| “ | Men can never be free — because they're weak, corrupt, worthless and restless. The people believe in authority. They've grown tired of waiting for miracle and mystery. Science is their religion. No greater explanation exists for them. They must never believe any differently if the project is to go forward. | „ |
| ~ Cigarette-Smoking Man |
| “ | I'm an old man now, I will leave my own mark upon history, more than presidents or tyrants. | „ |
| ~ Cigarette-Smoking Man |
Carl Gerard Busch Spencer, better known as the Cigarette-Smoking Man, is the main antagonist of the X-Files franchise.
He is a mysterious state official working alongside the Syndicate, even being behind some of the most obscure events in the entire series, He is the archenemy of Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully for abducting the former's sister for the Colony and being responsible for the death of the latter's sister.
He is portrayed by William B. Davis.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- Has helped cover up alien existence while collaborating with them to ensure his survival post-colonization.
- Oversaw unethical alien/human hybrid tests, often on unwilling or abducted victims.
- Constantly lies, withholds information, and controls others from the shadows.
- Rarely shows empathy or regret for the atrocities he commits.
- Obsessed with control, secrecy, and maintaining dominance through fear.
- Takes pleasure in others' suffering and downfall, especially Mulder's.
- Implied to have carried out the assassination of JFK himself, then also killed Martin Luther King Jr.
- Orchestrated coups, wars, and other global atrocities through covert government influence.
- Played a key role in the abduction and possible cloning of Mulder’s sister Samantha.
- Constantly sabotages Mulder and Scully's investigations, and has them surveilled, threatened, or nearly killed numerous times.
The X-Files[]
- Orders the execution of Deep Throat for helping Mulder and Scully.
- Murders Mulder's father to silence him.
- Conducts alien-human hybrid experiments on abductees, including Scully.
- Gives Scully cancer as a side effect of her abduction and experimentation.
- Kills an Army officer to recover alien remains.
- Orders the death of X, Mulder’s informant.
- Manipulates Mulder using false hope, offering a fake cure for Scully’s cancer.
- Fakes his own death to continue working in secret.
- Attempts to control the alien virus (black oil) and use it as a weapon.
- Deceives Jeffrey Spender, pretending to support him, only to later shoot him in the face.
- Helps orchestrate the destruction of the Syndicate by the alien rebels to eliminate opposition.
- Manipulates events around Mulder’s disappearance, including hiding him post-abduction.
- Attempts to murder Dana Scully's baby, fearing its potential power.
- Keeps the final colonization date secret, allowing no one else to prepare.
- Reveals plans to unleash a virus to wipe out most of humanity, sparing only elites.
- Reveals he is the true father of William, Scully’s child, through forced impregnation via experimentation.
- Attempts to kill Mulder and William, seeing them as threats to his plan.
Trivia[]
- The Smoking Man was originally just a non-speaking extra in the first season, who only spoke four audible words. But as the series progressed, his role within the narrative began to grow and he developed into the series' primary antagonist.
- Whilst the major antagonist and adversary to Fox Mulder in the original run, the Smoking Man is not the main mastermind and mostly acts under the orders of The Syndicate, with them even trying to kill him. The Smoking Man also goes into hiding during the super-soldier arc. The 2016-2018 revival series retcons the Smoking Man's role and cements him as the mastermind, who has apparently been manipulating the Syndicate all along and had his own schemes differing from theirs, despite his appearances in the original series clearly showing otherwise.
- According to one of the directors of the show, Kim Manners, he is the Darth Vader of X-Files.
- Season 8 is the only season that the Cigarette Smoking Man does not appear in. His role as the main antagonist is taken up by the super-soldiers for the remainder of the original series.
- The nickname Cancer-Man was first coined on ATXF, one of the first usages of the term was on November 12, 1994 by user Jeffrey P. Wendt. The name even found its way as a canonical name for the character on the show.
- According to Gabe Newell, he specifically requested a character similar to the CSM be included in the original Half-Life, and the result was the G-Man.