Willy ARMITAGE

Willy Armitage's role as an IMF agent was that of "muscle" and a supporting player. In the first three seasons, Armitage was brought in on missions to work behind the scenes in mission prep or in minor role-playing such as a waiter at a party or a maintenance man. Often, he would have fewer than ten words of dialogue per episode. However, starting in Season Four, his role play, visibility and dialogue as part of missions did expand, including roles that required foreign language skills. While he was not generally used in very complex role play, on at least one occasion his on-the-fly interpersonal skills did save the mission.

Willy's background role meant that he did not get unintentionally captured or trapped as often as other members of the IMF. However, in the Season Six episode "Double Dead," Willy is captured in a mission that is almost blown, and the episode has his recovery as a main focus. In the end, Willy's ability to connect personally with one of his captors would be instrumental in saving his life. Even when not out in front on missions, he still played a critical role as missions unfolded, often at a moment's notice. On a regular basis, his split-second timing taking down a sniper or other gunman saved the mission as well as the life of the IMF team member in the crosshairs.

In Willy's IMF dossier, it was noted that he had set a world record in weight lifting. His higher-than-mean-average strength level was particularly leveraged in several missions, mostly in Season One. However, notably, in Season Five, Armitage demonstrated a strength level that bordered on the super-human in tearing a vault door off its hinges to save Barney Collier from certain death in a fire trap. He was experienced in hand-to-hand combat, and was often called on to silently disable sentries and policemen with a single blow. He had other skills which were leveraged, but not prominently featured, such as automobile customization and custom construction. He would often custom-build rooms and scenes to make a trapped person believe they were somewhere they were not, such as a rubber room in a mental hospital, a hospital room twelve years in the future, or a holding cell at a slave auction. Also, he was presumably the best marksman on the team, as he would generally be the team member to do any needed pre-planned tasks with a firearm, such as shooting out a tire on a moving vehicle or firing an automatic weapon at someone's feet to get them to surrender. In the episode "Memory," he made reference to having lived in Indiana when he was ten; this is presumably where Willy grew up, as well as the birthplace of actor Peter Lupus.