Agent J

This article is about the Men in Black character. Agent J is also the name of a character in Elite Beat Agents, and is also the title of Mandopop singer Jolin Tsai's 9th Album

James Darrell Edwards III/Agent J
Men in Black: The Series character
Will Smith as Agent J.
First appearance	Men in Black
Portrayed by	Will Smith
Voiced by	Keith Diamond
Information
Nickname(s)	Jay J "Slick"

Agent J (Jay, or just J) is a fictional MIB agent and one of the two protagonists of Men In Black, its sequel Men in Black II, and it's second sequel Men in Black 3 and Men in Black: The Series. Agent J is portrayed by Will Smith in the three films and voiced by Keith Diamond in the animated series. Men in Black 3 features Agent J in a more central role, making him the chief protagonist.

Biography

Early life

Not much is known of the life of James Darrell Edwards III prior to being recruited to MIB. His appearance as a small child in 1969 in Men in Black 3 would place his year of birth in the mid-1960s. His father, US Army Colonel James Edwards Jr, was working security at Kennedy Space Center for the Apollo 11 launch when he was murdered by Boris the Animal after assisting Agent K in stopping a chain of events that would have led to K's death and a widescale invasion of Earth forty years later. Though young James was present at the event, Agent K erased the young boy's memory of it. James was left with no clear understanding of why his father wasn't around when he grew up, with nothing but his father's pocket watch to remember him by. Nothing else is known about the proceeding twenty-eight years save that James became an accomplished police officer with the NYPD. It does not appear as if he had any family by 1997.

Though little is known of Agent J's personal life outside of his role as an agent of Men in Black, he is known to be a big fan of both video games, which he is seen playing in his off hours, and rap music. A line of dialogue from Men in Black II suggests his mother once bought him a Game Boy.

Men in Black

In the first film, Agent J is African American, despite being Caucasian in the comics. His MIB career starts out when, as NYPD officer James Edwards, he runs down a swift, wall-climbing alien on foot. When MIB Agent K notices his potential, he recruits him into the MIB (It should be noted that within the continuity of the series, the events of Men in Black 3 would imply that K recognized J from their meeting in the 60s). At first, Edwards is suspicious, but he decides to join. He is registered as Agent J and his energetic, enthusiastic attitude brings humor to a bland organization. Jay is not fond of Kay's diminutive references to him (son, sport, slick, kid, etc.), but gets used to it. In his various adventures, he encounters Frank, the dog; finds out that Jeebs, the pawn store owner is actually an alien, not just a buyer of stolen goods from chain snatchers like he originally thought when he was a detective; and delivers a baby squid. Their first official mission is to stop an alien Bug from leaving Earth with a tiny galaxy before the galaxy's owners disintegrate the planet. During the final confrontation with the bug, Kay is swallowed by it in an attempt to get his gun back, leaving Jay to keep him on Earth. When he starts squishing cockroaches, the Bug confronts him, but before it can attack him, Kay shoots it from the inside. The Bug was finally killed by Dr. Laurel Weaver (Linda Fiorentino), a morgue worker. When Kay requests to be neuralyzed (a memory-wiping procedure), Jay fulfills the request and his new partner is Laurel, who becomes known as Agent L.

Men in Black: The Series

Agent J in this story is a partner of Agent K, who either retired or returned after being retired, J despite being one of the NYPD's best and most experienced, is considered a rookie by K and Chief Zed, both never really let him drive an official MIB Car for unknown reasons.

Men in Black II

At some point between the first and second film, Agent L goes back to her morgue career, because J has gained a reputation for neuralyzing all of his partners for, in his opinion, unsuitability to work at MIB; at the beginning of the film, he neuralyzes his new partner Agent T because he forces T to admit that he joined the agency to be a hero, something that is fundamentally impossible in the Men in Black due to the secretive nature of the organization. Other than that, he has developed into a superb and highly respected agent. When he is sent to get Agent K back to face a new threat to which only he had details of locked away in his mind, J's temporary partner is an alien disguised as a talkative pug, Frank. J investigates a murder at a local pizza joint and meets and falls in love with an employee named Laura Vasquez. Despite the MIB's policy, J does not neuralyze her. J then heads to find Kevin Brown who holds the key to finding the Light of Zartha. When K is de-neuralyzed, J is once again the rookie, but for revenge, J gave Brown the Noisy Cricket (the tiny gun that K saddled him with in the first movie, though it does have a strong blast). The duo discover the light is Laura, and J (reluctantly) allows her to fulfill her destiny.

During the film, J has a particular enmity with the alien criminal known as Jara, whom J stopped from stealing the Earth's ozone layer.

Men in Black 3

In the third film, a time-traveling alien goes back to 1969 and murders a young K, which could possibly lead to the end of the world in some form or the other. J learns of K's death and travels to 1969 to teach him everything he himself has learned in his fifteen years with the Men in Black and save his mentor's life, hoping to apparently prevent a oncoming alien invasion due at some point in time. There is also a 24-hour time limit that could leave him in the past for the rest of his life.

See also

• Agent K
• The Men in Black (comics), inspiration for the fictional characters and stories
• Men in Black: The Series
• Men in Black 3

External links

• Agent J at the Internet Movie Database
• Agent J I at the Comic Book DB
• Agent J II at the Comic Book DB