| “ | I did everything. Everything you ever asked. I executed the plan! You... You promised that we would change the world together. You broke your promise. I took this system to its maximum potential. I created the perfect system! | „ |
| ~ CLU confronting his creator. |
| “ | He can go wherever he wants. It was you I'm after. Without the mighty Tron, the creator will fall... and Clu will rise. What do you think, Tron? I made Dyson perfect again. | „ |
| ~ CLU after defeating and scarring Tron. |
Codified Likeness Utility 2.0, shortened to CLU 2 or simply CLU, is the main antagonist of the 2010 Disney sci-fi film TRON: Legacy and it's prequel comic TRON: Betrayal, he also serves as the overarching antagonist of both the video game TRON: Evolution and the animated series TRON: Uprising. Overall, CLU is a key figure and perhaps the most recognizable antagonist in the TRON franchise.
He is an artificial intelligence program created by Kevin Flynn to manage the Grid, a digital frontier that he also created. CLU would eventually betray his creator, taking control of the Grid and becoming its cruel, oppressive, and tyrannical ruler in hopes of creating the "perfect system".
In the films, he was portrayed by Jeff Bridges. In the animated series, he was voiced by Fred Tatasciore, who also voiced Shao Khan in the Mortal Kombat Legends films, Warden Kuril in Mass Effect 2, the Red Hulk in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Carnage in Ultimate Spider-Man, Diego Gómez in Resident Evil: Vendetta, Lord Dominator in Wander Over Yonder and Dr. Ludvig Maxis in Call of Duty: Zombies.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Close to Being Pure Evil?[]
In General[]
- CLU believed that a perfect system could not be achieved with the existence of the ISOs, a new race of programs that were not created by users, harboring prejudice and hatred for them as a result.
- Has no concern over his underlings, being unfazed if they are killed, sometimes even being the one who executes them for their failures.
- Despite claiming that the ISOs could cause harm to basic programs, CLU himself has little respect for the programs he rules over, being okay with killing them if it serves his own goals or sometimes just for his own amusement.
Background[]
- Created a Coup against his creator Kevin Flynn, attacking him and Tron with some of his guards, forcing Flynn to go into hiding and presumably killing Tron.
- With no one to stop him, CLU dispatched multiple armies, seizing total control over the Grid.
- Enacting a Purge against the ISOs following his Coup, commiting genocide against the entire new race of programs.
TRON: Betrayal[]
- CLU ordered his security programs to kill any failing game combatants in the Game Arena.
- During Kevin Flynn's absence, CLU sent his guards to plant multiple explosives in the ISO cities.
- CLU also secretly had his guards poison the Sea of Simulation to stop new ISOs from forming.
TRON: Evolution[]
- In an effort to further discredit the ISOs, CLU turned one of their leaders, Jalen, into a dangerous virus named Abraxas with the task to eliminate the rest of the ISO faction.
- CLU later blamed Tron and Flynn's "deaths" on a newly written program called Anon.
- CLU made Abraxas kill Radia, leader of the ISOs, after the Purge.
- Despite promising the Abraxas virus that he would end him after he completed his tasks as a way of freeing him from his agonizing existence, CLU left him alive and showed no remorse for leaving him in a state of constant pain.
TRON: Uprising[]
- After Tron's fellow program, Dyson, was scarred across his face during a conflict in a ISO district, CLU took advantage of this and manipulated him into joining his Coup with the promise to cure his damaged face.
- It is revealed that Tron wasn't killed after CLU's betrayal, but was merely left heavily scarred by him, who ordered Dyson to forcefully repurpose Tron to be his new enforcer.
- Had his underlings round up many programs from different cities on the Grid, forcing them to participate in his games, where they would be killed after losing.
- After finding out that Tron escaped his fate and is alive, CLU ordered Dyson to keep it a secret, indirectly ordering Dyson to kill a guard that was standing next to him.
TRON: Legacy[]
- It is revealed that CLU successfully repurposed Tron and turned him into Rinzler, keeping him as his brainwashed enforcer.
- Attempting to lure a new innocent user into the Grid, CLU sent a message to Alan Bradley, believing that it might attract Flynn's attention and get him out of hiding.
- Realizing that his message led to the arrival of Sam Flynn, Kevin's son, CLU decided to force him to play at the Game Arena, hoping to exploit Flynn's love for his son.
- After finding out that Castor managed to get Kevin's identity disc, CLU took the disc from him and ordered his guards put grenades in his club, killing him in the explosion.
- With the creator's disc in his possession, CLU planned to get out of the Grid and invade the real world, hoping to rid it of its imperfection.
- Amassed an army of hundreds of brainwashed programs to aid in his invasion of the real world.
- Killed Jarvis, his administrator, after he failed to stop Sam from stealing Kevin's disc.
- He posthumously causes Kevin Flynn's death, as the latter sacrificed his life to ultimately destroy CLU.
What Prevents Him from Being Pure Evil?[]
- Despite his actions and controlling personality, CLU was a program created by Kevin Flynn, all his actions were motivated by his order to create the "perfect system", not understanding perfection the way Kevin eventually did. This is explained by Flynn himself, claiming that Clu's actions were a byproduct of him being created by a young and reckless Kevin.
- CLU's betrayal of Flynn was mainly done because he felt betrayed himself by his creator, as he seemed to care more about the ISOs than the basic programs, including himself.
- Even after years of tyrannical rule, CLU expressed his disappointment at how Kevin broke his promise during their final confrontation and was unable to kill him.
Trivia[]
- While CLU is currently Near Pure Evil, there's a chance this may change if he returns in the upcoming sequel TRON: Ares.
External Links[]
- CLU on the Villains Wiki
- CLU on the Tron Wiki
