Characters / Wanted

Character page for the 2008 film Wanted.

Spoilers are unmarked.

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Wesley

Wesley Allan Gibson

"What the fuck have you done lately?"

Played by: James McAvoy, Jimmi Simpson (voice actor in "Wanted Weapons of Fate")

Dubbed by: Benjamin Jungers (European French)

"I'm finding it hard to care about anything these days. In fact, the only thing I do care about is the fact that I can't care about anything. Seriously, it worries me. My name is Wesley Gibson."

The main character. Wesley starts out as an account manager whose life sucks: his boss bullies him, his girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend and he takes medications to control his anxiety attacks. But everything changes when he is approached by a woman in a market...

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• Abnormal Ammo: How he kills The Butcher: by shooting a butcher's steel that got jammed into his gun into him.
• Action Survivor: He is this before he Took a Level in Badass.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: Depending on your taste. Wesley in the comic resembles a street punk modeled after Eminem while his movie counterpart is played by the more conventionally attractive James McAvoy.
• Adaptational Heroism: In the comic books, Wesley is a supervillain who happily rapes and slaughters because he believes he has the authority to do as he pleases as a supervillain. This extends even to his pre-assassin day, as this Wesley is already a self-centered asshole even before he joins the fraternity. In the movie he is more of an Anti-Hero who genuinely believes he's killing bad people.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • His comic book counterpart exists in a world where superpowered beings exist, yet he manages to hold his own and eventually wipes out an entire army of superhumans. The movie version of him only has to face other humans with very good reflexes, yet he still gets defeated by them and has to be bailed out by Fox's Heroic Sacrifice.
  • The comic version of Wesley is such a loser at the start because his mother intentionally raises him weak so he wouldn't turn out like his supervillain father. Wesley in the movie is just a wimp for no specific reason.
• Adrenaline Makeover: A rare male, delayed action case. He meets Fox, then goes back to his own mundane life. But one snarky remark too many from his boss sets the makeover in motion.
• Ancestral Weapon: He is given Mr. X's sidearm when he is first introduced into the Fraternity, a Imanishi 17 (a Beretta 92S with engraved wooden grips and a compensator). At the end of the film, he uses Cross' (his real father) rifle to kill Sloan. In the video game sequel, he uses his dad's Nightshade pistol and Fire Eaters.
• Anti-Hero: Mostly a Villain Protagonist who doesn't benefit from Sympathetic P.O.V.. He does qualify for Nominal Hero, though.
• Apologizes a Lot: Lampshaded, and later Subverted.
  Fox: You apologize too much.
  Wesley: I'm sorry about that too.
• Assassins Are Always Betrayed: He finds out that Mr. X wasn't his father, Cross was, right after he fatally shot him. Then, Fox tries to kill him saying that his name came up in the Loom. Then, Pekwarsky reveals that kill order and all the other ones the Fraternity were fulfilling were created by Sloan for his own personal gain.
• Badass Boast: "I am the perfect weapon."
• Better Living Through Evil: Wesley eventually believes that being a supervillian/assassin is a much better life choice than his previous occupation. Though, in the movie, he is unaware that he is working for an evil man.
• Big "SHUT UP!": After Janice pesters him too much, he responds with this:
  Wesley: SHUT THE FUCK UP!
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: The quote in the caption is delivered as he looks straight to the camera at theend of the film.
• Butt-Monkey: At first. His life sucks and he gets punished and beaten around several times during his training with the Fraternity
• Character Development: Becomes more assertive and willing to stand up to other people. It's related to the Took a Level in Badass examples above.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Swears a lot throughout the movie. More than any other character.
• Deadpan Snarker: Wesley makes some witty comments from time to time, such as this:
  Wesley: Do you make sweaters, or do you kill people?
• Disappeared Dad: Subverted. Wesley states his father abandoned him when was seven days old, but Fox tells him that Mr. X was his father. His true father is actually Cross.
• Flipping the Bird: When he snatches the shuttle out of the loom, he does this as a sign of celebration.
• Hitman with a Heart: He has doubts if what he does is right. He doesn't know for sure that the people he's tasked to kill are really evil. Fox talks him out of it, however.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: The bullet curving, of course! Also, the crazy sniping he does in the end to kill Sloan.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Of the "inexperienced"" variety. Kind of subverted since, while he does look like an inexperienced young man, his inner monologues show he is well aware of how much his life sucks and is very angry about it.
• Ironic Echo:
  • "I'm sorry!"
  • "I'm the man!"/ "He's the man!"
• It's A Small Net After All: Apparently no pages on the in-film Internet contain either the words "Wesley" or "Gibson". It's possible this is one of Wesley's self-deprecating daydreams, like when he imagines the ATM is telling him he's a loser.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself for The Exterminator's death.
• Kick The Son Of A Bitch: One can see his bashing of a keyboard on Barry's face like this.
• Made of Iron: He's stabbed, cut, beaten, and shot, yet he comes back. However, he has the pools of wax to help him.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: At first, he's the Feminine Boy to Fox's Masculine Girl.
• Mr. Fanservice: He gets some Shirtless Scenes here and there.
• Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: He is provoked into attacking The Butcher when he calls Wesley "pussy".
• Nominal Hero: At least in the movie; he's a selfish, bitter man who joins the Fraternity partly because his old life sucked and he feels like he has no idea who he truly is. However, what prevents him from being outright Villain Antagonist is the urged to avenge his father, Mr. X, ( then later, his real father, Cross, who he was manipulated to kill), his initial hesitance towards killing people the Loom has picked out, and that he ultimately ends up fighting against the Fraternity when he finds out that Sloan had corrupted the Loom, started making fake kill orders against innocent people for financial gain, and had Wesley trained and aimed towards Cross with the intent for Wesley to be killed after eliminating Cross.
• "No More Holding Back" Speech: Before he storms into the texture mill, he has this speech:
  Wesley: My father was wrong about one thing. Everything they told me wasn't a lie. They taught me how to kill, how to feel no pain, and most importantly, that every job has a perfect weapon. Well, I'm the perfect weapon. And I'm supposed to run? No, I've been doing that my entire life. So I say no. I say kill them all and let fate sort out the mess.
• Oh, Crap!: An offscreen reaction, as he gets Pekwarsky pointing a gun against his head.
• One-Man Army: Wesley becomes this after taking a level in badass. His one-man assault on the Fraternity headquarters is a sight to behold.
• Rage Breaking Point: He goes through a pretty big one. After his live-in girlfriend cheats on him with his office friend, Barry, and getting pushed too far by his boss, Wesley (understandably) loses his shit, giving a big "The Reason You Suck" Speech and hitting Barry in the face with his keyboard.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers an epic one to Janice after he is fed up with her.
  Wesley: She has one single iota of tenuous power. She thinks she can push everyone around. (After throwing her mini-stapler she used to bother him at a picture of him a Barry) I understand. Junior high must've been kind of tough, but it doesn't give you the right to treat your workers like horseshit, Janice. I know we laugh at you, Janice. We all know you keep a stash of jelly donuts in the top drawer of your desk. But I want you to know, if you weren't such a bitch, we'd feel sorry for you. I do feel sorry for you. But as it stands, the way you behave - I feel I can speak for the entire office when I tell you... go fuck yourself.
  • He delivers a short, yet good one to Sloan:
  Wesley: You're not an assassin of fate, Sloan. You're just a thug who can bend bullets.
• Refusal of the Call: He does not join the Fraternity instantly, as he leaves to go back to his job. However, he quits and join the Fraternity for good.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His final assault on the texture mill.
• Say My Name: Calls out Sloan's name three times during the climax.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When he gets fed up with Janice and his job, he quits for good.
• Self-Made Orphan: Unwillingly. He shoots Cross, who reveals that he is Wesley's father in his dying breath.
• Single Tear: After Cross reveals he is Wesley's father.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: As stated before, he swears more than everyone else on the cast!
• Storming the Castle: See Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
• Take This Job and Shove It: See "The Reason You Suck" Speech above.
• This Loser Is You: Fulfills this role at first. He even lampshades it:
  Wesley: Six weeks ago I was ordinary and pathetic. Just like you.
• Throw-Away Guns: Wesley, during his major assault on the bad guy headquarters. Why waste time reloading your gun when you can take the guns from your dead enemies?
• Took a Level in Badass: It takes a while (the entire movie), but he firmly becomes just as deadly as the other assassins.
• Training from Hell: Has to endure long, grueling tests of endurance and learn how to shoot precisely and snatch the shuttle out of a loom.
• Unwitting Pawn: He was manipulated by Sloan and Fox through most of the movie.
• When You Snatch the Pebble: One of his training tasks is to snatch the shuttle out of a loom.
  • This reappears in "Wanted: Weapons of Fate" as a tutorial.
• You Killed My Father: Wesley wants to confront Cross, who killed his father. Then it's subverted: not only Cross reveals he is Wesley's father, but he also does so as Wesley has just shot him. So, Wesley was the one who killed his father.
• Zeroth Law Rebellion: After Wesley learns that Sloan's name came up, he manages to hold on to the code as a means of fulfilling his personal revenge and rebelling against him.

Fox

Fox

"You apologize too much."

Played by: Angelina Jolie

Dubbed by: Françoise Cadol (European French)

"We don't know how far the ripples of our decisions go. We kill one, and maybe save a thousand. That's the code of the Fraternity. That's what we believe in, and that's why we do it."

Top ranking member of the Fraternity who gets Wesley to join them. She assists Wesley in most of his missions. When she was a child, her father was burned to death right in front of her eyes. This gave her a lot of insight in her job and why she is an assassin.

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• …And That Little Girl Was Me: Her backstory, which she explains to Wesley.
• Armor-Piercing Question: "Why did you come here?". A quite literal example, as she asks this to Wesley while she beats him up, forcing him to reconsider his behavior.
• Badass Driver: She can pull some insane tricks when behind the wheel.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: The worst injury she gets is some bleeding on her right eye's side. She still looks good with it.
• The Big Damn Kiss: She gives one to Wesley, so they could piss off his ex-girlfriend.
• Blind Obedience: Fox is fully committed to the Fraternity, and will obey the kill orders of the higher powers they serve no matter how suspicious or psychopathic they seem. She crashes a car into a train, potentially killing hundreds of innocent civilians so she can ensure she assassinates her two targets, including her former partner. Then, when it turns out her master defied the higher powers, she murders almost all of her colleagues to fulfill the kill orders - including herself.
• Car Fu: How she boards a moving train. Also, she flips a car to somersault over an open-topped limousine so Wesley can kill his target.
• *Click* Hello: How she saves Wesley from Pekwarsky pointing a gun at him.
• Dark Action Girl: The sole action-oriented female of the movie, and she has an air of moral ambiguity around her.
• Death by Adaptation: This didn't happen in the comics.
• Death by Irony: She holds on to the code, but it ends up going against her creed of "kill one, save a thousand". She killed multiple people at once so she could protect one person.
• The Dragon: She is this to Sloan, but it doesn't seem to last long.
• Forced to Watch: When she was a child, she was tied to a chair and forced to watch as a hired killer burned her father to death.
• Freudian Excuse: Again, her father's death might possibly be the reason she became an assassin.
• Go Out with a Smile: She has a light smirk on her face just before her curved bullet comes back through her head.
• Heel–Face Revolving Door: At first she assists Wesley in killing his targets. Then, after Cross' revelation, she says Wesley's name came up and tried to kill him. And finally, she sacrifices herself to let him live.
• Heroic Sacrifice: One possible interpretation of her death. Rather than killing Wesley and helping the Fraternity grow stronger, she chooses to kill herself and the other members to save him.
• Mark of Shame: The letters "M.P" carved on her neck by Max Petridge.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The Masculine Girl to Wesley's Feminine Boy. At first.
• Ms. Fanservice: Being played by Angelina Jolie, that is a given. One notable scene has her waking up, rising out of the bath and let a Modesty Towel drop to the ground, allowing for a view of her Toplessness from the Back and her ass.
• One-Hit Polykill: How she dies. With one bullet flying in a circular manner, she kills herself and the other members of the Fraternity in the room.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Her true name is never revealed. Not even when she is given a kill order containing her own name.
• Principles Zealot: Is willing to kill hundreds because the loom demands it. Including her former comrades and herself.
• Perpetual Smiler: Crossing over with Pyschotic Smirk, she tends to smile a lot when she really shouldn't.
• Race Lift: She was modeled after Halle Berry in the comics. In the movie, she's played by Angelina Jolie.
• The Smurfette Principle: She is the only female among the assassins of the Fraternity, and their top member.
• Shoot the Dog: She invokes this, as she was going to get a dog to be a target since Wesley wouldn't shoot the corpse of an old woman.
• Tattooed Crook: She's got some tattoos on her arm, and works for the Fraternity.
• Toplessness from the Back: When she wakes up when The Exterminator blows an exploding rat in the healing room.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: She would have become a judge like her father... if he wasn't captured and burned to death in front of her.
• What You Are in the Dark: Possibly the best interpretation of her death. Since Fox had explained that she serves the loom, her choice was to kill everyone Sloan just said the loom named as a target, including herself. If you never went evil, you can't be redeemed, and she had the chance. She just didn't take it.

Sloan

"For the first time in your life, you're in control."

Played by: Morgan Freeman, Tom Kane (voice actor in "Wanted:Weapons of Fate")

Dubbed by: Med Hondo (European French)

"It's a choice, Wesley, that each of us must face: to remain ordinary, pathetic, beat-down, coasting through a miserable existence, like sheep herded by fate - or you can take control of your own destiny and join us, releasing the caged wolf you have inside. Our purpose is to maintain stability in an unstable world - kill one, save a thousand. Within the fabric of this world, every life hangs by a thread. We are that thread - a fraternity of assassins with the weapons of fate. This is the decision that lies before you now: the sheep, or the wolf. The choice is yours."

Leader of the Fraternity of assassins. His job is to interpret the codes provided by the threads of the Loom of Fate and assign the discovered names to the assassins to carry on the missions. He was an acquaintance of Wesley's father and trains him to become powerful enough to defeat the rogue agent Cross.

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• Affably Evil: He's a rather polite assassin.
• Batman Gambit: His whole plan to get Cross killed relied on him knowing that Cross wouldn't kill his own son.
• Because Destiny Says So: He believes that the Loom chooses their targets and it's an assassin's duty to kill those chosen enemies and fulfill the orders of destiny. Actually a lie. He has been manufacturing his own targets for his own profit.
• Big Bad: He essentially played Wesley all along and drove most of his story from behind the scenes.
• Contract on the Hitman: He first hands an order for Fox to kill Wesley. Then, he reveals there is an order against everyone in the Fraternity, as well as one order against himself.
• Don't Think, Feel:
  Sloan: If no one told you that bullets flew straight, and I gave you a gun and told you to hit the target, what would you do? Let your instincts guide you.
• Evil All Along: He wasn't lying that the Fraternity killed people destined to die when their named turned up in the weaving of a magic loom, but he's been creating fake kill orders to benefit himself financially and he brought in Wesley solely so that he could train and manipulate the boy into becoming a killer and aim him at the man trying to stop him, Cross, Wesley's own father.
• Evil Old Folks: It's Morgan Freeman playing an organization leader who uses the main character as a pawn in his schemes.
• Evil Mentor: Specially to Wesley. He teaches him skills and provides him with information, yet he secretly is plotting against him.
• Expecting Someone Taller: To Wesley, when they first meet.
• Expy: Possibly of Professor Seltzer of the original comics. Only Seltzer never betrayed his allies.
• Failed a Spot Check: How he is killed. He tries to sneak up on Wesley in his office and kill him, only to be greeted with a decoy, and get his brains blown out.
• Karma Houdini: Subverted. He walks away just fine from Wesley's rampage, but is killed by him in the end.
• Motive Rant: His speech to the remaining Fraternity members, in which he says that holding on to the code would mean that they would have to kill themselves, and that they can take the Fraternity to a new level of power if they kill Wesley.
  "Here is what the truth is: Your name came up. Your name came up. Your name came up. Your name. Your name. Yours. everyone in this room. If I had not done what I did, you would all be dead. I saved your lives. Now look where we are. We are stronger than ever, changing the course of history as we see it. Choosing the targets that we select. We can redistribute power where we see fit. The wolves rule, not the sheep. Now, if any of you feel the need to follow the code of the Fraternity to the letter, I invite you to take your gun, put it in your mouth, and pull the trigger. That is what Wesley demands. Otherwise, shoot this motherfucker, and let us take our Fraternity of Assassins to heights reserved only for the Gods of men. You choose."
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Takes in a young man, teaches him how to fight, kill, and tricks him into killing his own father with the intent to have him killed afterwards. It would have worked if the guy didn't survive and use every lethal trick taught to him to bomb and kill everyone in the mill.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Never pulls a trigger himself and only spends the film manipulating people to do his dirty work. Is almost subverted at the end after everyone working for him gets killed and he goes to kill Wesley himself, who had seeming returned to working as an accountant, only to walk into a trap that gets him headshotted by Wesley.
• Oh, Crap!: When he Fails a Spot Check and gets killed by Wesley in the end.
• Precision F-Strike: He gets two:
  • When he tells the Fraternity members to "shoot THIS [Wesley] motherfucker."
  • And his Oh, Crap! moment above.
• The Social Darwinist: He has shades of it, with his comparisons of wolves and sheep. Moreso in his Motive Rant at the climax.
• Villains Never Lie: When he tells the Fraternity that the Loom of Fate chose each of them to die, they believe him even though Wesley just told them that Sloan has been manipulating the Loom for his own purposes. Justified; the villain is legitimately in the more trustworthy position. Who would you be more likely to believe, the boss who you've got no actual reason to distrust, or the guy who just shot up half your fortress and killed dozens of your friends, after blowing up the other half? It's also totally Justified in that all of the members in the room had been doing Sloan's bidding unwittingly... meaning they had been killing innocent people that the loom hadn't chosen - and given Fox's actions, may have caused countless deaths of others who weren't even their targets but were in the way. Of course the Loom would pick them out then.
• We Can Rule Together: In his Motive Rant, he says that they can all become more powerful and change history at their own will if they abandon the code and kill Wesley.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He tells Wesley that he has a "caged wolf" inside of him, and needs to free it.

Cross SPOILERS

Cross

Played by: Thomas Kretschmann

One of the best members of the Fraternity who betrayed them and started killing other Fraternity members, including Wesley's father, Mr. X. When he is finally confronted, there's more to the story: he is Wesley's real father and was branded a traitor by Sloan when he discovered that Sloan was making fake kill orders. He reappears in "Wanted: Weapons of Fate" as a playable character.

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• Adaptational Heroism: His comic book counterpart arranges for Wesley to join the Fraternity because he can't stand the idea of his son being a wimp. Cross, on the other hand, leaves his son alone and never interferes with his life before the events of the movie and is fighting the Fraternity because they've been corrupted by Sloan.
• Adaptational Wimp: Wesley's father is so powerful in the comic that his entire motivation is to train someone better than him so he can die at the hand of a Worthy Opponent. He also survives until the very end of the comic, and unlike in the movie, his death at Wesley's hand is voluntary and occurs after all of his enemies are dead.
• Cold Sniper: He does this several miles away with a 6-foot musket-style rifle that uses bullets which split into three parts to make their way to their target.
• Contract on the Hitman: He confronts Sloan for faking kill orders and is targeted for "denying Fate".
• Defector from Decadence: He was a dedicated Fraternity member, until he discovered that Sloan had turned the organization into his own personal mercenary army. Cross went rouge and devoted the rest of his life to destroy the Fraternity and try to keep Wesley from getting involved with them.
• Good All Along: He didn't kill Wesley's father. He is Wesley's father and the reason he's killing everyone in the Fraternity is because they're (unknowingly) killing innocent people for money and they refuse to listen to him.
• Guns Akimbo: In the video game sequel, he uses a pair of Shock Troopers and Fire Eaters in some of his levels.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Just like his son, Wesley.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Spits this out after Wesley fatally shoots him.
• More Dakka: He briefly uses a Heckler & Koch MP7A1 in the movie and uses two custom CZ-75 Automatic machine pistols in the game.
• Papa Wolf: He had been protecting Wesley throughout his life and had an apartment near Wesley's old one, which Wesley inherits after his death.
• Post Humorous Character: He's already dead by the events of "Wanted: Weapons of Fate", but you play as him in levels set in the past and his mummified corpse appears near the end of the game.
• Rewatch Bonus: If you look back at the film, he never really fires directly at Wesley. In the train fight, he only tries to talk to him and only shoots the bullets being fired at him.

Janice

Janice

Played by: Lorna Scott

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• Big Eater: A lot of scenes with her involve her stuffing her face.
• Evil Redhead: A Mean Boss with red hair.
• Fat Bastard: She's plump and she's a Mean Boss
• Jerkass: Treats everyone around her with a lot of disrespect.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While she may be a terrible boss, she does have a point about Wesley focusing on his job rather then surfing the internet.
• Mean Boss: She treats her employees like crap.
• Pointy-Haired Boss: Janice abuses, intimidates, and belittles her staff so she feels better about herself.
• Race Lift: The movie version of Janice is Caucasian while her comic counterpart was African-American.

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