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Marcus Chong’s Tank Won’t Return for Matrix Sequels – Here’s Why

The Matrix franchise made a comeback with 2021's The Matrix: Resurrections. However, actor Marcus Chong did not reprise his role as Tank, which felt like a missed opportunity.

Tito PernaletebyTito Pernalete
November 30, 2021
0
What Happened To Marcus Chong's Tank From The Matrix

There is one popular character from the original The Matrix films that literally just disappeared. Although he made a strong impression on many fans, Tank was killed off somewhere between the first film and The Matrix Reloaded. But what happened?

  • What Happened To The Matrix’s Tank?
  • A Dispute Over Royalties
  • Legal Battles and Allegations
  • Marcus Chong’s Perspective

What Happened To The Matrix’s Tank?

The Matrix Tank Marcus Chong

Just as it happens with every sci-fi franchise worth its salt, the technologically nightmarish world of The Matrix expanded with each new movie. While the first film presents a rather small central cast, by the time Revolutions came around, we had a whole ensemble of leather-clad supersoldiers fighting against the machines.

Imagine for a second that in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, everyone acted as if Chewbacca had just died, refusing to elaborate on the details of the departure of a main character. That’s more or less what happened with one pivotal character in the original The Matrix, although the story behind his disappearance is much more fascinating than it might seem at first glance.

By the end of The Matrix’s plot, very few survivors remain aboard the Nebuchadnezzar. After Cypher’s (John Pantoliano) betrayal, almost every agent, save for the three main characters, is killed off by the treacherous operative. It’s thanks to the ship’s operator, Tank (Marcus Chong), that the leads live to tell the tale.

Even more surprising is that Tank is the only other character left alive other than Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss), and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) by the end of the movie. This only makes his disappearance in the second film all the more confusing, especially for fans.

The Matrix Reloaded, the second film in the franchise, makes it clear that Tank indeed died of unspecified causes after the events of the first movie. That they chose to eliminate a central character in such an unceremonious way is just a bit baffling, to say the least. However, the truth is that some behind-the-scenes happenings led to Warner Bros. wanting nothing to do with Tank’s actor, Marcus Chong. In fact, if you take a look at Chong’s IMDB page, you’ll notice that the actor more or less disappeared entirely from the silver screen after The Matrix.

A Dispute Over Royalties

The Matrix Tank Marcus Chong

So, what happened with Marcus Chong that was so severe that they had to completely remove his character from the sequels? As is usually the case, it all started with a clash over royalties. Marcus Chong claimed that he received a much lower salary than his co-stars: a whopping $28k salary compared to Pantoliano’s $1m, not to mention Reeves’ $15m.

To make matters worse, Chong also claims that he wasn’t offered residuals for playing Tank, which meant that he got no additional income from the sales of the Tank action figure or any ticket sales. After he feuded with WB, Chong says he was blackballed in Hollywood, leading to a sudden end to his rising career.

Legal Battles and Allegations

A few years after the release of The Matrix, in 2003, Chong filed a formal lawsuit against Warner Bros, mentioning that they, the Wachowskis, and even Keanu Reeves, had robbed him of his royalties and his salary – not to mention his place in the future Matrix sequels.

It seems like a clear-cut case of the studio being greedy against an emerging actor, right? The truth, however, is a bit more complicated. Some sources mention Marcus Chong as being extremely volatile, even going so far as sneaking into The Matrix offices in the Warner Bros lot to steal food. Chong, for his part, claims some even more outrageous actions were taken by WB, like sending an assassin after his life.

Marcus Chong’s Perspective

Chong posted an interesting documentary about his experience with The Matrix on YouTube in 2018. It’s safe to say that, even if he produced the documentary himself, the piece fails to paint him in a positive light.

YouTube video

It seems like Tank will never return to The Matrix franchise, so don’t keep your hopes up for an unexpected cameo in the new movies.

Would you like to see Tank return to the Matrix franchise? Also, could a full game of The Matrix Awakens be on the way?

The Matrix

When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.

movie poster
Studio: Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Groucho II Film Partnership, Silver Pictures
Running Time: 136 minutes
Release Date: March 31, 1999
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
Director: The Wachowskis
Writers: The Wachowskis
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Box Office: $467.6 million
Tags: Movie NewsSci-FiThe Matrix
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About the Author: Tito Pernalete

Tito Pernalete is a Venezuelan writer, movie buff, and lifelong geek with a love for sci-fi, tech, and all things weird and wonderful. When he’s not slaying bosses in Elden Ring or rewatching RoboCop for the 100th time, he’s dreaming of Japan or diving into '80s horror classics.

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