Standing in the Shadows

Just who is CancerMan aka The Smoking Man aka Black Lung SOB?..... We caught a glimpse of him during the pilot episode and remained in the shadows for most of The X-Files first three seasons. His demeanor and posture relayed menace from the first time we see him puff his Morley in Section Chief Blevins' office. His character has changed through the seasons, and become dynamic in nature. With the fifth season, the audience has discovered that CancerMan knows much more about Agent Fox Mulder's childhood than we originally were led to believe. Is he Mulder's father? Is he Samantha's father? In my opinion, the episodes in which CancerMan plays a prominent role are much richer in substance. He is the character you love to hate.

Chris Carter has kept CancerMan's past very private, but last season he has allowed some interesting, as well as fun facts to see the light. We have learned that:

As a young man, he worked with Mulder's father and was close to their family. He spent summers waterskiing at their summer house and romanced Mulder's mother!
He pursued writing novels as a career only to be repeatedly turned down.
He says that he has watched presidents die, and he was behind some of the biggest conspiracies of our time...the Kennedy the MLK Jr. assassinations to name a few.
Now we know why the Buffalo Bills lost 4 consecutive superbowls, although it's still a mystery as to why he was involved.
Recently we've been led to believe that he's been raising Samantha as his own daughter since she disappeared from the Mulder home.