Jack London (character)

Agent Galahad is the codename of several fictional characters serving as the protagonists of the ''Kingsman'' franchise, part of the Millarworld, published by Marvel Comics under the company’s imprint Icon Comics, and by Image Comics. The first two Galahads, Gary and Jack London, were created by artist Dave Gibbons and writer Mark Millar from a concept by Millar and an initially uncredited Matthew Vaughn (credited as the characters' co-creator on all republications since 2014), for the 2012 comic book miniseries '' The Secret Service'', Jack being a gentleman spy who recruits his nephew Gary to become an agent of MI6; after Jack's death, Gary assumes the Galahad mantle and saves the world. In 2014, these characters were adapted by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin (portrayed by Taron Egerton) and Harold "Harry" Hart (portrayed by Colin Firth) in the feature film '' Kingsman: The Secret Service'', changed in adaptation to be unrelated, with Harry having been a friend of Eggsy's deceased father Lee, recruiting Eggsy to the independent intelligence agency Kingsman; the characters return in the 2017 sequel '' Kingsman: The Golden Circle'', and will return again in the 2020s in '' Kingsman: The Blue Blood''. Due to the success of the ''Kingsman'' film series, the comic book mononymous Gary was retconned to also be named Gary "Eggsy" Unwin in the 2017 one-shot ''The Big Exit'', before again returning in the miniseries '' The Red Diamond'' (2017–2018) and '' Big Game'' (2023), in which Eggsy respectively partners up with SASS agent Kwaito and vigilante Mindy McCready, the latter also seeing Jack be resurrected via time travel.

The 2021 First World War-era prequel film ''The King's Man'' introduces the first Agent Galahad, Pollyanna "Polly" Wilkins (portrayed by Gemma Arterton), a founder member of Kingsman and the former maid and romantic partner of Kingsman leader Orlando, created by Matthew Vaughn and Karl Gajdusek.

The characters have received a generally positive critical reception.

Comic series

''The Secret Service''

In ''The Secret Service'' (2012), Gary is recruited by his uncle, Caractacus "Jack" London, known as Agent Galahad, to work for the British Secret Service. After Gary is put on an extensive three-year training course, performing assassinations and arresting a Colombian drug lord, Jack is killed by cellphone entrepreneur James Arnold for sleeping with his girlfriend, unaware of him being a spy or Jack's knowledge of his plans to use a satellite signal to make the poor of humanity slaughter each other in order to solve the overpopulation problem. Having witnessed his uncle's death through his spywear eyeglasses, and on learning Arnold's plans are supported by the elitist high-level members of MI6, as the new Agent Galahad, Gary recruits his fellow trainees to an assault mission on Arnold's base, hidden inside a mountain in Switzerland. After ambushing and battling Arnold's troops, and freeing the celebrities he had kidnapped (so that they wouldn't die when the satellites activated), Gary engages in a fist fight with Arnold's henchman Gazelle, before leaving to confront Arnold. Arnold activates the satellite signal and waits for the people to slaughter each other, but instead, due to one of Gary's colleagues having changed the frequency, people worldwide begin to have sex with one another. Gary then kills a confused Arnold. In an epilogue, Gary reads his uncle's will, revealing that two-thirds of Jack's estate will go to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the British Heart Foundation, the final third going to Gary's mother, informing Gary to take good care of his gadget-laden car, or he will "come back and bloody haunt him." As Gary reports to Kingsman Headquarters, Sir Giles briefs him about a mission that concerns "trouble in Moscow".

''Kingsman: The Big Exit''

In ''Kingsman: The Big Exit'' (2017), shortly after Brexit, Gary "Eggsy" Unwin, known as Agent Galahad of the MI6 black ops offshoot Kingsman, is tasked with safeguarding the United Kingdom's controversial "divorce fee" for leaving the European Union on its journey to Brussels, consisting of £100 billion in solid gold bars, from being stolen by a group of pro-Brexit terrorists, "The Union Jacks", disguised as French activists to steal the gold back for the UK. It is eventually revealed that Eggsy's mission is in fact a decoy so that Kingsman themselves can destroy "The Union Jacks" and swipe the gold from both the British Parliament and the European Union and use it to fund hospitals and education services back in England.

''Kingsman: The Red Diamond''

In '' Kingsman: The Red Diamond'' (2017–2018), after knocking out Prince Philip on saving him from a group of Greek terrorists, Eggsy is put on a week-long leave of absence. Following a date with actress Emma Watson, which he abandons to return to Kingsman headquarters to retrieve a pill to treat his little brother Ryan's norovirus, an alert comes in from the South African Secret Service (SASS) regarding an encrypted message that was sent to a wanted black hat hacker named Alias at Times Square in Manhattan. As the only agent present, Eggsy is sent out on a rocket to find Alias before the SASS.

Upon finding him, Eggsy is confronted by Kwaito — a SASS agent, and Ingot — a Red Diamond agent. Upon restraining Alias, Alias explains that he was trying to shut down the servers in the financial district to protect them from a computer virus released by Ingot, who kills Alias and makes his escape, trapping Eggsy and Kwaito. Once he leaves, the virus is unleashed worldwide, causing a global blackout. The Prime Minister of Britain receives a Betamax tape from the head of the Red Diamond, self-made South African mining magnate Jakobis Du Preez, who explains his plans to replace the world's physical money with gold and jewels; in a separate tape, he invites the “Kings and Queens of the new material world” to a remote location in China.

Eggsy and Kwaito independently go undercover to the event only for Du Preez to set off a bomb to get rid of "the competition". Retrieving a map to the Red Diamond base from Ingot and crashing into a forest with Kwaito, Eggsy and Kwaito make love. Later finding civilization and a phone to use, Eggsy finds Kwaito to have stolen the map. Having memorized it, Eggsy travels to Guam where he is reunited with Kwaito. Making their way inside the base, the pair find Du Preez on a hill of jewels and gold bars, who explains they cannot kill him lest a fail-safe he attached to his heart open the airlocks and kill everyone. After killing Ingot, Eggsy shoots Du Preez with a poisonous spy-dart which will slowly kill him, and makes his escape with Kwaito and Treeman, a hacker Du Preez had held captive, deleting the Red Diamond virus whilst fleeing. In the epilogue, a ceremony is held in Eggsy's honour. Several esteemed guests are invited—including Watson and Prince Philip, the latter of whom wants to apologise and shake Eggsy's hand. However, Eggsy instead takes his family and Kwaito to his favourite pub.

''Big Game''

Eggsy returns in ''Big Game'' (2023), where-in he rescues a mid-20s Mindy McCready from assassination at the hands of agents of the Fraternity of Super-Criminals (who plot to assassinate all the world's superheroes), with whom he then infiltrates the headquarters of to assassinate their leader, Wesley Gibson. However, after the couple are ambushed, Eggsy is shot in the head and killed, and Mindy steals the Fraternity's own stolen time-travelling chrono-suits to travel back in time, aiming to save Eggsy's life, only to end up in prehistoric times. After travelling back to the future, Mindy forms an alternate timeline where she rescues herself, Eggsy, and the other superheroes ahead of time (as well as Eggsy's uncle Jack, the original Galahad), with her younger self killing Wesley after Wesley kills her older self; in the aftermath of the conflict, the alive-again Eggsy explains how this worked to a confused bystander, as Mindy is recruited by Eggsy and Jack as a Kingsman agent.

Film series

Harry Hart / Agent Galahad and Gary "Eggsy" Unwin / Agent Galahad appear in the 2014 film adaptation '' Kingsman: The Secret Service'', and the 2017 sequel '' Kingsman: The Golden Circle'', respectively portrayed by Colin Firth and Taron Egerton (and Alex Nikolov, as a child). Prior to Egerton's casting, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Boyega, and Daniel Kaluuya were considered for the role; In February 2019, Gemma Arterton had joined the cast of the First World War-era prequel film ''The King's Man'', playing Polly Wilkins / Agent Galahad.

''Kingsman: The Secret Service''

In '' Kingsman: The Secret Service'', Gary Unwin, better known as "Eggsy", is an antisocial chav who is recruited into Kingsman by Harold "Harry" Hart, whom Eggsy's father Lee (a Kingsman trainee) had sacrificed himself to save years earlier. In the years since, Eggsy has fallen into delinquency, dropping out of the Royal Marines due to his mother's fear of losing him like his father. After being arrested for stealing a car, Eggsy calls a number Harry left him as a child, and the repentant Agent Galahad recruits him to the Kingsman training program. As Eggsy makes his way through the program, Harry investigates Richmond Valentine's plans to solve the world's overpopulation by unleashing a neurological wave broadcast to cause the world's poor to fight to the death, being put in a coma before following his investigation to Kentucky on awakening, where Valentine shoots him in the head, witnessed remotely by Eggsy. Horrified, having failed the program, Eggsy thwarts an attempt by Kingsman leader Arthur (loyal to Valentine) to kill him, before teaming up with rogue agents Merlin and Roxy to stop Valentine from killing billions. Now a full Kingsman agent, Eggsy takes Harry's former codename of Galahad.

''Kingsman: The Golden Circle''

In '' Kingsman: The Golden Circle'', Eggsy has since inherited Harry's home and is in a relationship with Crown Princess Tilde of Sweden, who he saved during the Valentine incident. One night, he has dinner with the Royal Family of Sweden, which indirectly saves him from being killed along with all the other Kingsman agents in Britain in the hands of the Golden Circle. Eggsy and Merlin get help from the American spy organisation Statesman to figure out the Golden Circle's motives, only to discover that Harry is alive and has been under their care for over a year; after Harry recovers from his amnesia, both spies continue to use the codenames of Agent Galahad. After Eggsy and Harry save the world from the Golden Circle's virus outbreak, Eggsy marries Princess Tilde and becomes the King of Sweden, while Harry is offered a "backstage pass" by Elton John.

''The King's Man''

In ''The King's Man'', by 1914, maid Polly Wilkins is a part of a private spy network working for Orlando, the Duke of Oxford, consisting of domestic servants employed by the world's most powerful dignitaries, the primary goal of which is to protect the United Kingdom and the British Empire from any and all threats. After Orlando learns the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and ongoing First World War was orchestrated by "The Flock": a group plotting to pit the British, Russian, and German empires against each other, Polly proceeds with Orlando, his son Conrad, and fellow servant Shola to assassinate an agent of this group, the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, who is a trusted adviser to Tsar Nicholas of Russia. After Rasputin almost kills Orlando, Conrad, and Shola, Polly shoots him in the head. After Conrad has himself commissioned into the Grenadier Guards against his father's wishes and is subsequently killed in action, Polly consoles Orlando, and in grief, they admit their feelings to one another. After Orlando fights and kills the leader of the Flock, ultimately leading to the end of the war, he purchases the Kingsman Tailor Shop to serve as the front of his organization the following year, with Polly becoming "Agent Galahad" after the tales of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, which Conrad had enjoyed hearing as a child.

Future

Harry and Eggsy will return in '' Kingsman: The Blue Blood'', described as the "final chapter" of their relationship. In October 2023, Matthew Vaughn expressed interest in Arterton reprising her role as Polly Wilkins in a planned sequel to ''The King's Man'', entitled ''The Traitor King''.

Short films

On July 20, 2017, Fox released an animated crossover short film between ''Kingsman'' and '' Archer'', titled ''#TBT to That Time Archer Met Kingsman'', featuring Eggsy and Sterling Archer. The short was unveiled at the 2017 Comic-Con’s ''Kingsman: The Golden Circle'' panel in Hall H, following Eggsy as he discovers Archer to have stumbled into the Kingsman's secret arsenal hidden in the bespoke suit shop, helping himself to guns and alcohol. Fighting to reclaim the goods, Eggsy challenges Archer to "the most gentlemanly of competitions": a drinking contest, while planning to drug him via a glass; Archer instead drinks the bottle and passes out. Eggsy, insulted by Archer's behaviour, vows to go to America and "teach them a lesson". Taron Egerton reprises his role as Gary "Eggsy" Unwin.

Originally the marketing campaign for '' Kingsman: The Secret Service'' (2014) was going to begin with a teaser short film featuring all six actors who had portrayed James Bond at the time—Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and Daniel Craig—discussing the need for a new generation of secret agents before Harry and Eggsy entered the room, symbolizing the passing of the torch to a new franchise of spy films. All of the actors agreed to appear and Matthew Vaughan agreed to shoot the scene, but the plans were shelved because Connery had become too ill with dementia by that time to participate.

Video games

Harry Hart and Eggsy Unwin appears as playable characters in the 2017 turn-based match-3 role-playing combat game ''Kingsman: The Golden Circle'' by NHN PixelCube. and the 2019 hybrid action adventure- construction simulator ''Kingsman: The Secret Service''.

Merchandise

In May 2017, Funko released Pop! Vinyl figures of Harry Hart, Eggsy Unwin and several other ''Kingsman'' characters, while TAG Heuer partnered with Fox to make an official TAG Heuer Connected watch themed to Kingsman agents, including the "Agent Galahad" title. In September 2017, Titan Books published ''Kingsman: The Golden Circle: The Official Movie Novelization'', a novelization of the 2017 film of the same name, written by Tim Waggoner and again featuring Harry and Eggsy as main characters. In November 2017, the Walmart released a '' Kingsman: The Golden Circle''-themed exclusive gift set of Funko Pocket Pop! Harry and Eggsy keychains, while UK designer brand luxury leather clothing maker Cromford Leather tailored a real version of the shearling coat worn by Harry in the film, made available to purchase that month.

Reception

Reviewing '' Kingsman: The Red Diamond'', Jesse Schedeen of ''IGN'' lauded "Eggsy's quest for legitimacy and happiness, goals that seem no more within his grasp than when he was simply another London punk nd how like Daniel Craig's James Bond, there's a working class "chip on his shoulder" quality to Eggsy. Unlike Bond, Eggsy has a kind, ordinary humanity to him that makes him a very likable protagonist", further complimenting the overall "more grounded and character-driven approach" to his story as compared to the previous film adaptations' "bombast".

Accolades

References

{{Mark Millar

Articles about multiple fictional characters
Characters created by Dave Gibbons
Characters created by Mark Millar
Comics characters introduced in 2012
Fictional assassins
Fictional MI6 agents
Fictional British secret agents
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Fictional swordfighters
Film characters introduced in 2014
Film characters introduced in 2021
Kingsman (franchise)
Archer (2009 TV series) characters
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Male characters in literature
Male characters in film
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