"I'd just as soon see J.J. [Abrams, 'Alias' creator and executive producer] kill him off and, if he really likes the character, then let him die saving Syd's life. It would be at least one redeeming part of an otherwise worthless and misplaced character," writes one user on Alias-Online.com.

Turns out, Sydney's a spy, and a double-agent to boot, therefore the story Will is researching about her fianc? death might not only get him killed, but her as well. For actor Bradley Cooper, who plays Will on the ABC series, he first found out about the fans' annoyance with his character when his sister forwarded him some of the messages posted on ABC's own message boards.

"I was a mess," he tells Zap2it.com "I never even contemplated that he was jeopardizing Sydney. It was so clear to me what Will's doing, he's trying to save her life. So the fact that the audience saw him putting her life in danger -- it was like, 'Don't they realize that he doesn't know anything about that?' He has no idea that she's a double agent."

"It wasn't so much I felt personally [attacked], but I thought, oh wow, I'm totally going to get fired because they hate the character. Everybody hates Will," Cooper says.

He hopes with the next couple episodes, people will have more understanding of what his character is trying to do.

"The whole reason why he's going after [the story] is to protect her because he thinks Danny was involved with something that could be life-threatening to Sydney. But he has no idea that Sydney is actually the reason that Danny got killed."

In last night's episode (March 3), Will was told ("He gets more than told, he gets shown," Cooper says) to give up the story. But Will, who anything if not persistent, isn't likely to give up that easily.

The story is "just so intoxicating" to Will, Cooper says. "There's just so much there that need to come to the surface that he can feel."

In addition, his mysterious source is still feeding him clues and hints that are leading him to SD-6, the rogue intelligence agency where Sydney works. Cooper says he doesn't know the identity of the "deep throat," but that doesn't mean he doesn't have his guesses.

"For a while I thought it was Jack, but it can't be Jack, can't be Sloane. But, if it is Sloane and he's trying to take down SD-6, that's insane," he laughs. "Personally, I think it's somebody who got screwed over by SD-6, like Quentin [Tarantino's character, Cole McKenas]."

Also on the horizon, fans will get to learn a lot more about the hickey Will was sporting on his neck in a recent episode.

"I know -- what is happening?" he laughs. "I just keep reading the script and going, 'Wow, this is interesting.' He's bedding secretaries at work -- what?"

But, if case there's any confusion, Ms. Bristow is still the No. 1 lady in Will's heart.

Cooper, whose credits before "Alias" include the film "Wet Hot American Summer" and a guest-stint on "Sex and the City," says that he owes the role to a pair of corduroy pants he was wearing on the day he tested for the role with "Alias'" creator.

"Will is sort of a retro character. I think [Abrams] just dug the corduroy. It had nothing to do with me," he laughs, adding that he had the pants laminated. "I shrunk them down and laminated them. They're in my wallet."

Seriously, he says that he almost didn't take the part.