| Vigilante | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Action Comics #42 (November1941) |
| Created by | Mort Weisinger (writer) Mort Meskin (art) |
| Characters | Greg Saunders Adrian Chase Alan Welles Dave Winston Patricia Trayce Adeline Kane Justin Powell Dorian Chase Donald Fairchild |
Vigilante is the name used by severalfictional characters appearing inAmerican comic books published byDC Comics. Notable individuals to assume the alias includeGreg Saunders andAdrian Chase.
An original incarnation of Vigilante namedVincent Sobel appears in the television seriesArrow, played byClayton Chitty andJohann Urb and voiced byMick Wingert.Freddie Stroma plays the Adrian Chase incarnation of Vigilante in the television seriesPeacemaker.
The original version of Vigilante was a western-themed hero namedGreg Sanders (later retconned in the 1990s to "Saunders") who debuted inAction Comics #42 (November 1941).[1] The Vigilante had a teen sidekick introduced in 1942, Stuff the Chinatown Kid.[2]
Adrian Chase first appeared as the second version of Vigilante inThe New Teen Titans Annual #2 (August 1983) by writerMarv Wolfman and pencilerGeorge Pérez.[3] Chase was a district attorney in New York City who went rogue after his wife and children were killed by a gang boss.[4]
The third person to assume the Vigilante identity wasAlan Welles, a fellow judge and friend of Adrian Chase. His first appearance was inVigilante #7, and later inVigilante #20 as Vigilante. He secretly operated in a much more violent manner, even executing petty thieves. His mental instability eventually led him to gun down police officers and civilians. Chase felt responsible for this threat and began a long investigation to take down Vigilante until Chase found out he was Welles, forcing Chase to kill him.
The fourth person to assume the Vigilante identity wasDave Winston, Adrian Chase's bailiff. He refused to kill and traded on the fierce reputation of Vigilante to intimidate information out of thugs. He debuted inVigilante #23 and later as Vigilante inVigilante #28. He believed that the Vigilante's efforts were noble and worthwhile. When Alan Welles was killed after ruining the Vigilante's reputation, Winston took up the mantle believing that the city needed the Vigilante. When Chase found out about Winston's actions, he chose to wash his hands of the affair. When Chase and girlfriend Marcia King boarded a plane for Europe, it was hijacked; Winston andPeacemaker both responded to the emergency, but Winston was killed by Peacemaker in front of Chase, making Chase believe he was unable to escape the Vigilante's legacy.
The next Vigilante wasPatricia Trayce, a rogueGotham City police detective who teams up withDeathstroke in theDeathstroke series written byMarv Wolfman andGeorge Pérez. Trayce found Adrian Chase's gear and adapted the guise. She was also Deathstroke's lover. Trayce becomes Vigilante inDeathstroke the Terminator #11.[citation needed]
Late in 2005, DC published a Vigilante limited series by writerBruce Jones and artistBen Oliver. The identity of the title character is initially left mysterious, but apparently this is a new incarnation of the character.[citation needed]
His name wasJustin "Jay"Sutter. When he encountered a murderer as a child, he created a second personality in his mind, The Vigilante. At some point, he changed his name toJustin Scott Powell and would become the Vigilante subconsciously. While Powell was unaware of the Vigilante personality, the Vigilante knew about Powell. At the miniseries' end, Powell was able to reconcile the two personalities.[citation needed]
The Vigilante was last seen, alongsideWild Dog and the currentCrimson Avenger, on a rooftop in the greatbattle of Metropolis, raining bullets down on theTrigger Twins, theMadmen, the secondSpellbinder, and others inInfinite Crisis #7.[5]
The most recent Vigilante appeared inNightwing #133–137. While he wears a costume similar to Adrian Chase's, it is a new depiction under the mask.
The Vigilante also appears inGotham Underground, set after his initial encounter withNightwing.[6] He is shown to be a formidable fighter, but is defeated easily byBatman.[7][8]
Following the events ofVigilante (vol. 3) #1 (February 2009), the Vigilante is seen out of costume for the first time and is referred to by his ally JJ as "Dorian". He initially operates under the identity of Joe Flynn, a small-time criminal with a rap sheet, but it is later revealed that the real Flynn is dead. Dorian has the technology to graft another person's face to his own and his assistant changes the police records so his fingerprint andDNA point back to his fake identity. At the end of the first story arc, Dorian abandons the Joe Flynn identity and begins to make preparations to assume a new identity of a dead and forgotten criminal. It is also revealed that Dorian is the brother of the late Adrian Chase inVigilante #9. Little is known about his past, but his wife is dead and he served time in prison for his work with the mob.[9]
The Vigilante plays an important role in the "Deathtrap" crossover with theTeen Titans and theTitans. He targets the unbalancedJericho for assassination, bringing him into conflict with the various heroes. Vigilante succeeds in tracking down Jericho but, having promised Rose Wilson not to kill him, instead gouges out Jericho's eyes to stop him from using his powers.[10]
The Vigilante had been operating unseen inEurope for several years before moving back to the U.S. and going after local mobs and criminals.[9]
In theDC Rebirth miniseriesVigilante: Southland, a new Vigilante is introduced:Donald Fairchild, a former professional basketball player. Fairchild moonlights as a janitor and by night fights crime inLos Angeles.[11]
The Vigilante is a superb hand-to-hand combatant, a brilliant marksman, and a master of thelariat.
Pre-Crisis, there were both anEarth-1 and an Earth-2 Vigilante. Both were Greg Saunders from their respective Earths. Earth-1's Vigilante was shown for the first time in the pages (and cover) of the JLA issue where the superteam moved to their classic headquarters on an orbiting satellite.[12]
InDetective Comics#493 (August 1980) it was revealed that Greg Saunders had a nephew,Michael Carter, who became a costumed crimefighter too, the Swashbuckler. The Swashbuckler was created by the issue's writer,Cary Burkett, for a fanzine he published in middle school.[13] Burkett said he made the Swashbuckler the nephew of the Vigilante because he did not have enough space to present the entire backstory he had created for the character in the fanzine.[13]
In the seriesKingdom Come, artist and writerAlex Ross portrays the cowboy version of the Vigilante fighting alongside the roguemetahumans as asteampunk cyborg with apinwheel/steam engine arm with agatling gun on the end.[14]
The Vincent Sobel incarnation of Vigilante appears as anunlockableplayable character inLego DC Super-Villains via the "DC Super-Villains TV Series"DLC pack.
An original incarnation of Vigilante namedJake Chill appears inBatman Beyond (vol. 2). He is the great-grandnephew ofJoe Chill and a former member ofDerek Powers' "Quiet Squad", a small team of Wayne-Powers security guards who served as Powers' personal hit and intimidation squad. Additionally, Jake murdered Warren McGinnis, father of the new Batman,Terry McGinnis. Seeking to atone for his misdeeds, he uses his Wayne-Powers security equipment to become the Vigilante and works alongside Batman until he is killed by theJokerz.
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