WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Black Bag.
Severus is the main plot device in Steven Soderbergh and David Koepp’s espionage thriller Black Bag but what is it actually capable of? Michael Fᴀssbender’s George Woodhouse, a senior agent at London’s National Cyber Security Centre, is tasked by his superior, Philip Meachum, to locate one of five potential moles within the NCSC. One of these suspects is none other than Kathryn St. Jean, George’s wife, played by the impeccable and alluring Cate Blanchett. George is told by Meachum – before he is killed days later – that Severus will kill tens of thousands if deployed and gives him a week to prevent disaster.
By the end of Black Bag, George discovers the truth about who leaked Severus and why after realizing that both he and Kathryn are intentionally being placed at odds. Since Severus came from within the NCSC, there are only a handful of people who could have even known about the advanced cyber weapon, let alone have leaked it. The true culprit is revealed to be a name not on Meachum’s list – the director of the London branch of the NCSC, Arthur Stieglitz. Arthur enlisted Col. James Stokes, George’s right-hand man before Kathryn killed him in defense of her husband, to leak Severus.
Severus Is A Top-Secret Operation That Would Kill Thousands
It Can Initiate A Meltdown In Any Nuclear Reactor On The Planet
Severus is an advanced code that can melt down nuclear reactor cores developed by the NCSC. It is an incredibly powerful weapon that Arthur claims he never wanted to see the light of day because of its earth-shattering wartime capabilities. Placed in the wrong hands, Severus has the ability to ignite a meltdown of any nuclear reactor core on the planet. This can be used for acts of terrorism against foreign nations, which appears to be exactly what Arthur was trying to do with the help of James Stokes. Anyone within a certain radius of a compromised nuclear power plant would be gravely affected by radiation.
Although Arthur claims he doesn’t know who leaked Severus, he’s lying. He was the one who leaked Severus through Stokes, who then got it into the hands of two Russian criminals named Andrei Kulikov and Vadim Pavlichuk. Somehow, Stokes gave these two a physical copy of Severus, who then planned to travel to Moscow to initiate a meltdown of a nearby nuclear reactor core. This would have killed tens of thousands of Russian civilians, which Meachum wanted George to prevent from happening. Arthur and Stokes, however, thought this disaster would stop the war, presumably between Russia and Ukraine.
What Severus’ Purpose Is In Black Bag
Arthur & Stokes Tried Using It To Weaken Moscow & Stop A War
Severus is a classic example of a technology that should probably not have been made just because it could be. It seems that the NCSC was sitting on Severus for a while, keeping it hidden from the world only to use it in dire wartime situations. Arthur released Severus from the vault as an extreme and forcible attempt to weaken Moscow, using the two Russian criminals as decoys to prevent detection. Stokes believed in this “kill a few to save many” ideology and willingly ᴀssisted Arthur in getting Severus into the hands of the Russian criminals.
It appears that the $7 million in the foreign bank account would have gone to Andrei Kulikov and Vadim Pavlichuk once they completed their mission. It’s a bit unclear why the two Russian criminals would do something so devastating to their home country, especially only for $7 million, if that money was meant for them anyway. Had Arthur not brought Severus into the light of day, it would have remained a top-secret cyber weapon that would have remained on standby, like nuclear missiles. Arthur and Stokes weren’t trying to help the Russians. Instead, they were trying to stop a war.
Who Leaked Severus In Black Bag & Why
Arthur Was The Mastermind & Stokes Did His Dirty Work
It could be argued that Arthur had good intentions to release Severus as a last-ditch effort to (presumably) stop Russia’s war with Ukraine. During Stokes’ confession at the end of the film, he reveals his ideological point of view that would have justified the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Russian citizens if it meant that the Russian attack on foreign nations would have subsided. Weakening Russia in this way could have had permanent effects, some that Arthur and Stokes believed were for the greater good of not only the Western nations, but the world.
Stokes believes that his ideological pride enтιтles him to break NCSC protocol and betray his country, even if Arthur was the one who spearheaded the treasonous operation.
While Stokes is intelligent, he is foolish to try deceiving the human lie detector George and even more foolish for trying to get in between his marriage with Kathryn. His trail of lies eventually ran thin when he revealed that Kathryn was not the only agent to previously use the alias Margaret Langford, who opened a bank account with the aforementioned $7 million. Stokes also believes that his ideological pride enтιтles him to break NCSC protocol and betray his country, even if Arthur was the one who spearheaded the treasonous operation. Stokes obeyed Arthur’s orders, which cost him his life.
How Kathryn & George Stopped Severus In Black Bag
George’s Polygraph Tests & Kathryn’s CIA Connection Thwarted Arthur’s Plan
Arthur’s “plan” and “counter-plan” against George and Kathryn were designed to make them suspicious of one another, breaking their longstanding trust and allowing Arthur and Stokes to skate by undetected. This is ultimately not what happened, as Kathyrn and George both realized they were being set up to distrust one another once Kathryn returned from Zurich and Freddie approached her about George spying on her. George and Kathryn saw through the smoke and mirrors, which inspired George to polygraph test the other four suspects – Zoe, Freddie, Clarissa, and Stokes.
George’s quick polygraph work led to Kathryn reaching out to a CIA ᴀssociate named Mr. Green, who targeted the SUV that Andrei Kulikov and Vadim Pavlichuk were driving to Moscow. Both of them died in an explosion after a missile directly hit their car, which burned their physical copy of Severus on a flash drive to a crisp.
Arthur got away with leaking Severus for the time being, even claiming responsibility for exposing Stokes as the leak.
Now that George and Kathryn had prevented Severus from reaching Moscow and triggering a nuclear meltdown, all they had to do was present the opportunity for the true mole to reveal himself or herself, which Stokes ultimately did. Arthur got away with leaking Severus for the time being, even claiming responsibility for exposing Stokes as the leak. Kathryn sends him a chilling message in the final moments of Black Bag that suggests he skips town for a while if he doesn’t want to end up like Stokes.
