List of Minor Characters in The Matrix Series - Cypher/Mr. Reagan

Cypher/Mr. Reagan

Cypher (played by Joe Pantoliano) is a character in The Matrix. Agent Smith addresses him as Mr. Reagan.

In the first film of the trilogy, Cypher is one of the rebels from Morpheus' hovercraft, the Nebuchadnezzar. Cypher has grown tired of the Man/Machine war within the real world. Harshly disillusioned with the grim existence of living on a hovercraft and tired of following Morpheus and his blind faith in the Prophecy, he has begun to wish that he had never learned the truth and left the Matrix in the first place. This prompts him to strike a deal with the Agents. At the beginning of the movie, he nearly has Trinity killed by allowing Agent Smith to trace one of their phone calls, proving to the Agents that he, "the informant", was legitimate.

Cypher secretly meets with Agent Smith once more, agreeing to turn Morpheus over to them if the Agents will return Cypher, rich and famous, to the Matrix power plant with no recollection of the Matrix's true nature. Cypher was able to contact the Agents to help them mount an ambush at the crew's safe location, as seen briefly that just after Neo enters a car to be taken to The Oracle, he drops a Nokia 8110 phone into a waste container. This way, he gets Mouse killed and then murders Apoc, Switch and Dozer after wounding Tank. Before he can kill Neo or Trinity, however, Tank recovers and kills Cypher.

Although Cypher admits that he believed he was in love with Trinity, he still attempts to kill her and Neo to go forth with the plan he concocted with Smith. It is then revealed that Agent Smith had no intention of returning Cypher to the Matrix, as he tells his fellow agents that they will continue as planned and proceed to deploy sentinels to destroy the Nebuchadnezzar.

One of Cypher's most famous quotes from the movie is "Ignorance is bliss", which he utters while speaking with Agent Smith, referring to the state of people inside the Matrix.