In Billions, Mike "Wags" Wagner, has the perfect template for being a reliable right-hand man. The outspoken Axe Capital COO is extremely loyal to his boss, Bobby "Axe" Axelrod, and is always more than glad to do the heavy lifting for him as long as the problem at hand involves people and not numbers.
Most of Wags' interactions tend to be with Axe, but as the show's most talkative character, he normally has no problem jumping into any conversation that is taking place within his radius. This has resulted in him coming up with hundreds of remarks and opinions. Among his scenes, a few quotes truly stand out.
Involving himself with Ice Juice is one of the biggest mistakes Axe makes in Billions, and at the height of the scandal, Wags organizes a meeting for the hedge fund billionaire with Lawrence Boyd. The location is the Barclays Center.
It's yet another moment where Wags demonstrates his resourcefulness. He appropriately refers to the meeting as "Axe's baptism" since the Axe Capital CEO is seeking to be cleansed of his sins. He is at the heart of the scandal after all and only the Spartan-Ives CEO can save him. Unfortunately for Axe, Boyd concludes that the billionaire's sins are too big to be pardoned, so he skips the meeting.
As Axe is having a private screening of Citizen Kane, one of the best movies of the 1940s, Wags shows up with some documents for him to sign. Axe isn't happy about the interruption, but Wags argues that being rich is to blame for his lack of manners.
It's a quote that Wags actually borrows from the movie itself. In it, media publisher Charles Foster Kane says the same words to Walter Thatcher. Apart from it being a great pop-culture reference, the quote applies to most of the characters on the show. Thanks to wealth, everyone not only has an ego but is also unwilling to ever play nice.
Wags overhears the conversation when Spartan-Ives managers call Mafee, promising to favor Axe Capital in all their future business deals. Mafee is hesitant to take a meeting with them but Wags encourages him to do so. According to him, such weird meetings yield great outcomes.
As someone who has been in the hedge-fund industry for long, Wags is not risk-averse. Axe Capital's best deals have been those that appeared the riskiest at first and he's willing to keep going that route. Wags has the freedom to make such calls since Axe totally trusts him. Mafee, on the other hand, has every right to be reluctant since he'll be on the chopping block if he messes up.
Wags has many questions when Axe buys a full-body cryotherapy machine. Despite being one of the smartest characters in Billions, the COO is confused, so Axe explains that it restores a person's energy in just under 180 seconds. When Axe gets in and gets out, Wags is impressed.
The ages of the characters in Billions are rarely revealed, and it's interesting that Wags refers to Axe as a 65-year-old. At the moment, actor Damian Lewis is nowhere close to 65 — he is 50. Wags says these words in season 1, and Lewis would have been around 46 at the time. There's the possibility that Wags meant that work was making Axe look like a 65-year-old, hence the machine helped him.
Wags and Axe have a hard time getting their new bank approved. Attempts by the two to bribe officials in the banking sector, including the SEC chairperson, fail. Wags finally admits that the obstacles on their way are too great.
Wags, Axe, and other players in the hedge fund sector are driven by their superiority complex. To them, government employees earn so little that they shouldn't have a problem taking bribes. In the context of the series, this has mostly been proven to be right but this time the playing field has changed for them.
In order to secure a sovereign wealth fund, Wags takes a Qadir diplomat to a nightclub where he lavishes him with drinks and food. He promises him that Axe is his best bet if he wants to become even richer.
Only Wags would try to infuse biblical analogies while not being interested in religion at all. As someone who has played the game long enough, he is aware that the best way to get an investor to commit is by discussing businesses with them as they engage in their vices, rather than doing so in a quiet office setting. Wags loves partying too, and it's the reason Axe has entrusted him with this kind of mission.
Axe gets grilled heavily while trying to close the Carter Staley investment deal. Despite the pressure, he manages to answer every question perfectly, impressing Wags in the process.
Wags is referring to the eught-time Tennis Grand Slam champion Andre Kirk Agassi, who is often credited with reviving the popularity of the sport in the early 1990s. He's often regarded as the greatest service returner in the sport, and that's why Wags likens the way Axe responds to questions to the way Agassi returned the ball.
During the neophytes cocktail party, where everyone is required to cross-dress, Wags shows up in heels and a dress and settles for giving career advice to Dollar Bill Stearn and Spyros. Though it seems like they already have, he wants them to find their calling.
While the advice is great, Wags' appearance as he is delivering his words of wisdom is too hilarious for Dollar Bill Stearn and Spyos to take him seriously. He's always had that problem. The serious things he says end up not being taken seriously because he says them in such a joking manner. But that's what makes him one of the best characters in Billions.
Spyros finds himself in trouble when he tries to get into the big leagues by digging into the Ice Juice stock, This way, he incriminates Wendy, something that makes Axe and Wags furious. They give him a dressing down but choose not to fire him because the media is sniffing.
Wags never hesitates to flaunt his authority whenever a junior employee messes up and he does so once again here. Even with Axe in the room, he is the one that does the talking because he can't pass up on the chance to yell at someone. As for Spyros, his desperation to get into Axe's inner circle tends to cause him more harm than good.
There's a celebratory mood when Dollar Bill Stearn and Spyros agree to end their feud. During the merriment proceedings, Stearn offers to sing.
Once again, Wags proves that he is the lord of pop-culture references. Famed 1960s singer Otis Redding recorded arguably the most famous renditions of the standard "Try a Little Tenderness." Since they are celebrating the end of a feud, Wags is giving Stearn permission to sing but he hopes he won't have to hear him doing that too often. Stearn has been to overindulge in things if he is given the freedom to do so.
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