Kingsman: Cast and Character Guide

When one reviews the spy-flick landscape, the Sean Connery’s and Daniel Craig’s naturally spring to mind, as they glide around affluent pockets of the globe chasing international criminal organizations, sipping on shaken (not stirred) Martinis, and breaking foreign speed limits in their kitted-out Aston Martins. The glamorous and numerous Bond movies have skewered the worldview of what it is and means to be a spy, and while the introduction of Jason Bourne in the early millennium helped to offset the status quo developed over decades of Bond’s elaborate displays of chauvinism, with his humble 1989 Mini Mayfair and standard leather jacket and a black T-shirt, the franchise definitely takes spy movies to an even darker place.

Matthew Vaughn’s film series Kingsman incorporates a variety of the genre’s conventions, infused with comic elements to bring a refreshing take on a genre that was in need of some uplifting joy. Grossing just shy of a billion dollars worldwide, Kingsman experienced vast success at the box office, and that popularity was largely due to some truly memorable characters. Here are the ones that featured prominently in the Kingsman franchise and why we love them...

Eggsy

This troubled adolescent was born and raised in a London council estate to a single mother and abusive stepfather. Eggsy embodies the “laddy lad” stereotype: highly boisterous, furiously rebellious, and overly aggressive. After being initiated into the prestigious Kingsman program, he is taken under the wing of secret agent Harry Hart, who pledged his undying debt to Eggsy after the boy's real father, Lee, saved his life while on duty years prior.

Eggsy assumes the role of primary protagonist in the movies, and a great Taron Egerton manages the physically strenuous, all-consuming demands of his character comprehensively, matching Eggsy’s energy, enthusiasm, and hot-blooded impulsivity. While his raw, unrefined nature is visibly apparent, Eggsy demonstrates both compassion and mercy when tasked with the supposed killing of a dog in his final training module. Ultimately, Eggsy is a truly proper hero in a truly proper franchise.

Harry Hart

“Manners maketh man” is arguably the most famous line to come out of the film series, and it is an utterance formed by Harry Hart (a perfect Colin Firth). Hart comprises all the characteristics one would typically associate with a quintessentially British spy: reserved, sophisticated, polite, and steeped in mystique. Little is revealed about Hart’s past, other than the owing of his life to Eggsy’s now-deceased father.

Firth has incontestably fallen victim to being typecast in the past, assigned to roles that personify British conventions and traits, a posh, unflinching, stiff-upper-lipped, and reticent man who is seldom developed in an emotional capacity. While this isn’t always strictly the case, as can be seen in A Single Man and Supernova, these are actually the exact attributes that make Harry Hart such a likable character, with his dry wit, selflessness, and unquestionable loyalty. The role is perfect for Firth, who can use his typecasting to his advantage.

Merlin

Merlin is to Eggsy like what Q is to Bond — the tech wizard that has a vast, encyclopedic knowledge of all the gadgets and gizmos within the Kingsman confines. Another secret agent, Merlin (played by a great Mark Strong, looking halfway between Stanley Tucci and Jeff Bezos) is more akin to that childless uncle, a fun, dependable, trustworthy figure that is more of a friend to Eggsy than an overbearing father type. Similar to Hart, Merlin is incontrovertibly faithful to his counterparts and to Kingsman as an institution.

Duke of Oxford

Played by Ralph Fiennes in the final installment of the Kingsman franchise, The King’s Man, Orlando (the Duke of Oxford) concludes the series as the titular character in the prequel to Kingsman: Secret Service, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle. After losing both his wife and son in an assassination and in WWI, respectively, Orlando forms his own secret intelligence service, based at the Kingsman tailors on London’s Savile Row.

Despite deriving from nobility, the Duke of Oxford is a deeply principled man, guided wholeheartedly by his powerful moral compass. His dedication to using his position of influence as a force for good and change, in a world plighted by villainy, is what sets the Kingsman franchise and agency apart.

Valentine

Richmond Valentine is the primary antagonist in Kingsman: The Secret Service. A billionaire tech-genius and philanthropist, Valentine plots to rid the world of what he believes to be a virus: people. A narcissistic, dangerously intelligent individual, but whose ridiculous sideways baseball cap, inability to refrain from modeling his dress sense on an orange, and naivety when dealing with Kingsman sap him of his credibility as a feasible or deeply threatening villain. That being said, his presence certainly fits in with the jovial, silly, and comic-strip-like undertones of the first Kingsman film, and of course, Samuel L. Jackson has moments that create as reliable a screen presence as any, hilariously nailing this tech-bro supervillain.

Poppy Adams

Poppy Adams (a surprisingly funny Julianne Moore), is the villain in the second installment of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, and she quite literally makes mincemeat out of her enemies. Unlike her evil predecessor, Richmond Valentine, Adams is a minacious and devious adversary. Of unpredictable temperament, Poppy is at the forefront of the world’s largest drug cartel; while ostensibly posing as a pharmaceutical corporation, it turns out Adams has laced every drug on planet earth with a toxin that will ultimately kill anyone who consumes them. Similar to that of Valentine, her portrayal of Adams is theatrical, with the propensity to be slightly irritating.

Roxy

A trusted companion, albeit not from a high altitude… she’s petrified of heights. A close friend and confidant of the main character Eggsy, and a talented secret agent of Kingsman in her own right, Roxy is a well-to-do, privately educated badass. One could be forgiven for thinking she was of a stuck-up disposition, but actions speak louder than words, especially in, well, an action film… Roxy puts the preconceptions to the sword and proves her undoubted qualities as not just an exceptional agent, but as a virtuous, caring, and conscientious Kingsman ambassador and person.