I don't think in the movie that we ever really learn anything about Thaddeus Bradley's past except that in his first show he debunked Lionel Shrike and ruined him. That got me thinking about why and how he could debunk a magician as good as Shrike was. Then I thought of the phrase "It takes one to know one" and there ya go, head canon formed haha I hope you enjoy. :)
Category: Gen/AU?
Setting: Pre-NYSM
Characters/Pairings: Thaddeus Bradley
Rating/Warnings: K+
Summary: Magic had made him who he was, but magic wasn't what it used to be.
Disclaimer: Neither Now You See Me or its characters belong to me.
The Debunker
Magic had made him who he was. From as far back as he could remember magic had been a part of him. His father had done it and his father before him and his father before him. They had never had much, but they had had each other and, as corny as it sounds, that had always been enough for Thaddeus Bradley.
Then his parents had been killed in a trick gone wrong.
He was a man by then, but their deaths still hit him hard. He had tried to continue their legacy, to let the Bradley name live on in the magic community. He was good and he knew it. He could have been the best; his name could have passed even the great Houdini himself.
But then the debunker came.
His tricks were exposed and people quit coming to his shows. The magic was gone. He struggled for years, moving from town to town, preforming the streets for money. He was reduced to cheap hotel rooms and sleight of the hand card tricks. The Bradley legacy had fallen apart around him.
And that was when he turned himself around.
Magic wasn't what it used to be. People were constantly working out how to do the tricks. The magic was disappearing to him and he found he no longer cared to perform. He was past his prime and had known no other career but magic. And so he stayed in the field. The day the camera turned on him and he revealed Lionel Shrike was the day everything came full circle.
The debunked had become the debunker.