| “ | I'm gonna shoot you in your f--king face. And then I'll pretty much figure it out from there. | „ |
| ~ Riley vowing revenge on Garcia. |
| “ | We’re not going to prison | „ |
| ~ Riley to Diego before she executes him. |
Riley North is the main protagonist in the live-action vigilante film Peppermint. An ex-bank employee turned ruthless vigilante who goes on a mission to take down the criminal cartel who killed her husband and daughter.
She is portrayed by Jennifer Garner, who also played Jenna Rink in 13 Going on 30 and Elektra in Daredevil and Elektra.
Role in Film[]
At some point of her life, Riley married a man named Christopher John North, and nine months later, she gave birth to their first and only daughter, Carly Rose North, born in 2008.
Riley North is a former bank employee in Los Angeles, struggling to make ends meet.
On the night of Carly's tenth birthday, the family attended a carnival after a rudely neighbor named Peg invited all Carly's friends to her daughter birthday where a group of three shooters appeared and gunned down Chris and Carly, leaving Riley the only survivor.
It was reported that the men worked for local drug lord, Diego Garcia, who wanted to kill Chris after learning that he was persuaded to rob his money, thanks to his friend, Mickey (who was killed) as an act of intimidation even though Chris refused to participate in the robbery. The three men who were arrested and went to trial but were acquitted when their guilt is hand waved out of a trumped up charge that they have a lack of evidence. Garcia's three men then walked out since the D.A., the defense attorney and the judge are on Garcia's payroll.
Riley is upset these three shooters are going to walk when they killed her husband and daughter in broad daylight but the crooked Goldman rebutted her case by using anti-psychotic drugs he saw at her house when he attempted to bribe her and uses it; coupled with the trauma she suffered to undermine her testimony.
In a fit of rage she lunges at the killers was tased by the bailiff for her efforts. To which the Judge ordered her institutionalization both for the psyche meds and her outburst in court, but Riley broke free and ran, disappearing for five years of training to take down Garcia and his cronies.
Riley would eventually return in spectacular fashion, hunting down all three of her families' killers before murdering and stringing them up at the fair where her husband and daughter died at. She also took down the corrupt judge, D.A. and defense attorney who were on Garcia's payroll in the interim. Drowning the duplicitous Goldman in his own swimming pool while incinerating Henderson by setting his house on fire with him still inside it.
Judge Stevens was done in with a particularly viscous zeal; both hands hammered into a desk in a cruel & ironic reenactment of the trial against the crooks who killed her kin five years ago. Before being blown all over his own front yard while entangled in det cord.
After that, she went on to systematically dismantle Garcia's crime syndicate all across town. Becoming a legend and true hero whom everyone thinks of as a type of avenging angel. A few people even citing her as a guardian like figure who do odd favors for her as thanks for the handiwork in cleaning up more crime ridden areas which she uses as a home base.
Riley survives a trap set by Diego when he rigged his own warehouse to kill her, follows his henchmen to Diego's home, and kills many of his men. When Diego's young daughter—who evokes her own murdered child—interrupts her as she confronts Diego, she hesitates and Diego wounds her and escapes. Inman calls Carmichael to Skid Row to wait for Riley. Carmichael, secretly on Diego's payroll, arrives and shoots Inman dead, then notifies Diego of Riley's likely destination.
Riley goes to Peg's house and brutalize her for indirectly causing her family demise. After mocking Peg for her failed marriage and lost custody of her daughter, she steals Peg's SUVs.
Riley returns to Skid Row, which is swarming with Diego's men. She manages to kill several of them, including Diego's second-in-command and finds Inman's body. Using Inman's phone, she contacts the media and reveals her location, inviting both the media and LAPD. She confronts Diego, stalling him long enough for the police to arrive. Diego shoots Carmichael, thinking he ratted him out and runs, only to be beaten down by Riley. Beltran comes and orders Riley to stand down and promise her that Diego will be brought to justice properly this time. With no hope of escaping prison time and foolishly underestimating Riley's thirst for vengeance, Diego mocks Riley that if she shoots him, she would spend more time in prison than him, causing Riley to shoot Diego in the head and is, in turn, shot by the police, yet manages to escape.
As she comes to her family grave to die. Detective Moises Beltrain saved her life and had her interned at the local hospital. Reilly was set to be arrested while she recovered from her injuries, but everyone looked up to her for doing what local law enforcement hadn't done in decades. Even Moises admitted her cleaning up the precinct in such a way spurred him into saying that they need her to give out hope for people.
Beltrain owes her a great deal for cleaning house the way she did. But laments that he can do nothing to preempt her incarceration, save leave behind the key that unlocks her handcuff to the railing of her stretcher. Thus letting her escape where she decided to continue being a guardian angel to the little guy.
Skills and Abilities[]
- Skilled Banker: Before she became a vigilante, Riley was a skilled banker, having being working at the Los Angeles bank before her family's untimely deaths.
- Genius Level Intelligence: Riley is very smart and also knows the ins and out the criminal underworld and also can read people with her street smarts. Riley is a master detective knows the ins and out Diego Garcia and how to take him down.
- Master Vigilante/Private Detective: Due to training for five years, Riley is an extremely skilled vigilante and private detective, having able to stay below the grid without being tracked and caught by local authorities, and fighting several crimes in Los Angeles. She is also a capable tactician, markswoman, having able to think of plans to take down her opponents.
- Expert Combatant: Riley is an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant thanked to her training in Europe as she participated in various boxing match, having being trained for five years, she is able to take down multiple criminals and disarm them from their weapons. She was able to punch Peg in the face, despite being reluctant to do so when Carly told her that she should've "punched her lights out".
- Weapons Expert: Having being trained for five years, Riley is extremely skilled at handling various weapons such as pistols, shotguns and knives. She uses these to wage her war aganist crime and at the posse who killed her beloved husband and daughter.
Trivia[]
- Despite the movie receiving negative reviews from critics, Jennifer Garner's performance in the film was praised.
- Her daughter, Carly, died the day of her tenth birthday.
- Her daughter, Carly, is the youngest character to die in the movie, as she was only 10 years old at the time of her death.
- Her daughter Carly lived from 2008-2018, making her 10 years old at the time of her death and in 2023 her daughter would have turned 15 years old.
- Her husband's friend, Mickey, is actually responsible for everything, because if he had never told to Chris to steal Diego's money, Diego would never have ordered the killing of the family, and Chris and Carly would still be alive.
- Riley is the only member of the North family whose name does not start with C.
- Riley's maiden surname was never revealed.