Agent (The Matrix) - Physical Aspects

Physical Aspects

Agents wear dark green business suits lined with a gold fabric, white dress shirts, black dress shoes, a silver bar tie clip to complement the tie, square sunglasses, and a communication earpiece. However, in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions, Agent Smith wears a black suit instead of a dark green one, angled sunglasses, instead of square sunglasses, and no earpiece unlike the other Agents, but he did have the same appearance and attire from the first film. These features are copied from the attire for plainclothes agents of the United States Secret Service, as well as those of the Men in Black conspiracy or the stereotypical G-Man/FBI official. All Agents are Caucasian males (with a minor exception of African-American Agent Perry and female Agent Pace from The Matrix Online game), which also provides a dynamic compared to the majority population of Zion, containing many diverse cultures and walks of life. They have sideburns, and their hair is either slicked back or side-parted. Matrix Agents carry Desert Eagle handguns in shoulder holsters that are concealed beneath their suits. In addition to proficiency in the use of firearms, all Agents are masters of the martial arts and hand-to-hand combat.

Agents are programmed to be extremely agile, allowing them to perform superhuman feats such as leaping great distances, while possessing exceptional reflexes; on one occasion Smith managed to directly counter a punch from Morpheus with a punch of his own to Morpheus's still-moving fist. They can briefly move at speeds fast enough to evade gunfire, at least in most circumstances; contact shots are effective, as are weapons with an extremely high rate of fire, such as that from a “Minigun” as seen in the first Matrix film. They seem to be impervious to pain, or to have an extremely high tolerance for it; when Neo shoots one Agent with a minigun, he shows no visible reaction to several bullets piercing his arm. They can only be "killed" by wounds that would be instantly lethal to a human; trauma to the head, heart, upper spine, and so on. Although very resistant, Agents can bleed (Morpheus cuts an Agent on "Matrix reloaded" in the cheek with a sword).

However, this "death" is only a minor obstacle. When an agent is killed, it can simply transfer itself to another body, as agents have the ability to take over Bluepills - humans directly connected to the Matrix. Hence, destroying an agent is virtually impossible. They can only possess bluepills, and thus Zion rebels are unaffected (only Smith, as a virus, had the ability to take over redpills by copying himself over them). For this reason, areas with a high population density (crowded apartment buildings, market places, freeways) are usually avoided by the Zion rebels.

Agents possess superhuman strength: they have been seen tearing off the roof of a car with one hand, and delivering punches that can shatter solid concrete. Agents also seem significantly less stunned by punches and kicks than a human would be, although a sufficiently strong attack to a vital body area can stagger them, such as when Neo briefly stunned Smith by 'stabbing' him in the throat with his fingers.

Agents can only act within the boundaries of the Matrix, and as a result, they must obey the laws of physics set within the Matrix's world. Thus, while they can perform feats of incredible strength or have inhuman endurance, they cannot walk through walls, stop bullets, fly unassisted, etc. They can bend the rules, but they cannot outright break them. The only exception to these limits occurs in the first film, wherein Agent Smith appears to plant a suggestion in Neo's mind that his (Neo's) mouth has sealed itself, although this could have been a temporary rewrite of the code of Neo's RSI from the source rather than a regular ability possessed by conventional Agents.

Agents, apart from Smith who seems intellectually superior to others, often do not show emotion.