Emile Danko

Emile Danko
Portrayed by	Željko Ivanek
First appearance	Under the Bridge, Part 2
In-story stats
Known ability	None
Alias	Jakob Pradasa
Nickname	The Hunter
Gender
Home	Washington, DC
Residences	Apartment in Washington, DC
Occupation	formerly Senior Agent of Homeland Security
Significant other	formerly Alena
Parent	Unnamed father

Emile Danko, also referred to as "the Hunter", is a former senior agent of the Department of Homeland Security, who served as the leader of a team of soldiers hunting evolved humans. He was originally doing this on behalf of his superior, Senator Nathan Petrelli, but since Nathan's ability has been exposed, Danko was left in full charge of the operation. He was framed by Sylar, who took on Danko's identity and killed some of his agents.

Character History

Season Three

For an episode-by-episode summary, see Emile Danko: Season Three History.

When Tracy Strauss is attacked in her home by a team of government agents, she tells them that she will not beg. One agent steps forward and shoots her without hesitating. He then calls Nathan Petrelli, announcing that he has the first one. Danko then goes about capturing Mohinder Suresh and Matt Parkman before loading every captured individual onto Flight 195. When the plane goes down, Danko is one of the first to arrive on the scene and organizes several teams to hunt down the fugitives. After an agent opens fire on Daphne Millbrook, Matt Parkman uses his power to make the agent kill his fellow team members. Seeing no other alternative, Danko shoots Gibson dead.

In Building 26, Danko commands most of the agents within the building and pays close attention to the conversations held between Abby Collins and Nathan. After releasing Tracy in order to make Abby see the truth, Danko begins to have differences of opinion with Nathan, and often disagrees with him. When Peter Petrelli nearly kills Danko, he pushes for the agents to use any methods they see fit whilst in the field but Nathan overrules him. Danko, suspecting that Nathan has an ability, interrogates both Angela Petrelli and Tracy to try and gain some knowledge. Danko is briefly fired before he exposes Nathan, and he is placed in full command of the operation. To get back in his good books, Noah Bennet offers to give Danko Rebel by releasing Tracy. Danko is hesitant but listens to Noah's advice. He sends teams after other Petrelli family members such as Angela and Claire, effectively ending her free pass. After Tracy unleashes her cold snap, Danko shoots her ice statue to ensure her death. Following the deaths of several of his agents at the hands of James Martin, Danko teams up with Sylar, who manages to kill Martin. The pair see the benefits of working with each other and agree to keep killing other specials until Sylar is the only one left.

Seeking vengeance for the death of Daphne, Matt tricks Danko into revealing the one person who truly loves, a woman named Alena. Matt reveals that Danko has been lying to Alena, ending their relationship. With his personal life under attack, Danko also finds his professional life beginning to crumble, as Sylar is becoming increasingly harder to control. Eventually tiring of trying to control him, Danko tries to kill Sylar by stabbing him in the back of the head. After this fails, Sylar frames Danko for murder and he is placed in confinement with Noah Bennet. The two men make a pact to kill Sylar but Danko goes back on his word and tries to take down Bennet. He is finally stopped when Hiro Nakamura stops time and injects Danko with a sedative that knocks him out.

Heroes Evolutions

The Agent

In chapter 1 of The Agent, Rachel Mills learns about Danko and is compared to him while in training. The other recruits call him "the Hunter" for being lethal, focused, and instinctive. She meets Danko for the first time on her first mission at the Flight 195 crash site. Rachel is told to report to him for orders and finds him talking with Senator Petrelli. The senator is arguing with Danko that the detainees are going back into custody--that they are not assassins, but Danko says that the detainees should be killed. Danko also notes that the senator's daughter turned the transport flight into a National security emergency and points to her.

After a fast girl rescues Claire, Danko spots Rachel and approaches her while calling out her name. He tells Rachel to pick three men and follow the main search party. He adds that if that party gets into trouble, her squad is to ignore everything else and capture Claire by any means possible. Rachel asks what if they can't capture her, and he instructs her to shoot her in the back of the skull. He then leaves to make other preparations for the search.

Danko follows the main search party as well. When Gibson gets forced to shoot all the members of the main search party and the other members of Rachel's squad, Danko shoots and kills Gibson just before he can shoot Rachel. He then approaches Claire, pulls out a tie and takes her prisoner.

In chapter 2 of The Agent, Danko sends a male agent to deliver a file to Rachel Mills regarding the "special project" she is working on.

Rachel recalls that Danko has had her searching through some old websites, stuff that used to be run by people with abilities. They were just trying to understand more about how they think when Rachel found the first message. When Rachel reported it, Danko instructed Rachel to keep the project off the grid as he thinks there might be a security breach.

In chapter 3 of The Agent, the day prior to one of the fugitives breaking in to his apartment and almost killing him, Danko is driving a van carrying Jason in the back seat. Danko waits for Rachel Mills when she misses her check-in time. When she finally arrives and enters the van, Danko asks where she was and then hits gas, getting them out of the area before the cops arrive.

Some of the agents started looking at Danko differently after the incident when one of the fugitives broke into Danko's apartment, but Rachel Mills didn't, so he rewarded that loyalty with an assignment following day. Danko finds Rachel Mills and Jason at the shooting range and tells them to get their gear together--that they need to be on a plane to Costa Verde in fifteen minutes. When Rachel prompts him with questions, he explains that their mission is to find and capture Alex Woolsly. In addition, Danko informs Rachel they think that Alex had help escaping them before, and that the cheerleader is in the same town. Regarding the cheerleader, he instructs Rachel to inform him if they can find any evidence that the cheerleader is involved, and await further orders. He then leaves, walking out the door.

In chapter 6 of The Agent, Jason recalls delivering a message from Danko to Rachel Mills the first day he met her. Later, after witnessing Rachel use her ability, Jason tells Rachel that he promised Danko turning Rachel in would go smoothly. Rachel replies that is a lie and that if Danko knew he would be there with a SWAT team, hoping Rachel would make a break for it so he could kill her. Rachel adds that she thinks Danko will kill her after making her suffer. Jason says he thinks she is wrong, and Rachel responds that is cause he is not like Danko or her.

In chapter 7 of The Agent, the site commander for an operation targeting fugitives in an abandoned office building asks Rachel if she has talked with Danko about the mission. He also informs Rachel that Danko has gone off the grid, and that he is asking because he thinks Rachel is Danko's buddy or something.

In chapter 8 of The Agent, Rachel notes to herself that Commander Klassen is one of Danko's most trusted lieutenants. After the fugitives escape, Danko text messages Rachel instructions to report immediately to him.

In chapter 9 of The Agent, Rachel reports to Danko's office in Building 26 per Danko's request. However, a shape shifted Sylar that looks and sounds like Danko attends their meeting in his place.

In chapter 10 of The Agent, Danko enters a shooting range at Building 26 with agents that grab Rachel. Danko shows Rachel a video message on his cell phone that was sent to Janey from her brother Jason. He also tells her that ballistics matched the bullets in Jason's body to Rachel's gun. When Rachel then teleports away, Danko shouts that Rachel is one of them. Later, Rachel approaches and teleports through a massive metal door Danko added after the last time Rebel tried to break someone out. When Rachel meets Janey the next day, she assumes Janey is responsible for Danko getting Jason's message.

In chapter 11 of The Agent, Danko interrogates a captured Rachel Mills and calls her a monster. He then assigns her the task of killing Linda Niles before she can take down Building 2 6. Rachel initially refuses but Danko threatens to kill another prisoner, Anna Korolenko, if she does not agree. After Rachel agrees, Danko tells her that she can get to the location of Ellen from another monster they have.

Memorable Quotes

"How did you catch him?"

"I'm smarter than the average bear."

- Noah Bennet, Danko (Cold Snap)

Trivia

• According to Bryan Fuller, "There was some talk about making Danko gay," but "it was decided it was best to not have our first gay character be a villain." [1]
• After shape shifting into Danko, Sylar notes that he has a mole. (Turn and Face the Strange)
• Danko speaks six languages. (I Am Sylar)
• Danko's pocket watch has Russian writing on it, suggesting that Danko, or at least his father, was born in Soviet Russia.

See Also

• For a list of his victims, see Danko's victims.

Fan Theories

Please refer to Theory:Emile Danko for fan-created theories and other speculation.