Agent X
Encyclopedia
Agent X is a fictional
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...

 mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...

 whose adventures have been published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

. He first appeared in Agent X #1 (Sept 2002), by Gail Simone
Gail Simone
Gail Simone is an American writer of comic books. Best known for penning DC's Birds of Prey, her other notable works include Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, The All-New Atom, and Deadpool. In 2007, she took over Wonder Woman...

 and UDON
UDON
UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio of Asian-influenced comic book creators that provides creative services to the entertainment industry. The company is a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik...

.

The series, a pseudo-spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 of Deadpool
Deadpool (comics)
Deadpool is a fictional character, a mercenary and anti-hero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool first appeared in The New Mutants #98 Deadpool (Wade Winston Wilson) is a fictional character, a mercenary and...

, continued the cynical, slapstick, and highly-polished action which had characterized its parent series. Indeed, a central feature of Agent X was the question of the title character's identity, sometimes implied to be Deadpool himself. Deadpool refers to Agent X as his "Earth-2
Earth-Two
Earth-Two is a fictional universe appearing in American comic book stories published by DC Comics. First appearing in The Flash #123 , Earth-Two was created to explain how Silver-Age versions of characters such as the Flash could appear in stories with their Golden Age counterparts...

 Counterpart", a reference to DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

' designation of different Earths for different iterations of identical and similar characters.

Publication history

Agent X was born out of Marvel Comics' long-running Deadpool
Deadpool (comics)
Deadpool is a fictional character, a mercenary and anti-hero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool first appeared in The New Mutants #98 Deadpool (Wade Winston Wilson) is a fictional character, a mercenary and...

 series, whose sales had slumped to cancellation point, with experiments including the "miniseries within a series", (Deadpool: Agent of Weapon X and Deadpool: Funeral for a Freak, where the main series' numbering was demoted to secondary status below the "miniseries" numbering), having failed to stymie the leak. The decision was then taken to run a "final arc" to close the series, then restart it from #1 with an X in the title in an attempt to more closely identify it with their popular X-Men
X-Men
The X-Men are a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1...

 franchise (as part of the same effort, Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...

 was changed to Soldier X and X-Force
X-Force
X-Force is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero team, one of several spin-offs of the popular X-Men franchise. Conceived by writer/illustrator Rob Liefeld, the team was formed in New Mutants, vol. 1 #100 and soon afterwards was featured in its own series.The group was a new incarnation of the 1980s...

 was changed to X-Statix
X-Statix
X-Statix was a fictional team of mutant superheroes in Marvel Comics, specifically designed to be media superstars. The team, created by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred, first appears in X-Force #116 and originally assumed the moniker X-Force, taking the name of the more traditional superhero team,...

). All of these titles changed names not because of poor sales but because Rob Liefeld was demanding Marvel comics pay him for characters (Cable & Deadpool) and the title X-Force that he created. Marvel did not want to pay so changed the titles of the books and in the case of Deadpool the name of main character. Online humorist Gail Simone
Gail Simone
Gail Simone is an American writer of comic books. Best known for penning DC's Birds of Prey, her other notable works include Secret Six, Welcome to Tranquility, The All-New Atom, and Deadpool. In 2007, she took over Wonder Woman...

 was chosen to write both Deadpools final arc and the new series, with the UDON
UDON
UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio of Asian-influenced comic book creators that provides creative services to the entertainment industry. The company is a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik...

 studio, who had recently revamped the Taskmaster
Taskmaster
Taskmaster is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. The character is primarily a supervillain but is often portrayed as an antihero. The Taskmaster first appeared in Avengers vol.1 #195 and was created by David Michelinie and George Pérez...

 in a well-received miniseries, to supply the art.

Agent X replaced Deadpool with a similar protagonist, while including ambiguous hints as to the nature of his relationship with the original character. Agent X was well-received by critics but wasn't a sales success. Some felt this title suffered due to Marvel's lack of support for both this and Soldier X as neither title enjoyed house or trade support. Simone publicly clashed with Marvel's editorial staff as the relaunched title struggled to find a foothold. Simone left the book after issue 7, with the protagonist's true identity still unrevealed.

The book's sales further suffered, prompting Marvel to cancel the book. The company then changed course to publish a series of fill-ins, to mixed reviews. Towards the end, two of these fill-ins were published to small fanfare: those by noted author Evan Dorkin
Evan Dorkin
Evan Dorkin is an American comics artist and writer. His best known works are the comic books Milk and Cheese and Dork...

 and the acclaimed art team of Juan Bobillo and Marcelo Sosa. Soon after, Agent X was canceled with issue #12. However, shortly after this announcement, Marvel decided to launch a Cable & Deadpool
Cable & Deadpool
Cable & Deadpool was a comic book series published by Marvel Comics beginning in 2004. The title characters, Cable and Deadpool, shared the focus of the book. The series was launched following the cancellation of the characters' previous ongoing solo series. The book's mix of humor, action, and...

 book as a change in direction, which ended up being a much more successful consolidation of the two characters into one title. This allowed Simone and UDON to complete their initial vision as part of a three-issue arc tying up the loose ends and restoring Deadpool for use in the new book, which was published after a month's hiatus as Agent X #13-15.

Agent X also appeared in Cable & Deadpool #11-12. He would make another appearance in #38-39, where he was captured on a mission against HYDRA
HYDRA
HYDRA is a fictional terrorist organization in the Marvel Universe.Despite the name's capitalization per Marvel's official spelling, the name is not an acronym but rather a reference to the mythical Lernaean Hydra...

, who were able to give him arthritis using new technology, then morbid obesity so he wouldn't notice the arthritis. He was subsequently rescued by Deadpool, who was hired by Sandi
Sandi Brandenberg
Sandi Brandenberg is a Marvel Comics supporting character and has been associated with both Deadpool and Agent X.-Fictional character biography:...

 and Outlaw
Outlaw (comics)
Outlaw is a fictional character created by Marvel Comics for their series' Deadpool and Agent X. She is a mutant with the abilities of superhuman strength, durability, and an uncanny aptitude with firearms....

. After being rescued, Agent X decided to allow Deadpool to run Agency X until he was cured of his disabilities.

In the 'Dear Deadpool' section of #37 the writers jokingly hinted that Agent X may receive a new ongoing series sometime in the future.

Fictional character biography

Nijo was an assassin, mercenary, and agent employed by the telepathic German assassin called the Black Swan
Black Swan (comics)
Black Swan is a fictional character from Marvel Comics who first appeared in Deadpool vol. 3, #65. Black Swan was created by Gail Simone and the artists of Udon Studios.-Fictional character biography:...

. He blamed Deadpool for his brother's death as he was among the targets of Deadpool's apparently successful assassination of the Japanese crime lords named the Four Winds. After Black Swan downloaded a mental virus into Deadpool's brain, the mercenary came for both Swan and Nijo at the Swan's castle in Germany. However, Black Swan revealed he had in fact killed the Four Winds, including Nijo's brother, and stabbed him out of boredom with his ranting and disobedience. His vendetta with Deadpool was that the hits had erroneously been credited to the wrong man. A bomb Deadpool had brought went off, and all three were presumed killed.

However, Alex Hayden soon emerged in New York with one goal in mind - to be the best mercenary alive. He was found by Sandi Brandenberg
Sandi Brandenberg
Sandi Brandenberg is a Marvel Comics supporting character and has been associated with both Deadpool and Agent X.-Fictional character biography:...

, Deadpool's former secretary, who assumed he was Deadpool by his powers and demeanour. He subconsciously took the name as a combination of composers he liked: Alexander Grieg and Josef Haydn, which Sandi worked out through his fondness for classical music. Sandi's friend and distant romantic interest Taskmaster
Taskmaster
Taskmaster is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe. The character is primarily a supervillain but is often portrayed as an antihero. The Taskmaster first appeared in Avengers vol.1 #195 and was created by David Michelinie and George Pérez...

 was sought to help him get his bearings and train him, as was Outlaw
Outlaw (comics)
Outlaw is a fictional character created by Marvel Comics for their series' Deadpool and Agent X. She is a mutant with the abilities of superhuman strength, durability, and an uncanny aptitude with firearms....

, for her shooting skills. Taskmaster noticed Alex was ambidextrous and that he was somehow interfering with his reflex ability while training with him. Taskmaster then knew he couldn't be Deadpool, despite his healing factor and recognition of him and Sandi, and Outlaw corroborated this as Alex proved to be a better gun talent than Deadpool. Sandi and Alex formed a mercenary group, Agency X. The headquarters is based out of an amusement park Alex acquired as payment for his first mission.

Alex ran into Outlaw while assigned to try to take out the Punisher
Punisher
The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...

 and steal his Colt .45 handguns. They failed and were locked up in a phone booth minus their weapons and clothes by Castle. The Punisher then killed the people who had sent them. Afterwards, Outlaw and Alex became romantically involved. However, Taskmaster, who was jealous of Sandi's attachment to Alex, had set up Alex on that mission and he was kicked out of the agency. He then contacted Higashi, the new leader of part of the Four Winds organization and informed them that Alex was Deadpool, who still held the credit for killing the previous four crime heads. The organisation, primarily directed by Higashi's enforcer, Saguri, therefore held Alex, Sandi and Taskmaster responsible but with Outlaw's help, the three made a last stand at the amusement park against an army of mercenaries and supervillains, while Sandi was given to Higashi for safekeeping, as his infatuation with her would keep her protected. Agency X were triumphant and Alex blackmailed the crime lords into submission, while killing Saguri after surreptitiously being hired by Higashi to do so. Higashi was also convinced by Sandi that Alex was not Wade Wilson and was now more fully in control of his group, so he agreed to prevent any further reprisals on the foursome. Alex was enthused at what appeared to be a fresh start for the Agency but was hurt when Outlaw announced her desire to return home to the South to care for her dying father instead, while Taskmaster declined a full-time position.

Alex performed his assignments solo from then on, but he found his personal life further muddied when he and Sandi spent a night together. He became disillusioned with his work and decided to shut down the agency, but found himself unable to tell Sandi, who by then had set up a job for he and Taskmaster to act as bodyguards to Higashi as a final act of ceasefire. While on their way to a meeting between the Four Winds families, Alex's group was attacked by a pair of over-cheerful assassins, but after a frantic battle, they arrived safely to find one of the Four Winds families had ordered the hit on Higashi. Now that Higashi was indebted to them, Alex, Taskmaster and Sandi returned to Sandi's apartment to find Black Swan and a tabula rasa
Tabula rasa
Tabula rasa is the epistemological theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception. Generally proponents of the tabula rasa thesis favour the "nurture" side of the nature versus nurture debate, when it comes to aspects...

 Deadpool waiting. It turned out that all three had partially merged during the explosion when Black Swan used his powers in an act of desperation to save himself. Black Swan psionically acquired Deadpool's healing factor but accidentally made contact with Nijo and personal traits had been mixed around. Swan had given also Nijo's corpse Deadpool's regenerative powers (restoring him to a form of life 5 minutes after his death), as well as part of his personality, while Nijo also gained Swan's firearms talents, ambition, some of his refined tastes, preferences and biases, and also the bodily scarring and outrage he'd received from Deadpool throwing him face first into a white hot fireplace griddle at his home.

Black Swan proposed a three-way mind meld to restore each man to their correct personal states, but doublecrossed them. Outlaw returned in time to help fight the Black Swan, who had now absorbed both Alex and Deadpool's powers to augment himself. Even though Alex called Higashi's favour in and surrounded Swan with hitmen, this proved to be fruitless, so Alex devised a new plan. After Taskmaster and Outlaw distracted him, Deadpool pinned Swan to Taskmaster's explosives-laden van and Alex ignited it. Alex then reversed Black Swan's absorption, but also gave him the memories of being caught in the bomb explosion in Germany. The group then repeatedly shot the Black Swan to make sure he was dead. The body was taxidermied and carried around by each couple (Taskmaster and Sandi, Alex and Inez) as a prop while they went on vacation.

When they later found themselves on opposing sides over the fate of Cable
Cable (comics)
Cable is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared as an infant in Uncanny X-Men #201...

, Alex had another confrontation with Deadpool, which he lost initially, giving Deadpool the opportunity to spell out "Hi, Weasel
Weasel (comics)
Weasel is a fictional character who appears in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Fabian Nicieza and Joe Madureira, he first appeared in Deadpool: The Circle Chase #1 . Weasel is a friend, sidekick, information broker and arms dealer for Deadpool...

" with his entrails as a "surprise" for his best friend. Unable to do much damage to each other due to their healing factors, they relented after Wade agreed to hand Alex his pancreas back.

After a botched attempt to steal a device from Hydra, Sandi and Outlaw convinced Deadpool to rescue Alex. Alex had been affected by the device he was supposed to steal, giving him arthritis and "the American gene" (which resulted in making him incredibly fat). This made escape physically impossible - though he wouldn't want to miss out on the many treats and monkey chow that were being given to him as a lab specimen. Deadpool managed to free Alex with the help of Bob, Agent of HYDRA
Bob, Agent of HYDRA
Bob, Agent of HYDRA, is a fictional mercenary in the Marvel Comics Universe, and a sidekick of Deadpool.-Publication history:Bob returns in Deadpool #6-7 , "How Low Can You Go?", which deals with the implications of Dark Reign, the Secret Invasion aftermath. Writer Daniel Way has said "From day...

. He then asked Deadpool to run Agency X whilst he got himself back in shape, reasoning with himself that his only other alternatives were to shoot himself or eat Sandi and his business.

In Deadpool: Suicide Kings #2, Outlaw tells Deadpool that Alex has lost 14 lbs thanks to Jenny Craig
Jenny Craig
Jenny Craig is an American weight loss guru and founder of Jenny Craig, Inc. Craig was raised in New Orleans and married Sidney Harvey Craig in 1979. In 1983, she and her husband created a nutrition, fitness, and weight loss program in Australia...

, though Deadpool implies that he is still overweight.

House of M

An Asian male wearing yellow goggles and a belt forming an X around his chest is shown under the Sapiens Resistance group in House of M
House of M
House of M is an eight-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2005. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel, its first issue debuted in June 2005 as a follow-up to the events of the Planet X and Avengers Disassembled...

issue 4.
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