21

Officially the Men in Black agents do not exist. No paper trail or forensics of them can be found. So one has to ask how does J and likely every other agent have a home to live in when not on shift?

Improve this question
3
  • 8
    Because MIB own the properties they live in.
    – Valorum
    Jan 4, 2019 at 12:17
  • 2
    Wipe the memory of the landlord as soon as you have the rental agreement signed ? Oh wait, why even the agreement, swipe memory, occupy and enjoy !
    – R S
    Jan 4, 2019 at 12:19
  • 3
    How hard can it be for MIB to arrange for the agents to rent or buy housing under false identities? And as some have suggested, possibly MIB owns an apartment building and/or a neighborhood of houses for agents to live in.
    – M. A. Golding
    Jan 4, 2019 at 16:12

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
36

Although it's not confirmed in the films (or their accompanying novels), the reality seems to be that MIB probably own and operate the apartments that their Agents live in.

Z: You will conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you

The most obvious evidence for this is the large armoury found in Agent K's old apartment. It seems very unlikely that K would have had the personal skills to install and equip such a large add-on without at least consulting with his superiors.

enter image description here

J's apartment (from MIB:3) seems spartan to the extreme. Basically just somewhere to sleep and chill before returning to work in 8 hours. Note that it's also in the standard MIB monochrome colour-scheme.

enter image description here

Improve this answer
7
  • 8
    It's more or less hinted at in the 'welcome speech' by Z: "You'll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you." While they have their agent identity, they're human, they need to unwind and such, they can't be on-call 24/7 in the MIB compound, that's recipe to go crazy which would be bad with the tech they have at hand.
    – Sava
    Jan 4, 2019 at 15:21
  • 25
    That's 36/4.6667, not 24/7, in Centurion days. You either get used to it or go mad.
    – steenbergh
    Jan 4, 2019 at 15:24
  • 9
    Haha... I'd never noticed the picture (or maybe it's a (possibly chalk/charcoal) painting) of Frank before :)
    – Jon Clements
    Jan 4, 2019 at 15:48
  • Isn't though in the second movie, they go back to K's old apartment which is occupied by civilians at the time to retrieve some items and then mind wipe on the way out?
    – BPugh
    Jan 4, 2019 at 19:49
  • @BPugh - Yes, presumably MiB are letting the apartment out (in the absence of an Agent to occupy it).
    – Valorum
    Jan 4, 2019 at 19:57

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.