After playing such an integral role in The Matrix, Tank (Marcus Chong) didn’t appear in either of the sequels, The Matrix Reloaded or The Matrix Revolutions, but why? As the operator of the Nebuchadnezzar, Tank plays a pretty crucial role on the team in the first movie, making his disappearance surprising. That's especially true due to the fact Tank was one of the few Nebuchadnezzar crew members to even survive Cypher's betrayal of his comrades.
In 2003's The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions, Tank is instead replaced by his brother-in-law, Link (Harold Perrineau Jr). It’s explained in-universe that Tank died sometime after the first Matrix movie, though no cause is given. It’s a simple explanation hiding a complicated behind-the-scenes story.
The real reason Tank didn’t come back for the admittedly quite divisive Matrix sequels was a conflict between actor Marcus Chong and the producers between the movies. Said conflict got incredibly heated, leading to legal battles, and Chong making shocking allegations against his former colleagues and bosses. Needless to say, Chong's career has never truly recovered.
What Happened To Tank In The Matrix
Tank, alongside his brother Dozer, served as a faithful member of the Nebuchadnezzar ship's crew in The Matrix, working under the command of Morpheus. As the ship's Operator, Tank had a lot of responsibility, such as watching over the ship while those jacked into the matrix traverse within the digital world, and also making sure his compatriots headed into the simulated reality with the proper weapons and knowledge. Tank was badly injured with a lightning rifle by Cypher when the latter betrayed humanity as part of a deal with the agents to get inserted back into the matrix living a life of luxury. While Tank survived and killed Cypher, Dozer wasn't so lucky, dying of his own rifle shot.
Why Tank Didn't Return For The Matrix Reloaded
In 2003, Chong filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros/AOL Time Warner, claiming that there was a verbal agreement from 1998 and a contract signed in 2000 that guaranteed him a place in the sequel movies. Warner offered him $400,000 for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, and he wanted to get $1 million, and Chong wouldn’t budge (via entertainment.ie). The lawsuit included claims of defamation, stating that the producers tried to paint him as a terrorist. In October 2000, Chong was arrested for making threatening phone calls to Warner Bros and writer-directors the Wachowskis over him being written out of the movie. He even went as far as claiming he was being blackballed in the industry by the producers. Chong hasn’t been in many movies since The Matrix — which may hint that he is difficult to work with.
The best evidence of this comes from Chong himself, in a short documentary he made called The Marcus Chong Story (via YouTube). The 45-minute piece includes several more bizarre claims that aren’t backed up by anyone else who worked on The Matrix. One is that leading man Keanu Reeves stole money from animators, the stunt team, and other actors in The Matrix, and that Warner tried to force him to sign a fake Screen Actor’s Guild contract so that the union rules couldn’t help him. The documentary also gets petty and vindictive about everyone else involved in The Matrix. The low point is a slideshow of headlines about other people in the movie, such as Joel Silver getting kicked out of Warner Bros, the death of casting director Mali Finn, Laurence Fishburne’s daughter getting arrested, and headlines about Lana and Lilly Wachowski transitioning, followed by pictures of Chong laughing like he thinks this is all the funniest thing ever. Considering all that, it's no wonder Tank didn’t return for The Matrix sequels.