moment of the film, we are shown that he healed up almost perfectly, though it's not explained how.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: To an extent; he used to be a more or less typical prosecutor with a wife and daughter. After they were horribly murdered, he became a remorseless assassin who fights for anyone that gives him a chance to take down the drug cartels that ruined his life. He is feared throughout the cartels for his ruthlessness and lethal efficiency.
• Genius Bruiser: He used to be a prosecutor in Mexico before becoming a hitman.
• He Who Fights Monsters: He used to be a prosecutor who worked against the drug cartels within the confines of the legal system. Once his wife and daughter were murdered, however, he became a merciless killer who doesn't care who he has to hurt to get revenge on those who ruined his life while Matt tacitly allows that to happen. The lengths he's willing to go to for vengeance show us that he's not much better than the cartels he wants to destroy.
• Hidden Depths: He knows sign language, because his deceased daughter was deaf.
• I Did What I Had to Do: While he never actually comes out and says it, this is pretty clearly his central justification for everything he does in the film. While there are some hints that he does genuinely regret reducing Kate to a Broken Bird in the process, ultimately he won't let that stop him. He's too far gone.
• Made of Iron: He survives a headshot in Day of the Soldado.
• Manly Facial Hair: His rough facial hair is badass. The Delta operators also all sport rugged, full beards. Which is Truth in Television.
• Meaningful Name: His Nickname as a Sicario is "Medellin", the name of Pablo Escobar's cartel, which over the years had a massive army of Sicarios.
• Morality Pet: While he's a hard man to read, there are some hints that he genuinely respects Kate and views her relative innocence as a positive thing. Subverted, however; he's nevertheless perfectly willing to shoot her (while she's wearing a bulletproof vest, granted) to stop her from intervening in his mission, and holds a gun to her head to force her to sign the documents that will legitimise the operation.
• One-Man Army: He's only one man, but he's shown laying waste to cartel forces with near-superhuman precision and brutality. You wouldn't want to piss him off.
• Only One Name: Alejandro.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Alejandro kills Fausto's two sons and wife in front of him much like Fausto did to him in the past.
• Red Baron: Fausto Alarcon calls Alejandro "the grieving lawyer." Guillermo and Silvio also refer to him as "Medellin" when he confronts them. This is due to the fact that Alejandro is a sicario working for the infamous Medellin cartel in Colombia. Fausto Alarcon himself is nicknamed "El Verdugo" (which stands for The Executioner in English).
• Sharp-Dressed Man: When not wearing a bulletproof vest, Alejandro is always seen in a nice beige suit accompained by a dark blue shirt.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Implied; on the plane he is shown violently awakening from what was surely a terrible dream. While he may not have served in an actual war, he has seen a fair deal of combat against the cartels, thus explaining why he may suffer from PTSD. It's also possible he was remembering what happened to wife and daughter.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Alacron asks him rhetorically what his wife would think of him, he doesn't even bother to dignify him with an answer, merely saying "don't forget my daughter."
• The Stoic: He never seems to show much emotion, in contrast to Matt's jovial personality. During the first briefing, he seems to be sleeping.
• Torture Technician: Alejandro is excellent at forcing everyone to tell the truth or to do something. Guillermo Díaz was aware of what was coming when Alejandro appeared in front of him with those gallons of water. Chillingly, the shot of the drain that ends the scene implies that Alejandro didn't use the water.
• Tranquil Fury: He almost never raises his voice at any point, not when he tortures Guillermo or Ted, not when he confronts Fausto Alarcon, the man who murdered his family, and not when he threatens Kate at gunpoint.
• Unexplained Recovery: In the second film, He is shot in the left cheek while he is tied up and left for dead. He survives, but during the film's final moment, he is shown looking exactly the same as he did prior to receiving the injury; there's no scar or mark visible to indicate what happened. It's almost as if he has a healing factor.
• The Unfettered: Doesn't care who gets hurt as long as Fausto is out of commission. His hatred and vengefulness has twisted him into a monster who doesn't care who he hurts as long as he gets what he wants.
• Would Hit a Girl: Shoots Kate when she gets in his way (she's wearing a bulletproof vest, but still). He also murders Alarcon's wife.
• Would Hurt a Child: As part of his revenge on Alarcon, he kills his two young children in front of him. He also threatens Manuel Diaz with having his daughters raped by 20 men if he doesn't comply with his demands, and Alejandro is not in the habit of making idle threats.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He kills Silvio and Diaz after he's done using them.

Reggie

Reggie Wayne

Played By: Daniel Kaluuya

An FBI agent, and Kate's partner.

• Badges and Dog Tags: A former U.S. Army officer who served in Iraq before earning a law degree and becoming an FBI agent.
• Genius Bruiser: He is said to have a Degree in Law and to have fought in Iraq.
• The Matchmaker: At one point, he nags Kate for her lack of a personal life and tries to set her up with his cop buddy Ted. Which makes things a bit uncomfortable when it's revealed Ted is a Dirty Cop working for the cartel, and who tries to kill Kate.
• Nice Guy: He's easily the most moralistic and least conflicted character in the entire film.
• Older Than They Look: His actor, Daniel Kaluuya, was 26 when the film released and the character obviously reflects that. However, it's stated in the film that Reggie went to college on an ROTC scholarship, served in Iraq, left the military and earned a law degree before becoming an FBI special agent. Given all of that experience, you'd expect Reggie to be at least 30 if not slightly older.

Steve

Steve Forsing

Played By: Jeffrey Donovan

Matt's fellow CIA operative who accompanies the team into Juarez.

---

• Beware the Silly Ones: Steve wears Coke bottle glasses, sports a goofy mustache and regularly cracks jokes, but he's a no-nonsense surgeon with a rifle, singlehandedly taking down a quartet of cartel would-be assassins in a matter of seconds.
• Deadpan Snarker: The minute he reunites with Matt, Steve immediately cracks wise about venereal diseases.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Steve wears thick glasses that Urkel would be proud of, and also happens to be a deadly marksman who'll happily sit in on an unsanctioned torture session.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: All but disappears from the first movie after Guillermo Diaz is extracted and tortured. Though he does return in the sequel.

Silvio

Silvio

Played By: Maximiliano Hernández

A corrupt Mexican police officer.

• Chekhov's Gunman: His storyline seems to be completely removed from the main plotline. That is, until he is revealed to be working as a mule for the Sonora cartel and is then used by Alejandro as part of his Trojan Horse to infiltrate Fausto's mansion.
• Dirty Cop: He's deeply corrupt, working as a drug mule for Díaz.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite his shortcomings as a police officer and criminal career, he does seem to love his family.
• Mauve Shirt: He gets a little backstory exposition with his home life and his wife and son. Before Alejandro hijacks his patrol car and he ends up dead at the side of a desert highway. The last scene shows his son playing futbol watched by his mother.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Despite being a corrupt cop, Silvio is never explicitly shown doing anything particularly evil, at least not on the level the cartel thugs and CIA agents have stooped to. He's also a devoted family man while at home.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: Is usually not at home due to his job, and by the end of the film, he's never coming back home.

Ted

Ted

Played By: Jon Bernthal

A Phoenix police officer and friend of Reggie's.

• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Ted appears to be a Nice Guy at first, but as soon as Kate discovers that he works for the cartels and she attacks him, he drops the façade and attempts to strangle her.
• Dirty Cop: He's secretly working for Manuel Díaz.

Diaz

Manuel Diaz

Played By: Bernardo Saracino

A lieutenant in the Sonora Cartel.

• The Dragon: To Fausto Alarcon.
• Slashed Throat: Alejandro cuts his throat after he's done using him to get into Alarcon's complex.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He is known as an honest businessman to the public on this side of the border, but as a member of the Sonora cartel by the Department of Defense.

Alarcon

Fausto Alarcon

Played By: Julio Cedillo

The little-known head of the Sonora Cartel.

---

• Be Careful What You Wish For: Knowing that Alejandro fully intends to kill him and won't be swayed, he requests not to do it in front of his family. So, Alejandro kills them first.
• Big Bad: Of Sicario. He's only one of the Sonora cartel's leaders, but is the main target of Alejandro.
• Establishing Character Moment: We see the effects of Alarcon's drug cartel and how it's bred corruption and violence. When we actually see Alarcon himself for the first time, he's just having a nice dinner with his family, showing his disconnect from the violence he perpetuates daily. Alejandro even comments on how every day, Alarcon orders someone's death and yet, there he is, enjoying dinner like any normal family man.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Deconstructed. Alarcon politely requests Alejandro to spare his family, his children especially, the image of their father being killed. When Alejandro opts to fulfill his wish by killing them first, Alarcon is visibly horrified.
• Forced to Watch: Played for horror. He begs Alejandro to kill him not in front of his family, so they would not witness his death. Alejandro complies with Alarcon's request by killing the latter's family first, so that Alarcon would the one that is Forced To Watched.
• Hannibal Lecture: He tries to lay one on Alejandro, asking if his superiors are any different from the cartels they fight and if his deceased family would be proud to see the man he's become. Alejandro has none of it and bringing up his family, who Alarcon had killed in the past, only further pisses him off.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Fausto is the Mediterranean form of Faust.
• Nothing Personal: Alarcon ordering the deaths of Alejandro's family was just business from his perspective. From Alejandro's, however...
  Alarcon: It wasn't personal.
  Alejandro: For me, it is.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: While staring down the barrel of Alejandro's gun, he remains calm and insists on his children to stay and finish their meal, like the man is just a surprise guest.
• Small Role, Big Impact: He has all of one scene in the movie itself, but his influence is felt throughout its runtime, and his actions are what led to Alejandro becoming a sicario.
• Villainous Breakdown: More subdued than most examples, but equally poignant. Alejandro killing his family right in front of him shocks him into near catatonia.

Day of the Soldado

Isabel

Isabel Reyes

Played By: Isabela Moner

The daughter of a Mexican drug kingpin.

• Alpha Bitch: She's spoiled, smug, and arrogant, and she has no problem using her father's status to get away with trouble at school.
• Break the Haughty: She starts off as a spoiled Alpha Bitch, before being kidnapped, and broken by the subsequent series of events.
• Mafia Princess: She's the daughter of one of Mexico's largest drug cartel leaders.
• Morality Pet: Serves as one to Alejandro; it's implied she reminds him of his daughter.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Sports one at the end of the film, after seeing so many horrible things happen.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She's kidnapped by the squad to start a war between drug cartels. After it turns out the terrorists who bombed the places in the US were homegrown, the US government scrubs the plan, deems her unnecessary, and orders her killed. Alejandro refuses to do it, leading to him going rogue.

Miguel

Miguel Hernandez

Played By: Elijah Rodriguez

A Mexican-American teenager from McAllen, Texas, recruited into being a coyote by his cousin.

• Dawson Casting: Although Miguel is implied to be in middle school (based on the markings of the bus he skips), Elijah Rodriguez was 25 at the time of filming.

---