Agent 47/Bio & Battles

Mr. 47 is a genetically-enhanced clone, the culmination of decades of secret research into gene augmentation. His creation was funded by a cabal of criminal masterminds who donated their own DNA to the project.

In the 1950s, five men of various nationalities served in the same unit of the French Foreign Legion - Otto Ort-Meyer, Lee Hong, Pablo Ochoa, Franz Fuchs and Arkadij Jegorov. After their stint was finished, Ort-Meyer ran a mental institution in Romania as a cover for genetic experiments, while the other four all became major crime lords, terrorists or both.

Ort-Meyer's goal was to create "perfect" soldiers, in that they were as physically fit as possible and obeyed orders with intelligence yet loyalty. Ort-Meyer tried to make his discoveries public before 47 was created, but was discredited as a scientist because his radical theories were deemed insane by his peers.

Merely coincidental to his name, he has a 47th chromosome that gives him above-average fitness and intelligence. In real life, possessing an extra chromosome can lead to problems such as infertility, Downs syndrome and premature death. However artificial chromosomes are currently being pursued as a method of inserting new genetic material into genetically modified organisms.