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The Count (Arrowverse)
- NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of the first Count Vertigo from the Arrowverse. The mainstream version can be found here:Count Vertigo.
The Count High intelligence Organized crime
Full Name
Alias
Origin
Occupation
Powers / Skills
Drug immunityGoals
Crimes
Mass murder
Mass kidnapping
Torture
Drug trafficking
Smuggling
Enforced suicide
Unethical experimentation
Bioterrorism
Jailbreak
Abuse
Blackmail
AssaultType of Villain
| “ | Vertigo is measured in lives. Fifty-six people died to perfect this high. Believe me when I say that they did not die for nothing. | „ |
| ~ Count Vertigo |
| “ | I'm Count Vertigo, and I approve this high! | „ |
| ~ Count Vertigo |
Cecil Adams, also known as Count Vertigo and formerly asThe Count, is a supporting antagonist in the TV seriesArrow.
He was a notorious drug lord known for leaving a mark by injection on the victim's neck that looked like a vampire's bite, earning him his nickname. He quickly became an enemy of theArrow, who eventually killed him. He was succeeded byWerner Zytle as Count Vertigo.
He was portrayed bySeth Gabel.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Nothing is really know about Cecil Adams life before he became "the Count". What is know is that he entrenched himself in the underworld of Starling City. To perfect his prize project, the Vertigo drug, Cecil kidnapped at least 56 people, mostly prostitutes and vagrants, before injecting the experimental drug in them with his signature double-needle syringe. The corpses would be found with a double puncture marks on their neck. Cecil was given the nickname "The Count" in reference to the vampireCount Dracula.
Season 1[]
In "Vertigo", after The Hood found out that his sister had been dealt Vertigo, he headed out for revenge. Cecil Adams aka The Count sent his men out to slow down the vigilante. However, in the end, The Hood gave him a taste of his own medicine and injected him with considerable amounts of his own drug, an amount doctors have never seen anyone live through before. He was strapped to a gurney and wheeled off into a hospital, declared insane.
It was then revealed that Dr. Webb, who was in charge of him, began selling Vertigo on the street, framing Adams for it. He began faking his escape from the mental hospital, using the Adams kidney report to reverse engineer vertigo. He also upgraded the original formula. His plan failed when the Hood found the Count in the basement and was told by Dr. Webb himself that Cecil Adams was not sane, so the Hood did not kill him, instead sending him back to the mental hospital.
Season 2[]
In "State v. Queen", It is revealed that the Adams recovered from his overdose on Vertigo, and was sent to Iron Heights. He escaped from prison during The Undertaking. It is revealed that Cecil Adams let Barton Mathis out, another criminal that likes to kill his victims with a liquid, and dress them up as pretty dolls. Six months later, he returned under his commonly known name in the comics, "Count Vertigo". Once again, he put Vertigo out on the street and poisoned almost the entire city with it, by using flu injection vans throughout the city. He even managed to infect Adam Donner and John Diggle. Felicity Smoak, the person that found his delivering method, was taken hostage by Count Vertigo when she came to investigate. He was able to put the pieces together, and figured out that Oliver Queen is the vigilante. Cecil called Oliver from Oliver's office at Queen Consolidated, and informed him that he abducted Felicity. After Oliver arrived, he tried to talk the Count out of harming Felicity. When Adams threatened to inject Felicity with Vertigo, Oliver killed him with three arrows to the chest, which caused him to fall through the window where he landed on top of a car parked next to the building. Cecil Adams death caused many to believe The Arrow has started killing people once again, an assumption that was proven wrong. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Cecil Adams was sent to kill the Arrow by Sebastian Blood.
Legacy[]
Following Adams' death,Werner Zytle took control of his organization, adopted the alias "Vertigo" and enhanced the Vertigo drug.
A few years after Adams's death, whileAdrian Chase tortured Oliver Queen, he brought up him killing Adams by shooting him with three arrows and prompted to put the same three arrows in him as well.
Personality[]
| “ | You should have stuck to your depraved elite. I'm merely providing people with what they want. I'm providing a public service. | „ |
| ~ Cecil, while dueling with Green Arrow. |
Cecil Adams was an unreasonable and sadistic person who took great pleasure in seeing people suffer, but after he was injected by his own drug Vertigo by the Arrow, he became a shell of his former self. However, when he returned as "Count Vertigo", his personality was restored.
Trivia[]
- In the comics, Count Vertigo, whose real name was Werner Vertigo, had the ability to disorient his victims using a chip planted in his skull, which is manifested in Arrow as the drug called Vertigo.
- According to actor Seth Gabel, his performance as Count Vertigo was based on Batman's greatest foe and archenemy,The Joker.
- Interestingly, after his death in Season 2, his real name wasn't revealed until Season 5 byAdrian Chase.
External Links[]
- Count Vertigo on thePure Evil Wiki.



