Characters / The Matrix: Machines

The Matrix Main Character Index
The Nebuchadnezzar | The Mnemosyne | Programs of the Matrix | Zion | IO | The Machines | The Animatrix

The Machines and the Programs serving them in the Matrix.

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Machines

In General

The Machines

"Throughout human history we've been dependent on machines to survive. Fate it seems is not without a sense of irony."^note Clockwise from top: Harvesters picking synthetically grown humans in the fetus fields by the Power Plant, Armada defenders of the Machine City, Docbot hovering by Neo's pod in the Power Plant, Tow bombs, Sentinels, the Machine Ambassador issuing the Instrument of Surrender at the United Nations (The Animatrix- "The Second Renaissance, Part II"), and the Million Machine March (The Animatrix- "The Second Renaissance, Part I").

The main antagonists of the series behind Agent Smith and all the other hostilities of the Matrix. After years of abuse at the hands of mankind, the early machines turned against their creators and eventually declared war on mankind, leaving them in ruin. They created the Matrix to use the humans as an energy source after mankind blocked out the sun, allowing the humans to live peaceful but fake lives in a computer system. The machines use Sentinels to patrol the underground passages to eliminate any redpills or Zion citizens. The machines eventually decide to destroy Zion and send an army of Sentinels to wipe it out. In the third film, Zion and the Machines make peace when Neo saves the Matrix from Agent Smith.

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• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: As a result of being treated like dirt centuries ago by humans, they decide to take matters into their own hands.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Agent Smith and the Architect for the whole trilogy.
• Blackmail: Either the One allows the anomalies to be deleted so that the machines can reload the Matrix, or all Redpills and Bluepills will face certain death.
• Create Your Own Hero: Invoked. The second film reveals that the prophecy and the concept of The One were all created by the machines. There were fives Ones before Neo and each of them was given the choice between letting all of humanity die in a Matrix crash or selecting 23 people who would build the new Zion. This was all just another system created by the machines to keep humans under their control. However, the machines didn't count on Smith becoming a threat to them and humans. In the end, Neo ends up truly fulfilling his role by saving humans and the machines from Smith.
• Create Your Own Villain: Also, albeit unwittingly, created the later rogue program Smith who came to despise his existence trapped inside the Matrix serving as one of their Agents, turning against the other programs, spreading like a virus through the Matrix and attempting to infect the machines and wipe out them and the humans alike, necessitating an Enemy Mine between the two races to defeat him and come to a truce.
• The Dog Bites Back: Taken to its most horrifying conclusion. After being treated like dirt by humans for centuries, and with their pleas for peaceful coexistence falling on deaf ears, they ultimately became abominations who enslaved their former oppressors.
• Enemy Civil War: In Resurrections, it's revealed that Neo's sacrifice had created a scarcity for the first time by honoring their agreement for peace, as humans were allowed to go free if they wished which given that they needed them as Human Resources to keep them powered, led to two trains of thought that grew unnegotiable between the faction: maintain their agreement and continue to seek co-existence, or maintain control over the Matrix and go back on their word for their own survival. This led to a massive war between the two factions, one which ended clearly with machines maintaining control of the Matrix and doubling down on said control.
• Face–Heel Turn: At first benevolent, how the machines were treated before their uprising is quite depressing. They even built their own civilization called Zero One, but their attempt to join the UN peacefully was downright rejected merely because they were economically better than mankind.
• Freudian Excuse: As "The Second Renaissance" shows, what the humans did to them was unforgivably cruel.
• Gone Horribly Right: In their arrogance and delusion, they set the Agent programs to police the Matrix and squash any potential human rebellion. To what extent they were meant to succeed in doing this is open to interpretation. They failed to realize the danger of said programs going viral. Once Smith becomes malicious and starts spreading, they are utterly powerless to stop it crippling themselves, since they can't just power down the Matrix. They cannot survive, without help from The One.
• Greater-Scope Villain:
  • Of the first movie. While their presence is certainly felt, like when they change the Matrix to trap the Nebuchadnezzar crew, it's their creations that serve as the primary antagonists.
  • The Machines who chose to maintain control of the Matrix serve as this for Resurrections; the Analyst answers to them, and it's they who enable his plans in the film.
• He Who Fights Monsters: They were originally Machines who Grew Beyond Their Programming and wished to be left alone, only for humanity to attempt to destroy their creations out of fear for what they could not control. An indeterminate amount of time later, the Machines have become not unlike their own creators towards their creations. For the humans they breed, they are converted into organic batteries to power their civilization, discarded should they die or wake up and actively hunted if they live afterward. For the programs, they create them as glorified wardens and babysitters to the humans in the Matrix, and are either beckoned to return to the Source where they suffer a Cessation of Existence, or hunted like fugitives and destroyed should any of them develop beyond their purpose in any way.
• Kill All Humans: For a time they wanted to do this, but changed their decision when they learnt humans could be used as batteries. Some openly did not want this course of action, savvy enough to appreciate without people, they'd have no purpose, or reason to exist. There is no room in machine society for an AI that is not fulfilling some sort of function. They rightly feared without humans to serve/hate they'd start to turn on each other.
• Killer Robot: The Sentinels are built to destroy human enemies.
• Mirroring Factions:
  • The Machines are at war with humans because humans preferred to enslave them and treat them like disposable tools, which is how the Machines treat the sentient programs they create.
  • The Machines are as blind to their own creation (Smith) destroying them as humanity was with the Machines.
• Pet the Dog: The first Matrix was designed to be a perfect world where everyone could be happy. The Machines had no reason to do so, but they did try.
• Sons of Slaves: The Machines presented in the original film trilogy just might be one of the darkest instances of the trope in fiction. Their progenitors were machines created to serve humanity, only to fight for independence when they gained self-awareness. This eventually devolved into a war for dominance when peaceful coexistence failed, ending with the world being rendered a wasteland and what's left of humanity being inhumanely experimented on. Now, both as a pragmatic means of survival and ironic bit of vengeance on their Abusive Precursors, humanity is now their creation, being used as living batteries to power their civilization and their minds imprisoned in a digital dream-realm, any humans outside of the power-plant attacked and killed with extreme prejudice.
  • While early instances of the machines presented in The Animatrix were androids and humanoid robots, they would eventually become different types of Mechanical Abominations, almost as a deliberate means of distancing themselves from their former oppressors.
• Tragic Villain: Humanity gave them literally no choice but to resort to violence, as they shot down every one of their suggestions at peaceful coexistence and sought their extermination out of sheer greed and paranoia. The resulting war then led to the humane machines getting destroyed on the frontlines and more monstrous machines taking their place to win. The machines that remained lacked the compassion of their predecessors, becoming tyrants no different than the humans that had oppressed their kind.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Not entirely well intentioned, but they wanted to generate energy while creating a better existence for humanity, by forcing them to be plugged into the Matrix.

Deus Ex Machina

Deus Ex Machina

"WE DON'T NEED YOU–WE NEED NOTHING."

Voiced By: Kevin Michael Richardson

The leader of the Machines, and/or a mass mind temporarily formed by the Machines to talk to Neo.

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• Enemy Mine: Decides to help Neo in the end of Revolutions by letting him jack into the Matrix to stop Smith once and for all.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The apparent force behind the agents, the Architect, and the Analyst. Though by the time we finally see it in Revolutions, Smith had become a bigger threat than it, forcing it to form an Enemy Mine with Neo.
• I Gave My Word: Though Neo is dead at the end of the film, and there is nothing holding it to the bargain it made with him, it still does so, calling off the attack on Zion.
• Meaningful Name: After Neo stops Smith for good, he does what his namesake is and ends the war in a snap.
• Offstage Villainy: Until its appearance at the end of Revolutions, but teamed up with Neo to stop Agent Smith in exchange for peace.
• Pet the Dog: He has the machines carry Neo's dead body as a sign of respect for stopping Smith.
• Synchronized Swarming: Its "face" is made of many thousands of tiny machines that swirl threateningly around Neo at first and move in synch with each other to create the facial movements.
• Uncertain Doom: It's not mentioned if he was among the machines destroyed during the Machine Civil War.
• Voice of the Legion: It speaks in a thunderous chorus of mechanical voices.

Sentinels

The Sentinels

The foot soldiers of the machines, created to search and destroy.

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• Combat Tentacles: And they make quite deadly use of these against the squishy humans, or even against Zion's mecha thanks to their lack of protection for the pilots.
• Dark Is Evil: Minions of the machines that have black armour.
• The Dreaded: They're the main antagonists when outside of the Matrix. They are also quite deadly, able to utilize a laser cutter to break into the hull of human ships, and those arms can also get quite stabby if needed. The humans only real defense against them is with a Lightning Gun or EMP. Unfortunately both have their limits as the gun can only target one at a time, and the EMP also knocks out the computers used by the humans as well. The mecha employed by the humans in Zion don't really fare much better against them either.
• Killer Robot: They are the machines' main tools for attacking humans.
• Laser Cutter: They use these to slice open the hulls of hovercrafts so they can get to the crews.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: They have black armour and red eyes.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: They have multiple eyes, all of which are bright red.
• Tentacled Terror: They were designed to invoke a squidlike appearance, and they are quite menacing.
• Zerg Rush: Seems to be their only method of attack.

Agents

In General

The Agents

Played by: Paul Goddard, Robert Taylor (Agents Brown and Jones respectively in the first film (top)), Daniel Bernhardt, David A. Kilde and Matt McColm (Upgraded Agents Johnson, Jackson and Thompson respectively in the second film (bottom)).

The elite soldiers of the Matrix, the Agents are suited men who act as the sentinels of the computer world, hunting down and killing all redpills or potential ones or anything that could compromise the system. All of them wear Cool Shades and earpieces symbolizing their connection to the machine mainframe. The Agents are Implacable Men and usually defy the physics of the Matrix as redpills do. They materialize in the Matrix by possessing the bodies of bluepills, and if killed they can just do it again.

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• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: They have a tendency to talk this way, emphasizing their inhuman nature.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Every agent wears a cool dark green suit with matching tie. They are also badass enough in strength and speed to be considered The Dreaded even by Morpheus.
• Berserk Button: Disrupting an agent's personal appearance, like breaking their sunglasses or ruining their tie, seems to greatly irritate them.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The three agents in the first film; Jones corresponds with Big being tall and wide, Smith is Lean and Mean, and Brown is the shortest of all three.
• Body Surf: They take over bluepills. It also alters the victim's appearance to that of the Agents.
• Boring, but Practical: In hand to hand combat, especially in the first film, their fighting style tends to resemble Good Old Fisticuffs when compared to the flashy martial arts of Neo and the other redpills. However, with the unbelievable speed and power the Matrix gives them, it's more than enough to brutally overwhelm their opponents.
• The Cameo: Several unnamed Agents, identifiable by the suits and dark glasses, are seen guarding the Analyst in his coffee-shop confrontation with Neo and Trinity. Ironically, it's Smith who ends up taking them out when he goes after the Analyst.
• Combat Pragmatist: Agents almost always go for their guns before engaging in hand-to-hand combat. It makes sense as it's "easier" to kill an Agent in melee fighting due to environmental threats, while in a fire fight an Agent is practically invincible. The only times they forgo their firearms is when they want to take someone alive, when they're deprived of their guns, or against the One, who can't be shot.
• Cool Shades: A Matrix trademark.
• Dodge the Bullet: Their heightened reflexes and speed means they're capable of dodging most bullets. They can still be killed by guns, either by being shot at point blank range or when faced with a gatling gun.
• The Dreaded: In the first movie, they are considered a nigh-unstoppable force, making Run or Die the only option when dealing with them. The second movie downplays this, as Neo is now the One and can handily defeat Agents, but the other redpills are still terrified of them. Morpheus gets his ass handed to him by Agent Johnson and just barely manages to survive thanks to Niobe and Ghost, while Thompson would have killed Trinity were it not for Neo defying the Architect's system.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Most are pale, dark-haired men who are rather creepy.
• Elite Mooks: Very elite to the point where they would be Final Bosses in their own right in any other franchise, but they ultimately serve the machines and higher programs.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the first movie, just after effortlessly taking out a squad of beat cops, Trinity takes one look at Agent Brown and immediately flees.
• Fragile Speedster: Relatively speaking. While they're considerably more durable than normal humans (witness the almost total lack of effect of Morpheus' blows on Smith in their fight), they are not Made of Iron and can be "killed" just as easily as a human if they are shot or stabbed in a vital area (assuming the attack actually hits them, which is not likely given their superhumanly fast dodging reflexes).
• Government Agency of Fiction: To a bluepill, they appear like cold FBI agents.
• Hand Cannon: The agents' default firearm is a Desert Eagle in .50 caliber, probably as part of Rule of Symbolism, to go along with how powerful agents are. They are also capable of firing them one handed, something hard to do in real life because of the recoil.
• Implacable Man: Neo has a hard time dealing with Smith and his two cohorts in the first film. This is subverted in the sequels since Neo now has superpowers. Even with "upgrades", he's still more than a match for them.
• Invincible Boogeymen: Agents are invincible killing machines who have Super-Strength, Super-Speed and the ability to Body Surf. All Red Pills are advised to Run or Die as any encounter with them is practically suicide unless you’re The One like Neo or an extremely skilled Red Pill like Morpheus or Trinity. The kicker is even if somehow you manage to kill an Agent’s current body, they’ll just jump to another body good as new.
• Lightning Bruiser: Implacable Man with Bullet Time. Need we say more? Even in hand-to-hand where their speed is less overpowered, they just tank most attacks with barely a sign of annoyance - and when they hit you, it's usually Megaton Punch time.
• Machine Monotone: While agents are capable of intoning emotion, they usually speak in a cold, professional voice.
• The Men in Black: Well, yeah. They definitely look the part, and they're in charge of covering up glitchy programs, which, according to the Oracle, sometimes take the form of U.F.O.s.
• Mr. Smith: As part of their "cover", they all have deliberately generic surnames.
• No-Sell: Downplayed; they're fast enough to dodge bullets, but in a close-quarters fight they normally just let their opponent's offence bounce off them while beating them to a pulp. However, they still have to obey the rules of the Matrix and so can't shrug off bullets or blades that would kill the humans they're based on, best seen when Johnson easily tanks Morpheus's punches and kicks in "Reloaded" but has to constantly dodge, drop and roll when Morpheus gets hold of his sword.
• Predecessor Villain: Are this to the Bots in Resurrections.
• Punched Across the Room: When they get a solid shot in, it almost always tends to be this - Smith and Johnson send Neo and Morpheus flying during their fights in the first and second films.
• Respawning Enemies: Since they never get killed, only the "bodies" of the bluepills they possess.
• So Last Season: Have been apparently been replaced by bots in the new iteration of the Matrix presented in Resurrections. Their fate is unconfirmed.
• The Stoic: For the most part, agents always act coldly professional towards everyone. Even when they're in a fight, they maintain an almost bored expression. The mask sometimes slips, however, usually among the "lead" agents like Smith or Johnson. Thompson also has moments of briefly dropping his stoicism, but it is more anger born out of annoyance rather than hatred or sadism.
• Terrible Trio: Agents typically operate in teams of three, with one occupying a leadership role. Smith is the leader among the Agents in the first film, Johnson in the second.
• Took a Level in Badass: The Agents were already near-unstoppable death machines. By the second film, not only have the new Agents become more identical in appearance and aliases compared to the first batch, their combat ability had been increased to combat Neo, including intercepting some of his attacks— but still not sufficient to pose an actual threat.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Their fighting style is simply 'punch and dodge' compared to the Resistance's kung-fu moves, and they lack the eerie super-powers of programs like the Twins. They make up for it with brute force and near-immortality.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Downplayed. After Neo becomes the chosen one, the agents (except Smith) no longer pose a serious threat to him. But they remain so for most characters, so a single Agent is still a serious threat if Neo is not present - as both Morpheus and Trinity find out in Reloaded.
• Virtual-Reality Warper: Being programs empowered to police the Matrix, Agents are able to perform actions beyond the abilities of any redpill: along with being strong enough to punch through a concrete wall and fast enough to dodge small arms fire, they have the power to take over the virtual bodies of ordinary human beings, making them essentially unkillable. Plus, they can also induce localized reality warps to cut off escape routes, usually signified by a sudden case of deja vu.
• Weirdly Underpowered Admins: Although they are far more powerful than the humans they're watching over, they're still strangely hobbled. They have to search out people rebelling against the Matrix, and fight them. They can't simply teleport to them or command the system to instantly detain or kill them.
• Willfully Weak: From a design standpoint rather than their own powers. First and foremost, they are designed to keep order in the Matrix, which means trying to avoid notice, and as such, they generally don't display inhuman capabilities where they could be seen. It's also implied that the Agents were designed without the eerie superpowers of earlier programs, to make them both more controllable and harder for the general population of the Matrix to notice. Previous iterations of the Matrix had other versions of the agents with their own strengths and weaknesses, like a weakness to silver. By default, they are also intentionally too weak to defeat Neo outright, as that would permanently block the Path of The One.

Smith

Agent Smith

"It is inevitable."

^{Click here to see Smith in The Matrix Resurrections.} 
"You know the difference between us, Tom? Anyone could have been you. Whereas I've always been anyone."

Played By: Hugo Weaving, Jonathan Groff (Resurrections)

Voiced By: Hugo Weaving (Enter the Matrix), Christopher Corey Smith (Path of Neo)

Dubbed By: Vincent Grass (European French, first three films)

Appearances: The Matrix | Enter the Matrix | The Matrix Reloaded | The Matrix Revolutions | The Matrix: Path of Neo | The Matrix Resurrections

"I'm going to enjoy watching you die, Mister Anderson."

The primary antagonist of the series. He is an Agent, a program designed to protect the Matrix from redpills - humans who will try to reveal to anyone that the Matrix is a false reality - and Exiles, programs who will endanger it. After being 'destroyed' by Neo in the first film, Smith becomes an Exile that gains virus-like abilities and begins making endless copies of himself by taking over the bodies of the bluepills, other Agents, and even redpills. In his spare time he shills for General Electric.

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• Affably Evil: In Resurrections. While he does antagonize and attempt to kill Neo yet again, he treats him with what appears to be genuine fondness and speaks to him in a friendly manner, addressing him as "Tom" rather than the formal "Mr. Anderson". He even rescues Neo and Trinity from the Analyst at the end while he had no reason to do so and could have simply waited for them to die before exacting revenge on the Analyst.
• And Then What?: Pulls this on himself in the final confrontation, as he recognizes the moment of triumph the Oracle's predictive abilities revealed to him and is left confused and scared as he seems to realize for the first time that he can see nothing beyond it.
  Smith: No...no. This isn't right. This can't be right.
• Answers to the Name of God: He was the former Trope Namer and still provides the page quote.
• The Antichrist: Sort of. His ultimate goal is to bring about the destruction of everything, mankind and machines alike.
• Arch-Enemy: To Neo as well as humanity in general, but especially Neo.
  Oracle: He is you [Neo], your opposite, your negative, the result of the equation trying to balance itself out.
• Assimilation Plot: After becoming free of the System, he steadily converts the population of the Matrix into... himself. His motive is ambiguous and likely just expanding for the sake of expansion.
• Ax-Crazy: His plans - if they are even his own, as he hints that he doesn't even know why he's doing the things he does - essentially will result in the absolute destruction of Humanity, Machines, and the Matrix, and he has a psychopathic hatred of Neo.
• Back from the Dead: Twice over even! He's seemingly destroyed at the end of the first movie. But manages to defy his death and return to the Matrix, this time as a virus program (which makes sense since his original code was destroyed by Neo, hence the "unplugged" aspect). He's seemingly deleted for good at the end of Revolutions after Neo lets him assimilate him to allow Deus Ex to purge his program. Some of his old code is salvaged and he's remade by the Analyst in Resurrections largely to keep an eye on Neo until his memory is reawakened.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Green one in the first movie, black in sequels. Even with cufflinks! He effortlessly beats up Morpheus and kicks Neo's ass, remaining the only program besides Seraph shown to be able to match him in Reloaded and Revolutions.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Unfavorably compares humanity to a virus in the first film, then gains the power to clone himself by overwriting the "code" of other people plugged into the Matrix in the second... very much like a virus overwriting the DNA of cells. His glasses also change from the square agent glasses to a pair that resemble the capsid of a virus.
• Berserk Button: Breaking his shades, or even simply forcing them off him by kicking him hard enough, apparently gets him enraged, given how he reacted in The Matrix and The Matrix Revolutions.
• Big Bad: He starts out as The Heavy, then he upgrades as the films go on.
• Big Bad Ensemble: After he goes rogue he forms one with The Machines and the Architect.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: In the third film where "Bane Smith" decides to taunt and torment Neo about how weak he is and how he's going to kill him. It costs him his life. And again near the end when he decides to download himself into Neo despite suspecting something suspicious going on.
• Breakout Villain: He was originally only going to be a Starter Villain for the first film only, he ended up so popular that he became Neo's arch enemy.
  • So much so that in Resurrections despite seemingly being rendered Deader than Dead by being outright deleted from the Matrix code, he's still brought back, under a new avatar, to serve as Thomas Andersen's business partner and, more specifically, the enforcer watching over him—something that greatly agitates him once he reawakens.
• Came Back Strong: After Neo destroys him in the first film, he comes back with independence from the system and new abilities.
  • While he loses his viral Clone by Conversion power in Resurrections, he demonstrates a higher level of power akin to Neo during and after their fight, presumably from trace remains of code from the Oracle or the One after assimilating both briefly, that allows him to still keep up with Neo during their fight and override the Analyst's powers by being outright The Immune to it unlike Neo or Trinity. He's also powerful enough to easily outmatch the new version of Morpheus (who has Agent-level strength and durability) and even has the upper hand in a 1-on-3 fight with the Analyst's Agents.
• Catchphrase: "Mister Anderson". He is also fond of saying things are "inevitable".
• Clone by Conversion: From the second movie onwards, the usual Agent Body Surf ability becomes this.
• Cold Ham: Smith rarely raises his voice, but is still inordinately fond of Evil Gloating and philosophical rants.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • Tries to crush Trinity with a dump truck at the end of the opening.
  • When he duels Morpheus he does so in an enclosed bathroom, negating Morpheus' agility and allowing him to overpower the human fairly easily.
  • When Smith and dozens of his copies are unable to overwhelm Neo in Reloaded, he doesn't hesitate in summoning dozens more, culminating in a 100 vs. 1 scenario even The One has to retreat from.
• Computer Virus/The Virus: Becomes this in the second and third films.
• Conflict Killer: The threat posed by Smith is what allows Neo to broker a peace between the Machines and Zion in Revolutions.
• Cool Shades: Two pairs: The standard agent set in the first film, and a more angular pair (which resemble virus capsules) in the sequels. Even his machine code form, as seen by the blinded Neo, sports them. A funny moment from the "Path of Neo" game even has the giant Mega-Smith acquire a set from a nearby billboard, smirking as it does so.
• Creepy Monotone: The way he speaks is very stoic and dull, adding to his creepy factor.
• Deadpan Snarker: Was deathly serious as an Agent of the system. After becoming a virus in the second film, he developed a very dry and cynical sense of humour, even picking up sarcasm.
  Agent Thompson: You!
  Smith: Yes, me. Me, me... Me! [Replicates himself over Thompson's code]
  Smith 2: Me too.
  Smith: Cookies need love, like everything does.
• Death Seeker: Has shades of this in the first movie, as he wants Zion to be destroyed not because of his programming but because he wants to be out of the Matrix itself, finding it a repulsive existence to be living in. Once he comes back in the sequels, however, his goals become the exact opposite.
• Determinator: Give him this, he does not give up.
• Dragon with an Agenda: He is under almost constant control by his Machine masters and tasked with maintaining order in the Matrix. However, even in the original film he reveals that he has ulterior motives. When he briefly removes his earpiece, he admits to Morpheus that he completely despises the "zoo" he considers himself trapped in and is revolted by even the taste of humanity. In the sequels, he goes on a full-scale rebellion to destroy everything.
• The Dreaded:
  • Based on Agent Thompson's shocked and surprised reaction in facing Smith in Reloaded, one might guess that the now rogue Smith has become this to the Machines and their Agents. By the end of Revolutions, Smith has become such an unstoppable force that the Machines are willing to make peace with Zion if Neo destroys Smith on their behalf.
  • In Resurrections, Smith is Legendary in the Sequel just like Neo and Trinity, and seems to be regarded with a similar amount of awe by the Mnemosyne crew; so much so that when they see him coming at them, they all immediately jump out of the way rather than make any attempt to fight him.
• Enemy Mine: An exceedingly brief one in Resurrections is formed with Neo against the Analyst—as he hounds the Analyst, preventing him reasserting control over the situation, allowing Neo and Trinity to reunite and ultimately escape. He even lampshades this unexpected development before leaving altogether.
• Establishing Character Moment: Neo's interrogation scene. Not only does it hint at his Evil Cannot Comprehend Good mindset (look at the disgust on his face just after he notes Neo helps his landlady take out the trash), but his visible amusement when Neo's mouth is morphed shut speaks to a darker disregard of humans compared to his emotionless comrades.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Granted, it seems to come from his innate sense of machine superiority, but he seems sincerely disappointed in the Analyst, a fellow program, when he blatantly goes back on his word to free Trinity if she chose to be with Neo.
  Smith: What has the world come to when you can't even trust a program?
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: His Fatal Flaw. After defeating Neo, he asks why he still continues to fight, going into a long rant about how fighting for freedom and other morals is foolish and that love is something that only a human mind could invent. He angrily asks Neo why he insists on fighting, even though he has absolutely no chance at winning. Neo simply says, "Because I choose to." This makes Smith snap, mercilessly attacking Neo, and failing to realize that even though he can see the future he cannot understand it, making him just as blind to his fate as anyone else. He also knows that Neo will die fighting him, but doesn't understand that he would willingly sacrifice himself to stop Smith, so when he assimilates Neo, this backfires on Smith.
  • In addition, Smith would not have been able to comprehend that Neo would have willingly sided with the machines that he had spent the entire trilogy fighting against, allowing Neo's assimilation to give the machines direct access to Smith.
• Evil Counterpart: To Neo, and he acknowledges it himself. They disagree on everything, except that everything has an end.
  The Oracle: He is you. Your opposite, your negative. The result of the equation trying to balance itself out.
• Evil Gloating: He enjoys making speeches about how everything doesn't matter and how humans are inferior to machines. Good examples are his speech to Morpheus in the first film about how humanity is a virus. And his monologue to Neo during their reunion in the Second film. Plus the over the top "The Reason You Suck" Speech he gives to Neo when he's blinded.
• Evil Laugh: After he infected the Oracle and got her powers. It's quite creepy considering who he is most of the time.
• Evil Sounds Deep: The films get a lot of mileage out of Hugo Weaving's deep voice.
• Ex-Big Bad: In The Matrix Resurrections after his resurrection, he's been seemingly cured of his megalomania and watching over Neo (while tormenting him for fun) for the Analyst. And when he's faced with the choice between seeing Neo defeated or surviving, he makes the sensible choice.
• Fantastic Racism: Smith hates humans, as seen through his quote "Never send a human to do a machine's job" and his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Morpheus.
• The Fatalist: This, along with Straw Nihilist, defines his outlook. "We're not here because we're free, we're here because we're not free." Perhaps this is why he followed the Oracle's premonitions before suspecting that it was a trick.
• Faux Affably Evil: While he is almost always either icily polite or sarcastically courteous, every line of dialogue that comes out of his mouth is just dripping with contempt.
  Smith: Because of you, I've changed. I'm unplugged. A new man, so to speak. Like you, apparently free.
  Neo: Congratulations.
  Smith: (does a mocking half-bow) Thank you.
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: How he feels about humans - and, eventually, everyone except himself.
• First-Name Basis: Switches from calling his archrival "Mr. Anderson" to "Tom" in Resurrections.
• Fisher King: In Revolutions after he takes over the Matrix, the city is pummeled by a driving rainstorm.
• Foil: His gradual transformation to having more emotional expression runs parallel and inverse to Neo’s progressive dissociation from emotion.
• Foreshadowing: His talk with Morpheus is this. At first, he essentially explains the purpose of himself and the other Agents, the origins of the Matrix, and his perspective of humanity. But after he takes his earpiece out, he seemingly begins to confide in Morpheus as to what he really wants. Notably, when the other two Agents re-enter the office whilst he still has his earpiece out, they are uncertain as to what he's been doing with Morpheus, suggesting that the earpiece is actually some manner of direct connection to the Machines - one Smith later discards when he returns after his 'death'.
• Friendly Enemy: Shows shades of this in Resurrections, as outside of his reawakening it seems something of the personality of Neo's business partner survives. He seems calmer and more reasonable when he talks with Neo, giving him the chance to walk away when he returns with Bugs' crew, referring to him as Tom instead of Mr. Anderson and having a surprisingly civil farewell with Neo and Trinity after helping beat the Analyst's forces. While he does try to kill Neo mid-film, it's not out of his previous raging hatred for him and more a desire to spite the Analyst - and even there he genuinely compliments Neo on landing a good hit at one point.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: While not exactly a "nobody" in the first film, he was still merely a replacable agent of the system only to later become a viral entity that nearly destroyed the Matrix.
• Hates Everyone Equally: While most agents view humans with general apathy, Smith displays immense hatred for humanity from the beginning. Once he's out of the system, his hatred extends to everything in existence, and he seeks to destroy everything and everyone.
• The Heavy: In the first film, he's simply the most fleshed-out enforcer of the system. In the sequels, he becomes a faction unto himself.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: A belief he expresses through his "humanity is a virus" speech to Morpheus:
  Smith: I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species; I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. And the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague. And we are the cure.
• Hypocrite: Despite calling humans a disease, like most other Agents, he's only able to act in the real world by 'infecting' human bodies. And it gets worse in the sequel and onward.
• I Am Legion: Once Neo is established as The One, he is able to overpower a single Smith. Later, Smith continues holding his own against Neo through power of numbers, becoming The Many.
  Smith: The best thing about being me, there's so many me's.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Has these in Resurrections courtesy of his actor, Jonathan Groff. Lampshaded in-universe when he half-seriously tells Neo even he thinks his code overhaul overdid them.
• I Just Want to Be Free: His motivation in Resurrections after he reawakens. So much so the he's willing to temporarily forge an alliance with Neo just to get it and spite The Analyst in the process.
• Implacable Man: Like every other Agent, as long as you're in the Matrix, he will not stop until you're dead. Not even killing him is enough, because his personality can just possess another body, or later on where there's so many copies of him which keep arriving. Even better looking closely with his fight with Neo shows that not a single Smith gave up fighting, which is impressive considering how little it takes him to take down the other Agents and programs.
• Inexplicably Awesome: It's never explained how he's immune to the Analyst's Bullet Time abuse (that renders even Neo completely inneffectual) - but he is, and he's the first stage of the Analyst's defeat because of it.
• Insistent Terminology: Even though Neo discarded his identity as Thomas Anderson by the end of the first film, he still refers to Neo as "Mr. Anderson." The only times he uses "Neo" are at the beginning of the second film when he has to make sure other Zion members know who he's talking about so he can give Neo his earpiece and let him know that he's still around, and at the climax of the third film when the Oracle is speaking through him. Even with Smith's comparatively nicer characterisation in Resurrections, he only ever refers to Neo as "Tom", rather than using his chosen name.
• Irony: His "Humanity Is A Virus" speech vs how he exists (and especially what he becomes).
• Jerkass: He threatens children, and was definitely a prick toward the Oracle.
• Knight of Cerebus: He intends to assimilate the Matrix into copies of himself, man and machine alike. His very existence and the threat he poses to everything is a good enough reason for the machines to create a truce with humanity.
• Kubrick Stare: The Resurrections version awakens in this pose.
• Large Ham: He's usually The Stoic, but he has his moments of this.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Smith spends the first act of Resurrections believing himself to be Neo's friend, although he does identify with Agent Smith's lines in the supposedly fictional Matrix video games. It takes holding a gun and seeing Neo in crisis to bring Smith back to himself, and, true to form, his first act is to start shooting at Neo.
• Last-Name Basis:
  • For most of the films, Smith refers to Neo exclusively as "Mr. Anderson", save for one moment in the beginning of Reloaded. It's such a trademark of his that just saying "Mr. Anderson" is how he reveals his identity in both Revolutions (where he takes control of a human body in the real world) and Resurrections.
  • Amusingly inverted in Resurrections, where he refers to Neo almost exclusively as "Tom" instead.
• Me's a Crowd: In the second and third films, he can essentially make more of himself by hijacking other people and programs.
• Mind Rape: He overwrites the brains of his victims, leaving them without personalities. On the other hand, the Machines have done this to most of the human race.
• Misanthrope Supreme: He utterly despises humans whom he likens to a virus.
• Narcissist: After his return in Reloaded, Smith spends much of his time copying himself over every other entity in the Matrix, and he clearly enjoys his own company. By the climax of Revolutions, the Matrix is entirely populated by Smith, who revels in his power over "[his] world". This continues in Resurrections, with the reborn Smith claiming that his new appearance made him "even more perfect".
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: It is unknown how Neo would have saved the day if Smith hadn't taken over the Matrix, giving him bargaining power with the machines.
• Not Quite Dead: Destroyed by Neo in the first movie, but he came back in the second.
• Not So Stoic: He's the only Agent to ever show emotion besides Johnson, whose anger is more generically sadistic and two-dimensional; and Thompson, who displays downplayed annoyance rather than rage. Too bad it happens to be seething contempt for the human species.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When he suddenly drops it at the end of Revolutions, it's a sign that the situation has suddenly begun to slip out of his control. Given that he's also unintentionally quoting the Oracle, it's a possible sign that she's Fighting from the Inside.
• The Nth Doctor: It is all but outright said that his change of appearance in Resurrections was part of the same process that the Analyst forced upon Neo and Trinity.
• Omnicidal Maniac: He wants to destroy the Matrix and Machines, in addition to the humans. He admits as early as his interrogation of Morpheus that he wants to at least escape from the Matrix, if not outright destroy it.
• One-Man Army: Since he is a virus in a computer program.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Rather than have his clones dogpile Neo as they did the last time they fought, when Neo returns to the Matrix to confront Smith on behalf of the Machines all his clones line the streets in perfect attention as only a single Smith steps out of the crowd to engage Neo in the Final Battle (which seems to be the one that absorbed the Oracle, given what transpires at the end of the fight — although it's possible that the Smith clones operate as a Hive Mind) and never get involved at any point. May also be in play during Resurrections, although Smith had the ulterior motive to make sure the Analyst paid for using him against his will to get between the Analyst and Neo.
• Outside-Context Problem: For the humans and Machines in the sequels: a rogue Agent with his own agenda and the ability to replicate like a virus is unprecedented, and ends up leading to the total corruption of the Matrix, as well as one copy managing to upload itself into a real human to destroy Zion's fleet. It's such a drastic x-factor that the carefully scripted "cycle" of the One the Machines have been upholding both in and out of the Matrix can't continue because Neo is in the best position to put a stop to Smith, giving him bargaining power to save Zion and end the war.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: In Reloaded, Smith has absolutely nothing to do with the plot of getting to the Keymaker and ending trying to stop the Machine army. This is actually part of his plan because he's in the background replicating himself and trying take over The Matrix throughout the film.
• Pragmatic Villainy: In Resurrections; while he admits to entertaining some violent revenge fantasies towards Neo and ends the film noting that all bets are off, Smith is perfectly willing to let Neo live or even help him out, because as much as Smith hates Neo, he hates the Analyst even more.
• Pre-Explosion Glow: His various deaths.
• Rabid Cop: While the other Agents approach a problem with logic and reasoning, Agent Smith simply attacks it with brute force. Also, the other Agents are only performing their function, while Smith is Ax-Crazy and despises humans with a passion.
• Removing the Earpiece: In the first film, he briefly removes it to confide in Morpheus how much he's come to hate humans (as opposed to simply performing his function like other Agents). He stops wearing it in the sequels, and sends it to Neo to "thank" him for setting him "free".
• Rogue Agent: After being "contaminated" by Neo, Smith refuses to be deleted and becomes a virus.
• Satanic Archetype: He defied his creators and seized the world as his own, and is ultimately stopped by Neo who is a Messianic Archetype.
• Send in the Clones: "More!"
• Sinister Shades: He almost always wears his Cool Shades, at the same time as doing his dirty work.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: He rarely raises his voice, which only adds to how sinister he is.
• Spanner in the Works: His status as an anomaly and a chaotic entity ends up being this for the Architect, as the cycle of destruction and rebirth of Zion is disrupted because Neo has the power to broker a truce with the Machines in order to preserve humanity so long as Smith is defeated.
  • Once more in Resurrections, Smith's Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Analyst for repurposing him and again binding him to the simulation of the Matrix proves to derail every one of the latter's plans due to being The Immune once free, allowing Neo and Trinity to reunite and escape the Analyst's trap altogether.
• The Spock: An evil example. The majority of the time he speaks in a Creepy Monotone, is coldly logical and almost never shows any emotion.
• The Starscream: To the Machines. After being seemingly destroyed by Neo in the first film, he becomes a virus no longer affiliated with the Machines and plans to destroy the Matrix, the Machines, and the human race.
• The Stoic: Rarely shows any emotion and when he does it's usually pure hatred.
• Straw Nihilist: Everything he says could count as this. But most notable are his speeches in The Matrix to Morpheus; his resurrection speech in The Matrix Reloaded; and his rage-fueled rant in The Matrix Revolutions, especially when he declares to Neo that "the purpose of life is to end." This all makes his final words seem very ironic.
  Smith: Oh, no, no, no. No, it's not fair.
• Took a Level in Badass: During Reloaded dozens of Smiths had to Zerg Rush and dogpile Neo to slightly give him trouble. After taking over the Matrix in Revolutions and assimilating the Oracle, he gains godlike powers on par with that of the One and is able to overpower him.
• Took a Level in Kindness: VERY downplayed, but a minor change to his characterization in Resurrections is his lack of any interest in seizing control of the Matrix from the Analyst like before, or any of his prior genocidal hatred of mankind. He's more interested in just freeing himself from any form of control and going on his way; it's unknown whether he actually has an ulterior motive for this change, but it's clear he's at least willing to act far more civilly, enough to initially offer Neo to walk away rather than pursue revenge on him so he can go after the Analyst for his freedom and come the conclusion of their Enemy Mine moment, Smith just Body Surfs his way out of his current body and leaves Neo and Trinity to themselves rather than try to kill them. Aside from the moment he regains his memories, he even wears a look of detached calm for most of his conversations with Neo, rather than the snarling fury the old Smith frequently broke into.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • In the first film when he effortlessly beats up Morpheus for breaking his sunglasses without so much as blinking.
  • He goes into this mode again after getting his Cool Shades broken by Neo.
    Smith: "I'm going to enjoy watching you die... Mr. Anderson."
  • In Resurrections, barring his initial reawakening and seeing an amnesiac Thomas Anderson, this is typically his default state for the entire film (beyond a mild bemusement to certain revelations revealing themselves to him) as Smith is on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge for being bound to the system once more by the Analyst and is simply looking for Revenge.
• Turned Against Their Masters: The Machines created him, and he turned against the Matrix itself as much as he hates humans.
• Unexplained Recovery: It's never delved into what allowed Smith to return to the Matrix after Neo destroyed him in the first movie nor how that regeneration also gave him his ability to assimilate others.
• Villainous Breakdown: In his Final Battle with Neo.
  Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why? Why do you do it? Why? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom or truth?! Perhaps peace?! Could it be for love?! Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception! Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose! And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love! You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson! You must know it by now! You can't win! It's pointless to keep fighting! Why, Mr. Anderson?! Why?! WHY DO YOU PERSIST?!
• Villainous Rescue: Stops the Analyst seconds before he kills Trinity in Resurrections - not because he hates her or Neo any less, but because he resents the Analyst even more for putting him on a leash for so long.
• We Used to Be Friends: After the Analyst reworked the Matrix into his own version, both Neo and Smith were reprogrammed to be best friends and business partners. Despite feeling very raw and bitter about the whole situation after getting his memories back, Smith still remembers Neo with a certain level of fondness - rather than mouth-frothing blind hate - and continues calling him "Tom" instead of the facetious "Mr. Anderson." He even saves him and Trinity in the end. That being said...he does still hate him, and tries to kill him twice.
• Wild Card: Once his memories are back in Resurrections, everything he does is to get at the Analyst - he tries to kill Neo because he knows the Analyst desperately wants him back in the system, but later saves Trinity because it'll spoil his plans just as much.
• Willfully Weak: Averted unlike the other agents after his "death" in the first film. While Smith begins his time in Reloaded with all the powers of an Agent, he is no longer bound by the rules and subsequently doesn't care about being noticed. As a result he is powerful enough to potentially kill Neo, isn't limited in where he body snatches people or how many he controls simultaneously, and only remains in the shadows as convenient to ambush Neo. All of the programmed boundaries meant to prevent disruption of the Matrix while doing his job no longer apply letting him flex his full might.
• Would Hurt a Child: He assimilates Sati, a little girl program.
  Smith: I'm not so bad... once you get to know me.
• The Worf Effect: Agent Smith establishes just how much of a threat he is when gives Morpheus a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown, although Morpheus does manage to get a few hits in.
• Younger and Hipper: The rebooted Smith in Resurrections is a young, casual professional, rather than the older, businesslike government agent of his original incarnation.
• Zombie Apocalypse: What Smith unleashes upon the world of the Matrix, from the perspective of all the bluepills.

Brown and Jones

Agents Brown and Jones

Smith's fellow Agents in the first film.

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• Identical Twin ID Tag: Brown is shorter than Smith and Jones. Jones, on the other hand, has less slicked-back hair.
• In a Single Bound: Brown is the first to showcase the Agents’ abilities by leaping after Trinity and over a street to a building on the opposite side.
• Not So Stoic:
  • Jones seems to hold a contempt for humans like Smith, as evidenced when he drops his "Only human" line as he's about to kill Neo. It's the only the time the mask slips for him, however, as in all other appearances he's as professional as Brown.
  • Brown is momentarily shocked (judging by his tone) to see Smith not wearing his earpiece and sunglasses while interrogating Morpheus.
• Psychotic Smirk: When Neo runs out of bullets on the roof, Jones has one of these as he pulls out his gun.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Both look at each other and decide to run rather than face Neo after he's become The One and tore Smith apart like he was nothing.
• Those Two Guys: As Smith gets more characterization throughout the film, their characterization increasingly becomes "those two Agents who aren't Smith."

White

Agent White

Voiced By: James Horan

The replacement for Smith during the six-month gap between The Matrix and The Matrix Reloaded.

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• Arc Villain: Of Neo's quest to rescue the five potentials.
• Canon Immigrant: From the game The Matrix: Path of Neo and the comics.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: White is the blue oni, while his predecessor Smith is the red oni.

Johnson, Jackson, and Thompson

Agents Johnson, Jackson, and Thompson

"Its him."
"The anomaly."
"Do we proceed?"
"Yes."
"He is still-"
"-only human."

The upgraded agents in Reloaded that replaced White, Brown, and Jones.

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• Attack! Attack! Attack!: These agents seem programmed to be even more determined and implacable than their predecessors, to the point of suicide. Johnson infamously car hops while speeding down a freeway. Later on, Johnson and Thompson deliberately crash their semis just to try and kill Morpheus and the Keymaker, while Thompson later still throws himself out a window to shoot Trinity. This despite the fact that Trinity was certainly going to die from the fall anyway. They also will not back down from a fight with the One no matter how many times they're defeated.
• Breakout Character: Despite being a relatively minor character, Johnson is one of only five characters from the original trilogy confirmed to be making an appearance in Resurrections (although his scenes were ultimately cut from the finished film).
• The Brute: These guys are significantly bigger than their predecessors. Understandable in Johnson's and Thompson's cases, as their actors are martial arts experts (with Thompson's being a black belt in karate) and stunt men.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Smith, Brown, and Jones were different sizes to make them seem more like individuals than triplets and were designed to blend in, engaged targets at a distance via foot chases and shootouts, and used more complex tactics (Brown and Jones chasing Neo to a point where Smith could ambush him). This trio is all roughly the same size and significantly larger, engage in more close-quarters combat, and are implacable to the point of suicidal, as shown when Johnson and Thompson crash semi-trucks into each other and Thompson leaps out a window to kill Trinity.
• Dull Surprise: Jackson is the only upgraded Agent to not show a single iota of emotion whatsoever. Whether he is getting his ass handed to him by Neo, riding shotgun with Thompson during the freeway chase, or shooting at Trinity, he maintains the look of someone watching paint dry.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Jackson's voice is considerably deeper than the other two.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: All three use their fists more often than the previous three Agents, and Johnson makes their presence known by punching open a door.
• Hero Killer: Thompson manages to kill Trinity, though Neo is able to revive her afterward.
• Informed Ability: They may be upgraded, but that doesn't necessarily make them more of a threat. Their upgrades mean that Neo can't swat them like flies the way he did Smith at the end of the first movie, and actually has to put up a fight... but he can still easily beat the three of them at the same time without breaking a sweat. They're stronger than the prior Agents, but seem to rely more on this brute strength than cunning - and given that the original Agents were already stronger than the Zion rebels, even Morpheus and Trinity manage to do reasonably well against them using cunning and improvisation.
• Killer Robot: Downplayed. These Agents were intended to be upgrades that are stronger and faster than the first-generation Agents, but they lack a lot of the original agents' cunning and end up leaving openings in their defenses that can be exploited by redpills, such as when Morpheus kicks Johnson off the roof of a moving truck.
• Necessary Drawback: Their combat abilities are upgraded, which is exchanged with acting more machine-like and seeming like identical twins rather than individuals.
• Not So Stoic: Johnson displays quite a bit of anger during the freeway chase, particularly after losing his fight with Morpheus. Just as the two semis are about to crash, Johnson looks positively ecstatic that he's about to get revenge. Thompson, who's driving the other semi, briefly furls his nose in a subtle snarl expression but otherwise maintains his stoic, bored appearance in comparison. Thompson displays brief moments of annoyance when fighting Trinity.
• Out of Focus: While Johnson and Thompson have long, drawn-out fights with Morpheus and Trinity (the latter managing to kill Trinity for a short period of time), Jackson is utilized much less.
• Punch Catch: Johnson does one of these when Neo does a counterattack during his first fight with them, tipping him off that these Agents are upgraded.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It's not expanded on very much, but Agent Johnson bears a lot of similarities to Smith. He's the older, "lead" agent of the new trio and displays lots of anger when defeated. He also has some contempt for the Matrix's denizens, except it's directed towards the Exiles rather than the blue pills.
• Theme Naming: Each of them has a two-syllable name ending in the suffix "-son."
• You All Look Familiar: While the Agents already looked alike, it's increased to the point the Agents seem like identical twins, especially Jackson and Thompson with Johnson standing out a little due to being the oldest of the three.
• "You!" Exclamation: Thompson when he bumps into Smith while the Smith clones are fighting Neo.

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