JC Denton is the player character and protagonist of the first-person role-playing video game Deus Ex and a supporting character in its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War. He is voiced by Jay Anthony Franke in both games. Denton was created by Deus Ex director Warren Spector. In his twenties, Denton begins the first Deus Ex as a new graduate of UNATCO, and a prized nano-augmented agent. JC is initially dedicated to his duties, but is influenced by his brother, fellow nano-augmented UNATCO agent Paul Denton.

The character was intentionally designed as a blank slate, one which the player could roleplay and immerse themselves in. This characteristic led to criticism by reviewers, who singled out his monotone delivery and lack of prominent personality flaws. Despite this, JC Denton remains a popular and iconic video game character, with critics citing his deadpan humor as a memorable aspect.

JC was designed as a blank slate, in accordance with the roleplaying elements of Deus Ex. The creators sought to maximize immersion in the game and player freedom. Warren Spector reported taking this "maybe too far" and developers directed Denton's voice actor "no emotion in your voice, no inflection, nothing". Spector continued: "That's how far we were willing to go to ensure that the players inhabited the body of the character."

JC's deadpan-voice and sarcasm was an influence for Adam Jensen, protagonist of the prequel series.

"JC Denton" is said to be a codename, and the player can create JC's true name and pick from a variety of preset appearances. In addition, JC's skill-set and augmentations may be customized, defining JC's characteristics. JC's personality and morality may be defined by the player, through actions and dialogue choices. JC Denton's voice actor, Jay Anthony Franke, was a quality-assurance tester at Ion Storm Studios, and did work on a previous game of the studio, Daikatana. This led to him being hired for the role of Denton. Franke was also a tester on Deus Ex, his lines not added until the end of production.

Denton is the clone of Paul Denton (also voiced by Franke), the first nano-augmented agent in the Deus Ex universe, though ostensibly not the first nano-augmented person. The two came from a family in poverty, until Paul was noticed by members of Majestic-12. In exchange for money, Paul's mother carries a clone of him, and eventually gives birth to JC. The two are shepherded by Majestic-12, with their parents murdered and JC put into a Majestic-12 run school.

Paul has been noted by critics to be an anchor for JC, as a non-controllable character whose motivation and actions are not decided by the player. Kirk Hamilton in Kotaku writes "J.C. Denton, by way of our actions, became a hero or a monster, and that transformation was largely reflected through the lens of his brother Paul."

In the original, Denton begins as a newly graduated nano-augmented agent of UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition), fighting the secessionist NSF in New York. However, he learns that he is a pawn of a global conspiracy led by the organisation Majestic-12, and so defects with Paul. The ending of the game allows him to side with the Illuminati to bring about a benevolent conspiracy over the world, destroy the internet and bring about a decentralized dark age over the world, or merge with the artificial intelligence Helios in order to govern the world.