Bedlam (Symbiote) (Earth-6161)

The Lethal Protector, Symbiotic Individual, Alien Species, The Sentient Alien, Magic External Thing

**Nicknames**

Beddy, Lam, Bed

**Editorial Names**

Bedlam: The Lethal Protector

**Given Titles**

The Legendary Void Knight Symbiote, Commander, The Codex

## Affiliations & Relationships

### Relatives

**Primary Family**

* Cascade (creator, unknown)
* Solace (alleged brother, alive)

### Companions

**Host**

* Damien Cates

**Friends**

* Lexi McFarlane
* Jazz Carter (Harakiri)
* Alexis May (Earth-36)

### Affiliations

**As Bedlam**

* Bruiser Brigade
* The Void Hive
* Cascade's Army; formerly

## Origin & Living Status

### Origin

Marooned in the 6161 Universe; remembered origin

## Creators & Appearances

### Creator(s)

Morpheus

The amnesic, technology-based symbiote that became known as **Bedlam** was a formerly high-ranking Void Knight Symbiote under the command of his creator, Cascade. He would eventually become marooned in outer space, near the Moon where he would be taken by Arasaka in the hopes of studying Bedlam to enhance soldiers. Unveiled at a demonstration, it bonded with the dying Damien Cates to save his life and the two would go on to become Brooklyn's Lethal Protectors, **Bedlam**.

Their adventures would strengthen their bond and lead to Bedlam regaining some of his memories back which revealed that Bedlam was a galactic conqueror. His exploits - according to his rival and alleged brother, Solace - were events of legend and were kept as stories to be told to new Void Knight Symbiotes. However, Bedlam also remembered that he is connected to a mysterious force known as The Void Hive which was - explained by Mademoiselle Carver of Earth-47 - a physical collective consciousnesses of all Void Knight Symbiotes and that it acts as a meeting place for all Void Knights.

Bedlam - in recent memory - has only ventured into The Void Hive with Damien only once during their shared time in a coma. The two would meet Evan Edwards of Earth-505 and Max Brooks of Earth-17. However, this event was not remembered by either of them.

## **Attributes**

### **Powers**

**Codex Rolodex**: As mentioned before, Bedlam has an extensive and massively powerful Codex that keeps him alive, stories his memories, and is later discovered to be affected by technology to gain new abilities within logic. This acts as Bedlam's brain and it should be able to house the collective knowledge of The Void Hive. However, whenever Bedlam was marooned near the moon, his connection to The Void Hive became limited and by extension, his memories were lost but have been slowly coming back through his adventures with Damien. The Codex is complex as it contains essentially, the secrets to the galaxy - or what the Void Knight Symbiotes have learned at the very least - and whenever Damien attempted to connect to it, his phone could not handle the amount of data. While it worked on Damien's computer, the problem is - after installing a package manager - that Damien could not find the missing memories to restore them. Regardless, the codex itself is incredibly intuitive and records data faster than anything on Earth as it has to record the data in real-time from Bedlam's visuals.

* **Perfected Void Knight Symbiosis**: The symbiote - dubbed Bedlam by Damien - is not of this native universe. Due to this, it does not function as a native symbiote - Klyntar - operates which grants Damien a litany of abilities based on two factors. The psyche of its host and the creativity of its host. While Bedlam is a sentient creature, it is also a highly-unstable and constantly in-motion liquid-based life-form that can change its shape, features, and matter on command from either itself or the user. While Bedlam does not remember its life fully or has a full connection to The Void Hive which would grant Bedlam an extreme amount of knowledge on both itself and the usage of its abilities, Bedlam has showcased significant abilities that extend to Damien as they share the same mind post-bonding. This is further revealed during their fight with Solace who used unknown techniques and morphed in ways that Damien and Bedlam could not, but it is because of this encounter that Bedlam remembered how to create The Oculusblade - more on this later - along with wings. However, it is important to note that while Bedlam has its base abilities, most of the spider-ques abilities come from two distinct abilities that all Void Knight Symbiotes have. In a darker aspect, many individuals who know the true history of Void Knights have commented that Damien and Bedlam have become the same, a perfect symbiosis. Only something that is within the myths and legends of the Void Knights as it is unknown how powerful they are. Because the last perfected symbiosis was the creator of the Void Knights, **Cascade**.
* **Mimicry/Monkey See, Monkey Do**: The baseline for all Void Knight symbiotes is mimicry - dubbed Monkey See, Monkey Do by Damien - which is powerful in its selectivity. Whereas native symbiotes in this reality can only copy abilities from genetics, Void Knight Symbiotes can copy abilities from visualization. The problem is, it can only copy abilities that the actual symbiote could perform. Meaning that if Bedlam saw someone use optic blasts, the symbiote could not replicate that because it does not have the capacity for such destruction nor the energy output to do so. However, if it is an ability that they see but feasibly, they cannot create but is still within the realm of logic, the symbiote will supplement the "conventional" version of this with something else to achieve the same effect. Two examples of this are Lexi's web shooters. While Bedlam could not generate webbing natively, Damien gained the idea of adhesive chains, which supplement webs for chains. The second example is whenever Bedlam saw that Solace was escaping by using a helicopter. The symbiote cannot levitate but in response, it generates wings to achieve the same effect. According to Bedlam, all mimicked abilities are inside of his "heart" which is known as the Codex and Bedlam can manipulate the Codex to remove or add abilities on command. This was shown during their first fight with Overdrive - more on this later - and the Codex acts as his memory bank as well. This allows Bedlam to retrieve erased abilities from his memories, however, he has to remember the ability to retrieve them.
* **Constituent Matter Generation/Manipulation**: As mentioned before, the symbiote can generate more of its liquid-based life form and manipulate it in ways that allow for it to be used in physics-defying ways. The primary of which is the chains which allow Damien to move freely throughout cities and other urban areas. The symbiote uses Damien's stamina to produce these and once he begins to grow tired, the symbiote will begin to use his stamina and even its liquid form which was shown during the fight with his parents. The drawback to this is also shown during that fight as the symbiote was badly injured as a result and mostly depleted, which brought it to near death as it used the last of its liquid form to save Damien's life. Later, this was further explored during the Solace fight as Damien was able to recreate The Oculusblade and produce wings to defeat Solace, however at this point, both Damien and Bedlam had strengthened their bond with time which allowed for them to exert themselves for numerous hours at full power before feeling drained. Interestingly, the first thing that Bedlam and Damien discovered was that Bedlam can clothe Damien by essentially becoming his clothing.
	+ **Constituent Matter Weapon Creation**: Damien has shown - as mentioned above - to create weapons from the symbiote's matter generation ability. This ability is not honed but it is incredibly useful as he has been able to create The Ebony Oculusblade which is a legendary item from the creator of Void Knight Symbiotes, Cascade. However, Bedlam has stated that since it remembers how to make The Oculusblade, it can generate other items. This was showcased whenever Damien threw a trident at Akria. While this ability is nice, Damien enjoys using the sword as it gives him a reason to learn how to use it.

* **Symbiotic Connection**: Referenced prior, Bedlam and Damien are connected through their symbiotic relationship, both mentally and emotionally. This allows for Bedlam to know what Damien wants to do before he does it and vice versa, this grants a nearly perfect symbiosis between the two. Both Damien and Bedlam can fight in sync without overlap as they both equally control the body they are in and this gifts Damien essentially a backseat driver who gives tips and fighting advice. For Bedlam, this gifts a host who is willing to take a backseat if Bedlam offers up a better solution, giving both equal opportunities to fight at the same time simultaneously. This was shown to great effect during Damien's battle with Solace as Bedlam and Damien detached from one another and Solace fought Bedlam while Damien fought Levi, however, Damien's bond was stronger as he still heard Bedlam in his mind and vice versa while Levi was completely cut-off from Solace. Another side effect of this is the appearance of Bedlam itself. After bonding with Damien and eyeing Lexi over time as Damien helped her, Bedlam developed a sense of style from her Widow costume and the physic of Damien's favorite basketball players (ie. Shaquille O'Neal and others). With these combined and whenever Damien finally summoned the suit, Bedlam became an amalgam of all of Damien's likes which is why Bedlam is bulkier but slim and the mouth came from Damien's dislike of how Lexi would sound muffled.
	+ **Native ESP**: Bedlam has a native sixth sense that allows him to be able to detect danger at a 365-degree field of view around both himself and Damien. This allows Bedlam to forcibly move Damien away from coming danger or alert him of dangerous individuals in the area. This is - according to Solace - a base ability for all Void Knights and Mademoiselle stated that all Void Knights are connected to The Void Hive by way of their natural ESP. However, it is important to note that while Bedlam tries his best, this sense is not always accurate and oftentimes - if the danger is severe enough - will harm both Damien and Bedlam. The interesting fact of this, though, is that Bedlam's ESP is more fine-tuned than Lexi's as Bedlam has had it longer.
	+ **Telepathic/Mind Control Resistance**: Since Bedlam is bonded to Damien and they share a connected mind, it is incredibly hard to read the mind of them both for two reasons. The first is that Damien's mind is a literal hellscape. Barring his darkness, his mind has become this because of his bonding with Bedlam who shares similar dark inclinations and this produces a near-constant state of visions of bodies being burned, death, murder, and other senseless acts of violence which would drive less experienced telepaths insane. Sadly, Damien does not realize this. Second, Bedlam's Codex is connected to The Void Hive which is the collective consciousnesses of all Void Knight Symbiotes across all realities, meaning that there is a constant stream of billions of voices inside the mind of Bedlam that he cannot hear. All of these crash together to make their mind very hard to read and even harder to control as it took Jade Dragon's ancient mysticism to even attempt to do so. The only reason why they succumbed was because the vision they showcased appealed to their darker natures.
* **Symbiotic Revitalization**: Having only happened once, Damien died whilst wearing Bedlam. During his first bout with King Crimson, he was killed whenever the two time-traveled to 1885 and Damien did not have the full protection of the suit as he was wearing Bedlam as his street clothes. However, it was here that Bedlam revealed that in the event of Damien's death but not Bedlam's, he will use his constituent matter manipulation to essentially rebuild his body and bring him back to life. This only further connected them for two reasons, the first being that Bedlam revived Damien and the second being that parts of Bedlam became parts of Damien. It does not only extend to reviving him either as Bedlam has used this ability to heal Damien from wounds that otherwise would have been either fatal or inconvenient for both of them. Interestingly enough, Bedlam has stated that because of this, Bedlam keeps Damien young physically to ensure that Damien can continue to use Bedlam and vice versa.

**Mimicked Spider-Physiology**: While not possessing any of the abilities that Zinchari Avatars have, Bedlam was able to simulate them to both great and lesser degrees from just being close to Lexi and having watched her for years. Upon fully discovering the totality of her abilities as she grew closer with Damien - and by extension, Bedlam -, he was able to simulate nearly all of them but missed a few as Lexi has specialized abilities which are not uncommon for Zinchari Avatars but impossible to obtain for Void Knights, leaving Damien with simply her baseline Spider-Physiology abilities. While Damien does not have these on the genetic level as Void Knights cannot affect the genetics of their hosts, Damien has all of these abilities as long as he is bonded to Bedlam. This was shown whenever he fought Levi but did it with his natural athleticism.

* **Superhuman Strength**: Before gaining Bedlam, Damien was an athlete for his high school, specifically playing basketball which allowed him to bench-press 200 lbs but after gaining Bedlam and him watching Lexi, Damien gained an extremely heightened level of strength that rivals that of Lexi. Depending on the situation (ie. emotions), Damien is slightly stronger than Lexi and sometimes Lexi is slightly stronger than Damien but consistently, they are essentially equal.
* **Superhuman Durability**: Bedlam is naturally highly resistant to most forms of damage, being nearly impervious to small knives and small-caliber bullets on account of the symbiote's liquid thickness. He has been able to absorb grenades and have them explode inside of themselves whilst keeping Damien safe, absorbing gunfire from handguns and sniper rifles (barely), and resisting powerful attacks from superhuman villains. However, there are limits and the primary weakness of Void Knight Symbiotes is sonic devices or sounds louder than 140+ decibels.
* **Superhuman Stamina**: As Bedlam hails from space, he can function - along with the host - in the vastness of space along with being able to breathe underwater. Similarly, he is also able to filter out toxic or otherwise hazardous gases which was shown whenever he saved Damien from inhaling The Lenore Equation which granted Lexi her abilities as Bedlam was only able to save one. Bedlam's overall stamina has improved over time as he can produce more adhesive chains than before and exert himself for hours, almost days, on end.
* **Superhuman Speed**: Bedlam is extremely fast for his race. He is physically faster than Solace while he was detached from Damien but when bonded, the duo can keep up with the likes of Lexi and others, in both running and web-slinging.

**Mimicked Technopathy**: Having only been done once and having been agreed upon by both Bedlam and Damien to never do it again, Bedlam mimicked Overdrive's ability to move through the internet with the use of psionics. While it was within the realm of logic because of Bedlam's native ESP, it was extremely painful and incredibly disorienting for both parties involved to perform this action. The mimicry worked as Damien and Bedlam were able to affect the lines of code within the network that Overdrive was in but it slowly began to drive Damien insane as he was affecting spacial reality around him (albeit inside of a computer) and by extension, it slowly drove Bedlam insane as well. After defeating Overdrive using this method, they both refused to do it again. Bedlam even removed the mimicked ability from his codex to ensure they can never do this again. While yes, it was removed, this does not mean that Bedlam could not retrieve the memory to mimic the ability again but they are both very determined to never do that again.
Bio-Hacked Powers: As a result of Damien connecting to Bedlam's Codex via technology, he was able to turn the Codex into lines of code that allow him to manipulate it in different ways. While on the surface, this should not be possible, it is only possible because Void Knight Symbiotes are a product of advanced technology and not an evolution from the universe, meaning that they were created, not born. Void Knights do have their cognitive thoughts and feelings but they are not naturally occurring. With this newfound knowledge and Damien's experience with hacking, he was able to alter Bedlam by giving him abilities that can only work within the confines of what Void Knights have as their base abilities. Meaning that Damien cannot give a Void Knight abilities that are outside the realm of logic for a Void Knight to do otherwise this wouldn't work. Just like how a line of code can crash an entire website, one line of code can take down the entire system that is Bedlam.

* **Blue Lines Daemon**: The first ability that Damien wrote for Bedlam was a daemon known as Blue Lines. This ability works by way of having Bedlam expel itself from Damien and attach itself to a part of an enemy where Bedlam then reaches outward for random large items and then pulls them toward the enemy, slamming them against various items of debris and equipment. As the enemy is dealing with this, Bedlam returns to Damien during the ensuing chaos and does not bond with the enemy whilst this occurs. While not insanely powerful, it is an effective tool to create a diversion or handle situations that otherwise would be nearly impossible to get out of. A great example of this usage was whenever Damien was surrounded by Steel Serpents and this was used to dispatch an entire group of enemies in one go.
* **Love Lockdown Daemon**: On account of Damien using chains as his main mode of transportation, Damien created a daemon that allows Bedlam to generate a series of chains that will ensnare a target with them. While Damien can just do this normally, the kicker is that the chains that ensnare the target will tighten the more that the target moves because the chain holds a part of Bedlam's consciousness that can act and operate independently of Bedlam but is controlled by him.

### **Weaknesses**

* **Sonic Waves/Fire**: The primary weakness against all Void Knights is high-frequency sound waves or vibrations that have to reach over 140+ decibels. Anything lower doesn't affect the symbiote or the host. While, yes, sonic weapons and waves are its primary weakness, it is important to note that **high-tempt** **fire is a cross-species equalizer**. It can kill both the host and The Void Knight Symbiote with ease.
* **High-Caliber EMP**: Due to Bedlam being a technology-based life-form, this leaves Bedlam and by extension, Damien, vulnerable to extremely powerful EMPs as they can render Bedlam's Codex inoperable momentarily. After having experienced this during his fight with King Crimson, it was revealed that the type of EMP needed to knock out Bedlam's Codex has to be sufficient enough to eliminate power across the entire eastern seaboard.
* **Darker Inclinations/Broken Will/Mental Illness**: Damien is trying to be a good person and so is Bedlam. However, the two of them have darker inclinations and often have twisted visions - most notably, visions of bodies being burned - and to add onto this, how he is viewed as a person. His background lends itself to the idea that people believe that Damien should be a gang member or a different stereotype. Due to all of this, it weighs on Damien which led to a deep depression and resentment toward those around him. While grateful, he does not have a great relationship with his adoptive parents nor with anyone else outside of Bedlam and Lexi as they are the only ones who see it. To make matters worse, Solace revealed that Bedlam was a wolf wrapped in sheep's clothing, that he posed as a good man but was truthfully a snake who had no qualms with killing people or committing evil acts. While that is not Bedlam now - due to him wanting to be good -, Bedlam still does have those darker tendencies. This bleeds into their shared vigilantism as both Bedlam and Damien have thought constantly about killing their villains or even going on rampages across New York. Bedlam does not influence Damien but the two of them share similar mindsets which is why Solace called them a perfect symbiosis. Even prior to learning this, Damien's will has always been extremely limited and it results in survival first, everything else second. This was highlighted whenever Jade Dragon attempted to use mysticism to mind-control both Lexi and Damien. Lexi broke free but Damien succumbed to the control as the vision showcased Damien and Bedlam dominating the universe with Void Knights. The reason why he wasn't able to break free was because sadly, Damien and Bedlam *enjoyed it**.*** Damien and Bedlam want to do good but constantly hearing every day that they are "anti-heroes" or "Lethal Protectors" - which they do love the title of Lethal Protector - leads both of them to believe that maybe their heroic efforts are for not and that maybe, just maybe, they were destined to be Lexi's greatest villain.