Vigilante

Note: This page is for the current Vigilante. For the original Vigilante: Greg Sanders. For the third Vigilante: Patricia Trayce.

Origin

(First Appearance The New Teen Titans Annual 2)

Adrian Chase was a New York district attorney whose wife Doris and two children are killed by mobsters after he convicts their boss. This occurrence prompts Adrian to seek justice in his own way as the Vigilante with the help of two partners. One partner is Jonathan James (J. J.) Davis, a technology wizard and computer genius.

His other partner is Theresa Gomez. Theresa is Adrian's research assistant who helps him decide what cases are worth investigating. At the start, he did not kill indiscriminately, instead preferring to incapacitate enemies. He was still prepared to kill if his life was in danger or if he decided that the target absolutely had to die. He had a preference for high power revolvers.

Creation

Vigilante was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez.

Character Evolution

Adrian Chase

Only six months into his career he kills a henchman called Brand in a life or death struggle on the top of a roller-coaster. His boss, Mr. Quilt pulls a gun on him. He later beats a man whom he had years earlier wrongly convicted of a crime. This poor start to his career leads Adrian to quit his career as the Vigilante and become the sixth Generation of Chase's to work at the family firm. He is only a lawyer at the firm for a short time before he decides that he can not live with himself, if he is to defend people he knows are guilty, and he becomes the Vigilante again. He is convinced by the Teen Titan, Cyborg to not kill as a first choice. Vigilante hunted down the criminal William Stryker who was guilty of many crimes including shooting Adrian's friend J. J. Davis and raping his fiance. While hunting Stryker, Vigilante instead shoots Cyborg and gets Stryker to confess to his crimes and tell where the evidence can be found. When Cyborg awakes in a hospital he finds a get well card from the Vigilante.

This is the first start for Vigilante to not kill unless he is forced too. This causes him problems right away when he faces Cannon and Saber. He confronts the two in their apartment and he attempts to capture them, but they get the drop on him. As a result Vigilante gets stabbed, shot, nearly executed and his identity revealed. His attempts at being a less-than-lethal hero changes when he allowed a police officer to die as a direct result of his actions.

Afterwards he became more and more violent and cared less about who got caught in the crossfire. Adrian was a violent crime-fighter, but in his civilian life he became tormented by his actions. Eventually, Adrian quit being Vigilante, believing that he could be more effective and happier as a judge. He had used the Vigilante persona as a way of combating medical depression, and it became very hard for him to resist his new-found violent tendencies.

Allen Wells

After Chase quit, his friend Allen Wells took up the mantle of Vigilante without Adrian's knowledge. Allen was even more violent as a Vigilante than Adrian. This caused Adrian to track down and kill the new Vigilante. He does just that, only to find out it is his best friend Allen. This is the point where Adrian, overcome by self hate and his own failure, completely relapses into his role as the Vigilante.

Dave Winston

Chase became more guilt ridden after the death of his friend. His civilian life and Vigilante life became more blurred when he tried to cover up the fact that Allen was the Vigilante. Dave Winston, Adrian's bailiff was the third person to assume the mantle of Vigilante. Despite Adrian's advice, Winston refused to kill. Winston would not be so lucky as he was murdered by Peacemaker while attempting to stop the hijacking of a plane.

Adrian Chase Returns

Adrian once again assumes the role of Vigilante. He felt that it was the only way to protect his loved ones. The first thing he does is seek revenge on Peacemaker. Adrian, however, has been out of the game for too long and when he finds Peacemaker he is beaten and unmasked on live television, due to being out of shape. This of course destroys his secret identity and forces him to stay as the Vigilante. Adrian becomes more sickened with himself and falls victim to depression, paranoia, and violence as he becomes more and more unbalanced. He began killing anyone who got in his way, even police. Near the end, he had no qualms about killing cops, or whether an innocent civilian was killed because of his actions. He eventually is unable to take the guilt anymore and commits suicide.

His death becomes public knowledge throughout the crime fighting community. In death Adrian ends up in purgatory. He helps battle the Guardians of the Realm, so heroes can escape Purgatory with the soul of Hal Jordan. After helping the heroes in Purgatory, The Guardians of the Realm re-examine the heroes that helped Hal Jordan escape.

Patricia Trayce

The next Vigilante was Patricia Trayce. She was a Gotham cop who met and fell in love with a fellow officer named Paul. The two married, but Paul was killed in the line of duty and shortly after that Luis, Pat's partner, was killed. Even though she took both of the deaths hard she grieved more over her partner Luis. Pat became frustrated with the city's revolving door policy of a justice system, in particular the protection of a mob killer or hire. She was suspended from duty by Commissioner Gordon. Soon afterward, she dedicated herself to vigilantism. Some of her most famous battles have been with the assassin known as Deathstroke.

Adeline Wilson

Addie Wilson went insane and she donned a Vigilante costume and came into conflict with Slade and the Ravager. After her encounter Adeline was bruised, but healed immediately. Slade guessed the truth: Slade's blood transfusion gave her rapid-healing powers, but also was driving her quite mad. During the fracas with Ravager, Addie was shot between the eyes and presumed dead. Later, in the morgue, Adeline awoke. Apparently, she had gained Slade's immortality as well.

Justin Sutter Powell

Justin Sutter encountered a murderer as a child. This causes him to change his name to Justin Scott Powell. As he grew up he became attracted to violence. Justin would take up the mantle and become the Vigilante. Powell did this on a subconscious level. He eventually reconciles the two personalities.

Dorian Chase

The younger brother of Adrian Chase, Dorian would take over the mantle as the new Vigilante.

Before donning the mantle, Dorian Chase married a woman named Marsha Bennet. He would eventually be informed that his wife was pregnant with a different man named Orrin Taylor. Unfortunately with no questions asked, he murdered his wife out of anger and jealousy from an affair she never actually had. Dorian would be charged with first degree manslaughter, and was sent to prison for five years. Adrian Chase and Jonathan Davis visited Dorian, telling him that he had a second chance, that he can turn his life around. The guilt-ridden Dorian would ignore this and would tell the both of them to get out of his life. Four years later, Jonathan would tell Dorian devastating news about Adrian's suicide, which puts him to his breaking point. When he was released, he became the Vigilante, with Jonathan Davis as his information broker. Initially, he took down thugs and goons around Europe. But would eventually head to New York to wage war against organized crime.

In his war against organized crime, he undermined several mobs and trafficking rings such as: Tobias Whales' mob, Penguin's mob, Solomon Bennet's mob, and etc. With the help of his colleague and close friend, Jonathan Davis. In one peculiar occasion, he discovers that there is a rogue superhero that instilled the election bombings and mob killings, the suspect possibly being in the Titans. He tries to discover who the superhero is, but cannot discern his identity. He then infiltrates Tobias Whales' organization as muscle, let's himself get arrested, and is sent to Stryker's Island Penitentiary. Which there was an informant he needed to find.

However, before he can get to him, the informant is killed by the Electrocutioner. Vigilante then gets released out of Stryker's from one of Tobias Whales' lawyers. When he was back on the field, he extensively continued his search. Gathering information and data through his colleague, and undergoing espionage in Whales' crime syndicate. Eventually, he found Jericho to be the prime suspect, apprehending and stopping him alongside the Titans. In the process when Jericho gets taken to custody, Vigilante would raid the police van, knocking out the driver, taking his uniform, and knocking out the other two officers in the back with tranquilizers. Before finishing the job, he promised Rose that he wouldn't kill Jericho, so he went with an alternative: by gouging his eyes out with a knife instead. Leaving the area, nowhere to be found.

After his conflict against Jericho, his identity as Joe Flynn was soon to be discovered. Fifteen potential men that were sent to Stryker's, including himself were pinpointed for assassination. Vigilante would step into their soon-to-be ambush and remained in cover until he was coerced to fight back for his life. When the ambush commenced, all of the fourteen men were shot down, but Vigilante was prepared. He'd fight off his pursuers until they were all dead, ceasing the massacre. He'd soon remove his guise of Joe Flynn permanently.

Later that night, he broke in inside of Tobias Whales' headquarters, vandalizing his office and giving him an official declaration of war. In that same night, both the FBI and Tobias Whales' goons would be on his tail. But the FBI would see his goons and would apprehend them instead, giving Vigilante time to escape.

The next day, Vigilante would use a new identity by the name of Gordon Picardo, a deceased drug runner from Seattle. He would use this identity to cover his tracks once again. Vigilante then reluctantly decided to work with Marsha's father, Solomon Bennett, one of New York's crime lords. Requesting assistance in order to destabilize Tobias Whale's operations. Once forming the unlikely alliance, Vigilante was given ten mobsters from his organization to back him up against Whale. Vigilante would use Solomon's goons as cannon fodder, commanding them to look around the perimeter, subduing one of the thugs due to one of them tailgating Vigilante instead of letting him go alone.

Once everyone regrouped, the mobsters that were assisting Vigilante would see the mobster that was assigned to keep close watch of him was gone. They would instantaneously realize that Vigilante wasn't actually on their side, causing a swift fight between the group of Solomon's mobsters and Vigilante; Vigilante prevailing against the group of borrowed mobsters. Shortly after the fight, Tobias Whale would finally encounter the Vigilante, carrying out a rigorous battle between the two. But the fight would be cut short when the FBI invaded the premise. Unbeknownst to Tobias and the FBI, Vigilante had C4 rigged inside of the building. The FBI would evacuate and Tobias Whale would be caught in the explosion, miraculously knocking him out instead of killing him. He would soon be arrested by the FBI.

Once everyone regrouped, the mobsters that were assisting Vigilante would see the mobster that was assigned to keep close watch of him was gone. They would instantaneously realize that Vigilante wasn't actually on their side, causing a swift fight between the group of Solomon's mobsters and Vigilante; Vigilante prevailing against the group of borrowed mobsters. Shortly after the fight, Tobias Whale would finally encounter the Vigilante, carrying out a rigorous battle between the two. But the fight would be cut short when the FBI invaded the premise. Unbeknownst to Tobias and the FBI, Vigilante had C4 rigged inside of the building. The FBI would evacuate and Tobias Whale would be caught in the explosion, miraculously knocking him out instead of killing him. He would soon be arrested by the FBI.

Vigilante on the other hand, left the vicinity. And proceeded to head to Gotham.

Major Story Arcs

Justin was last seen alongside Wild Dog and Crimson Avenger on a rooftop in the great battle of Metropolis in Infinite Crisis. Dorian targets the unbalanced Jericho for assassination in Deathtrap.

Skills & Abilities

All the Vigilantes were self trained yet proficient martial artists and marksmen.

Equipment

Adrian chase operated on Staten Island, New York primarily, but often ventured into other islands and Burroughs of New York such as Manhattan and Queens. His suit featured infrared goggles and shock proof armour. He often wore loose fitting coats and jackets to conceal it from civilians . He used a custom cruiser motorcycle with three different hidden rocket launchers and a bulletproof shield as his main form of transport on the streets. He used a customised RV as a mobile command centre, it housed weapons ,costumes, and vehicles, one of which was a mini submarine with accompanying suit. He used a suction grapple gun to scale buildings quickly as well as a takedown vaulting pole.

His primary sidearm was a semi auto concept revolver, similar to the mateba 6 unica. He would alternate between this weapon and a smith wesson model 29. During his temporary retirement, he chose an M1911 variant semi automatic pistol as a replacement to his revolvers presumably due to it's concealability. After he resumed his vigilante operation, he chose a competition grade taurus model 689 revolver. He would use this as his primary weapon for the remainder of the series.

He used an M16 variant for long range shooting and extended assaults. He always carried a set of nunchucks for non lethal and hand to hand combat. He tried out several other types of weapons, but apparently abandoned them in favour of the aforementioned equipment. These included an AMT hardballer, a mini Uzi, mini grenades designed by jj Davis and a set of throwing stars. Dave Winston and Allan Welles both used ruger security six revolvers. Justin Powell's weapons included a miniature wrist mounted crossbow and gerber combat knives. He also had a preference for eliminating his targets with lethal injection.

Dorian's equipment included black skintight clothing, a kevlar vest fitted with holsters, white gloves and boots, and a polymer/steel helmet with a trademark v shaped visor. He carries a pair of Berreta 92fs' as his sidearms. He uses a simple mini grapple to move around rooftops and other hard to reach places. He carries a comlink.

Other Media

Television

Live Action

Arrow

Adrian Chase was a regular on Season 5 of Arrow. Chase was portrayed by Josh Segarra. Oliver Queen was commonly called "The Vigilante" for some time, though he never formally adopted it as a name before settling on "The Arrow."

It is later revealed that Adrian Chase is actually Prometheus, the main antagonist of season 5. In season 6, The man using Vigilante costume and name was revealed to be Vincent Sobel, Dinah Drake's presumed dead partner.