Peacemaker has found himself a dark mirror in the last place he expected. According to writer-director James Gunn, Vigilante is "a worse version" of Chris Smith for one major reason: his complete lack of a conscience.
"Well, I think that we have Peacemaker, who's a guy who obviously has a conscience and, despite the bad stuff he does, he does have a reasoning behind what he does what he does," Gunn explained during a press event attended by CBR. "Yes, some of it may be a rationalization for why he's venting his anger, but he does have a philosophy behind it."
"Vigilante is a very different sort of 'hero,'' he continued. "I think that I created Vigilante for the show because I thought, if you really are a guy that puts on a costume and goes around and murders people -- just cold-blooded murders people who you think are bad guys -- who are you really? Who is this person really?"
"He was an interesting character to play with, because he is a sociopath," he shared. "He does not seem to have a conscience and, more so, he doesn't seem to have emotions. He has a lot of issues. He's not able -- as you watch the show, he's not really able to pick up on people's facial expressions. He's not very in tune with other human beings."
"And yet, despite all of this, there's this sort of dare I say sweetness about him, that it comes from Freddie [Stroma]'s performance and comes from the fact that he is so -- in such a vulnerable way, adores Peacemaker, and has obviously since he's been a child and Peacemaker was friends with his older brother," he added. "So I just wanted to create a different type of character who was not black and white, was actually -- he's a worse version of Peacemaker in many ways, but also not without things that we can like about him."
Created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez in 1982's New Teen Titans #23, Adrian Chase used the Vigilante mantle to exact justice in a way he couldn't as a New York City district attorney. Clearly, Peacemaker took the character in a different direction, swapping Vigilante's strict honor code out for something a little more bloody. While he does have some connection to Chris Smith in the comics, Peacemaker's version of Vigilante is tied to him much more tightly. This Vigilante is wannabe hero from Smith's hometown, who idolizes the ex-Task Force X agent and hopes to follow in his footsteps.
Peacemaker's first three episodes are now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes airing weekly on Thursdays.