Brenda (The Maze Runner)

Brenda is one of the supporting protagonists of Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and Maze Runner: The Death Cure.
She is first introduced in The Scorch Trials. Eventually, it is discovered that she is part of the group of Immunes. She becomes close to Thomas during The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure.
She is also the best friend and daughter figure of Jorge, the best friend and fellow Right Arm member of Newt, Frypan, Aris, Vince, Sonya, and Harriet, the best friend and former enemy of Teresa, and the best friend and ally of Minho and Gally.
Brenda is portrayed by Rosa Salazar, who also portrays Lynn in The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Ava Perez in CHiPs, Alita in Alita: Battle Angel, and Rachel Leighton/Diamondback in Captain America: Brave New World, and voices Alma Winograd-Diaz in Undone and Copperhead and Train Hostage in Batman: Arkham Origins.
==Films==
=== Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials ===
The Gladers take refuge in a warehouse outside the city during the storm in the Scorch. After they revive Minho from the lightning strike, they discover that they're trapped in the front room with chained Cranks lunging at them. While the group panics and huddles closer, Brenda appears from a room off to the side, chuckling that the group alerted their presence, thanks to their "watch dogs". She takes them to meet Jorge, who is curious about the group and their sudden appearance.
As Jorge tries to pry information from them, she sits back on a couch and watches. When Thomas and Minho try to fight Jorge's crew, she grabs a scanning device from the table and tells Thomas to shut up before scanning the back of his neck. The scanner reads that he was tagged by WCKD and that he is to be killed by Group B. Shocked, she hands the scanner to Jorge, saying that he was right.
Once the Gladers are tied up and left to dangle over an open area, Brenda talks to Jorge about the Gladers. He is giddy, stating that these kids are their ticket to the Safe Haven promised by the Right Arm. Brenda expresses doubt about finding them, stating that he'd be giving up his secure position as the leader of the refugees in the warehouse just to chase after a theory. When WCKD shows up, looking for the Gladers, Jorge instructs her to free the Gladers and get them out of here while he rigs an intricate bomb that will detonate after a song played on a record ends.
Brenda finds one of the refugees trying to smuggle the Gladers out at gun point, hoping to turn them into WCKD for a reward. As he tries to shoot at Thomas for attacking him, Brenda shoots the refugee, killing him. She takes the Gladers to a zipline and yells at them to get out now, as they have little time. She lingers behind to dig around for a trinket in Jorge's desk drawers and tries to make it back to the zipline with Thomas, only to find multiple WCKD armed soldiers closing in. She leads Thomas across support beams in the warehouse to escape, sliding down poles leading to a sub-basement area as Jorge's bomb detonates. She locates a grate leading to the underground tunnels and leads Thomas to find an exit.
As they walk through the area, she points out a strange webbed vine pattern on the walls. Both get jumpy at the sound of something coming towards them, only to discover it is a rat coming out of the pipe near them. She kicks the rat, which lands near one of the Gone Cranks, coming to life and grabbing the rat. Once it realizes that it has company, it moves towards the pair, prompting other Gone Cranks to chase after them. Both find their way out of the tunnels and begin to climb up into a collapsed building. Due to the angle of the building, Brenda loses her balance near the top and slides into an abandoned room, landing on the glass with a thud. Thomas rushes to help as the glass begins to crack and break away. Meanwhile, a Gone Crank finds them, sliding into the room and trying to rip at Brenda's face and body. She manages to dodge the assault until Thomas finds a wire and offers it to Brenda for support as the glass finally breaks and sends the Crank down several stories.
After they escape the building, Brenda stops by a trash dumpster, tearing off a strip of cloth when she discovers that the Gone Crank scratched her while falling out of the building. She dismisses that she's okay for now and tells Thomas that they need to blend in and find Marcus, Jorge's contact who knows about the Right Arm. They pass a building where a loud party is taking place and a blonde woman asks if they're here for the party. Brenda addresses a blonde man in a suit, asking for Marcus. The man lies, telling her that Marcus used to be in this building, but he is no longer alive. Thomas asks if the man has seen a group of teenagers and an older man, prompting the man to hand over a bottle of liquor. The man tells them that in order to enter the tent to look for their friends, they need to take a sip each. Brenda drinks first and Thomas is forced to down a long sip by the blonde woman.
The pair split up to look for their friends and meet back up on the dance floor. Brenda, in a daze, states that she can't find them and resists Thomas's idea to look elsewhere, saying that its too late and maybe they just need to let go and accept their fate. Brenda kisses Thomas and for a brief moment, he hallucinates that he just kissed Teresa. He moves away from her, saying that he can't do this because she isn't her, before blacking out.
As Thomas comes to, he discovers Brenda sitting and watching as Jorge beats up the man in the suit, who is revealed to be Marcus. Brenda watches and listens as Marcus confesses that he's switched sides and works for WCKD, hosting the party to get them a little drunk so they're passed out when WCKD comes to collect them. Eventually, Jorge manages to get Marcus to confess where he last heard of the Right Arm's location and movement and he takes Marcus's car, Bertha, to get to the mountain area where the Right Arm is operating.
Brenda starts moving slower, due to her injury from the Gone Crank. Eventually, she collapses in front of Vince when Sonya and Harriet take the group to the base. Vince threatens to shoot her until Mary Cooper intervenes, instructing Thomas to help carry her to the medical tent. Mary Cooper administers a temporary fix to help Brenda's injuries, but warns Thomas and Jorge that its merely a patch that will slow the progression, not fully cure it. As she lies on a cot, Thomas discovers the trinket box she went back for and she explains that the boy in the picture was her brother George. She recalls that WCKD picked them up when they were younger, running multiple tests on them. WCKD determined that George was fit to stay as they researched the cure, but Brenda was dismissed. Thomas leaves her to rest in the tent as he regroups with the Gladers.
Later, the Right Arm base is ambushed by WCKD, thanks to a tip from Teresa, who is convinced that they shouldn't have left the facility due to the bad state of world thanks to the Flare. Brenda fights alongside the Right Arm volunteers until Jorge deems the situation bleak. Both pull Thomas aside, trying to persuade him to leave with them so they can get to safety. Thomas refuses and sends both of them away, saying that he won't leave the Gladers behind.
As volunteers and escaped Gladers and Icers are rounded up, Thomas reveals that he has Jorge's handheld grenade and threatens Ava Paige and WCKD with it, stating that he will detonate it if WCKD proceeds to take the Immunes. In the midst of the standoff, Brenda and Jorge commandeer a Right Arm vehicle, crashing it into the soldiers, which buys some time for the volunteers and Gladers. Both fight alongside Vince to ward off WCKD as they take whomever they can get onto their Berg for the tests, including Minho, Aris, and Sonya.
The next morning, Vince concludes that it would be best to send Thomas, Newt, Harriet, and the remaining kids to the Safe Haven before WCKD tries to get them too. Thomas resists, stating that he needs to go after Minho, Aris, and Sonya and won't hesitate to do it alone. Newt and Frypan agree to help and Brenda chimes in, with Jorge also in agreement. Eventually, Vince and Harriet conclude that they would like to exact revenge on WCKD for their losses and ask Thomas for the plan.
=== Maze Runner: The Death Cure===
Brenda, along with Thomas, Newt, Frypan, Jorge, Vince, Harriet, and the Right Arm rescue and take Aris, Sonya, and the Immune children to their new hideout.
At night, while Brenda, along with Jorge, Vince, Aris, Sonya, Harriet, the Right Arm, and the Immune kids sleep, Thomas, Newt, and Frypan leave the hideout to go to the Last City to rescue Minho.
The next day, after discovering that Thomas, Newt, and Frypan have left the hideout to go to the Last City to rescue Minho, Brenda leaves the hideout along with Jorge to follow them.
Thomas, Newt, and Frypan drive into a tunnel, where they are chased by Cranks. Brenda, along with Jorge, arrive to save them.
Brenda, along with Thomas, Newt, Frypan, and Jorge, arrive in the Last City. Thomas is scanned at the gate, and the WCKD guards recognize him. WCKD aims turrets at the crowd, forcing Brenda to run along with Thomas, Newt, Frypan, and Jorge to run to avoid being attacked by the turrets.
Brenda runs into a safe corner along with Thomas, Newt, Frypan, and Jorge where they encounter a crew wearing gas masks, who force Brenda into a van with Thomas and Newt, Frypan, and Jorge into another van. The crew drive Brenda to the hideout along with Thomas, Newt, Frypan, and Jorge.
At the hideout, one of the crew members takes off his mask and reveals himself to be Gally. Thomas, still enraged over Gally killing Chuck during the escape from the Maze, gives him a punch to the face as revenge for the punch to the face that he endured from Gally after the Grievers' attack on the Glade, much to Brenda's horror. Newt stops Thomas and calms him down, explaining to him that Gally killed Chuck because he was stung by a Griever and half out of his mind.
While following Gally to Lawrence's hideout along with Thomas, Newt, Frypan, and Jorge, Brenda is told by Gally that after Thomas, Newt, Frypan, and the other Gladers left him behind in the WCKD lab, he was found still lying on the floor with the spear still in his chest by Lawrence's crew, who, after discovering that he is immune to the Flare, pulled the spear out of his chest and took him to the Last City to meet Lawrence, who healed Gally of the spear wound and convinced him to join his crew. Brenda is told by Gally that Lawrence's crew is working to destroy WCKD. Brenda is warned by Gally not to stare at Lawrence.
Brenda, along with Thomas, Newt, Gally, Frypan, and Jorge, arrive in Lawrence's hideout. Thomas tells Lawrence that he, Brenda, Newt, Frypan, and Jorge need to get into the WCKD tower. Lawrence tells Thomas that Brenda, Frypan, and Jorge can stay behind he, Newt, and Gally go into the Last City. As Jorge tells Thomas to be careful going with Newt and Gally into the Last City, Brenda watches Gally open a manhole cover to the tunnels and lower a ladder into the tunnels.
The next day, in Lawrence's hideout, Brenda goes over plans along with Thomas, Newt, Gally, Frypan, and Jorge to use Teresa to get into WCKD. Thomas is reluctant to use Teresa as their way into the WCKD tower. Brenda reminds Thomas of when Teresa betrayed them, leading Gally to remark to Thomas that he likes Brenda. Newt reacts violently and aggressively to Thomas' reluctance, screaming at him for still having feelings for Teresa. Shocked about himself, Newt apologizes and leaves.
At night, while Thomas and Gally go into the Last City to capture Teresa, Brenda goes with Newt, Frypan, and Jorge to an abandoned church. Thomas and Gally take Teresa to the church where Brenda, Newt, Frypan, and Jorge are. Brenda plays a game of cards while Teresa tells Thomas, Newt, Gally, and Frypan that Minho is in Sub-Level 3 with the Immune children.
Brenda goes to a parking lot to steal a bus while Thomas, Teresa, Newt, and Gally go to the WCKD tower, Frypan climbs up a crane, and Jorge returns to the Right Arm's hideout.
While leading the Immune children, one of whom is holding a bag containing the vials of serum, through the parking garage, Gally contacts Brenda on his walkie-talkie and tells her to come to the parking garage. Brenda arrives in the parking garage with the bus and she and Gally load the Immune children into the bus. When Brenda asks Gally where Thomas is, Gally replies that he was hoping that he was with her. Brenda starts to step out of the bus to find Thomas, but Gally stops her and tells her to stay with the Immune children in the bus while he goes to find Thomas.
While Gally goes to find Thomas, Brenda drives the Immune children out of the garage. Brenda is cornered by WCKD soldiers, but uses a flare gun to fire a flare into the sky to signal for Frypan to save her and the Immune children with the crane.
Brenda discovers along with Frypan and the Immune children that Lawrence has gone to destroy the walls of the Last City. Jorge and Vince arrive with a berg to pick them up. They fly into the city to get Thomas, Newt, Minho, and Gally.
Brenda is waiting at the berg along with Frypan, Jorge, Vince, and the Immune children when they hear Teresa telling Thomas that his blood can cure Newt like it did Brenda. Minho and Gally arrive, asking Brenda where the serum is. Brenda arrives at the train station along with Minho, Gally, and Frypan where they see that Thomas has killed Newt. While Thomas walks off to the WCKD tower, Brenda watches on along with Gally as Minho and Frypan kneel at Newt's dead body.
Brenda return to the berg along with Minho, Gally, and Frypan where Jorge flies them, Vince, and the Immune children to the top of the WCKD tower where Thomas and Teresa are. Thomas is unable to get on the berg due to being shot in the stomach by Janson, but Teresa manages to throw him onto the ramp of the berg, allowing Brenda, Minho, Gally, Frypan, and Vince to pull him onboard. Teresa falls to her death when the WCKD tower collapses. As Jorge flies Brenda, Thomas, Minho, Gally, Frypan, Vince, and the Immune children away from the tower, Brenda helps Gally bandage Thomas' wound along with Minho, Frypan, and Vince.
Sometime later, Brenda, along with Thomas, Minho, Gally, Frypan, Jorge, Vince, Aris, Sonya, Harriet, the Right Arm, and the Immune children, arrive at the Safe Haven. Brenda is walking with Harriet when they both see Thomas, who has woken up, approaching them. Brenda watches on as Thomas and Minho hug. At night, at the campfire, Brenda, along with Thomas, Minho, Gally, Frypan, Jorge, Aris, Sonya, Harriet, the Right Arm, and the Immune children, listen to Vince give a speech.
Brenda sips from her cup while Gally and Sonya converse. Brenda watches Minho, Gally, Frypan, and Vince engrave Newt, Chuck, Winston, and Mary's names on the memorial rock. Brenda is sitting with Minho, Gally, Frypan, Jorge, Vince, Aris, Sonya, Harriet, the Right Arm, and the Immune children at the campfire when Thomas approaches them, hugs Brenda and Gally, and sits down with them, Minho, Frypan, Jorge, Vince, Aris, Sonya, Harriet, the Right Arm, and the Immune children at the campfire. The next morning, while Brenda is sleeping, Thomas goes to the memorial rock and engraves Teresa's name on it. Thomas walks along the beach, stops walking, looks at the ocean and the ship, takes out the serum, looks at it, and looks out into the distance.
== Physical Appearance and Personality ==
Thomas describes Brenda as "pretty" and an "older teenager" who has long brown hair and dark eyes which "made the whites seem to glow brightly". She has a slightly scratchy, almost husky voice. It is suggested that Brenda is shorter than Thomas, as he thought that she had to be standing on the tips of her toes to put her head on his shoulder.
In the Scorch Trials film, Brenda has short dark hair that is cut close to her head, but is grown almost to shoulder length in the Death Cure film. She is, by a few inches, slightly shorter than Thomas.
== Abilities ==
*Tactical Genius: In the Maze Runner trilogy, Brenda has demonstrated high potential of intelligence in situations that would be difficult to get through by using tactical advantages. As shown in a deleted scene in Scorch trails, she released a pack of Cracks who she and her group had chained up to attack WCKD soldiers who intruded the warehouse. During the Death Cure film, Teresa informed the group about Minho and the 28 immune children WCKD had held captive, Brenda confirmed that she would able to make it work to save all of them at once and plan a getaway. When Thomas communicated with her to be ready with the bus she gained access to, she meets up with Gally, who leads the Immunes to the bus and once she ordered the children to stay inside the bus, she goes out and raises her hands in the air for the WCKD soldiers to see her holding a weapon that turned out to be a Flare gun, which she used to fire a flare into the sky as a signal for Frypan to drop the rope of the crane he operated down to the direct pointed area that is marked with an "X" where Brenda was standing near it so she can attach it onto the bus to have Frypan pull the bus up off the streets with her and the immunes in it to escape from the guards and they succeeded.
*Expert Marksmanship & Weapon Proficiency: Brenda seemed to be proficiently skilled and sharp with using rifles and short range weaponry which allowed her to perform great feats and benefit in a far ranged combat. She had excellent bulls-eyes aim on her targeted opponents, she demonstrated this in the Scorch Trials film, when Barkley attempted to kill the Gladers, Brenda shoots directly behind his back with her PPQ pistol, then when the incoming WCKD guards infiltrate the warehouse, she fired her last rounds with perfect aiming. When WCKD ambushed the Right Arm headquarters, she later used a hunting rifle to shoot Janson in the left side of his shoulder, leaving him wounded, and a WCKD soldier, who was chasing Thomas in the head. In the Death Cure film, she shot a few dozens of Cranks with her Beretta 84 from the front and back of her position, saving her friends Thomas, Newt, and Frypan from their doom.
*Expert Driver: She also displays great skill at driving vehicles. Such as in Death Cure, she starts to drive the immunes out of the WCKD garage from the security, then when they declared martial law on the getaway bus, Brenda performed vehicular warfare with the WCKD vehicles who attempted to crash towards her, but instead, she crashes them against the road then is pulled over and surrounded by the armed soldiers.
== Equipment==
*Backpack: Brenda used to carry her supplies in this bag for survival skills and medical support.
*Trinket Box: Brenda stored a picture of her brother George inside of the lid as it is the only thing she has left of him.
*M4A1 Carbine: It was shown in the Death Cure film that Brenda was wielding this assault rifle.
*Walther PPQ: In the Scorch Trials film, Brenda briefly used a P99 for defense against the guards of WCKD, who showed up in her warehouse.
*Beretta 84: In the Death Cure film, Brenda was shown to have been carrying this pistol against enemies.
*Flare Gun: In the Death Cure film, Brenda used this gun to signal for Frypan to drop the hook of the crane to escape from WCKD security.
*Winchester Model 70 Rifle: When WCKD hit the Right Arm's base headquarters in the mountain, Brenda temporarily used this weaponry to provide cover fire for Thomas to escape and eliminate the last opponents.
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