Agent X
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Agent X (real name: Nijo Minamiyori, chosen allias: Alex Hayden) is a fictional mercenary whose adventures have been published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in Agent X #1 (Sept 2002), by Gail Simone and UDON. That series, a pseudo-spinoff of Deadpool, 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.
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[edit] Publication history
Agent X was born out of Marvel Comics' long- running Deadpool 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 franchise (as part of the same effort, Cable was changed to Soldier X and "X-Force" was changed to "X-Statix"). Online humourist Gail Simone was chosen to write both Deadpool's final arc and the new series, with the UDON studio, who had recently revamped the Taskmaster 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 and was a steady seller in a crowded market. This title suffered due Marvel's lack of support for both this and Soldier X -- neither title enjoyed house or trade support. Simone publicly clashed with Marvel's editorial staff as the X-Men relaunch 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 after Marvel cancelled the book, 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 and the acclaimed art team of Juan Bobillo & Marcelo Sosa. Just like the work of Simone & Udon, these fill-ins were sadly forgotten by the comics community. Stillborn, Agent X was cancelled with issue #12. However, shortly after this announcement, Marvel decided to launch a Cable & Deadpool book as a change in direction. 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 and Deadpool no. 12. He would make another appearance in no. 38, where he was captured on a mission against 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 and Outlaw. After being rescued, Agent X decided to allow Deadpool to run Agency X until he was cured of his disabilities.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Agent X' s real name is Nijo, but during a bout of amnesia he adopted the name Alex Hayden. Agent X is a combined consciousness which resides in the body of Nijo but which also contains the mental powers of Deadpool and Black Swan (as well as some of Deadpool's brain tissue). Agent X was created when the corpse of Nijo was revived and given Deadpool's healing power by Black Swan, who has the ability to enter a person's mind and unleash viruses similar to computer viruses into their brain. Agent X subsequently founded a team of mercenaries known as Agency X with his girlfriend Outlaw, Taskmaster, Sandi Brandenberg, and the mutant Mary Zero. Mary was subsequently de-powered by the events of M-Day and Taskmaster apparently left the Agency before the outbreak of Civil War.
[edit] Trivia
- Deadpool refers to Agent X as his "Earth-2 Counterpart", which might be a reference to DC's use of multiverses to explain multiple differences of the "same" character.
- Agent X's inner thoughts, like Deadpool's yellow boxes, are protrayed by yellow lined paper, like a diary.
- He has also proved to break the fourth wall like Deadpool repeatedly does.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] 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 issue 4. Its highly possible that this is Nijo since Deadpool's existence was eliminated through his dimensional jump shortly before House of M, preventing him from receiving his trademark X-scars.
