What Is Novichok? The Nerve Agent Weapon In Carry-On Explained

Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Carry-On!



Novichok is the deadly nerve agent weapon that plays a major role in Carry-On‘s story, and here’s what it is and its real-life connections explained. Netflix’ new Christmas thriller Carry-On has finally been released, with the Taron Egerton and Jason Bateman crime movie being full of twists and turns throughout. For viewers who like films like Die Hard, Carry-On is a perfect new Christmas classic, with it featuring many of the staples of the genre. However, Carry-On does feature one major difference, with this being the Netflix film’s use of the Novichok nerve agent.


In Carry-On, Taron Egerton’s Ethan Kopek is a TSA agent who is contacted by Jason Bateman’s mysterious criminal, known only as the Traveler. The Traveler tells Ethan that he must let a specific bag through TSA security, and if he doesn’t his family will die. Although Ethan doesn’t initially know what is in the bag, he eventually learns that it is a deadly nerve agent known as Novichok. The Traveler plans on releasing Novichok on the plane, with Ethan realizing that, if he doesn’t do something, hundreds of people will die as a result of the terrorist attack.


What Novichok Is

It Is A Real Russian Nerve Agent


Novichok is not made up for Carry-On, with the nerve agent actually being a real thing. Novichok is a family of nerve agents that, while having a bunch of branches, tend to act in similar ways. The nerve agent began being researched in the Soviet Union in around 1971, with it continuing to be researched in Russia until around 1993. Usage of Novichok in assassinations and other civil deaths can be traced all the way back to 1995, with the deadly nerve agent as recently as 2020.

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When developing Novichok, the scientists behind it had several goals. The first of these was to make Novichok undetectable by NATO equipment, allowing it to be used without being caught by countries who were hostile to the Soviet Union. It was also designed to damage NATO gear, giving the Soviet Union another leg up. On top of that, Novichok was also meant to be safer to handle despite its deadly nature. Interestingly, Novichok can be developed as a liquid or a solid, something that may play into Carry-On‘s story.


How Lethal Novichok Really Is

It Has Been Used In Multiple Assassinations & Attempted Assassinations

Novichok is incredibly deadly, with it being one of the most dangerous nerve agents in existence. The Russian scientists who have worked on the nerve agent explain this by saying that some forms of Novichok are five to eight times more potent than VX, another deadly compound, while also saying that it is ten times more potent than Soman. Novichok causes all skeletal muscles to contract involuntarily, eventually leading to cardiac and respiratory arrest, causing death from either heart failure or liquids filling the lungs.


Novichok has been used in several high-profile assassinations and attempted assassinations, with this happening as recently as 2020. Russian banker Ivan Kivelidi died three days after being poisoned in 1995, with his assistant Zara Ismailova dying a month later. A May 2018 attack in the UK that was meant to kill Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal led to three people being hospitalized and five hundred members of the public being advised to decontaminate. In June 2018, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess were found unconscious after being exposed, with Sturgess dying in July.

During the investigation that succeeded the UK poisonings, another Novichok attack was found, with Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev believing that he was poisoned in 2015. In August 2020, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny became sick during a flight, with it being discovered that Navalny drank a poisoned cup of tea before the flight. Although Navalny came out of his coma in September, this and the other attacks show the dangers and recency of the usage of Novichok.


Is Carry-On’s Use Of Novichok Realistic?

It Is Mostly Accurate To The Real-Life Nerve Agent

Carry-On‘s explanation of Novichok’s history and how it works are realistic, with Jason Bateman’s Traveler explaining how it breaks down the body and leads to cardiac and respiratory arrest. One victim of Novichok in Carry-On dies of a heart attack almost immediately after being exposed to it, with this death being ruled a random heart failure. This is due to how hard Novichok is to detect, another thing that is accurate to the real-life nerve agent.

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Novichok probably wouldn’t kill people as fast as it does in Carry-On, except for in extremely high doses like the one that the Traveler is exposed to at the end of the film. The connection between Novichok and Russia is also accurate, with the real-life history behind the nerve agent making the villains’ plans in Carry-On more realistic.