The Matrix was released more than 20 years ago and it changed everything. It vindicated every anime fan, gave a new generation their own genre of science fiction, and invented the novel idea of using abstract special effects that had a context in the story. Now it's a massive franchise that includes a variety of other mediums, including a fourth film that was recently released.
The Matrix: Resurrections combines all the elements of a reboot, a remake, and a requel, which means it features characters from the previous films. Niobe, who made appearances in the second, third, and fourth movies and was played by Jada Pinkett Smith in all of them, is one of these recurring characters. She also appears in video games and has a pivotal role in the history of Zion and the lore of The Matrix in general.
6 She Knows Kung Fu
Niobe was fighting agents and surviving before Neo made it cool. She has extensive adventures in The Matrix in both the movies and the video games and her fighting resume is an impressive one. She has all of the same training as both Morpheus and Neo, which means Kung Fu along with every other type of martial arts training possible.
Niobe takes on various opponents successfully, including Seraph, an Exile and the Oracle's bodyguard, and the non-corporeal Twins. She's even credited with killing an agent if "killing" is the right word for what happens.
5 Appears In The Matrix Video Games
She's an important part of the plot in many of them, which tell just a few of the stories of Niobe as a badass pilot in the real world and a powerful enemy of the machines in the Matrix. The video games are intended to add to or be direct sequels to the movies or add to the lore of the universe by telling some stories that took place between the major films, so they contain some of Niobe's more obscure backstory.
Enter the Matrix, a game that was released in 2003, connected its storyline to the movie trilogy and players can actually take on Niobe's character. It focuses primarily on the actions of the captain and her crew as they attempt to retrieve the last transmission from the Osiris.
4 The Last Transmission Of The Osiris
It's only referenced in the movies as the crucial warning that a robot army was headed to Zion. There is an animated short film and a video game that fill in the gaps that never appeared in live-action. A whole video game is built on this mission, and Niobe is important in that storyline, too.
The Animatrix is a series of nine short films which was released in 2003 after the second Matrix movie. It begins with Final Flight Of The Osiris, which tells the story of where the transmission came from and why it needed to be retrieved in the first place. Enter The Matrix tells the story of how this transmission was retrieved by the crew of the Logos, as led by Niobe and aided by Neo.
3 The Lore of the Logos
It's common knowledge that Niobe is a captain with her own ship, the Logos. It was the smallest ship in the fleet and the most maneuverable, which is partly why it works out really well for Neo to borrow when it's time to confront the machines in their city, 01. What's lesser-known are the details of her crew, the specs of this unique hovercraft and how it influenced the story, and how the Logos II was built.
The movies only name Ghost, Niobe's first officer, and Sparks, the ship's Operator. These characters are also present on the Logos in Enter the Matrix. In the third movie, Trinity pilots the Logos to 01, and the ship is destroyed. There was a Logos II that appeared in The Matrix Online which was built from salvaged parts from the original Logos.
2 Her Relationship Status
In The Matrix: Resurrections It might seem like a weird segway, but one of these follows the other. It's common knowledge that Niobe had a romantic relationship with Morpheus. Then he went to find Neo and she was connected to Jason Locke. While planning for the machine onslaught on Zion, Locke takes the Logos out of the initial onslaught citing the reason as it's the smallest ship in the fleet and wouldn't be useful in such a maneuver. Conveniently enough, the Logos is now available to help Neo, but this might have marked the end of Jason and Niobe's connection.
Later, Locke quietly tells Niobe that the real reason he excluded her ship was to keep her safe. Niobe was already frustrated and took this as an insult, fueling speculation that this was a deal-breaker in a relationship that was already on thin ice, and that Niobe and Morpheus rekindled their relationship after the third movie. Neither is confirmed by Niobe when she appears in The Matrix: Resurrections.
1 The Hero Of The Hammer
This ship is also called by its official name, the Mjolnir, and it's aptly named. This is a massive ship that could be the contemporary equal to a tanker, and it's the biggest ship in the human fleet.
It's not the small and agile Logos that Niobe pilots through the cramped service tunnels, but this hulking beast. Niobe's piloting ability is already stellar, but even her closest crewmates are skeptical that she can get the Mjolnir back to Zion in time to save them. The Logos was the ship that took Trinity and Neo to the machine city, a voyage that became its final flight.
The Matrix: Resurrections is currently playing in theaters and on HBO Max.
