| “ | She better bring fire! She better bring thunder! She better bring hell! Just tell her to bring it before 10:30, I've got a curfew. | „ |
| ~ Megan preparing to face Victoria Knox |
83 aka Megan Walsh is the main protagonist of A24's teen comedy-action film Barely Lethal. She is a teenage assassin for a covert agency who dreams of having a normal life. 83 gets the opportunity she's always dreamed of when she is presumed to be killed in action and starts a new life in Newtown, Connecticut, but quickly finds out that high school may be her most dangerous mission yet.
She was portrayed by Hailee Steinfeld, who also played Mattie Ross in True Grit, Kate Bishop in the MCU, Charlie Watson in Bumblebee and voiced both Gwen Stacy (Spider-Verse trilogy) and Vi (Arcane).
History[]
Prescott Academy is a government-run agency which plucks young female children from orphanages and trains them to be global undercover assassins under the command of Hardman. One such trainee is Agent 83, who despite being one of Prescott's most capable assets, dreams of a normal life and often defies the agencies ruthless tactics. In her spare time she binges of high-school dramas and wants more than anything to be free from the agency.
83 is assigned to an important mission in which she must go undercover in Chechnya to apprehend dangerous arms dealer Victoria Knox, who hates the Prescott's more than anything. 83 infiltrates Knox's operation and the two engage in a brutal combat until 83 captures her and they are taken up in a helicopter carrier via a rope. Knox pulls out a gun on 83 in mid-air and 83 cuts her rope to evade the bullet where she plunges into the river below. Hardman calls out for her on the comms system but 83 sees this as an opportunity to go off the radar and therefore she is presumed dead.
She seizes this opportunity and chooses a new alias, Megan Walsh and joins an online foreign exchange student system. She chooses to live with the Larson family in Newtown, Connecticut, that consists of recently single mother, Mrs. Larson, her cynical teenage daughter Liz and her hyper-active son Parker. Megan struggles to fit in in high school and quickly finds out that it's nothing like how it's portrayed in the movies. She becomes an outcast and teased by both Liz and her peers. However, she befriends nerdy teen Roger who develops a crush on her, but Megan catches the attention of handsome musician Cash and she has a crush on him too.
When Megan goes viral for beating up school kids from a rival school, her status in the school changes and Cash asks her out. The viral video also gained the attention of Hardman, who goes to Newtown and kidnaps Megan one evening after discovering she is alive. Megan is tied to a chair and Hardman demands to know who she's working for and why she fled. Megan explains that she just wanted a normal life. Hardman shows some empathy towards her and allows her to leave freely.
Megan is at a party with Liz, hosted by the school's idiot jock, Gooch when she sees a fellow agent, 84 (and her rival in the academy) socialising with her peers. Megan immediately drags her into the bathroom and 84 tells her to call her "Heather" and that she was sent by Hardman to shadow her - and ruin her social status in the process since she left the academy.
Hardman calls Megan to warn her that Knox has escaped custody while she is driving with Liz when suddenly they're attacked by an unknown assailant. A car chase ensues but Megan manages to crash the enemies car. She goes to investigate who tried to kill her but the enemy has fled, however, Megan recognises the perfume. It was Heather. Megan immediately calls Hardman to inform him Heather was a double agent, but Hardman had believed Heather had been killed by Knox during her escape.
Megan tries to leave the Larson's in order to protect them from Knox who is out for revenge, but Liz tells her she can't leave and that running away isn't the right thing to do to the her new family. Megan agrees and the two women attend the high school dance in order to flush out Knox and Heather. Megan goes to the dance with Cash but soon realises he isn't the guy she thought she was and breaks up with him. She immediately goes to Roger to confess her feelings for him when his date Heather appears.
The two agents get into a brawl at the dance and Megan is backed into a corner while a knife wielding Heather is excited to finally kill her rival. Liz arrives and stabs Heather with a corn dog stick giving time for Megan to knock her out. Megan goes straight to the Larson house after realising they're in danger but Knox is already there and has taken Mrs. Larson and Parker hostage. Megan is outnumbered and Liz is taken by Knox's agents.
Knox tells Megan she was the original Prescott agent and hates Hardman and the academy for taking away her life. Megan antagonises Knox and tricks her into fighting without weapons but she plays dirty and pulls a gun out on her. To her surprise, Hardman arrives with a specialised task force that saves Megan and the Larson's. Hardman tells Megan he cares about her and that she can have the freedom she's always wanted.
Megan then takes the Prescott helicopter to chase down Roger who is driving home from the dance. She stops his. car and finishes confessing her feelings for him and the two share a kiss before flying away with Liz and Gooch.