List of Minor Characters in The Matrix Series - Tank

Tank (played by Marcus Chong) appears in the first film of The Matrix series.

Tank watched over not only the jacked-in crewmembers, but also the ship itself in case the Sentinels, killing machines, detected the ship. Like all Operators, Tank was a skilled programmer who could provide jacked-in crewmembers almost anything they needed and guided them to and from dangerous events within the Matrix. One of his more famous lines, is when Tank meets Neo and tells him of the significance that Morpheus found Neo, "It's a VERY exciting time."

Unlike his crewmates Apoc, Switch, Mouse, Cypher, Trinity, Captain Morpheus, and Neo, neither Tank nor his older brother Dozer were grown artificially in the Machine's human harvest fields for insertion in the Matrix powerplant, but born in the real world, in Zion, the last human city. As a result, Tank and Dozer don't have the various jacks and connectors in their bodies as the other humans who once lived within the Matrix.

Tank was tending to the remaining crewmembers when Agents and police attacked them after their return from The Oracle. Tank was able to retrieve Cypher, but as he tried to retrieve the remaining crew, Cypher shot and severely injured Tank with an electric ray gun and killed Dozer. Cypher was able to kill Apoc and Switch by removing their jacks from their bodies, forcibly disconnecting their minds from the Matrix. However, before Cypher could kill Neo and Trinity, Tank regained consciousness and killed Cypher with the same weapon that Cypher had used on him and Dozer.

Tank was able to resume his duties to aid Trinity and Neo in rescuing Morpheus from a military-secured building, and to witness Neo's transformation into The One.

The crew could not heal his wound because the plasma shot creates permanent wounds. Tank died two months after the events in The Matrix but before the events in the sequel, The Matrix Reloaded. The character's duties as ship's Operator was handed over to Link, who is married to Tank and Dozer's sister, Zee.

The demise of the character was reportedly due to actor Marcus Chong's salary demands and conflicts with the Wachowski brothers, the writers and creators of the Matrix series, leading to his removal.