X-Files: Fox Mulder’s Real Father Explained

The X-Files co-lead agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) grew up believing one man was his father, only to learn that wasn’t actually the case. For (most of) 11 seasons, FBI special agent Fox Mulder has been doing his best to investigate cases involving the supernatural, paranormal, alien conspiracies, and other things that go bump in the night. Of course, he was rarely alone in these endeavors, working alongside his partner and eventual soulmate Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson).

For much of The X-Files‘ run, Mulder was haunted by his inability to solve his own personal mystery, that being the disappearance of his sister Samantha. He eventually did find out what happened, albeit the answer wasn’t nearly as cut and dry as his assumed alien abduction story. However, it was confirmed near the end of The X-Files‘ original run that Mulder also had a different dark family secret, this one concerning his parentage. Mulder didn’t want to face it for a while, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

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It turns out that Mulder’s father wasn’t the man he thought for most of his life, and what’s worse, his biological sire was in fact a person he outright despised. Here’s what happened.

X-Files: Fox Mulder’s Real Father Explained

Fox Mulder grew up believing a man named Bill Mulder to be his biological father, and Bill’s wife Teena Mulder to be his biological mother. Well, he was right on one of those accounts. It’s heavily implied going back to the middle of The X-Files‘ run that Bill Mulder actually wasn’t Fox’s father. Instead, Fox was the product of an affair between the Cigarette Smoking Man (aka Carl Gerhardt Busch Spender) and Teena Mulder. Regardless, Bill and Teena raised Fox as their son. As an adult, the CSM of course became Mulder’s nemesis, always interfering with his attempts to uncover the truth.

In season 9, it was revealed via DNA testing that Mulder has very similar DNA to the CSM’s son Jeffrey Spender, making them likely half-brothers. Needless to say, Mulder and CSM’s relationship hasn’t warmed at all since Fox learned of his real biological parentage. It does go a long way in explaining why the Cigarette Smoking Man so often seemed to be protecting Mulder from reprisal from The Syndicate, even while stymieing his quest to expose the truth about aliens to the public. The CSM may be a bastard, but he appears to have at least some parental affection for Mulder, even offering to grant him immunity from the planned depopulation virus in The X-Files season 11. Mulder of course refuses, partially because Scully isn’t being given the same offer.

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