I watched Cloak & Dagger (2018) recently and got horribly brainrotted for Brigid, so I'm making a little page for her. I'd been meaning to watch this show since it was airing because the idea of two people with opposing yet complementary superpowers seemed soooo cool to me, and I still love Tandy and Ty's whole thing. But I couldn't not get insane about Brigid, and when she split and re-merged with Mayhem it made me 1000x more insane.
I haven't yet read much of her comic appearances, but I'm hoping to soon! I realize they took a different direction with her in the TV show but there's always fun insights to glean from source material I feel.
I do primarily refer to post-merge Brigid as Mayhem since Mayhem's traits seemed to take dominance, but I try to specify where possible.
Ships: Mayhem/Brigid in all ways it could happen. I also ship Mayhem and/or post-merged Mayhem with Mina, Delgado, Adina, and Tandy. Fuches was fine but literally only existed to be fridged. I also want to look more into other Marvel properties for crossover ships, especially X-Men, since Brigid has history in New York and there's a lot of potential for overlap then or in her future!
Headcanons: I think with the merge, the show was going for the idea of Brigid's brain essentially recalibrating to have Mayhem's traits take dominance. But I do think because it ended there, there's ambiguity that allows the possibility of both personalities existing wholly and taking turns, with Brigid taking a backseat. Both are really fun to think about. I also like thinking about an AU where they both remained as external people and have to work together or Brigid surrenders her identity to Mayhem and figures out a different path or way to help.
For Mayhem, I think there is something interesting about her capacity for feeling. She is mostly fueled by rage and only starts to be able to feel things like compassion once merged, even slightly. I do think there's a numbness there though that she tries to fill through physical sensations or reckless thrill that can easily get unhealthy. I think that once she gets with Mina (or whoever) she finds more purpose in protecting that person and redirects recklessness into that protectiveness.
Brigid is honestly kind of "normal" in a way that makes me surprised I got so attached to her, lol. But she does have some cool traits like having to come to terms with the institution she's devoted herself to actually being irredeemably unjust. She tries to play good cop but realizes in the end it takes someone like Mayhem to cause actual meaningful immediate change outside of corrupt beureucracy. Her grief and pathetic-ness and fear for a while is also sooooo fun and she really just gave up when presented with the ability to let Mayhem take the reigns which is sad but also really interesting. I love female characters who Feel Things, be it that insane fear or the flipside of insane anger.
I do wish the split had made more sense for her own characterization rather than just... "uhhh when people get hit with this energy they split based on anger" but I need to write a meta post about that or something.
Pretty much everything here is a WIP, but here's what I managed in my frenzy.
We know canonly that she has three siblings, a mom who likely passed away, and a dad. Here's what I've been envisioning to fill in the gaps! Much of this, particularly the names and fancasts, are subject to change.
We don't actually know what happened to Brigid's mom, but I take the implication to be that she died. It was likely due to a medical issue like cancer, giving them time to say goodbye as she declined. I don't get the sense that there's any abandonment issues stemming from their mom purposely leaving, but it would be interesting to keep the door open for her to have disappeared for yet-to-be-revealed superpower reasons that would later cause her return. It seems a bit more plausible given the New York backdrop Brigid was raised in being clearly overrun with this sort of thing. But for now, I just keep it at the idea of her dying unless maybe some mad scientist revived her for some random reason, lol.
Fancast: Joely Richardson or Cairtiona Balfe or Genevieve O'Reilly or Molly Parker
It seems like he tried his best. We also can tell based on the extremely Irish naming of Brigid's character, that he is probably either an Irish immigrant or child of immigrants. He likely was able to be financially okay despite everything so he had to have had some decent job like a businessman, idk, but he wanted to be a writer. I think their dad is still alive, just kinda... someone Brigid is a bit distant from because of her job. He likely didn't want her to go into a dangerous field since he already lost their mom and, while she knows he did his best, Mayhem's dialogue about it hints a some deeper resentments that logically Brigid probably knows aren't fair but feels nontheless about how her mom's death impacted him. There's just a bittersweetness/melancholy to their dynamic, I think.
Fancast: Eric Roberts or Eoin Macken
The oldest of the O'Reilly siblings. Cara became self-destructive after their mom's death both due to grief and the aftermath of having been a major caretaker to her over the last couple years of her life. Subconsciously, she felt that if she took on a maternal role for her siblings it would be like accepting their mom's death more than she could stomach... in addition to finally having the chance to live for herself and going a bit wild with it. She had a party girl phase as an older teen/young adult, which meant she landed in some pretty messy situations that Brigid herself witnessed. I attribute some of this to why Brigid became a cop determined to believe victims. She did later get her act together and became a lawyer or something, leaving New York for another state to get away from it all.
Fancast: Kim Raver
The second oldest, fairly close in age to Brigid. They were close in the sense of feeling like out of everyone, they understood one another best even if emotional vulnerability wasn't exactly common between them. I think he worked more blue collar jobs for a while and maybe lives in a more rural part of NY or a neighboring state these days.
Fancast: Robert Sheehan or Fionn o'Shea or Iddo Goldberg
The youngest of the siblings, Brigid's younger sister. I think she's also non-binary in some way. She doesn't remember their mom very much, but the impact of her death obviously rippled through the family and impacted her upbringing. She clung to Brigid quite a bit and feels betrayed that Brigid moved to New Orleans at all, let alone that she stopped talking to her once the Mayhem situation took hold--not that Emma knows that's the cause. She studies fashion or art or something in New York still, the last of them to remain in the city.
Fancast: Emma Corrin or Georgina Haig
One of Brigid's cousins! They were very close in age growing up, so out of all the siblings on Brigid's side, Brigid and this cousin were the closest. They likely didn't get to see each other all that often, but enough to be important to one another.
Fancast: Allison Williams
Accidental Mayhem/Delgado baby! Dani is a placeholder name for now. Mayhem hangs out at the church because it's a good place to spy on criminals from and find people to hunt down based on confessions, which... leads to something with Delgado after enough time.
Their kid is probably kind of feral, overly energetic, and dangerously curious about the world. She might not have powers, but I think she does have some that are equally chaotic to her temperament. It could be an interesting balance to give her powers that are more based in peace to contrast Mayhem's rage (as I lean toward for Lily).
Fancast: Dafne Keen. I just ignore that she already plays Wolverine's clone. I also do recognize that her background is partly Spanish rather than what Delgado probably is (his actor is Peruvian, and "Delgado" seems to point to Mexican origins), so it's not the most perfect option. But she so far has ticked the most boxes with actually resembling Mayhem and Delgado both, having a similar enough background to them that it feels plausible enough, and having been a child actress with lots of media to pull from.
Mayhem/Mina fankid! Lily is a placeholder name currently, but I do think Mina would insist on some nature name. This is based on the idea of Mina being transgender because, as with Mayhem/Delgado, I think accidental baby is the best route for a kid to actually happen (outside of accidental adoption). Everything is chaotic and dangerous and it would be difficult to intentionally bring a child into the world in either case, so... surprise!
If Lily has powers, I think hers would be more based in peace or hope. There's something special about Mayhem, being such a fractured and angry monster of sorts, could bring someone with so much capacity for good into the world? Someone who adds positivity rather than just eradicates the bad. I also think that, whatever these powers are, probably impacted Mayhem's own emotions during pregnancy in a very trippy way.
Anyway, as her name implies, Mina makes sure Lily is totally immersed in nature and learning science. She's also particularly emotional about her father getting to actually meet his grandchild since none of this ever seemed like a possibility for him.
Fancast: Maika Pugh. I am not 100% sure on this, particularly because I cannot find confirmation that she is mixed. Her last name points to European heritage and her father is American, but that may not mean much. I'm still keeping an eye out just in case for the sake of having the most accurate features as a reference as I can find.
I think that after her mom's death, other family members tried to come around such as an aunt and a few cousins who I need to flesh out more. She also has a decent relationship with Mina's dad in a way that her own dad couldn't be there for her and maybe because of just being part of the #ISurvivedRoxxon'sBullshit club.
Myrna Velasco is another possible person I may use for extended family. She initially came up as a possibly decent Mayhem/Delgado fankid because she really looks a lot like them both, but there isn't anything of her when she was younger. Maybe Gemma Arterton would be decent for an Aunt?
Generally with fankids, it's a self indulgence thing for me, lol. But I really think it would be interesting to put Mayhem into the position of motherhood because it could explore her family background an dhow motherhood plays into her emotional state, plus I think pregnancy's potential impact on powers is fun. I don't think both fankids would exist in the same timeline, but since I ship both Mina/Mayhem and Delgado/Mayhem I just want to explore that for each of them on their own since the introduction of a pregnancy to Mayhem's character at all is interesting to me based on it being such a new situation for her regardless of who she's with specifically. I also do like Mina/Mayhem/Delgado altogether though... so maybe anything is possible.
Emma Lehana for Marvel's Cloak & Dagger at SDCC 2018 uploaded by Nerdophiles on Jul 26, 2018 - Which powers Emma would rather have (Cloak's for easier travel), filming location thoughts and history, and Brigid coming from New York (and knowing Misty) to New Orleans, researlech into police brutality and systemic racism to inform why Brigid believes victims based on what she saw in NY, and how Brigid does the right thing even if it's not easy. Note: Bad audio quality.
Insights from comic books and other materials not strictly about the 2018 adaptation.
- Brigid to Mayhem
- Funhouse Mirrors
- Mayhem to Delgado, Shadow Selves
Anything else I want to talk about.
[Bailey Callahan] – Recurring Female (30-37)
A self-possessed woman in her 3os, Detective Bailey Callahan comes off as cold or unfriendly upon first impression. Her New York sensibilities have hardened her from being too friendly or open, setting her apart from her Louisiana counter parts. Accustomed to working in a man’s world, Callahan isn’t looking to be “one of the guys.” She isn’t going to let a room full of men dictate how often she changes the color of her fingernails (almost daily). She won’t meet expectations of women cops as ball busting bitches. The rest of the station need to find their way to her impression of the world, not the other way around. Callahan believes in justice and doesn’t thing that anyone should be above it, including other cops. Especially other cops…RECURRING”
These are catalogued on the Wiki here, so I am just pulling the ones with Brigid/Mayhem for this page.
"Mayhem" Cloak & Dagger. Season 2 Episode 3 by Afua Richardson, April 2019
Episode 2.02: White Lines Art Illustrated by Khary Randolph & Colored by Emilio Lopez
Hemphill Designs Talenthouse Submission
"For this piece I wanted to portray a sense of conflict and scope. As Mayhem looms over the leads and begins to wreak havoc, introducing more aggressive ways of being a vigilante/villain, Cloak and Dagger must decide what kind of heroes they must choose to be. Following the use of black and white in previous marketing, I felt it juxtaposed well to Mayhem’s green coloration as well as to serving the iconic color pallet of the two lead characters. The green coloration is used on the heroes suits to portray the corruption at hand. The use of cloaks powers can be seen towards the bottom of the piece with the smoke flowing upward serving as a graphic element, but also in the opposite direction of Mayhem’s green lines to show the conflicting ideas. However Dagger’s daggers follow the green/black lines as she is more in line with Mayhem’s ideas, but only halfway through the illustration as she has yet to make a choice. To further express this she is facing more towards the direction of Mayhem, but not completely whereas Cloak’s expression is concerned facing the opposite way. It was a pleasure working on this piece. Please email regarding residency if I need to provide more than my current documentation already provided. I recently moved! Thank you for this opportunity and cheers!"
