Note: This page is for the first Vigilante, Adrian Chase. For the original Vigilante: Greg Sanders. For the third Vigilante: Patricia Trayce, and the latest Dorian Chase.

Origin

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. First appearing in The New Teen Titans Annual 2.

Major Story Arcs

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.

Alan Wells

After Chase quit, his friend Alan Wells took up the mantle of Vigilante without Adrian's knowledge. Alan 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 Alan. 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 Alan 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.

Infinite Crisis

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.

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.

Dorian Chase

When Adrian Chase killed himself, his younger brother Dorian Chase was still in prison for the murder of his wife. Four years ago, Adrian had visited Dorian there, when he was first imprisoned, but Dorian told Adrian to get out of his life. Dorian was informed of his brother's death by Jonathan Davis, which lead to Dorian taking up his brother's mantle as Vigilante.

After Death

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.

Powers and Abilities

A 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 customized RV as a mobile command center, 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 favor of the aforementioned equipment. These included an AMT hardballer, a mini Uzi, mini grenades designed by J.J. Davis and a set of throwing stars.

Other Media

Television

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.

Peacemaker

Adrian Chase is Vigilante in both seasons of Peacemaker TV-series, played by Freddie Stroma.