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The MCP, as seen in the 1982 Disney film, Tron

The Master Control Program (MCP), voiced by David Warner, is the main villain of the Disney movie Tron. It was a rogue artificial intelligence created by Ed Dillinger (also played by Warner) that ruled over the world inside ENCOM's mainframe computer. During the rule of the MCP, many programs were enslaved and forced to play games against its henchmen, led by Sark (also played by Warner).

Dillinger wrote the MCP to administer the company's computer network (in effect an AI Superuser). However, the MCP had the capacity to learn and grew beyond the confines of its original programming. It began to steal data from other systems, and took control of several companies and institutions. Its intelligence - and ambition - grew nearly out of control, and the MCP grew to desire nothing less than world domination; stating "From here I can run things 900 to 1200 times better than any human."

Eventually, however, the MCP caused its own downfall. It digitized former ENCOM programmer Kevin Flynn, who had come dangerously close to uncovering Dillinger's schemes. Flynn, in the computer world, allied himself with Tron, a security program; their combined efforts resulted in the deresolution (death) of the MCP by destroying his heart which is at the center. The MCP then reverted back to its original chess program appearance (which, in the digital universe, appeared as an old man in a control chair) followed by this program vanishing as it was deleted.

The MCP would end most of its conversations with Dillinger and Sark with the phrase "End of line".

He is also seen in Kingdom Hearts II, as the ruler of Ansem the Wise's computer. He is fought as the boss along with Sark as the final fight of Tron's world.

• In the South Park episodes "Jewbilee" and "Super Best Friends", Moses took the form of the MCP.
• In the Dexter's Laboratory episode "Game Over", a dangerous videogame called "Master Computer" takes over Dexter's Computer. The Master Computer speaks like and resembles the MCP, and forces Dexter to play a game similar to the lightcycles in Tron.
• In an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Billy, Mandy, and Grim get locked in a "house of the future" controlled by a computer similar to the MCP with a similar hatred of humanity. There is also another man in there who explains everything about the computer, imitating the scenario of Tron.
• In the cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master (which borrows heavily from Tron), the Mother Brain (of the Metroid game series) spoofs the MCP's role.^{[citation needed]}