Mayhem (comics)


Mayhem is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Emma Lahana portrays the character's live appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series Cloak & Dagger.

Publication history

The character of detective Brigid O'Reilly first appeared in Cloak and Dagger #1, and was created by Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi. She subsequently appeared in issues #2-4 of the same series, and issues #1-5 of the second Cloak and Dagger series.
In Cloak and Dagger Vol. 2 #5, Brigid underwent a drastic transformation and became known as Mayhem. The character subsequently appeared, as Mayhem, in Cloak and Dagger #6-9, Strange Tales #13-15, #19, The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #1-2, #5-6, #8, #10-18, Web of Spider-Man Annual #9 and #10.
Mayhem received an entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #8. However, some of the color plates were reversed in that issue; those pages, including Mayhem, were re-printed correctly in issue #9.

Fictional character biography

Brigid O'Reilly was originally a police detective in Manhattan when she learned that Cloak and Dagger were attacking criminals in her precinct. she at first wanted to bring the pair to justice, but she eventually learned to trust the young crime-fighters.
Later, she took a squad of police officers to investigate a warehouse belonging to the same pharmaceutical company that was behind Cloak's and Dagger's powers. Some corrupt policemen, led by Roger Falcone, exposed the other police officers to a gas to asphyxiate them. With her dying breath, Brigid swore vengeance on Falcone. As Brigid lay dying, Cloak and Dagger found her, and though were too late to save the other police, Cloak surrounded her and Dagger with darkness, while Dagger tried to revive her with light. When this appeared not to work, the pair abandoned her body to search for those responsible.
Though O'Reilly died, she was reborn as Mayhem. In this new form, Mayhem helped Cloak and Dagger find and fight the corrupt police. She then killed Falcone as promised. She then became a vigilante, showing no mercy to the drug dealers and other criminals she pursues.
Brigid was considered as a "potential recruit" for the Initiative program, according to Civil War: Battle Damage Report.

Powers and abilities

Mayhem exudes a green, venomous gas from her pores. If this gas enters another person's bloodstream, it paralyzes the person for a varying amount of time. Hence, Mayhem attacks people by raking their skin with her talon-like fingernails so that the gas will enter their bloodstreams.
The gas can also act like a truth serum, forcing a victim of Mayhem to tell her the truth.
Dagger's "light-knives" dissipate upon contact with this gas.
Mayhem can levitate herself and fly.

Other version

The Ultimate Marvel version of Brigid O'Reilly is a NYPD officer who is hunting down teenage criminals Styx and Stone in an effort to trace the Serpent Skulls gang. Her partner Terry Schreck is critically injured and soon dies in the hospital. She later speaks to her informant Bart Rozum before learning that Terry's body had disappeared from the morgue.

In other media

Brigid O'Reilly, portrayed by Emma Lahana, appears in the television show Marvel's Cloak & Dagger, which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Introduced in the first season, O'Reilly is a detective who formerly worked in Harlem before moving to New Orleans. She grows suspicious of her partner, corrupt police officer James Connors, and gets confirmation of her suspicions after speaking with Tandy Bowen/Dagger. O'Reilly soon allies with Tyrone Johnson, who wants to avenge his brother's death at the hands of Connors. They succeed in getting Connors to admit his guilt and being arrested; however, O'Reilly then discovers her boyfriend's body stuffed in a freezer, presumably murdered by Connors' connections. To add insult to injury, Connors is released on suspension and proceeds to beat her up in front of other officers, proving that she is an outcast from the corrupt police force. O'Reilly teams up with Tyrone to stop a dark and evil energy, called the Terror, from getting released by evil mining company Roxxon. While aiding him, she is shot by Connors while simultaneously getting exposed to the Terror's energy. She falls into a swamp and later re-emerges with glowing green eyes.


In the second season, it is revealed that the green-fingernailed O'Reilly is a physical copy of Brigid; Mayhem has all of Brigid's knowledge and memories but is a ruthless vigilante without compunction about murder. In the opening episodes, Mayhem proceeds to kill a number of New Orleans underworld figures, and later assumes Brigid's identity to take a criminal investigation into her own hands. In the meantime, Tyrone finds Brigid tied up at home, then teleports with Brigid to Tandy, who is at a crime scene with Mayhem; by this method, the duplication is revealed. Mayhem then starts looking for Connors, in the process killing his partner. Mina Hess' examination of Brigid proves her theory about the separation of O'Reilly's fearful side from her aggressive side, following an experiment with some rats. During the ongoing criminal investigation into the disappearance of a number of girls into a sex trafficking ring, Mayhem crashes a battle with a criminal gang and shoots nearly all the gang members. To save the last member's life, Cloak uses his powers to send her into the Darkforce Dimension. Tandy follows Mayhem into the Darkforce Dimension, unwittingly depriving Tyrone of his teleportation powers. Together Mayhem and Tandy find evidence of Connors' presence and endeavor to leave the Dimension, but Tandy accidentally exits the Dimension with Connors, leaving Mayhem behind. While in the Darkforce Dimension, Mayhem finds despair demon Andre Deschaine/D'Spayre and Voodoo priestess Chantelle Fusilier in the record shop. Chantelle sees Mayhem and signals her not to interfere. Later, while Andre is busy in the outside world, Mayhem starts smashing the records, releasing Tyrone from Andre's spell and giving him the motive to find the Viking Motel where Tandy is being held captive by Andre and his prostitution ring. When in the Loa dimension, O'Reilly runs into Mayhem. The two of them agree that Mayhem will take control at certain occasions. When the two of them leave the Loa dimension, they are fused back into one body. Mayhem and Tandy later have a brief fight on when Avandalia Dewan's body was found unconscious and low on energy and they argue over what to do with her. Mayhem later works to defend Evita from the forces that would threaten Tyrone and Tandy's mission to stop Andre. Brigid is later seen leaving Connors' dead body in the shooting range for her fellow police officers to see where his corpse has a guilty sign strapped to it.