Peacemaker’s Vigilante Returning Soon

Vigilante, the fan-favorite DC antihero seen in the first season of James Gunn’s Peacemaker series, will return sooner than you might think, Gunn told a fan on Threads yesterday. After being quizzed about the character’s planned future, Gunn said that the character will pop up before Peacemaker returns, likely suggesting that he might show up in Waller, the series that will bring Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller for the first time since her cameo in Black Adam. Of course, Gunn didn’t say that, and it’s entirely possible the plan is for him to show up in Creature Commandos or Superman: Legacy, or some other project we haven’t thought of yet.

The Peacemaker version is the second time in recent memory that Vigilante has been adapted into live-action. The first time around, on Arrow, the character was re-envisioned as an antagonist who was an emotionally disturbed ex-cop whose former partner was Black Canary.

“Probably before Peacemaker season 2,” Gunn said simply when asked about the character’s timeline for return. You can see a screenshot below (thanks, Reddit).

Vigilante, real name Adrian Chase, first appeared in New Teen Titans #23 in September of 1982. When The Suicide Squad was in production, a rumor suggested Idris Elba would be playing this character, before it was revealed he would be Bloodsport instead. 

The character of Vigilante on Peacemaker is played in Peacemaker by Bridgerton’s Freddie Stroma, who stepped in to replace Chris Conrad, who left due to creative differences with the producers.

“[Stroma] came in late. We had already shot five-and-a-half episodes with another actor, who’s an incredibly talented guy, but we were on different pages about certain things, and I don’t think he wanted to continue on the series in the long run,” Gunn said. “So we brought Freddie in, five-and-a-half episodes in, and I reshot all of his scenes…we re-shot. I directed all of the scenes with Vigilante in five and a half episodes.”

As Gunn and his DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran revealed earlier this year, the initial DC Studios slate for “Gods and Monsters” will include movies for Superman: Legacy, The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Swamp Thing, and The Authority. It will include the HBO Max television shows Waller, Booster Gold, Lanterns, Paradise Lost, and an animated Creature Commandos series.

The plan is for actors to play their roles across movies, TV, video games, and animation — meaning that when Creature Commandos kicks off the new universe, it will feature characters and actors who will show up elsewhere down the line.

You can see Peacemaker on Max, or buy it on digital platforms or DVD and Blu-ray.