Wes Keenan was a former decorated Green Beret transformed into a super-soldier and recurring antagonist in the CW TV series Smallville.
He served as the secondary antagonist in the Sixth Season episode "Prototype".
He was portrayed by Tahmoh Penikett, who also played Vince Davis in the same series, Gadreel in Supernatural, Darius in Need for Speed: Carbon and Michael Hastings in Criminal Minds.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Wes Keenan was a childhood friend of Lois Lane, having both grown up as army brats. He later joined the army and became a Green Beret in the United States Special Forces. He met Jodi Keenan who became his wife before he went off to war. However while stationed in Afghanistan, Wes' helicopter was shot down.
While Wes survived, he sustained serious injuries in the crash and voluntarily allowed LuthorCorp to make him the prototype for Project Ares. To keep the project a secret, his wife was informed that Wes was killed in action but Jodi refused to believe he was dead.
Nemesis[]
When Jodi traced the connection between her husband and LuthorCorp, she captured Lex Luthor in a series of underground tunnels beneath Smallville. She demanded to know the truth about her husband while threatening to blow up the tunnels with Lex inside.
But her efforts were in vain as Jodi died before learning the truth that Lex had manipulated Wes into becoming a mindless super-soldier with no free will under the guise of helping wounded soldiers like him. The plan was to create an army of super-soldiers using genetic augmentations produced from the DNA of various metahumans and aliens. Wes was the first successful prototype of Project Ares' true mission as he was turned into a programmable automaton.
Prototype[]
Lex and his assistant Jason Bartlett went to a secret laboratory under Reeves Dam where Dr. Donovan Jamison had been running a test against the base's defenses where Wes managed to take out the guards and reach his intended target. Lex used Wes through the underground tunnels to reach the main lab by going through all of the armed forces that stood in his way.
Once Wes had been augmented, Lex had him assassinate Senator Ed Burke after threatening to shut down Project Ares and expose LuthorCorp's underhanded practices. He succeeded, but the assassination was witnessed by Lois who recognized him when Wes advanced on her. He hesitated, then disappears by turning invisible and super-speeds away.
Lois later told Clark that she saw the culprit — they grew up together as Army brats. She insisted that Wes was a model soldier. Chloe reports that Wes Keenan was killed in action, but Lois stood by her story. The rest of Wes' records had been classified. Wes returned to the laboratory and was monitored by Dr. Jamison when Bartlett arrives and states there was a witness to the assassination. Lex instructed them to take care of it and the pair prepare the prototype for programming.
The following night, Wes went to the Kent Farm, where Clark and Lois were discussing Keenan as he was Lois' close friend. They heard a strange noise and Wes appeared out of thin air. He threw Clark across the room and prepares to stab Lois. Clark recovers just in time to see Wes grab Lois and disappear. Wes' disobedience was reported back to Lex who ordered the doctor to gain control of him once again.
Wes took Lois to a warehouse and stood over her as she awakened. He is reciting programming jargon like a robot and Lois attempted to get through to him by recounting a story in which they got drunk in a warehouse as children. She realizes they are in the same warehouse and pleads with Wes to remember her.
Wes comes to his senses and explains to Lois that he was stationed in Afghanistan, but he was badly injured. Lex offered him the opportunity to help soldiers protect themselves and he agreed to be part of the project. Lois assures him that they will expose the Project, but Wes begins to fall back under Lex's command. He urges Lois to run.
Meanwhile, Clark and Chloe discuss Lex and his nefarious plans. Chloe speculates that since Wes' programming is failing, that he'd go back to a familiar place. They realize that Wes and Lois grew up at nearby Ford Addleson and Clark speeds away. Lois tried to find a way out of the warehouse, but Wes has now fully succumbed to the mind control. He chokes her unconscious, but Clark catches her and moves her out of harm's way.
Wes throws Clark across the warehouse and prepares to attack him. Suddenly, he appears to Clark´s eyes although he is still out of his reach. It seals his fate because Clark has enough time to use his heat vision at maximum to blast away the force field and knock Wes out. Lois awakens and runs to Wes' side. She assures him that he will be fine, but he tells her that he would rather die than be controlled by Lex. Lois begins to cry as he dies.
Clark is disappointed that nothing can be done about the exploitation that Wes suffered. Later Lex is on the phone, demanding that Wes' body be transported back to the lab. Lois arrived at the Planet and tells Clark and Chloe that Wes' body disappeared. She vows that Lex will pay for what he did and storms away.
Lex ordered a complete study on Wes' corpse, but Doctor Jamison reveals that they do not have any more alien DNA from Titan to continue the project. Lex is undeterred and reveals that he already is working on securing a replacement source and that he has hundreds of subjects ready to be turned into super-soldiers.