‘Peacemaker’ star breaks down the Vigilante bromance

One of the breakout characters from Peacemaker‘s debut season was Vigilante, aka Adrian Chase, as played by Freddie Stroma. In sharp contrast to the comic book character of the same name, who’s much more of a Marvel’s Punisher type, the DCEU‘s version of the Vigilante is an overenthusiastic goof with a love of killing. His unlikely friendship with the more stoic Christopher Smith (John Cena) is one of the highlights of the show, then, although some view their dynamic as more of a bromance.

While chatting to Collider, Stroma broke down how he views the relationship between Adrian and Chris, admitting that he feels it’s “very one-sided” as he thinks that Peacemaker mostly just puts up with Vij like an older brother does an annoying younger sibling.

“To me, it’s like [Peacemaker]’s the older brother that he looks up to, and he loves that bromance, and he loves being able to be… He wants to be a superhero, and he wants to have someone to go on that journey with,” Stroma explained. “There’s bromance, but one way. Peacemaker has moments where he does like Vigilante. But he definitely has to put up with him for the majority of the show. It’s very one-sided.”

The sibling comparison is apt in many ways, although it’s kind of weird when you remember that Adrian and Chris were involved in a threesome together back in episode three. This has led a subset of fans to “ship” the two crimefighters. Like Stroma says, though, there’s little evidence that Chris has romantic feelings for Adrian, particularly given the emphasis on how he’s interested in Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland). However, it’s definitely possible that Chase wants more than just a bromance with occasional benefits with the helmeted hero.

Not that Stroma has any specific wishes for where he wants to see his character go in season two, which was officially greenlit earlier this month. The British actor — who’s also been seen in the likes of the Harry Potter movies and Bridgerton — told Collider that he has total faith in creator James Gunn to “hit it out of the park” again in the series’ sophomore run.

“Yeah. It’s nice to know that we get to continue the story, and then it was also nice to… I got a chance to see the finale a little earlier, and I was very excited for everyone to see it, because it was pretty epic,” Stroma added. “As soon as I read the scripts and read the character, I just loved him so much. I don’t know if I have any wishlist stuff [for Season 2]. As long as James [Gunn] is writing it, I’m good. I trust him completely. I think he hit it out of the park and I think he’ll do it again. I feel safe in his hands. Whatever he is going to do, I’m on board.”

All eight episodes of the first season of DC’s Peacemaker are available to stream on HBO Max now.