Who the Clix? Agent X
Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.
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Appearances in Heroclix: Deadpool
First Appearance: Deadpool #65/Agent X #1
Team Affiliations: Agency X
Nijo was an assassin hired by the Black Swan to help him kill Deadpool. After Black Swan was able to “download” a virus into Deadpool’s mind, the merc with a mouth came for both assassins. During this encounter, Black Swan revealed he had actually killed Nijo’s brother and stabbed the hired gun. Black Swan had only been angry that Deadpool was being given credit for his kills. Deadpool seemed to get the last laugh, however, as a bomb he brought went off and seemingly killed all three.
However, a short time later a man calling himself Alex Hayden appeared in New York with the intention of becoming the greatest mercenary alive. Deadpool’s former secretary, Sandi Brandenberg, found the mercenary and assumed that he was an amnesiac Deadpool. Former super-villain Taskmaster and expert markswoman Outlaw were recruited to train Alex. Both trainers agreed that Alex’s ambidexterity and superior shooting skills proved he couldn’t be Deadpool (as the merc with a mouth was a notorious bad shot). Still, the four formed a mercenary group called Agency X.
Alex and Outlaw eventually team up to try and steal the Punisher’s .45 Colts and ultimately fail, before becoming romantically involved. Taskmaster became jealous of Sandi’s affection for Alex and set the mercenary up, telling the new Four Winds that Alex was actually Deadpool. The plan partially backfired, as the Four Winds also attacked Taskmaster, leading to a final stand at their amusement park headquarters by Outlaw, Taskmaster, Alex and Sandi against an army of mercenaries and super-villains. Among them, the daughters of Tarantula and Batroc the Leaper. Agency X proves ultimately triumphant.
A short time later, Black Swan and a tabula rasa Deadpool found Alex and revealed the truth: during the explosion, the three assassins had merged minds and powers during a last ditch effort by Black Swan to save his own life. This resulted in each of them being changed drastically. Black Swan proposed a purposeful mind meld in an attempt to restore all three to their proper selves. Alex agreed only to have Black Swan double cross him and absorb Alex and Deadpool’s powers into himself.
Unable to defeat the empowered Black Swan, Alex had Taskmaster and Outlaw distract him and had the clean slate Deadpool pin Swan to a van loaded with explosives. Alex set off the bombs and was able to take control of Swan’s powers and put the three back to their proper selves, giving Swan the additional gift of being caught in the original bomb explosion. This kept Black Swan catatonic long enough for Taskmaster, Outlaw, Alex and Deadpool to repeatedly shoot the villain and ensure that he was dead. The group then had the dead body stuffed and took it on vacation, posing with it.
During Deadpool’s adventures with Cable, Alex again crossed paths with the merc with a mouth. Now both having the same healing factor and a similar personality, they battled for hours to a stand still. They inflicted great physical damage on each other as well as incredible annoyance. Eventually, they declared a truce because they couldn’t kill each other.
Later, Alex is hired to deal a device from Hydra. Unfortunately, in the course of stealing the item, the device gave Alex arthritis and the “American gene” (which overcame his healing factor and made him monstrously overweight). Sandi and Outlaw hired Deadpool to rescue Alex, who did so with the help of Bob, Agent of Hydra. Faced with his horrifying transformation, Alex asked Deadpool to run Agency X while he got himself back in shape. When Deadpool asked why Alex would do this, Alex revealed that he felt if he didn’t get back in shape he would have to kill himself or end up eating himself out of business, and probably cannibalizing Sandi in the process.