Quote: Nowhereman said: Angier (the original) would not have been able to stand by and watch the clones do the trick, as we already saw how badly he hated taking the applause from under the stage!
I agree.
And that's also why I think the original Angier was the one who got shot the first time he tried the trick out by himself. The shooter was the clone.
Angier was obsessed with being the man "who comes out of the box." As we saw in the movie, the man who went in the chamber--who started the trick--would go down the trap door and drown. He would never be the man who came out and got the applause. Such a trick, no matter how incredible, would never be good enough for Angier.
Therefore, I think Tesla's device actually teleported the original, and left behind the duplicate.
Further, when we first see him try the trick by himself he puts a gun next to the chamber. At the end of the trick the Angier still in the chamber shoots the "other" Angier. However, right before he does, the "other" Angier starts to say "Wait" and begins to blurt something out before the shooting.
I think what he was going to say was "Wait...I'm the original Angier." (or words to that effect).
Finally, according to Wikipedia's summary of the novel, that is in fact, the case: the machine leaves the duplicate behind and teleports the original. Therefore, the Angier we see after the first time he uses the device is the clone. The original Angier never got to perform the trick in front of an audience, only the clone did.
