Arrow: Whatever Happened to Vigilante?

WARNING – Arrow Seaon 5 SPOILERS Ahead!

Arrow season 5 ended with a bang (more like dozens of bangs), as Adrian Chase/Prometheus lured Oliver Queen and Team Arrow back to Lian Yu, the island that Oliver was stranded on, for a final showdown. Faced with the choice of letting his son William die, or all of friends, Oliver thought he found a way out – but Chase still managed to enact his dead man’s plan by taking his own life, and setting off a series of bombs placed all over Lian Yu.

That season 5 finale brought the saga of Prometheus to a seeming close, and left us with a major cliffhanger to lead us into Arrow season 6. However, even though Arrow season 5 brought back a lot fan respect, the show actually left us with one big, dangling, loose threads.

That’s why we’re asking now: Whatever Happened to Vigilante in Arrow Season 5?

Last We Saw…

Vigilante was a secondary “secret antagonist” during the first half of Arrow season 5, showing up at various points to either attack Team Arrow and/or Mayor Oliver Queen, or take down the criminals plauging Star City with brutal kill tactics. 

After Team Arrow ran afoul of Vigilante (while in pursuit of the skull-masked “Spooky Crew”), it began a battle of philosophies between Green Arrow and Vigilante, regarding where the line between hero and killer should be drawn. When Oliver stepped out in public as “Mayor Queen,” and found himself facing impeachment over his cover up of the murder of Detective Billy Malone, he unwittingly became the next target in Vigilante’s crosshairs. 

Things took a turn when Prometheus confronted Vigilante, claiming that killing Oliver Queen was his privelege alone. Vigilante lost that battle against Prometheus – and then, lost again when trying to assassinate Oliver during a mayoral speech event. Mr. Terrific, Wild Dog and Spartan ultimately beat down the rogue Vigilante, who vainshed from the scene, and has never been seen again. 

Loose Thread, Or Slow Burn Arc?

There are two ways to look at how Arrow ultimately handled this Vigilante storyline in season 5: 

1. It’s a sloppy loose thread that’s been left dangling, after so much build and fanfare around the character. 
2. It was purposefully left dangling, as the showrunners have plans for the Vigilante character to come back around in the season 6 story arc. 

What’s unique about Vigilante is that the Arrow showrunners can actually be a little more loose and carefree with how they use the character, since he technically doesn’t (yet) have a major actor assinged to the role. With his identity still unknown, Vigilante could be anyone; and the Arrow showrunners now have the breathing room to decide things like who cast as the man (or woman?) under the mask. 

As for why Vigilante was introduced in the first half of season 5, only to disappear entirely by the end? Simple: a bait and switch play. In DC Comics, “Adrian Chase” is the name of one of the men who has donned the Vigilante costume; the Arrow showrunners used therefore used the character as a red herring, to throw fans off the scent of who Prometheus was (i.e., the Arrowverse version of Adrian Chase). Once it was revealed that Prometheus was actually Adrian Chase, Vigilante had served his purpose, and was no longer needed. 

As stated, the mysterious character could easily return in season 6 – in fact, early on, Arrow EP Marc Guggenheim teased that learning more about the character would have to wait until season 6. As Guggenheim told EW back in March, regarding Vigilante’s Identity: “We know the answer to that. You probably will not get the answer to that in season 5.“

So rest assured, an answer is coming. The only question now is: will the reveal have been worth the wait? 

More Arrow News

Based on the characters from DC, ARROW is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti (“The Flash,” “Supergirl”), Marc Guggenheim (“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” “Eli Stone”), Wendy Mericle (“Desperate Housewives,” “Eli Stone”), Andrew Kreisberg (“The Flash,” “Eli Stone,” “Warehouse 13”) and Sarah Schechter (“The Flash,” “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”).

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