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Agent Smith (later merely "Smith") is a fictional character featured in the Matrix film series, played by actor Hugo Weaving. The struggle between Neo and Smith ends up becoming the main plot underlying the events of The Matrix.

As an Agent of the System

According to Morpheus, the tutor of the protagonist Neo, Smith is an Agent, an artificial intelligence manifested in the artificial world and possessing extraordinary powers to manipulate his surroundings (including superhuman strength and the ability to flawlessly dodge incoming bullets). However, Agents still have limitations, being "based on a world that is built on rules". Thus, he cannot fly, walk through walls, or perform any other actions outside the boundaries of his programming. Like all Agents in the Matrix, he was originally programmed to keep order within the system by terminating troublesome programs and human avatars which would otherwise bring instability to the simulated reality. To expedite such tasks, he and other Agents have the ability to take over the simulated body of any human that is a part of the Matrix, converting it into a copy of their own. If that body is killed, or an Agent needs to change his location quickly, he can assume the shell of any other human hard-wired to the Matrix in a matter of seconds. Agents also have the ability to communicate with each other instantaneously, represented via their earpieces (thus, when Agent Smith removes his earpiece during the first Matrix movie, he is severing his link with the other agents).

Stylistic genealogy

The look and manner of Smith and his fellow Agents seem to be drawn from the common pool of paranoia and American pop culture. Obvious influences are the ruthless CIA or NSA agents of fiction who carry out their duties with cold precision and Midwestern accents. Some sources say that the agents are based on the Secret Service agents of the JFK era. The appearance and personality of agents seem to mirror a Corporate American businessman. Some may suggest a more explicit allusion to the Men in Black of UFO and conspiracy lore.

Agents wore dark sunglasses with corners or smooth angles. Agent Smith's sunglasses changed after his transformation in The Matrix Reloaded
from the square Agent-style into lenses shaped similarly to the protein capsule of certain viruses. Additionally, they more closely resemble the shape of Neo's sunglasses; but while Neo's have rounded edges, Smith's remain angular.

The police guards that provide security to many heads of state, such as the U.S. Secret Service dress is a similar manner to Smith and his agents, and have the same type of earpieces.

Following the naming pattern for Agents within the Matrix, Smith can be seen as a template for the everyman (or perhaps an antithesis thereof). The name is thought by some to imply the square, "whitebread" connotations of propping up The Man's (or in this case The Machine's) Establishment. Other Agents have names like Brown, Johnson, and Thompson—bland, common, innocuous, Anglo-Saxon names.

In addition, the name "Smith" is explicitly attributed (on the license plate of Smith's car in Reloaded) to the Book of Isaiah 54:16 from the Old Testament: :Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
In creating such a program to carry out menial tasks, the Machines have laid the foundations for their own destruction, a direct parallel to the creation of AI by humankind.

The two later films in the series make much of a dualistic opposition between Smith and Neo. Smith is pitiless and single-minded, focused on finality, conformity and "inevitability." As such, Smith represents determinism. By contrast, Neo, with his unpredictable, emotional, human nature, represents unbounded free will and the power of choice. Neo's solitary role as The One is contrasted by Smith, who, by replicating himself, becomes everyone. When Neo asks the Oracle about Smith, the Oracle explains that Smith is Neo's opposite and his negative.

Agent Smith's weapon of choice, as standard with all agents of the Matrix, is the Desert Eagle.

Departure from the norm

Agent Smith complains at one point that the Matrix and its inhabitants smell disgusting—an odd observation for an artificial entity. It is perhaps a metaphorical statement. Smith has a strong hatred of humans and their weakness of the flesh. He compares humanity to a virus, a disease organism that would replicate uncontrollably to destroy their environment were it not for the machine intelligences keeping them in check.

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