Adrian Chase | |
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Arrow character | |
![]() Josh Segarra as Adrian Chase / Prometheus unmasked | |
First appearance | "Legacy" (as Prometheus) "A Matter of Trust" (as Adrian Chase) |
Last appearance | "Lian Yu" |
Portrayed by | Josh Segarra |
Voiced by | Michael Dorn[1] (voice as Prometheus) |
In-universe information | |
Occupation | District attorney |
Affiliation | Talia al Ghul |
Spouse | Doris Chase (deceased) |
Relatives | Justin Clayborne (father; deceased) Amanda Westfield (mother) |
Nationality | American |
Adrian Chase (born Simon Morrison) is a fictional character in The CW series Arrow. Named after the DC Comics character of the same name, he debuted in the series' fifth season. He is initially introduced as a false protagonist and is then revealed to be the season's main antagonist. Chase is introduced in the third episode of the season, "A Matter of Trust," as the district attorney of Star City. His alter-ego Prometheus had been introduced in the season opener "Legacy". Chase's major storyline has included infiltrating City Hall and trying to destroy Oliver Queen / Green Arrow. Chase is portrayed by Josh Segarra, while his voice as Prometheus is provided by Michael Dorn.
In June 2016, it was announced that Josh Segarra was cast as Adrian Chase, who was described as "Star City’s new district attorney and an ally of Mayor Oliver Queen, who aims to clean up the streets through the legal system."[2] In March 2017, after it was revealed that Chase was Prometheus, co-showrunner Wendy Mericle said they made Chase Prometheus over Vigilante (as the character is known in the comics) "because everybody would be thinking [that]... We thought it would be a really fun twist to do what we've always done on the show which is to take the comic book mythology and turn it on its head and see what kind of story we can mine from a surprise like that." Segarra added that he initially researched Chase as Vigilante in the comic books, before co-showrunner Marc Guggenheim hinted to him that he would not be playing Vigilante.[3] Guggenheim also stated, "One morning, [...] it occurred to me that if we called this character Adrian Chase, and we made him a district attorney, everyone would be so focused on when he becomes Vigilante that they wouldn’t be expecting that he really was Prometheus."[4]
Chase first appears in his Prometheus suit outside the SCPD station where a police officer (Ryan S. Williams) waves at him thinking he is the Green Arrow. Chase then kills the police officer.[5] Chase confronts Tobias Church (Chad L. Coleman) as Prometheus outside a nightclub after Church had nearly defeated the Green Arrow and warns Church against going after him.[6] Chase finally appears unmasked when he comes to Oliver Queen's (Stephen Amell) mayoral office to complain about a hockey masked vigilante (Rick Gonzalez) killing drug dealer Derek Sampson (Cody Runnels). Later when it is revealed that Derek is still alive and apprehended by the Green Arrow, Chase expresses his gratitude to Oliver and Thea Queen (Willa Holland) about the apprehension. Chase mentioned to Oliver that Oliver had managed to swipe his girlfriend away and joked that he did not hold grudges.[7] After a meeting in the City Hall, Chase meets Oliver's deputy mayor Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne) and claims it would be a pleasure to work alongside him. Later in the episode we see Chase's violent side when he threatens a suspect to try and get information out of him before the Anti-Crime Unit building is attacked which sees Chase needing rescued by Rory Regan (Joe Dinicol).[8] Chase as Prometheus goes after Tobias Church again after he kidnaps Wild Dog, and tries to kill Church but one of Church's bodyguards takes the fall for him. Later after Church was defeated by Team Arrow and going to prison, Chase as Prometheus attacked the convoy and killed all the police officers, Church told Chase about Oliver's identity which he had learned from Wild Dog and Chase killed him anyway.[9] Under the guise of Prometheus, Chase lures Oliver and John Diggle (David Ramsey) to a construction site where he writes in flames "So It Begins", Prometheus later battles Evelyn Sharp (Madison McLaughlin) in a train where she is rescued by Oliver. It is then revealed that Chase has killed more people and the victims happen to be anagrams to people on Oliver's list from season one. Later on it is shown that Chase left the murder weapon in Lance's apartment.[10] Chase is later revealed to be working with Evelyn in secret.[11] At Christmas, Chase as Prometheus attacked Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum) in civilian form. When Oliver found Prometheus, Evelyn stopped Oliver from attacking him and revealed to the team that she had betrayed them. Chase then kidnaps Felicity Smoak's (Emily Bett Rickards) boyfriend Billy Malone (Tyler Ritter) and put him in the Prometheus costume and made Oliver kill him unbeknown to Oliver that it was Billy.[12]
After Diggle is apprehended by the army authorities for treason, Oliver asked Chase to defend Diggle, which he did. Chase and Oliver also conspired to cover up the Green Arrow's involvement of Billy Malone's death. It is also revealed that as Prometheus, Chase freed Black Siren (Katie Cassidy) from her imprisonment at S.T.A.R. Labs and got her to impersonate the fallen Black Canary Laurel Lance (also Cassidy).[13] While defending Diggle, Chase received a copy of a NSA case against the army person who was wanting Diggle in his custody. Chase used this to free Diggle.[14] Chase got shot during an attack on City Hall, he recovered quickly but after protests from Chase's wife Doris (Parveen Dosanjh) agreed that Chase should take some time off.[15] Chase is present when Oliver and Quentin are pleading the Green Arrow's with Lt Pike of the SCPD (Adrian Holmes) after he ordered the Green Arrow arrested over Malone's murder.[16] When Oliver is facing a hearing over his mayoral duties due to it being leaked about the cover up of Malone's murder, Oliver gets Chase to represent him at the hearings. Chase initially offered his resignation and to let Oliver completely blame him but decides to assist in Oliver's defense. After Oliver is attacked by Vigilante, Chase as Prometheus attacks Vigilante, Vigilante manages to get away and then Chase unmasks himself and calls the SCPD to report a sighting of Vigilante. Later on, Chase later kidnaps Oliver's girlfriend Susan Williams (Carly Pope).[17] After learning Prometheus was Chase from Talia al Ghul (Lexa Doig), Oliver confronts Chase but Chase doesn't act phased. When Quentin and Rene also confront Chase, he informs them that threatening a city official was a felony. When Diggle takes Doris to see her husband's true colors, Chase kills her. Talia then shoots Oliver with a tranquilizing arrow and brings him to Chase where she tells Chase to torture Oliver.[18] Chase tortures Oliver for days over his many kills, he holds Oliver's head under water for 145 seconds at a time, he shot Oliver with arrows, he then used Evelyn Sharp to break Oliver and pretended to snap her neck. When Oliver finally broke and admitted he liked murdering people, Chase burned the Bratva tattoo off Oliver's chest. After the days of torture, Chase let Oliver go.[19] When Oliver returns to work after the torture from Chase, Chase shows up and thanks Oliver for compassionate leave after his wife's death, Quentin threatens Chase. When the Bratva attempt to assassinate Chase at Oliver's request, he is moved into federal protective custody. Later when hackers helping Felicity recover footage of Chase unmasking, the footage is sent to the people protecting him, he kills them and then drives off while the police are going to the safe house to arrest him.[20] Chase afterwards tracks down Oliver's son William.[21] He is subsequently captured during a raid on his father's old compound when Oliver reveals that Chase's father had intended to disown him before his death due to his insanity, this revelation at least temporarily breaking Chase. However, Chase organizes the kidnapping of Team Arrow while locked up in A.R.G.U.S. and later reveals to Oliver that he has William kidnapped. After allowing Chase to escape to keep his son safe, Oliver heads to Lian Yu, recruiting Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law), Slade Wilson (Manu Bennett), Malcolm Merlyn (John Barrowman) and Digger Harkness (Nick Tarabay). Chase has the island booby trapped with explosives, attempting to goad Oliver into killing him in order to set off a dead man's trigger that will kill everyone, claiming that William is dead when Oliver refuses to be a killer. Oliver goes after him on a boat with William alive and after failing to goad Oliver into killing him again, Chase tells Oliver that it will be lonely out on the ocean without his team as he shoots himself in the head, setting off the explosives and leaving Team Arrow's fate unknown. [22]
A writer for TVOvermind stated "Josh Segarra makes his debut in tonight’s Arrow as Star City’s new District Attorney, Adrian Chase. Segarra is a new series regular on the show, and we don’t get much of him throughout the hour. However, I really enjoyed Adrian’s exchange with Oliver about his ex-girlfriend. That shows that there will hopefully be more to him than the stereotypical DA character on most comic-book/cop dramas." in their review about "A Matter of Trust".[23] IGN wrote about the Prometheus reveal "In short, there were plenty of interesting character developments this week, but none more than "the Prometheus reveal. Not so much the reveal itself, mind you. Barring the last-minute return of Tommy Merlyn, Adrian was really the only likely candidate to be Prometheus. And given the surprisingly matter-of-fact way the reveal was handled, it seems the writers were at least cognizant of that fact. The reveal is more notable because it sheds a lot more light on Adrian’s recent actions. It’s clear now how closely and methodically he’s been manipulating Ollie recently. He knows his enemy well enough to not only trick Ollie into killing Malone, but to then lead Ollie into destroying the Green Arrow’s good name. He’s a crafty one, that Adrian Chase. And now that the truth is out there, Josh Segarra can stop playing it subtle and really flex his supervillain muscles for a change. That should be fun, if the final scene with Susan is any indication."[24] The A.V. Club wrote about the reveal "It’s a terrific moment, a well-executed swerve after all the first act’s clues. And while I don’t mean to take anything away from its immediate effectiveness, it still isn’t that surprising if you consider this Arrow season as a whole. It’s just a basic question of how storytelling works. The fact that Prometheus’ identity is mysterious means there has to be a reveal, and that reveal has to have an impact."[25] IGN commented on Segarra's performance as Chase in the episode of "Kapiushon" by saying "Arrow went very dark in this episode, thriving on two terrific performances from Stephen Amell and Josh Segarra."[26]
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