List of Minor Characters in The Matrix Series - Kid

Kid

The Kid (Michael Karl Popper), played by Clayton Watson, is a Zion-dwelling self-substantiated exile, from The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Animatrix short, "Kid's Story".

In The Animatrix, the Kid is an individual connected to the Matrix who is aided in his escape from the Matrix by Neo. At the beginning of his story, part of an online conversation he has with Neo is shown, and it appears to foreshadow the risk he takes at the end of the short:

Kid: Somebody tell me. Why it feels more real when I dream than when I am awake. How can I know if my senses are lying?

Neo: There is some fiction in your truth, and some truth in your fiction. To know the truth, you must risk everything.

Kid: Who are you? Am I alone?

Neo: You are not alone.

The circumstances of his liberation from the Matrix are unusual; after purposely allowing himself to fall from the top of his school building, he seems to detach himself from the Matrix before he hits the ground. This is not fully addressed (or actually seen) within the scope of the film short, but is possibly implied by imagery of birds flying as he fell, as well as subsequent comments by Neo and Trinity after they have retrieved Kid from the real-world power plant:

Trinity: It's unbelievable. I didn't think self-substantiation was possible.

Neo: Apparently it is.

Before letting himself fall, Kid spoke under his breath, "Neo, I believe. I know it wasn't a dream". It is implied that his conviction was in regard to Neo's assertion that he must "risk everything" to know the truth.

Though Neo repeatedly tells Kid (at the end of the short and in Matrix Reloaded), "I didn't save you, you saved yourself", Kid appears to associate the conviction which apparently gave him the strength to self-substantiate with Neo's guidance. This association leads to his hero worship of Neo (almost to the point of overeager lackeyism), and probably influenced his stated ambition to serve as a crew member aboard the Nebuchadnezzar.

Following the events of The Animatrix, Kid makes his first live appearance in The Matrix Reloaded. While possessing a minor role at best, his actions in The Matrix Revolutions were integral to the salvation of Zion. Kid volunteers for the infantry to help reload the APC's. As he is only sixteen he is not supposed to, but he convinces Captain Mifune to allow him to. During the Machine army siege at the Dock, Kid piloted the deceased Captain Mifune's mechanized armor and, with the help of Zee, destroyed a chain which held an entrance gate closed. With the gate now opening, the hovercraft Mjolnir (a.k.a.The Hammer) was able to enter the dock, crash land, and set off its electromagnetic pulse which successfully disabled all the attacking Sentinels and Drillers within the dock. He also prepares to fight during the final stand, but doesn't have to due to Neo's actions and announces to all of Zion that the war is over.

The Kid also makes an appearance in The Matrix Comics, vol. 2, released in December 2004 by Burlyman Entertainment (the Wachowski brothers' comic publishing company), in the story entitled "I Kant" ( A reference to the philosopher and astronomer Immanuel Kant). The story essentially revolves around Morpheus's (also in his first appearance since the events of The Matrix Revolutions) efforts to see the Kid through the jump program, as he did for Neo in The Matrix. This comic story, though still considered part of the Matrix canon by some, was not written by the Wachowski Brothers. The Art and Story are by Kaare Andrews, 3D Modeling by Ron Turner, and Color by Dave McCaig.

The Kid is also involved in the MMORPG The Matrix Online, released in the US in January 2005, he is first seen in a cutscene dressed in attire nearly identical to that of Neo. He has since formed the group E Pluribus Neo ("From many, Neo"; a play on the United States' official motto E Pluribus Unum), a splinter group of Zion who are dedicated to Neo's memory, a continuation of his hero worship of Neo. They are deeply opposed to the Cypherite organization and fight against them to ensure that all humans have a right to be free of the Matrix, though their ultimate goals are still a mystery. All members tend to dress similarly to Neo or Trinity, depending on gender. Clayton Watson reprises his role for Popper's speaking parts in the game.

The Kid's real name, Michael Karl Popper, is an allusion to philosopher Karl Popper, whose concept of Popperian cosmology is in fact a definition of the Matrix: where World 1 does not exist, the fundamental bases of World 2 (The Mind) and World 3 (Human Works) become invalid within an insubstantial subset of another World 2 within another World 1 (the Matrix).