The Bourne Legacy introduces Aaron Cross, who is on the hunt for more of his pills while trying to avoid being killed by his own people. The Bourne Legacy is the fourth of the Jason Bourne movies and the first without Matt Damon. The Bourne Legacy does not continue Jason Bourne’s journey. However, the events of the first three Jason Bourne movies impact what happens in The Bourne Legacy, and it even runs on a similar timeline to The Bourne Ultimatum. Jason Bourne is mentioned briefly throughout, but Aaron Cross is an Agent on a different program from Bourne.
The Bourne Legacy starts with Jeremy Renner's Aaron Cross trekking in the Alaskan Wilderness for a training exercise as a form of punishment. Throughout this, the audience sees Cross taking blue pills, which he keeps in his dog tags, and he seems worried by how few he has left. Cross also lies to Number Three (Oscar Isaac), who he finds stationed in a remote cabin, and tells him he is completely out of his pills. After the cabin is attacked, Cross escapes and sets out on a mission to find Dr. Shearing (Rachel Weisz), a Doctor on the same program specializing in deg and maintaining the pills the Agents take.
Bourne Legacy's Pills Are Performance Enhancing Drugs
The pills are so important to Cross because they are performance-enhancing drugs, with separate pills for his mental and physical enhancement. The pills are enhancements and improve aspects such as muscle regeneration, reaction time, and eyesight. Throughout The Bourne Legacy, Cross is after the blue pills, which are specifically for his mental enhancement as he had already been “viraled off” of the physical ones, although Cross does not know that. Cross was worried about his intelligence returning to what it was before the pills, so he even hid the ones he had to try to get more from Number Three’s stash.
The pills, or “chems,” offer the agents superior skills that allow them to perform their duties to a much higher ability. However, the effects are not permanent until they are “viraled” off of them, which Cross only finds out when he meets Shearing and learns he does not need the green pills for physical enhancements anymore. With stocks low, Cross is determined to make the effects of the intelligence pills permanent in The Bourne Legacy, so he and Shearing set out trying to do so before the CIA catch up with them and tries to kill them both.
The Bourne Identity Explains More About The Pills
The pills were not introduced in The Bourne Legacy, and much more information is explained in the first installment, The Bourne Identity. The pills were a key part of the Treadstone program, which is why the CIA is trying to get rid of them in The Bourne Legacy, as Treadstone has failed, and any links to it, including Cross’ Operation Outcome, must be eradicated too. The original script for The Bourne Identity suggests the pills contain caffeine, highlighting how they can spike energy and increase physical performance. The caffeine also blocks feelings of tiredness and increases dopamine levels to improve memory, focus, reactions, and concentration.
Another effect of the pills shown in The Bourne Identity is headaches. Jason Bourne is frequented with headaches throughout The Bourne Identity, especially when regaining his memory. The Bourne Identity does not go into too much detail about the pills, which are implied to be a medicine, but it is suggested that the withdrawal from the pills is what causes the headaches. The Bourne Supremacy implies this too as Bourne is affected once again by the headaches, but The Bourne Legacy is the first time the audience sees how dependent the agents are on the enhancing pills.
