Merritt McKinney

Merritt McKinney is a main character in Now You See Me. He is portrayed by Woody Harrelson.

Biography
Merritt has a twin brother named Chase McKinney. The two were a brotherly duo known as the Magic McKinneys before Merritt made a name for himself. Chase later disappeared with all of Merritt's money, leaving him with nothing.

Now You See Me
Merritt is first shown in New Orleans hypnotizing a woman while her husband watches. Merritt uses his skills in mentalism to get the husband to admit that he had an affair with his wife's sister, Janet. He hustles $250 from the man to make his wife forget what she just heard also curses the man with visions of him naked every time he sees or even thinks of Janet. After this event, Merritt discovers a Hermit tarot card with an address on the back leading to New York City.

When he arrives at the building, two more magicians, J. Daniel Atlas and Henley Reeves arrive. Merritt correctly guesses Henley's name by reading her coffee cup and calls her beautiful. Atlas sticks out his hand to shake Merritt's, but Merritt flips him off. A few seconds after, Jack Wilder arrives. He picks the lock for the door and when they walk in, they find blueprints for a show.

On their first show in Vegas, Merritt hypnotizes the French men into thinking he was truly in Paris then again into believing he was of field harmonic every time he heard the word 'Bullshit'

In New Orleans he Hypnotizes ten people into think they were football players and to sack the quarterback when he calls out Freeze. Dylan calls "Freeze!", and gets sacked and tackled as the Horsemen got away.

Then, finally he does it again in New York this time on the FBI director who, like the French man became a field harmonic. At the end of their final performance he, Atlas and Henley jumped off of a roof and disappeared into money, they then reunited with Jack and meet their mystery benefactor Dylan Rhodes who welcomes them into the Eye.

Now You See Me 2
In the one year of hiding, Merritt took Jack as his apprentice in hypnotism in exchange for Jack teaching him cardistry. He along with Jack and Daniel meet their new horsemen Lula May with Dylan as they go over their plans for a heist at OCTA.

Merritt's part of the plan was to pose as a waiter and hypnosis Octa CEO Owen Case into introducing the Horsemen. The operation was spoiled by Walter Mabry and his twin brother Chase who hypothesized them to sleep till arriving in China.

In China, Jack tried to hypnotize Chase only to find it not working because he wasn't surprised. Then they go to steal the magic broomstick computer chip for Walter only to find they were tricked by Walter who with his father Arthur Tressler wants revenge on the Horsemen and Dylan.

Now with the chip in their position and the Eye to help they get to London and preform a big show on New year's eve but Chase got to Merritt before he could do his performance and cut them off not knowing that was their plan from the beginning.

J. Daniel Atlas
Although Merritt is fond of Atlas and they work well together, their off-stage relationship is sometimes antagonistic. Merritt's laid-back attitude and habit of teasing the other magician about "control issues" get on Atlas's nerves.

Henley Reeves
Merritt is physically attracted to Henley and flirts with her through much of their off-stage time in the first movie.

Jack Wilder
Merritt develops a close friendship with Jack based on proximity and a strong desire to learn each other's skills.

Dylan Rhodes
Their is nothing indicating that he dislikes him or doesn’t trust him in the films so it is most likely that he trusts and likes him or he would not be a horseman and would not listen to him.

Lula May
They do not get a lot of screen time together but he does complement her “geek” magic where she takes the compliment and they are seen walking to make there entrance to the Octa performance. So it is not clear but it is implied that they have a healthy friendship with each other.

Chase McKinney
Chase is Merritt's twin brother. The two were a brotherly duo known as the Magical McKinney's before Merritt made a name for himself. Chase later disappeared with all of Merritt's money, leaving him with nothing. In the second film it is seen that their relationship never recovered.

Skills

 * Hypnotic Frequency Manipulation: Merritt is highly skilled in mentalism and hypnotism. He developed the skill from childhood to present day. As an adult, he learned card-throwing from Jack Wilder. He is competent at card throwing when compared to his audience but unskilled when compared to the other Horsemen.