Agent Bennett
Back to Villains Main > Agent Bennett
Real Identity: Agent James Bennett
Affiliation(s): National Security Agency
Appearances (BB): Zeta, Plague and Countdown
Appearances (TZP): The Accomplice, His Maker's Name, Change of Heart, Westbound, Hicksburg, Ro's Reunion, Absolute Zero, Wired Part One, Part Two, Quality Time, On the Wire, Cabin Pressure, The River Rising, and The Hologram Man
Skills: Intelligence and Government Training
Voiced By: Joe Spano/Kurtwood Smith
James Bennett is a special agent for the US government's National Security Agency (NSA) and oversees black ops missions, unsanctioned by Congress, specializing in terrorism. Bennett's personal goal and motivation is to make the world a safe place for his son, James Jr., to grow up. In his career, he encountered Batman while on the trail of a rogue synthoid, Infiltration Unit Zeta. Bennett's pursuit of Zeta did not end in Gotham but spanned across all of the United States of America. Bennett concluded that Zeta was reprogrammed by the terrorist agency, Brother's Day and used for their latest plan. He would capture Zeta and restore the unit under NSA control. If it appeared this objective could not be accomplished, Bennett vowed to destroy Zeta himself.
When he isn't pursuing Zeta, Agent Bennett also takes part in handling terrorist activity. One such group his agency faced was Kobra. After witnessing the tragedy at St. Denis, Bennett approached the Stalker and offered him a commuted sentence in exchange for intercepting Kobra's virus. The situation was complicated when the virus was headed to Gotham City, home to Batman, Stalker's enemy. Agent Bennett convinced Batman to work alongside Stalker to stop Kobra. Bennett's investigation into Zeta eventually hit a bureaucratic wall. During a reported break-in at the Applied Research and Development center, Bennett was ordered by Colonel Lemak to end his inquiry. Undaunted it was above his own clearance level, Bennett secretly conducted his own intelligence gathering operation and discovered Dr. Selig was at the center of the conspiracy.
Colonel Lemak warned Bennett again and before Bennett could question, Selig, the doctor was taken away into NSA custody. A short time later, Bennett captured Zeta and personally oversaw his reprogramming. Despite the in-house scientist's concern over a mysterious circuit module, Bennett ordered it to be deleted. However, Zeta still held onto his memories and escaped. Afterward, Bennett became obsessed with finding the connection between Zeta, Dr. Selig, and Brother's Day so much that it began to affect his family life. While taking his son, Junior, to the Vernet Marine Research Center under the guise of investigating a possible lead, Bennett found himself teaming up with Zeta to save Ro and his son. He then realized Ro's significance to Zeta and tried to offer her a plea bargain on multiple occassions. In exchange for helping her find her parents, Ro would help Bennett capture Zeta. However, Ro refused and likened Zeta to her only family.
Following a sighting of Dr. Selig at an IU Debriefing Post, Bennett and Colonel Lemak were surprised to see it was Dr. Edmund, a former teammate on the Zeta Project, securing the location of the Knossos, a secret government lab. Bennett went ahead to the Knossos and discovered Titus Sweete and a Brother's Day unit onboard. After neutralizing Sweete, Bennett searched the lab for Selig. He overheard Selig's confession about how he planted the mystery module in Zeta to act as a conscience. However, the discussion was interrupted when Sweete's thermal devices were activated. He arrested Sweete, escorted him to his transport, and escaped before the Knossos exploded.