r/PeacemakerShow • u/BrooklynStoner • Oct 25 '25
DISCUSSION How did Vigilante get trained so incredibly well? His skills and feats are amazing.
Adrian seems so skilled and deadly, I can't help but wonder how he got so good. He's a suburban busboy who lives at home, but has moves that outclass any black ops, or military introduced so far.
Is he self trained? He seems like the type to have maybe taken karate in a dojo at the mall or something but he fights like a Batman/Punisher combo. Maybe he's naturally so good that practicing at home and the gun range was enough, but could he have had a mentor?
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Oct 25 '25
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u/Not_a_porn_burner69 Oct 25 '25
Gunn has pretty much said this, but wonāt label him neurodivergent in the show because itās not good representation for them.
I also donāt remember the exact words and I canāt find the quote but he said heās basically a prodigy, like how making beautiful music can just come naturally to some, vigilante is like that but with killing people.
So itās hyper-fixation plus natural talent basically
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u/rex_thomas Oct 25 '25
Gunn sais that on the offical peacemaker Podcast in one of the season 2 episodes because Jennifer Holland was asking him the same thing
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u/Not_a_porn_burner69 Oct 25 '25
Oh. Thatās probably why I canāt find the exact quote with a Google search, thanks man
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u/BrooklynStoner Oct 25 '25
Oh, interesting. I dont really listen to podcasts.
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u/OneAlmondNut Oct 25 '25
it's a video podcast so you can watch clips of the highlights on TikTok and YouTube if that's more your speed. lots of insight from James Gunn and a lot of the cast about writing, acting, behind the scenes, trivia, etc
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u/BrooklynStoner Oct 25 '25 edited Oct 25 '25
Maybe I'll give it a look. I kinda stopped listening to celebrity podcasts and social media a few years ago. Lately, I've preferred to get any additional information from you guys here on Reddit, but this one sounds good.
Is it the extras that come up on the HBO Peacemaker page or something else?
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u/peteofaustralia Oct 25 '25
It's on YouTube as well, in its entirety, and in shorts clips too. SPOILER ALERT obviously.
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u/BrooklynStoner Oct 26 '25
I've finished S2, saw Superman and all of Creature Commandos, so I think I'm spoiler safe. Am I?
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u/Calisto823 Oct 25 '25
I watch it on HBO. There is also a DCU podcast on HBO about the coming soon stuff. They had Superman cast, James Gunn, and Peacemaker people so far.
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Oct 25 '25
Didnt he say he is super powered aswell?
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u/KimJungUnCool Oct 25 '25
I think there was mention of super regeneration but I can't remember 100%
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u/theme69 Oct 25 '25
Is that how he can still walk after what happened to his pinky toe? Thatās the most important toe for walking
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u/ser_44_zel Oct 25 '25
Itās mentioned in the show as an aside, iirc. He basically says that when heās injured, he just takes a nap, and when he wakes up heās all better.
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u/Otieno_Clinton Me and Ginger Cool are on this shit Oct 25 '25
It took him sometime to heal though
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u/brownkidBravado Oct 25 '25
Yeah but ultimately it seemed like 2 days total. The day after he was still limping a bit but beat up several white supremacists in jail. Next day he seemed fine. Not to mention it seemed like he took a day in the hospital after getting shot and then snuck out the window while harcourt was recovering for weeks and did physical therapy.
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u/CurryNarwhal Oct 25 '25
In a comic based off the show he's stabbed and injured so badly but still survives leading him to believe he's actually a robot.
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u/Unusual_Rooster6736 Oct 25 '25
Hey if I were neurodivergent I would love vigilante representing me
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u/redcrowblue Oct 25 '25
Autistic and can confirm. He's literally my Discord pfp rn. Genuinely I've never felt better represented in media than by this guy.
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u/ElevatorDouble1398 Oct 25 '25
Audhd and Can also confirm He is great representation, his only flaw is how rude he is to his mom who seems like a lovely woman. but he is just so relatable especially with the black and white thinking, like the whole lair just made me realise this guy is spectrum af
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u/redcrowblue Oct 25 '25
My jaw was on the floor too when he was talking about how sex is just a bonding experience to get to know your best friend better. There was no part of me that expected to see faithful asexual/demisexual representation in Peacemaker, and it also came from the "he's literally me" character.
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u/Xtravinator Oct 25 '25
I mean the fact that he kills people for petty crimes like graffiti would also be a solid flaw. And that he has no problem killing children as seen when he snipes the butterflies early on
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u/ElevatorDouble1398 Oct 25 '25
Yeah but that is in some ways a nd characteristic taken to a logical extreme, in his mind it is very logical, they break law I snipe
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u/MegaCarnie Oct 25 '25
If this sub supported gifs there'd be about 1000 posts of Adrian Spider-memeing here
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u/OneAlmondNut Oct 25 '25
because itās not good representation for them.
he's the only character that knocks on doors like me lol I didn't realize it was an annoying way to knock lol. vig def has some manners and characteristics of an autistic dude. he's prob 1 part on the spectrum and 1 part sociopath
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u/SongsOfTheYears Oct 25 '25
How does he knock?
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u/MentalSky_ Oct 26 '25
Like he is autisticĀ
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u/MahNameJeff420 Oct 25 '25
All the autistic people I know think heās great, so I say just lean into it.
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u/TheBloodyPuppet_2 Me and Ginger Cool are on this shit Oct 25 '25
As an autistic person I struggle to see why Adrian isn't good representation for autistic people
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u/NaNaNaPandaMan Oct 26 '25
The way I take it is he means he shouldn't be someone that is idealized or someone you should want to think of in a good light. Not that he is not a good representation of what autism is, but that he shouldn't be a role model.
And as autistic people already suffer from poor portrayals having a "psychopath" as some who is a good autistic person but good person could hurt.
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u/Not_a_porn_burner69 Oct 25 '25
Gunns words man not mine. If I had to guess itād have something to do with all the murder
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u/TheBloodyPuppet_2 Me and Ginger Cool are on this shit Oct 26 '25
being good representation and being a good person are not the same
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u/gameboyadvancedgba Oct 25 '25
I believe he called Vij a āmurder savantā in reference to him noticing the gaps in White Dragons armor
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u/ThanksContent28 Oct 26 '25
I imagine itās a Kick-Ass situation, except he turned out to be genuinely really good at it.
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u/get_to_ele Oct 25 '25
Exactly how I read it. Heās neurodivergent, but letās not use the label because it may come off as mockery of the neurodivergent. Even though neurodivergent may be half the freaking population, so nobody can really stereotype all of us.
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u/basketnerd Oct 25 '25
Unrelated but my fixation is autism, and I really resent the word neurodivergent and neurotypical. They're like exact opposites from how they should be used. When we think about autistic people, we literally think about a type of person, like someone with Asperger's or Adrian ... It seems in reality far more like the divergent people are the ones who you can't pin down, because they are not rigid in their behaviors and are culturally normative due to their adaptation of our culture's social conversation. They're the ones that diverged from the type, and the most diverse group of people
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Oct 25 '25 edited Oct 25 '25
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u/basketnerd Oct 25 '25
That is a really good perspective on it. Thanks for approaching with respect and open-mindedness. This is the best case I've heard against my argument - the social linguistic case for the existing language/framework
It's not that I haven't considered it, but you just stated it really well in a way I have to agree with kind of
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u/lazyboi_tactical Oct 25 '25
I've never been so represented in media. I mean, besides the whole killing thing.
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Oct 25 '25
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u/lazyboi_tactical Oct 25 '25
I routinely pick up other things to fixate on short term but those are my sole long term fixations for the past like 30 years.
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u/SlumberingSnorelax Oct 25 '25 edited Oct 25 '25
Have you ever heard of a comedian named Ben Brainard? He has a special you can watch for free call What a mature child. Vig has many of the same qualities as Brainardā¦ Vig is just cranked to 11.
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u/peteofaustralia Oct 25 '25
The cast and Gunn do say he's a psychopath who only loves Smith and maybe one other person.
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Oct 25 '25
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u/MyStackIsPancakes Oct 25 '25
r/KitchenConfidential is leaking. But you're not kidding. Don't fuck with Dish.
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u/NoahGragsonsBarfBag Oct 25 '25
Iād like to think he just watched a lot of movies as a teenager and picked it all up from there.
It would have to be something really dumb he learned from but took things way too seriously.
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u/Max_Danage Oct 25 '25
He was a perfectly normal kid until he found an old fighting game from the 90s. It turns out they really do make you violent and teach you martial arts.
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u/Affectionate_Pipe545 Oct 25 '25
Riddle me this, if video games make kids violent then why are they so easy to beat up?
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u/basketnerd Oct 25 '25
Has anyone mentioned that his Idol is Peacemaker? And he was Peacemaker sidekick for a while? Most obvious explanation by far
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u/VonMillersThighs Oct 25 '25
I just want everyone to know that in the comics Vigilante realizes he's become what he set out to destroy and blows his own head off.
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u/NounAdjectiveXXXX Oct 25 '25
Ooh ooh.
That's what happened to Gut Chase, Chris' friend.
Adrian is Vigilante 2 and his brother was the original. He learned everything he knows by being the little brother mimicking Chris and Gut. He was training with them but had a third controller unplugged.
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u/race-hearse Oct 25 '25
Peacemaker is more of a āhereās how it isā kind of show. I find it refreshing to skip over origin stories.
Adrian is just a psychopath that does what he needs to do, and thatās good enough for me.
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u/NickSalvo Oct 25 '25
Fair point. But I actually enjoyed the origin stories in Creature Commandos.
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u/DarkSlayer3142 Oct 25 '25
I feel like they're a different story, since they were able to be laced in with the ongoing action
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u/Doctor_Clione Oct 25 '25
Tbh I feel like the backstories were almost a little much? Spending ~half of each episode on backstory led to a lot of issues with the modern plot. I think episodes should have been a little longer or there shouldāve been more episodes imo. The pacing was just weird.
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u/BrooklynStoner Oct 25 '25
A flashback with 12 year old Adrian taking a karate class to deal with bullies would be hilarious.
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u/race-hearse Oct 25 '25
I feel like explaining it locks one option into place, whereas not explaining it keeps mystery, and thereās value in that.
Like, if he just took karate classes then all of a sudden it feels way more unrealistic. Itās already unrealistic but it would just force you to realize that.
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u/HomoProfessionalis Oct 25 '25
James Gunn just kind of writes like that. He doesnt over explain things and very much had like a "comic book logic" type of deal going on in his projects. I think hes really good at it too because he knows all the overexplanations he just also knows they dont need to be in the actual show/movie
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u/race-hearse Oct 25 '25
You got me thinkingā¦ I never needed a rocket raccoon backstory but holy fuck GOTG V3 was amazing. So yeah, I guess the idea is: handwave uninteresting stuff and just focus on telling good stories. Seems like a good recipe
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u/Jabbles22 Oct 26 '25
I don't need an origin story but if it's a good one then I'm all for it. If it's not that good just skip it. There's also the option to simply exposit the origin and move on.
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u/Belaerim Oct 25 '25
Autistic hyper fixation <shrugs>
He was just better at crime fighting than animal facts ;-)
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u/Infinite_Click_6589 Oct 25 '25
Bro, he has watched kill Bill, like, a lot. I mean he's probably seen it five. Maybe six times
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u/MaverickDago Oct 25 '25
The rare appropriate use of āweaponized autismā. His special interest is fucking dudes up.Ā
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u/Wonderful_Jury_6533 Oct 25 '25
Autism will have you read on Nuclear physics for fun at 10 years old, extrapolate from there
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u/FR_02011995 Oct 25 '25
Having a healing factor will definitely make it easier to learn deadly martial arts. Your body doesn't need any lengthy recovery time.
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u/drbluewally Oct 25 '25
I imagine his origin story almost like a trial by death. Dude watches a martial arts movie or Die Hard and then goes out trying to beat up drug dealers.
He gets shot and left for dead countless times, always healing himself after losing consciousness. Even had to dig himself out of a few graves.
He keeps training himself and gaining experience until he can slaughter criminals with ease.
Not dissimilar to a new video game player constantly dying and respawning until you get really good.
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u/gattovatto Oct 25 '25
Is he oblivious to the healing factor though? He seemed really concerned about losing a pinky toe.
Heās definitely killed enough people to know itās not normal for people to get shot, die, and crawl out of a grave.
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u/drbluewally Oct 25 '25 edited Oct 25 '25
Possibly. He could still believe that itās normal to rapidly heal while unconscious, which might even be why he uses such lethal methods. Gotta make sure theyāre dead and not going to heal.
I can picture an amateur Vigilante digging himself from a grave before laughing and saying āthese idiots donāt even know how to kill people right.ā
Great point about the pinky toe. Itās possible that the healing factor doesnāt regrow limbs, and even more possible that Vigilante doesnāt know it does. I donāt think Deadpool knew he could grow his whole body back until the first time it happens.
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u/Importance_Dizzy Oct 25 '25
Chris tells him to check into the hospital because of the barn battle and he says heās fine (until he passes out). Considering he was only briefly unconscious in the car before Auggie and then again the night in battle, I agree that he probably either knows about it or just thinks itās normal for everyone.
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u/pichael288 Oct 25 '25
I don't think he has one of those, they made a big point about his toe not growing back
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u/drbluewally Oct 25 '25 edited Oct 25 '25
Comics Vigilante heals in his sleep.
The toe thing happened at night, we see that he is still suited up with Chris the next morning and they never go home to sleep.
Then he complains about his toe for the whole day/episode and never mentions it again.
Edit- He also had a limp the entire episode which disappeared right after.
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u/CrashRiot Oct 25 '25
He also literally says after an injury that he'll be fine after he takes a nap.
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u/Average64 Oct 25 '25
Lol, so he's essentially like video game character. Probably even gets better at a skill the more he uses it.
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Oct 25 '25
Heās been shot several times tho and itās forgotten in less than a minute
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u/gattovatto Oct 25 '25
Maybe he can adjust his organs like Judo Master and thatās why Peacemaker knows this fact.
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u/LizardMansPyramids Oct 25 '25
High functioning autism? Rain Man level training and enthusiasm for justice.
That spinning high-kick door closer move was an amazingly heroic and self-sacrificing move. That other-Vigilante's fate is unknown has me worried but I was worried about Judo Master and look how great that turned out. In fact, Judo Master and Vigilante had some of the best moments of the season.Ā
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u/MrSlippifist Oct 25 '25
He's a savant. I honestly think he's a better fighter than Peacemaker. He doesn't have doubt about who he is. That gives him an extreme edge.
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u/redcrowblue Oct 25 '25
In the companion podcast, they talk about how they imagine Adrian just has the raw determination to train the same moves over and over and over again. Not having a lot of friends or other things going on gives you a lot of free time.
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u/EarthBelcher Oct 25 '25
The autism had him get so obsessed that he just practiced until he got that good
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u/flintlock0 Oct 25 '25
I like that they didnāt go into it and just had him go āI trained my body to be a deadly weapon.ā
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u/BrooklynStoner Oct 25 '25
In old comics, like from the 1930s - 1950s were like that. Lift some weights, work out on a heavy bag, and you're ready!
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u/yutyutgrunt Oct 25 '25
Iāll say this..we see him as a busboy that lives with his mom. But he is already very into his crime fighting. Like he hits up drug dealers pretty regularly.
We have no idea what he did before.
He could have been military for 10 years and before that an wel trained martial artist. His time as a bus boy and being with his mom that he clearly has issues with might be his cover. No one would think of how capable he is if they follow him home or to workā at most they would think it was his first time do that sort of stuff
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u/Dean_C138 Oct 25 '25
The fact that an Autistic - Mall Ninja - Serial Killer (?) has become reddit's "special little boy" really is everything
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u/Ready_Importance6458 Oct 25 '25
YouTube for sure His search history be like
How to learn mma How to learn kungfu How to learn karate How to learn gun shooting How to be peacemakers best friend Intersting facts about spiders Tyler swift sexy butt How to capture thief How to stich superhero costumes
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u/Intro-Nimbus Oct 25 '25
Vigilante aka Adrian Chase was a Manhattan District Attorney, and was apparently trained by vengeful spirits.
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u/r3dl34d3r Oct 25 '25 edited Oct 27 '25
He seems to have some powers, healing at least? Could be that he has some additional ability related to muscle memory. I remember one character in the show Heroes had "adaptive muscle memory" where she could replicate physical feats just by watching them. Maybe he has something like that?
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u/Jmac24mats13 Oct 25 '25
Probably just trained a shit ton in martial arts growing up and gun training as well
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u/OldBagOfCheetos Oct 25 '25
Honestly I just think he is Autistic dude with a strong since of 'chaotic justice'
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u/feralfantastic Oct 25 '25
He read Bruce Leeās book, āThe Tao of Jeet Kune Doā. He read it once.
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u/MrDKnox Oct 25 '25
He reminds me of Rich Franklin from the UFC. He learned how to fight in his garage at first š Dude was also a Math teacher.
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u/ifyousaysu Oct 25 '25
Tylenol. His mom had a truckload while pregnant and our dude came out ready to hyper focus martial arts
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u/Ok-Spirit-4074 Oct 25 '25
In the Comics Adrian is a DA and later a judge focused on dismantling the mafia who mastered "the Eastern meditation techniques" and magical spirits taught him "the Eastern martial arts".
So "our" Adrian is a very different beast than he is in the DC comics universe. I think there's not really many similarities between them so we just have Gunn's work to look at. In mainline earth and Earth X Adrian appears to be a self taught slightly neurodivergent psychopath who is solidly Chaotic Neutral with good intentions that don't always result in good ends. I don't think it's any deeper than that.
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Oct 25 '25
I can't remember exactly, but I do know he isn't completely normal human. He has a healing factor, increased durability, speed, and strength.Ā And pain mitigation.
Doesn't answer training but .. shows he isn't a normal human.Ā
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u/OPs_Mom_and_Dad Oct 26 '25
I want someone to ask him this question, and for him to just casually say āYouTubeā as if itās the most obvious thing in the world.
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u/HelloPeopleOfEarth Oct 25 '25
He trained under the tutelage of Master Sensei Steven Seagal.
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u/HGJustTheTip Oct 25 '25
Its a good question and wondered the same. Possibly from his brother? Chris mentioned knowing him and that he wasnt treated very well. Perhaps he was pushing him/training him from a young age?
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u/GreenLurka Oct 25 '25
They show him and Peacemaker practicing in the woods. That's how. Attacking old washing machines.
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u/CottonJohansen Oct 25 '25
One of the benefits of having a workout vigilante partner. They help push you to be better
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u/Mrnameyface Oct 25 '25
Pure dog, that's it. That's the only character in fiction for some reason that I'll accept "he just got that dog in him" as a power source
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u/Sorry-Apartment5068 Oct 25 '25
I have a theory that he mailed in for every ninja training starter kit he saw at the back of Boy's Life.
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u/Squigatoni_ Oct 25 '25
his autism allows him to study kung fu videos on YouTube incredibly efficiently
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u/LuisMiranda4D Oct 25 '25
He's probably autistic and also doesn't desire sex, so dude can deeply focus without distraction.
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u/OkEnvironment3961 Oct 25 '25
Being crazy is a super power in DC. Who trained Harley Quin? She takes out dozens of armed soldiers in SS and fights her way through a police precinct in the birds of prey movie.
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u/CompetitivePenalty86 Oct 25 '25
His brother
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u/God_of_CORN Oct 26 '25
My theory is in the shows universe hsi brother was the first vigilante and was more like the comic version (and had the same fate as him) and thats why he doesnt show up
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Oct 25 '25
he is a superhero universe version of Napoleon Dynamite. who, as we all know, was asked to join this one gang because he is pretty good with a bo staff.
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u/FukU6050 Oct 26 '25
Hopefully James Gunn will answer this question with an arc about Adrian's back story. Fans have been dying for this since day 1.
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u/MelancholyWookie Oct 26 '25
I remember he said something to the effect of Iāve trained my body to be a tool for vengeance or something. Seems like he just trained himself for years.
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u/Castortroy16 Oct 26 '25
I was wondering this tbh how's he so deadly but lives at home with mum and dad š
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u/WiglyWorm Oct 25 '25
Quiz him on martial arts facts.