mr. peasant
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Exactly as the title says. And if so, how? Especially given the framework already established by the show.
As those familiar with the comics would know, Count Vertigo is one of the main villains in Green Arrow's rogue's gallery. And to that end, the show has made two attempts at the character with debated levels of success.
The first - played by Seth Gabel - was a hammy, Joker-inspired pill pusher simply known as "The Count" who sold a street drug called "vertigo" and whose main shtick in fights is to inject people with syringes filled with an enhanced version of vertigo. Overall, opinions on the character was quite split; with some loving Gabel's over-the-top performance while others either didn't or weren't satisfied with the character's overall concept.
The second - played by Peter Stromare - was much the same; being a drug dealer named Werner Zytle who took over the original Count's operations following the latter's death. The main difference being that instead of using syringes, Stormare's character delivered the vertigo using darts and he'd modified the vertigo to cause its victims hallucinations. In terms of reception however, Stormare's Vertigo was greeted for the most part with an indifferent "meh"; which is probably worse.
Overall, the main theme and gimmick of both characters is that they are poisoners. However, the way they go about it were neither fresh nor memorable. Also, a shared shortcoming is their lack of a well defined motivation. They - especially the second Vertigo - were only in it for the money and lack any particularly strong connection with Oliver story-wise; unlike say fan favourite villains such as Malcolm Merlyn and Slade.
With all this in mind, I feel the show needs to revamp Vertigo - a la Deadshot - in order to elevate him into a prominent villain on the show. The tough part is the question of how. Personally, and from my outline above, the changes need to come in two domains - namely motivation and gimmick.
With respect to motivation, in order to give him a more personal connection with Oliver, I feel the new Vertigo should be made into a relative (e.g. father) of the original Count, who is seeking revenge for the death of the original Count. This could either be a soft retcon for Stormare's Vertigo or the show could kill him off and be replaced with a new character. Personally, I would be more in favour of the former as I like Stormare as a performer and having a third villain calling himself Vertigo feels a tad too ridiculous.
As for gimmick, neither of the show's Count Vertigos' techniques feel particularly interesting. Nor are they visually intimidating to the viewer. Here are a couple of guys who run around with needles, going up against a master fighter who uses a bow and arrow who has faced against an immortal master assassin and Mirakuru-fueled armies and won. At this point, there's very little that the current Vertigo can do that would present much of a threat relative to those.
As such, in order to compete, the show should expand on the "poisoner" aspect of their show's versions of Count Vertigo. The show has established that while a recreational drug, vertigo is also a neurotoxin that can triggers severe pain when injected or ingested in a more potent form. At this point, it's hard to imagine vertigo retaining any of its street value give everything that's transpired with the two Count Vertigos. With that in mind, the show should instead go all out and have Count Vertigo formulate an even more potent version of vertigo that becomes effective and possibly even fatal when inhaled.
In essence, instead of simply being a street level drug dealer, Count Vertigo would be a straight up bio-terrorist (okay, more like chemical terrorist) and a genuine threat to Starling City. Now, picture a guy in a suit (because all CW villains wear suits) and gas mask, armed with an assortment of smoke grenades and dirty bombs. Wouldn't that make for a more visually intimidating and interesting foe for Oliver to tangle with?
Anyway, I've rambled on enough. What are people's thoughts? Is Count Vertigo in his current form right for Arrow? Or does he need a major makeover? How? Do you agree with me?
Share your thoughts.
As those familiar with the comics would know, Count Vertigo is one of the main villains in Green Arrow's rogue's gallery. And to that end, the show has made two attempts at the character with debated levels of success.
The first - played by Seth Gabel - was a hammy, Joker-inspired pill pusher simply known as "The Count" who sold a street drug called "vertigo" and whose main shtick in fights is to inject people with syringes filled with an enhanced version of vertigo. Overall, opinions on the character was quite split; with some loving Gabel's over-the-top performance while others either didn't or weren't satisfied with the character's overall concept.
The second - played by Peter Stromare - was much the same; being a drug dealer named Werner Zytle who took over the original Count's operations following the latter's death. The main difference being that instead of using syringes, Stormare's character delivered the vertigo using darts and he'd modified the vertigo to cause its victims hallucinations. In terms of reception however, Stormare's Vertigo was greeted for the most part with an indifferent "meh"; which is probably worse.
Overall, the main theme and gimmick of both characters is that they are poisoners. However, the way they go about it were neither fresh nor memorable. Also, a shared shortcoming is their lack of a well defined motivation. They - especially the second Vertigo - were only in it for the money and lack any particularly strong connection with Oliver story-wise; unlike say fan favourite villains such as Malcolm Merlyn and Slade.
With all this in mind, I feel the show needs to revamp Vertigo - a la Deadshot - in order to elevate him into a prominent villain on the show. The tough part is the question of how. Personally, and from my outline above, the changes need to come in two domains - namely motivation and gimmick.
With respect to motivation, in order to give him a more personal connection with Oliver, I feel the new Vertigo should be made into a relative (e.g. father) of the original Count, who is seeking revenge for the death of the original Count. This could either be a soft retcon for Stormare's Vertigo or the show could kill him off and be replaced with a new character. Personally, I would be more in favour of the former as I like Stormare as a performer and having a third villain calling himself Vertigo feels a tad too ridiculous.
As for gimmick, neither of the show's Count Vertigos' techniques feel particularly interesting. Nor are they visually intimidating to the viewer. Here are a couple of guys who run around with needles, going up against a master fighter who uses a bow and arrow who has faced against an immortal master assassin and Mirakuru-fueled armies and won. At this point, there's very little that the current Vertigo can do that would present much of a threat relative to those.
As such, in order to compete, the show should expand on the "poisoner" aspect of their show's versions of Count Vertigo. The show has established that while a recreational drug, vertigo is also a neurotoxin that can triggers severe pain when injected or ingested in a more potent form. At this point, it's hard to imagine vertigo retaining any of its street value give everything that's transpired with the two Count Vertigos. With that in mind, the show should instead go all out and have Count Vertigo formulate an even more potent version of vertigo that becomes effective and possibly even fatal when inhaled.
In essence, instead of simply being a street level drug dealer, Count Vertigo would be a straight up bio-terrorist (okay, more like chemical terrorist) and a genuine threat to Starling City. Now, picture a guy in a suit (because all CW villains wear suits) and gas mask, armed with an assortment of smoke grenades and dirty bombs. Wouldn't that make for a more visually intimidating and interesting foe for Oliver to tangle with?
Anyway, I've rambled on enough. What are people's thoughts? Is Count Vertigo in his current form right for Arrow? Or does he need a major makeover? How? Do you agree with me?
Share your thoughts.
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