MICHAEL FLAHERTY

Real Name: Michael Flaherty

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Lawyer, solicitor

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Banshee (Sean Cassidy), the Cassidy family, Eamon O'Donnell

Enemies: Black Tom Cassidy (Thomas Cassidy), Juggernaut (Cain Marko)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Cassidy Keep in County Mayo, Ireland, UK; formerly Dal'roon, Ireland, UK

First Appearance: X-Men I#99 (June, 1976)

Powers/Abilities: Michael Flaherty had no superhuman powers, but was a skilled solicitor and lawyer.

Height: Unrevealed  
Weight: Unrevealed (but slightly overweight for his age)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History: (X-Men I#103 (fb) - BTS) - When Black Tom Cassidy took over his family castle, Cassidy Keep, the Keep's seneschal, Eamon O'Donnell, tried to get a warning to Tom's cousin, the heroic Banshee, but the Cassidy family lawyer, Michael Flaherty, mistook O'Donnell's message. Thinking that Eamon was warning Sean Cassidy about Tom trying to steal Sean's rightful inheritance, Flaherty remained unaware Tom actually wished to lure Sean to Cassidy Keep to kill him.

(X-Men I#99) - Michael Flaherty made his way to the Dal'roon Post Office, where he gave the postman a letter addressed to Sean Cassidy, the Banshee. He explained to the postman that the letter needed to be delivered without delay and then made his leave as the postman yelled at him for leaving the door open during such a windy, snowy day. As soon as he exited the Post Office, Flaherty was attacked by Black Tom Cassidy. Flaherty yelled that the letter had already been sent and that Banshee would stop Tom's mad plans, but Black Tom blasted Flaherty anyway, claiming that Banshee would die trying to stop him.

(X-Force I#30 (fb) - BTS) - When the Cassidy family no longer lived in Cassidy Keep, Flaherty took up residence in the old castle.

(X-Force I#30) - Black Tom Cassidy and his partner-in-crime, the Juggernaut, knocked on Cassidy Keep's door. When Flaherty answered, he was shocked to see Black Tom, who blasted Flaherty down. Sarcastically remarking on how good it was to see Flaherty again, Black Tom stood over the unconscious Flaherty and commented on how tacky it was for the family lawyer to take up residence within Cassidy Keep, which Tom was convinced was rightfully his.

(X-Force I#31 - BTS) - The visiting James Proudstar and Theresa Cassidy learned of Flaherty's injury and checked with a doctor at the hospital, who informed them that Flaherty was in stable condition. Meeting with local reporter Kelvin Doneghann, James Proudstar expressed confusion as to why Black Tom would attempt to kill Flaherty, the family lawyer, while trying to get at the actual family's Keep. Kelvin replied that the Cassidy family was full of secrets and old grudges, suggesting that if Tom had really wanted to kill Flaherty, there would be nothing left but ash.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Frank Chiaramonte.

I swear when I originally read X-Men I#99, I could've sworn Black Tom had killed Flaherty yet he showed again nearly 20 years later in X-Force, and with a first name finally!

Flaherty's height and weight were impossible to determine, as we never see him standing next to a character whose height/weight were known. In X-Men I#99, we only see Flaherty get blasted from the shadows by Black Tom so no one could gauge his height in comparison to Tom. In Flaherty's later appearances, Flaherty's face is seen behind a door, then one panel of him getting blasted, then lying on the ground at the feet of Black Tom and Juggernaut, which also made it impossible to gauge his height/weight due to the artistic angles in which he was drawn.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Michael Flaherty has no KNOWN connections to:

images: (without ads)
X-Men I#99, p8, pan2 (Flaherty full body)
X-Force I#30, p11, pan3 (Flaherty, headshot)

Appearances:
X-Men I#99 (June, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Frank Chiaramonte (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
X-Men I#103 (February, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
X-Force I#30 (January, 1994) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (pencils), Kevin Conrad, Jon Holdredge, Jason Gorder (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Force I#31 (February, 1994) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Tony Daniel (pencils), Jon Holdredge (inks), Bob Harras (editor)

First Posted: 09/05/2005
Last updated: 01/11/2017

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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