J. Daniel Atlas

Atlas gets a card that leads him to a New York apartment, where he meets Merritt, Henley and Jack. A year later in Las Vegas, the group becomes the Four Horsemen, and Atlas runs the show. In Paris they empty a vault and shower the money on the crowd. In New Orleans they move millions out of Arthur Tressler's accounts to people denied insurance after Hurricane Katrina.

On the roof of 5 Pointz in New York, the Horsemen give their last show and leap off the building in a shower of counterfeit money. The real money from the Elkhorn safe is in Thaddeus's car, and he is arrested. Dylan Rhodes, the agent chasing them, was the mastermind of it all. He welcomes the Horsemen at the Central Park carousel and invites them into the Eye.

On the run, the Horsemen await orders from the Eye. Atlas leads the mission to expose Owen Case, a CEO who wants to sell users' data. The launch is interrupted, and they suddenly turn up in Macau. Walter Mabry asks them to steal a chip, and Atlas agrees over the others' protests. Walter pretends to be in touch with the Eye to win his trust, and Atlas ends up learning the chip he carried was fake.

In London on New Year's Eve, the Horsemen perform across the city and are taken to a jet. Up there, they hand over the fake chip. Walter's henchmen throw them out of the plane. What Walter, Arthur and Chase don't know is the jet never took off: it is a set floating on the Thames. The group reveals itself, their crimes are broadcast worldwide, and Atlas and the others get away.

Ten years later, Atlas turns up in front of three young illusionists, Charlie, Bosco and June, who were posing as the Horsemen. A tarot card from the Eye summoned them to steal the Heart Diamond. The plan starts in Antwerp, passes through a château in France and ends in Abu Dhabi. At each stage Atlas deals with the rookies, with the absence of the leader Dylan, whom everyone thinks is jailed and with the threat of Veronika Vanderberg.

In Abu Dhabi, Veronika reaches the vault with a gun and finds the caller is Charlie, her half-brother. She shoots him and he catches the bullet: it was all a show, and she was firing blanks. Charlie is the mastermind who used the Eye's name to recruit the Horsemen. Dylan sends a hologram and invites Charlie, Bosco and June into the real Eye.

J. Daniel Atlas was created for the 2013 first film, and Jesse Eisenberg plays him in all three.