JC Denton

JC Denton is the player character and protagonist of the first-person role-playing video game Deus Ex and a supporting character in its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War. He is voiced by Jay Anthony Franke in both games.

Characteristics
JC Denton begins Deus Ex as an agent of UNATCO, a branch of the United Nations created to respond to the growing threat of international terrorism. Denton possesses superhuman abilities derived from nanotech canisters that he can augment himself with over the course of the game. He later deserts UNATCO alongside his brother, Paul Denton, after they both discover that UNATCO and the United Nations are controlled by a secret cabal of conspirators named Majestic 12.

While the meaning of his initials is never revealed in the games, they were revealed by Warren Spector in 2017 to stand for "Jesus Christ", as fans had speculated since the game's release. Denton's full name was based on a friendly exclamation Spector often used, "Jesus Christ, Denton", referring to his friend, the writer Bradley Denton. The developers were planning to go further and make Denton a descendant of Jesus Christ, but this was never used in the game.

Reception
In 2012, GamesRadar ranked him as the 36th "most memorable, influential, and badass" protagonist in games, commenting: "like some sort of futuristic Sherlock Holmes", he’s intelligent, incredibly resourceful, and just enough of a loner to ensure that he won’t let anything get in the way of his objective. [...] While it’s ultimately up to you where JC’s loyalties reside, one thing’s for sure: This guy’s always up to the task, no matter how dangerous it might be." GameSpy's Mike Sharkey called JC Denton a noticeable omission from the 2011 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition's top 50 video game characters.

Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Alec Meer criticized JC Denton, calling him the "blankest of blank characters", but stated he was still better than later protagonist Adam Jensen due to the supporting characters surrounding him such as Paul Denton.