Peacemaker Star Steve Agee Says There's One Thing That Separates Vigilante From The Rest Of The Gang [Exclusive]

This article contains spoilers for "Peacemaker" season 2, episode 3.

Writer and director James Gunn likes telling stories about found families, and the found family at the center of his HBO Max series "Peacemaker" are probably the messiest bunch yet. The 11th Street Kids are one seriously damaged gang of misfits, and yet their love for one another gives the show a big beating heart beneath its ultra-violent, vulgar exterior. In the darker-but-more-thoughtful second season, audiences are getting a chance to see just how screwed-up the members of the 11th Street Kids are, but there's one character who kind of stands apart: Adrian Chase, A.K.A. Vigilante (Freddie Stroma). 

While chatting about the season via Zoom with Steve Agee, who plays fellow 11th Street Kid John Economos, the actor shared that there's one thing that truly separates Vigilante from the rest of the characters — and it's not just his whole "adorable sociopath" thing. The biggest difference, according to Agee, is that the other Kids constantly push people away, while Vigilante seems desperate for connection. 

In the second season of "Peacemaker," we've gotten to see that Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) really doesn't have it as together as she's made it appear, while Leota Adebayo (Danielle Brooks), Peacemaker (John Cena), and Economos have all shown they're not great at letting others get too close. We don't know much about Vigilante's backstory in the DC Universe save for that he allegedly lives with his mother, but Agee (and fans) would love to know more. Agee said:

"[Vigilante's] another character I really want to see explored, but at least you can see that he has a desire to connect. He was like a little brother trying to connect with Peacemaker in season 1 and now he's transferring that to me. So unlike most of the other characters in the 11th Street Kid, he wants to connect and be close to all of us, so he's definitely got a good heart."

There are moments where Vigilante's pureness of heart seems apparent — like when he kisses Economos goodnight after the latter has passed out in a bathtub from partying too hard — but he's also a little misguided sometimes. He's a little too trigger-happy in general; he almost killed Peacemaker's white supremacist supervillain dad because Adebayo told him that Peacemaker could never be happy until he was dead. Vigilante is just as morally ambiguous as some of the other characters, but he seems to genuinely want to be close to his friends and is deeply vulnerable and earnest at all times. 

Vigilante as a character on "Peacemaker" is such a tightrope-walk tonally that I'm impressed by it every single episode. Adrian is somehow both the sweetest and most terrifying member of the 11th Street Kids. The writing itself is excellent, with a character who could so easily be a horrific villain instead being a deeply confused goofball with some kind of empathetic disconnect that he's trying desperately to overcome.

As good as Vigilante is on the page, however, the character just couldn't work without Stroma's puppy-dog performance, and it's clear that he totally understands the motivations behind the character from Gunn's perspective. He really does follow Peacemaker and Economos around like a kid brother or lost puppy, despite being the deadliest puppy on the block. Contrast that with his friends, who have one another and yet keep secrets and distance themselves, and it's easy to see where Agee is coming from. Vigilante is one of Gunn's most fascinating characters, and I hope we get to see more of what makes him tick ... besides just crow facts, of course. 

New episodes of "Peacemaker" premiere Thursdays on HBO Max.