the matrix - Was Agent Smith planned?

Was Agent Smith becoming the super-virus that he became planned, or at least expected by the architect? Or was he just a virus that randomly manifested?

I was unclear as to whether he was in any of the previous attempts of the matrix.

Answer

Virus Smith was both unexpected and unprecedented.

Smith was created when Neo destroyed his original program from inside. Smith himself speculated that perhaps their code got intermingled. So in order for a virus agent to have existed in a previous version of the Matrix, a previous version of the One should have terminated an agent program from within.

Evidence against this:

The latest version of the One is more powerful that his predecessors. The Merovingian says "At least your predecessors showed some respect" and he was surprised to see Neo stopping bullets, a skill that the Merovingian apparently hadn't witnessed in the predecessors.

This is the first version of the One who had a girlfriend who helped him discover his powers. He had more zest compared to the predecessors, who probably didn't have enough gusto to blow up an agent from the inside out.

The Architect seems oblivious to Smith (who had even gotten as far as the white corridors that lead to the Architect's room) and continues to give Neo the same old speech. Only the Oracle sees Smith as significant.

So the other versions of the One probably did not kill any agents in a similar manner -- either they lacked the skill, the opportunity or the motivation. The Architect is unaware of such a possibility. So the most likely scenario is that this is the first incidence of a virus agent.

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