Mr X is the codename for at least two men who once led a crime syndicate in The City, the location for the Streets of Rage series. When one decides to leave or fails in his job spectacularly, he is "replaced" by a new Mr X, the previous one presumably going out in an "accident".
History
The first Mr X
The streets were becoming a more and more dangerous place to live as the police became increasingly corrupt, often accepting bribes to ignore crimes. The most prevalent of these bribers was Mr X and his crime syndicate, routinely utilising organised crime in an attempt to become rich. Unfortunately for them, a "good" officer known as Officer Murphy had compiled a computer disk that listed the names and crimes of many corrupt lawmen and was planning on giving the information to vigilante Axel Stone. When he failed to show up, Murphy instead went to a shop but was cornered by Mr X's paid corrupt police officers, shooting him on sight. However, they were unable to retrive the disk from his and Maria's apartment, allowing stepson Skates to retrieve the disk from his toilet. Unfortunately, he was captured and the disk was destroyed.
Meanwhile, one of Mr X's henchmen had devised a scheme that would see the non-corrupt officers of the city murdered in a "terrorist" attack. Organising a charity ball onboard the Princess Grace, Mr X attended the party in order to make amends, stating that he had learned the errors of his ways and would be honest from now on. Unknown to many of the party-goers, Mr X had planted two bombs on the ship, planning on blowing every last one of the "do-gooders" up. His plan failed when the vigilantes cornered him, frightening the helicopter pilot into leaving him on the ship. With his life about to be given away by being on the rigged ship, he was almost saved when Skates disposed of one of the bombs, although he did not realise there was a second. The explosive went off as planned, sending Mr X plummeting into the ocean. He managed to grab hold of some of the ship's debris, only to find Skates pointing a flare gun at him. Terrified, Mr begged the boy not to shoot and was eventually saved by his fellow heroes. Thanks to Skates' classmate making a copy of the disk, Mr X stood trial, accused of murder, extortion and various counts of kidnapping.
The Bet
It appeared that Mr X avoided jail for his actions, as he was soon ruling the roost once again. This time, Mr X organised a bet, asking punters how far Skates, Axel Stone, Blaze Fielding and Max Hatchet could get across the city before they were killed. News of the wager travelled far, with almost every gang member in the city wanted to be the ones to put the heroes down at a particular spot. With the fighters managing to get as far as East River, Mr X personally showed to let the heroes in on the details. Despite them about to be executed, Blaze stepped in and placed a $20,000 bet that they would cross the river. Mr X happily accepted, unaware that Axel had survived a fall and proceeded to run Mr X's guards over with the Battle Wagon.
When the heroes survived a crossing of the river, Blaze turned up to collect her £2 million winnings. However, the original Mr X had been replaced, the former dying in a "swimming accident". The new Mr X, one of his eyes missing thanks to a cut across his face, was less than happy about his predecessor's commitments but begrudgingly handed the money over, eager to eventually recoup his losses.
Trivia
- A fat man in the first part of Skates' Story appears to be an early prototype of Mr X, heading a board of businessmen that wished for Murphy to be killed. He could, however, simply be one of his assistants, merely someone delegated to deal with this annoyance.
- Mr X's name may have been on the computer disk of corrupt officers, suggesting he may once have been a policeman. However, his trial may have been partially related to the Princess Grace disaster.
- The first man's name went unrevealed, the news report about his arrest beginning after his name was announced.
- Mr X is the major villain from the Streets of Rage video game series.