Emile Danko

Emile Danko
Portrayed by	Željko Ivanek
First appearance	Under the Bridge, Part 2
In-story stats
Known ability	None
Alias	The Hunter
Gender
Home	Washington, DC
Residence	Danko's apartment
Occupation	Senior Agent of Homeland Security

Emile Danko, also referred to as "the Hunter", is a senior agent of the Department of Homeland Security, who currently serves as the leader of a team of soldiers hunting evolved humans on behalf of his superior, Senator Nathan Petrelli.

Character History

Graphic Novel:Under the Bridge, Part 2

When two of Nathan's bodyguards try to apprehend Donald Essex, they are subdued by Donald's ability. Danko sprays an unknown spray into Donald's face, which causes Donald to lose consciousness. Soon after, Nathan arrives and asks if Donald is dead. Danko says that it is hard to tell, and Nathan says to wrap it up and head back to New York. When Danko asks what to do with all the water in the room (which is actually Donald's dissolved remains), Nathan says to pour it away into the Mississippi River.

A Clear and Present Danger

Danko and his team capture Tracy at her home. He then tells Nathan that he has captured the first of them. Later, Danko gets into Mohinder's cab, right after Peter Petrelli leaves it and forces him to drive to a car park where Danko's team is waiting. Mohinder overpowers Danko and starts to run away, but is intercepted by Noah, who makes out like he is there to help but instead he brings Mohinder back to Danko. Danko delivers the posthumans to Nathan at an aircraft hanger and informs him of Sylar and Claire.

Trust and Blood

After the plane crash, Danko orders an air strike, much to Nathan's frustration. Danko and Nathan begin to argue, with Danko comparing the evolved humans to rabid dogs, and that they must be "put down". After Daphne is shot by Danko's team, Matt manages to control the mind of a soldier and escape. Danko manages to shoot the soldier, and capture Claire. He threatens Claire and blames her for the deaths of many soldiers, before pulling out his gun and almost shooting her in the back of the head. Nathan quickly stops Danko, and sends Claire home. Danko and Nathan argue again, and Danko continues to label the evolved humans as animals. When Nathan and Tracy meet out in the woods, Nathan secretly brings Danko and Noah; even though he promises to meet Tracy alone. When Peter reveals himself out in the open, Danko and Noah prepare to aim at Tracy and Peter. Noah is persistent in shooting Peter, and tells Danko that he doesn't have the proper shot on Peter. When Peter flies away and escapes, Danko is frustrated and stares at Nathan coldly before leaving. According to a file Angela read, he was linked to civilian deaths in a Angolan coup.

Building 26

Danko is in the control center of Building 26, discussing surveillance efforts and the status of their operation. He stares at a wall of photographs of evolved humans, while telling his men that Claire is "on probation" — for now. Nathan comes in and clarifies he wants this operation to be as gentle as possible, which is the opposite to what Danko wants. There is palpable tension between the two men. Later, Danko and Nathan meet Abby Collins, who informs them that their operation is worrying the president's handlers, and Homeland Security are now overseeing their team. Danko resents the intrusion of yet another politician, while Nathan suggests a tour and talks to Abby alone. After Tracy kills Mark Leggett, Nathan talks to Danko revealing that he knows Danko let Tracy escape deliberately. Danko says he did it to protect the agency.

Cold Wars

After Noah being drugged by Peter, Mohinder and Matt, Emile Danko becomes concerned that Noah hasn't checked in, and orders his team to find him. Nathan is surprised they are having Noah under surveillance, but Danko also reveals they are doing the same to him. Danko says Noah and Nathan's connections to Claire Bennet and Peter, who they have been somewhat partial to, compromises their decision making. At the storage unit, Peter begins procuring weapons and gear, all the while being watched by Nathan's agency due to a security camera. Danko has his men move in, but Peter manages to distract them with a flash grenade and flies off with the weapons.

Matt decides to discover more about Danko, and delves into Noah's mind once more. In a flashback one week prior, Noah is seen paying a visit to Danko's house. The two seem to be at odds, but Noah assures him he'll obey his orders. Peter flies off to confront Danko, while it is also shown Danko's men are mobilizing outside the hotel. Before Danko can give the order to move in, he is stopped by Peter. Danko tries to get Peter to shoot him to prove his point that people like him are dangerous, but Nathan arrives at the scene (Danko is surprised how he got there so quickly). Peter shoots Danko in the arm, but Nathan warns Peter that by killing Danko he will effectively be writing a kill order on all people with abilities. Nathan also informs Peter of the imminent raid on Matt and Suresh, causing Peter to fly off. Danko then orders his men to move in.

Exposed

In Building 26's control room, Danko is informed of Parkman and Peter's intrusion into the building. Despite being warned by Noah not to go after them, he attempts to hunt them down. However, his hunt is cut short when he suddenly finds himself at gunpoint - two of the guards are being telepathically controlled by the intruders. Noah formulates a strategy to counter the telepaths, and Danko helps capture Parkman.

Later, Nathan has made a deal with his brother - all of the information that he stole in exchange for Parkman and Daphne. Danko manipulates this deal and turns it into a trap. When Peter arrives to make the exchange, Danko looks on through the scope of a sniper rifle. He takes a shot at Peter, causing him to stumble over the edge of the roof. Danko watches on in disbelief as Peter appears to fly off unharmed, likely unaware that it was Nathan who saved him.

The footage stolen by Peter is picked up by local news outlets. Danko watches on from Building 26. After re-examining the paintings found by agents in Isaac's loft, Danko is inspired to make them come true. In an attempt to regain public respect and put himself in a position of greatness in the conquest against evolved humans, Danko straps an explosive vest to Parkman and drops him off, dazed and drugged, before the Capitol building.

Shades of Gray

Danko's plan of trying to get Matt to blow up as a terrorist has been discovered by Nathan. As Nathan flies over to Matt, Danko watches from Building 26. But decides to detonate the bomb anyway. Rebel hacked into the system to stop the bomb from being detonated. Danko manages to get in control, but Matt Parkman disarms it anyway. Later, Nathan tells Danko he will attempt to have him removed from the agency, though Danko responds by saying he heard Tracy Strauss mention Nathan was "one of us." Nathan meets with Tracy, urging her to not to divulge anything. When Danko enters her cell to ask her about Nathan possibly having powers, she replies she has no idea, adding that Nathan was "lousy in bed". Later, Danko talks with Noah Bennet about asking Angela Petrelli about Nathan. Noah warns Angela that Danko has set his sights on her, though she replies she'll be ready for him. Danko meets with Angela in New York, and attempts to discover if Nathan has an ability, pointing out that Nathan's brother and parents all had abilities. Angela denies it, and then brings up a certain incident in Danko's past that had involved the deaths of many people. At this, Danko is visibly stirred and leaves. Afterwards, Nathan notifies Danko that he's been fired after consulting with the President, and decides to appoint Noah in his place. Danko later confronts Nathan with a gun, but instead of killing him, he shoots at the window behind Nathan and pushes him through it. Nathan activates his ability to stop his fall, but in clear view of Danko; Nathan then flies away, leaving a bewildered Danko to ask Noah if he had any idea of it.

Later, Danko discovers a stuffed rabbit in his apartment, and Sylar is shown hiding behind a wall.

Cold Snap

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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.

Memorable Quotes

"How did you catch him?"

"I'm smarter than the average bear."

- Danko (to Noah Bennet) (Cold Snap)

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.