Peacemaker Vs. Vigilante: Who Would Win and Why?

The Peacemaker TV series has recently hit HBO Max and it has introduces a set of colorful characters alongside the show’s protagonist, Peacemaker, whom we have already met in James Gunn’s successful The Suicide Squad movie. One of those characters is Vigilante. If the two ever fought, who would win in a fight, Peacemaker or Vigilante?

Peacemaker seems to be stronger than Vigilante. He is more exposed so we know more about his exploits than about the adventures of Adrian Chase, but aside from his regeneration abilities, Vigilante doesn’t seem to have anything on the Peacemaker. The Peacemaker is a better fighter and a better marksman than Viglante, which is why he would have the upper hand in this fight.

The rest of this article will further elaborate on the above-given answer, as we are going to compare Peacemaker and Vigilante in more detail. Through several categories, you are going to see who the stronger of the two is and why our answer is like it is.

Fighting Sklls

Peacemaker is a solid hand-to-hand combatant. He doesn’t have such advanced skills as Batman, Deathstroke, or Bane, for example, but he would beat the crap out of most guys without much thought. He lacks the formal training to be called a martial arts expert, but he’s a good enough fighter to know his way around the ring.

Adrian Chase is a very skilled martial artist. He has formal training, which was necessary for him to become a successful vigilante, but he also has additional skills thanks to his Eastern meditation techniques. In that aspect, Adrian Chase is a character you’d rather avoid fighting if possible, although he is still nowhere near the level of DC’s best fighters, like Batman, Bronze Tiger, or Deathstroke.

This is a category that we really couldn’t decipher, which is why we have split the points. Both of these characters are great fighters, but where Peacemaker has the experience, Vigilante has the formal skills. That is why we have ultimately decided to split the points here.

Points: Peacemaker 1, Vigilante 1

Weapons

Peacemaker uses a variety of non-lethal special weapons and also founds the Pax Institute. This has made him an experienced and skilled marksman. Smith later learns that his efforts for peace through violence were the result of a serious mental illness caused by the shame of having a Nazi death camp commander for his father.

Vigilante is also usually described as a good marksman and a character that is skilled with weapons, but seeing how uncommon his appearances in the comics have been, we don’t really have much to go on here. We can assume that he can hold a gun and fire it, but knowing what we know – we don’t think that he is even near the level of the more skilled marksmen in DC’s lore.

Peacemaker absolutely wins this one. He is a skilled marksman with a lot of experience and however good Vigilante might be, he is not on Smith’s level in this category.

Points: Peacemaker 2, Vigilante 1

Tactics

For a time, Peacemaker served as an agent of the United States government under the auspices of Checkmate, a special forces unit, who hunts down terrorists until his own behavior becomes too extreme. That, along with his experience with the Suicide Squad, has made Peacemaker a respectable tactician. He’s not Batman in this aspect, but he certainly does well above average in this category.

As for Adrian Chase, he doesn’t really have much experience when tactics are concerned. He is a lawyer and a “freelance” vigilante, so he does things mostly by instinct. Sure, he’s highly intelligent and can come up with a great plan, but he lacks the experience to do more and that is why he is not as superior as you’d expect.

Seeing how Peacemaker has much more experience in this aspect and how he is a better tactician than Vigilante, the Peacemaker absolutely deserves the point in this category.

Points: Peacemaker 3, Vigilante 1

Other Skills

When special powers are concerned, though, Peacemaker is, pretty much, a regular guy. He’s a character at the peak of his abilities, but not a superhuman or a metahuman. He doesn’t really have any special powers, but he is very strong, very durable, and has an array of different weapons at his disposal. He also uses body armor, a flight pack, a communications helmet, and a variety of different, yet advanced military weapons.

As for Adrian chase, he compares similarly to Peacemaker in this aspect. Most of his powers stem from the fact that he is at the peak of his abilities, but he does have one superhuman power – regeneration. Since he hasn’t been featured in the comics that much, we don’t know the exact mechanisms behind these powers, but they are present and they do make a difference, even if just to prevent the Peacemaker from killing Vigilante.

Seeing how Vigilante does have one special power up his sleeve, we have to give this final point to him, as the sheer quantity of powers here surpasses those of Christopher Smith.

Points: Peacemaker 3, Vigilante 2

Peacemaker Vs, Vigilante: Who Wins?

Now, the numbers reveal that this duel was actually a very close call and it was. Sure, the Peacemaker might have the edge in some categories, but he isn’t that much stronger than the Vigilante as, for example, Batman would be. Vigilante is a relatively obscure character but he still has something to offer, as we had the opportunity to see in each of the categories.

Ultimately, it all came down to Peacemaker’s experience, we think. Peacemaker has much more experience in his line of work, which gives him the edge when tactics are concerned.

Now, since they’re both on roughly the same skill level when their martial arts skills are concerned, and we do know for a fact that Peacemaker is the better marksman, this is a category that actually made the difference. Sure, Vigilante has some additional skills that might prevent the Peacemaker from killing him, but he wouldn’t be able to avoid defeat here.

This is why we’re practically certain that Peacemaker would be able to defeat the Adrian Chase iteration of Vigilante; oh, by the way, in case you were wondering, we picked the Chase version of the character because that is the version that appears in the Peacemaker television series.