ARCHER AND BARRY: FIENDS 'TIL THE END
By Kirsten Howard
As FXX’s irreverent animated show Archer returns for its twelfth season, we look back at the history of Barry and Sterling’s twisted relationship.
To say that Archer and Barry have had a rivalry for the ages is an understatement.
The pair’s first real run-in happened before the events of the series, when Barry was still working for rival spy agency ODIN.
On a mission in Berlin, Sterling burst into a room to take out two double agents and Barry ruined Archer’s suit.
Obviously, Archer couldn’t let it stand, so later chose not to help Barry when he was dangling precariously from a balcony.
Barry ended up breaking his leg and had to have two steel rods and 16 titanium screws fitted.
But it wouldn’t be the last time the two came to blows, and Barry became one of Archer’s central antagonists.
Voiced by Aqua Teen Hunger Force co-creator Dave Willis, the character has repeatedly popped up in random episodes since Archer first began in 2009.
Barry eventually became more machine than man when he was turned into a cyborg by the KGB and became the head of the organization.
Barry was instrumental in the death of Archer’s fiance Katya, and began a relationship with her after she was revived as a cyborg.
Archer’s nemesis spent some time trapped in space on the ISS Horizon, but returned even more determined to destroy him.
Barry went on to make several attempts on Archer’s life, but called a truce when he needed the Agency to help him find his birth mother.
During Archer’s coma years Barry appeared as the villainous android, Barry-6.
When Sterling finally awoke from his coma there were plenty of surprises in store for him in the real world, and Barry’s status was no different.
In the years that Sterling had been unconscious, Barry had gone to therapy and finally reconnected with his birth mother.
Now, he and Sterling seem to have finally put their past clashes behind them, but Barry might have a surprising new nemesis in Lana.