Hitman story comparisons

If you think a story from the Hitman games reminds you very strongly of another story in another form of entertainment media, share it here.

It occurred to me today that the WoA trilogy specifically has several shared traits with the story and characters of the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam; specifically, it’s spin-off series, Gundam Wing. How so? Let’s look at the story in broad strokes:

The story of Gundam Wing is basically a targeted rebellion against a political institution run by a cabal of the wealthy elite, using military might that they own to gain global domination, and the small group of specialized rebels needing to wipe out their operations to stop them.

Right from that alone, it sounds like a summary of WoA, with 47, Diana, and Lucas Grey’s militia serving the part of the rebels in question, seen in the anime as the Gundam pilots and the White Fang resistance group.

Providence is the political engine powering the global machine that’s controlled by the elite, through the use of the organizations they own, filling the role of the Romefeller Foundation and subsidies like Ether being the OZ military force in the anime.

The world governments and institutions as we know them, plus perhaps the ICA, stand in as the controlling status quo, filled by the United Earth Sphere Alliance in the anime, eventually overridden by both the cabal and the rebels.

As far as characters and other similarities, you’ve got 47 and Heero Yuy, two unstoppable determinators who quash their emotions and seek to fulfill their mission at all costs and above all concerns, who are the main hero but not the leader of the rebel efforts.

You have Lucas Grey, who represents pretty much the other Gundam pilots, being the leader, the tragic atoner, and the one who blames himself for the deaths of those around him. His organization is similar to the White Fang space colony rebels from the anime, in that they’ll kill to stop the controlling group and upset the entire order in doing so.

Diana fills the role of Relena, having a close, quasi-sexually tense relationship with the main hero without being a warrior herself, but using political and financial means to try to broker peace in the world, eventually offered to run and rule over the wealthy cabal that is the main antagonist, leading to its downfall, and is deposed from her position of power by the enigmatic puppet master that worked “for” the cabal.

The Partners fit the bill for Duke Dermail, the main guy in charge of the Romefeller Foundation, as pedigreed non-combatants thinking they know better than everyone else and that the world would be more desirable under their political, financial, and military rule, eventually deposed from top leadership by a combination of the rebel alliance and their own main enforcer turning against them.

The Constant fills the role of Treize, a cultured, soft-spoken puppet master who ultimately managed to take control of all the antagonist organizations by manipulating the heroes and his superiors alike, dying in the final battle with a sense of acceptance that it had all come to this and that he has done all he can to try to bring the world to peace.

Romefeller’ obsession with using the automatons called Mobil Dolls to remove human decisions from warfare altogether and just have obedient robotic soldiers to enact their will even reflects Providence’s desire to use the Ort-Meyer clones and the DNA-specific virus to eliminate opposition to their takeover.

You have to really know the whole detailed story of Gundam Wing for it to really hit home harder than I’m pitching it here, but I’m telling you, some of these characters and story beats were pulled right out of GW and plunked down into a Hitman game to fulfill the same role.

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Got another one after recently rewatching Mr and Mrs Smith. While the overall story of that movie isn’t really similar to anything in Hitman, there are a few key things that are, particularly relating to WoA, again.

Angelina Jolie’s character, Jane Smith, works for a very high-tech secret assassination agency that has lots of digital surveillance, an important hub location that can be broken down and evacuated quickly in the case of exposure. Jane uses the best weaponry on the market that is able to be concealed in state of the art containment units that are hidden in plain sight, such as underneath/inside her kitchen oven. Mrs Smith likes to plan out her strategy in taking down her targets to the finest detail, so that she knows who she’s going after and in what environment, so that she’s always prepared.

Brad Pitt’s character, John Smith, works for an assassination firm that takes a very different approach. While also hidden in plain sight as a construction company, everything is very low-tech and analogue, with only a few elderly employees at the office printing assignments and composing dossiers on targets, with the whole place appearing to be haphazard, like a fast paced and over-worked office. While there is a high-tech computer system hidden inside his desk, everything else about John’s work seems like a throwback to old school methods of spying and murder for hire. Mr Smith likes to improvise, taking whatever simple weapons he thinks he might need for the job, ranging from pistols to RPGs, and just kind of wings it by acting like an idiot out in public so that his targets don’t think he’s a threat until he’s ready to strike. He keeps his weapons in a more traditional hiding spot: a secret room hidden under his work shed.

Looking at these two different approaches, it may seem familiar, and it should. Mrs Smith and her agency operate similarly to how 47 and the ICA operated throughout most of the WoA. Mr Smith is not only reminiscent of how ICA operated in the earlier games of the series, but also how 47 will be operating in his safehouse in Freelancer, with a more hands-on, old school approach, and his secrets just hidden under his house.

And at the end, their agencies turn against the two and send the rest of their best after them, and that’s clearly Apex Predator right there.

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Saul Goodman being Salvatore Bravuomo. Which is a direct translation of ‘Savior Goodman’. Found it was quite neat when I heard/found it in August. I made a video on it, I’ll plug the link (I’m not asking for views or click) Saul Goodman is in the Hitman Universe | Hitman 3 - YouTube

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