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51-593: The crossover storyline ran through the following titles: Checkmate! (#15-18), Suicide Squad (#27-30), Manhunter (#14), Firestorm (vol. 2) (#86), and Captain Atom (#30). Checkmate! and Suicide Squad were published biweekly for the duration of the event. The storyline focused on the covert operations super-teams and organizations that existed in the DC Universe at the time. Suicide Squad leader Amanda Waller begins sending her agents on missions in

102-603: A unlockable playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains via the "DC Super-Villains TV Series" DLC pack. An original incarnation of Vigilante named Jake Chill appears in Batman Beyond (vol. 2). He is the great-grandnephew of Joe Chill and a former member of Derek Powers ' "Quiet Squad", a small team of Wayne-Powers security guards who served as Powers' personal hit and intimidation squad. Additionally, Jake murdered Warren McGinnis, father of

153-495: A Black and White set. Their functions remain the same, although neither Rooks nor Pawns are seen. Kings and Queens are the head of each department. Bishops oversee plans behind the scenes. Rooks plan missions. Knights carry out the plans in field teams. Pawns assist the Knights on missions, providing surveillance and backup if needed. The structure of Checkmate with two halves, Black (ops) and White (intel), may also be inspired by

204-480: A Vigilante limited series by writer Bruce Jones and artist Ben Oliver . The identity of the title character is initially left mysterious, but apparently this is a new incarnation of the character. His name was Justin "Jay" Sutter . When he encountered a murderer as a child, he created a second personality in his mind, The Vigilante. At some point, he changed his name to Justin Scott Powell and would become

255-581: A costume similar to Adrian Chase's, it is a new depiction under the mask. The Vigilante also appears in Gotham Underground , set after his initial encounter with Nightwing . He is shown to be a formidable fighter, but is defeated easily by Batman . Following the events of Vigilante (vol. 3) #1 (February 2009), the Vigilante is seen out of costume for the first time and is referred to by his ally JJ as "Dorian". He initially operates under

306-744: A double agent in both Checkmate and the Brotherhood of Evil. The Russian outfit of Checkmate appears when Deathstroke, Cheshire, Speedy and others try to steal a group of nuclear warheads in Russia. It is revealed that Harper called in Checkmate and that he was working on their side all along. Ultimately, Deathstroke is also revealed to be working for the CIA, and joins up with the American and Russian Checkmate to invade Cheshire's base later, after she threatens

357-437: A much more violent manner, even executing petty thieves. His mental instability eventually led him to gun down police officers and civilians. Chase though felt responsible for this threat and began a long investigation to take down Vigilante, until Chase found out he was Welles, forcing Chase to kill him. The fourth person to assume the Vigilante identity was Dave Winston , Adrian Chase's bailiff. He refused to kill and traded on

408-666: A new NORAD base in Colorado. A Russian version of Checkmate ( Russian : Шах и мат ) (presumably under the KGB) is introduced in the last issues of the original series run. They are admittedly underfunded, but wear armor similar to their U.S. counterparts. Checkmate's hierarchy is remodeled in a manner similar to that of Marvel Comics ' Hellfire Club (with the organization itself more closely resembling S.H.I.E.L.D. ). The chess-motif remains, but there are sets of Kings and Queens, as well as Bishops, Rooks, Knights, and Pawns, divided between

459-613: A new identity of a dead and forgotten criminal. It is also revealed that Dorian is the brother of the late Adrian Chase in Vigilante #9. Little is known about his past, but his wife is dead and he served time in prison for his work with the mob. The Vigilante plays an important role in the "Deathtrap" crossover with the Teen Titans and the Titans . He targets the unbalanced Jericho for assassination, bringing him into conflict with

510-805: A new series was launched written by Brian Michael Bendis and artist Alex Maleev . Its members are Green Arrow , The King , Lois Lane , the Manhunter (Kate Spencer), Mister Bones , The Question , Steve Trevor , and Talia al Ghul . The reprinted material is, in whole or in part, from: The reprinted material is, in whole or in part, from: The reprinted material is, in whole or in part, from: The reprinted material is, in whole or in part, from: The reprinted material is, in whole or in part, from: Checkmate (vol. 2) #23-25 can be found collected in Kobra: Resurrection - DC Comics - Feb 17 2010. Vigilante (comics) Vigilante

561-419: A result of Superboy-Prime's actions, the hierarchy of Checkmate was changed and a changed Maxwell Lord was suddenly in charge of the organization. In order to hide his activities, which included hijacking and reprogramming to his own purposes the super-spy satellite Brother I that Batman originally built to monitor all metahumans, Lord murdered former ally Ted Kord . He also mind-controlled Superman , sending

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612-491: A subservient doppelgänger in order to manipulate and mislead the various government agencies to keep them from stopping his own plan. Kobra plans to activate a massive space-based microwave pulse cannon that would fry all electronic systems (not to mention human nervous systems) in the eastern United States, unleashing the Kali Yuga , the age of chaos he believes it is his destiny to commence. Waller has murdered her double and

663-462: Is introduced: Donald Fairchild , a former professional basketball player. Fairchild moonlights as a janitor and by night fights crime in Los Angeles . The Vigilante is a superb hand-to-hand combatant, a brilliant marksman, and a master of the lariat . Pre- Crisis , there were both an Earth-1 and an Earth-2 Vigilante. Both were Greg Saunders from their respective Earths. Earth-1's Vigilante

714-410: Is one of the heroes who still remembers him) by forcing everyone at Checkmate to believe that she has failed a psychological evaluation and has begun to show signs of mental instability. Fire is subsequently dismissed from Checkmate by Taleb Beni Khalid. The members of the new Justice League International eventually infiltrate Checkmate headquarters by disguising themselves in stolen Rocket Red suits, but

765-464: Is playing the role of traitor in order to ferret out the true mastermind behind the Janus Directive. Eventually, the truth is revealed, the groups unite and storm Kobra's space ark, capturing him and destroying his weapon. The fallout of the Janus Directive results in an irate President Bush reorganizing the various agencies to bring them under executive control; he dissolves Task Force X ,

816-481: Is reconstituted as a United Nations agency. In Week 25, Alan Scott reveals to Mister Terrific that he will lead the agency as White King, and asks him to join as well. Rucka was quoted regarding the new series: "Take a big chunk of The OMAC Project, take the concept of "Who Watches the Watchmen ?" and throw in some James Bond and you've got Checkmate". Rucka's stated plans in several interviews include depicting

867-662: Is shot, and to be spending more time with his family. Gary Washington and two other Knights appear in the story as well (one of whom might be Winston O'Donnel, who appears in Deathstroke, the Terminator #19). Checkmate Knights invade the lair of supervillainess Cheshire in Deathstroke, the Terminator #18, but most are killed by her operatives and a revived Slade Wilson. Just as two Checkmate agents are about to defeat Deathstroke, Roy Harper (at that time also known as Speedy ) knocks them down, revealing to be helping Cheshire as

918-522: Is soon imprisoned for taking matters into her own hands after leading an assassination team to personally liquidate the Vodou -oriented drug ring called the Loa . This leads to the shutdown of all Suicide Squad operations for one year. While individual operatives like Firestorm (Ronald Raymond), Firehawk and Manhunter (Mark Shaw) did play a part in the storyline's resolution, they were nowhere as important as

969-730: Is supposed to kill them, or as the Black Queen puts it "terminate the link". The organization's headquarters is a castle in the Swiss Alps known only as "The Castle". At the start of the Brightest Day crossover, Maxwell Lord returns from the dead and uses his mental abilities to erase all memories of his existence from everyone on the planet, save for several former members of the Justice League International . Following this, Lord discredits Fire (who

1020-457: Is the name used by several fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics . Notable individuals to assume the alias include Greg Saunders and Adrian Chase . An original incarnation of Vigilante named Vincent Sobel appears in the television series Arrow , played by Clayton Chitty and Johann Urb and voiced by Mick Wingert . Freddie Stroma plays

1071-457: The Deathstroke the Terminator series written by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez . Trayce found Adrian Chase's gear and adapted the guise. She was also Deathstroke's lover. She first appeared in Deathstroke the Terminator #6. In Deathstroke the Terminator #11, Pat takes up the Vigilante uniform. She was trained by Deathstroke, and soon started to work alone. Late in 2005, DC published

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1122-643: The Suicide Squad , and Project Atom , who are manipulated by Kobra in order to distract the United States intelligence community from his activities. Checkmate loses at least 38 Knight agents (tallying to more than two thirds of Checkmate's Knight force ) and its headquarters (as well as its cover, Konig Industries) in Shelby, Virginia, in the incident. In the aftermath, Sarge Steel takes Waller's place as head of Checkmate, and Checkmate relocates to

1173-659: The Adrian Chase incarnation of Vigilante in the DC Extended Universe television series Peacemaker . The original version of Vigilante was a western-themed hero named Greg Sanders (later retconned in the 1990s to "Saunders") who debuted in Action Comics #42 (November 1941). The Vigilante had a teen sidekick introduced in 1942, Stuff the Chinatown Kid. Adrian Chase first appeared as

1224-468: The CIA's original two separate halves, the Directorate of Operations and Directorate of Intelligence. List of operatives between series. Sarge Steel reactivates Checkmate in Deathstroke, the Terminator #17, in order to find the comatose Deathstroke (Slade Wilson). Phil Kramer is promoted to King and Kalia Campbell to Queen. Harry Stein is said to be on indefinite leave of absence after his son

1275-585: The DC Comics universe, primarily the Suicide Squad , which resulted in the crossover " The Janus Directive ". Checkmate! was canceled after 33 issues but the organization continued to appear, mostly in titles related to either the government or Batman . After the events of the mini-series The OMAC Project , a precursor to the Infinite Crisis limited series, the Checkmate organization

1326-524: The Swashbuckler the nephew of the Vigilante because he did not have enough space to present the entire backstory he had created for the character in the fanzine. In the series Kingdom Come , artist and writer Alex Ross portrays the cowboy version of the Vigilante fighting alongside the rogue metahumans as a steampunk cyborg with a pinwheel / steam engine arm with a gatling gun on the end. The Vincent Sobel incarnation of Vigilante appears as

1377-703: The Vigilante subconsciously. While Powell was unaware of the Vigilante personality, the Vigilante knew about Powell. At the miniseries' end, Powell was able to reconcile the two personalities. The Vigilante was last seen, alongside Wild Dog and the current Crimson Avenger , on a rooftop in the great battle of Metropolis , raining bullets down on the Trigger Twins , the Madmen , the second Spellbinder , and others in Infinite Crisis #7. The most recent Vigilante appeared in Nightwing #133–137. While he wears

1428-408: The affair. When Chase and girlfriend Marcia King boarded a plane for Europe, it was hijacked; Winston and Peacemaker both responded to the emergency, but Winston was killed by Peacemaker in front of Chase, making Chase believe he was unable to escape the Vigilante's legacy. The next Vigilante was Patricia Trayce , a rogue Gotham City police detective who teams up with Deathstroke the Terminator in

1479-477: The apparent pursuit of her own private agenda, the so-called "Janus Directive", bringing the Squad into conflict with other metahuman villains and government agencies. All-out mayhem breaks loose among these groups, involving various metahumans associated with the United States military and civilian agencies. It is revealed that Waller has not gone rogue - cult leader Kobra tried to murder Waller and replace her with

1530-598: The characters in this chart. Although not bannered as a part of the crossover, parts of Firestorm the Nuclear Man (vol. 2) #87 were an epilogue to the storyline. Checkmate (comics) Checkmate , a division of Task Force X , is a fictional covert operations agency appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics . The antihero team first appeared in Action Comics #598 (March 1988) and proceeded to have its own ongoing title in Checkmate! In

1581-515: The command of Colonel Valentina Vostok (formerly Negative Woman of the Doom Patrol ) to perform operations worldwide considered vital to the security of American interests. She relinquishes command to Harry Stein , who recreates The Agency into a new image and organization, dubbed Checkmate, in relation to its chess-inspired organizational scheme. "The Janus Directive" is a crossover storyline that involves an inter-agency war between Checkmate,

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1632-401: The events of Bruce Wayne : Murderer? and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive , his bodyguard and partner Sasha Bordeaux is framed for the murder of Vesper Fairchild. She is recruited as a Checkmate operative by Jessica Midnight, as the two fake her death and Sasha undergoes plastic surgery. It is revealed that Maxwell Lord has assumed the position of Black King within the Checkmate organization with

1683-434: The fierce reputation of Vigilante to intimidate information out of thugs. He debuted in Vigilante #23 and later as Vigilante in Vigilante #28. He believed that the Vigilante's efforts were noble and worthwhile. When Alan Welles was killed after ruining the Vigilante's reputation, Winston took up the mantle believing that the city needed the Vigilante. When Chase found out about Winston's actions, he chose to wash his hands of

1734-486: The hero after other former allies such as Batman and Wonder Woman . Wonder Woman then proceeded to kill Lord in order to break his control on Superman's mind, which left Checkmate dismantled as an organization. In 52 Week 24, Martian Manhunter reveals that he has spent months undercover undermining the remnants of Checkmate to convince the President of the U.S. to disband the organization. Within days, however, it

1785-472: The identity of Joe Flynn, a small-time criminal with a rap sheet, but it is later revealed that the real Joe Flynn is dead. Dorian has the technology to graft another person's face to his own and his assistant changes the police records so his fingerprint and DNA point back to his fake identity. At the end of the first story arc, Dorian abandons the Joe Flynn identity and begins to make preparations to assume

1836-438: The intent of manipulating the agency to kill all of the metahumans present on Earth. While DC did not explain how or when Lord came to power (or had seemingly gone from supporting metahuman involvement in the protection of the planet to this personality), it has been implied that Checkmate may have been the victim of Superboy-Prime , who warped the very fabric of reality by punching the walls of his prison outside this dimension. As

1887-565: The mission goes awry and they are forced to flee before they can capture Lord. Max eventually tells Blue Beetle that one of the major goals of his plot was to have the Justice League International discredit Checkmate by making them look incompetent, causing the United Nations to pull their funding and fire Khalid and most of the other senior Checkmate higher-ups, leaving Max the opportunity to regain control of

1938-480: The organization. At the very end of the series, Lord is still shown to be in control of Checkmate. He then releases a video onto the internet where he blames the rogue superhero Magog for an accident in Chicago that resulted in the deaths of a thousand civilians, and vows to use Checkmate's resources to keep an eye on similar superheroes and prevent future metahuman catastrophes. As part of " Infinite Frontier ",

1989-516: The repurposing of Checkmate as a United Nations-affiliated intelligence/intervention force with a specific purpose of maintaining "balance" between Earth's human and metahuman communities in the wake of events in The OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis . Pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 1696, Checkmate is reorganized as the UN's Chartered Metahuman Monitoring Force. The organization

2040-584: The second Gravedigger, Sebastian Faust , and a new incarnation of the G.I. Robot . They are further augmented with DNA from Starro the Conqueror which links them telepathically allowing instantaneous communication. The android member however cannot take a dose of the DNA but is still able to communicate telepathically with the group. One of the android's other functions is to monitor his teammates to make sure they do not lose control. If that situation were to arise, he

2091-621: The second version of Vigilante in The New Teen Titans Annual #2 (August 1983) by writer Marv Wolfman and penciler George Pérez . Chase was a District Attorney in New York City who went rogue after his wife and children were killed by a gang boss. The third person to assume the Vigilante identity was Alan Welles , a fellow judge and friend of Adrian Chase. His first appearance was in Vigilante #7, and later in Vigilante #20 as Vigilante. He secretly operated in

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2142-477: The strictest rules of secrecy. For the organizational structure of the re-organized Agency, Stein chose the game of chess as his working model. Stein brought in Gary Washington (Knight One) and Black Thorn as Checkmate operatives, both of whom were his friends, and both of whom were introduced during his run on Vigilante. Checkmate! was at various times involved with the other government agencies in

2193-496: The umbrella organization under which both Checkmate and the Squad operated (the component agencies becoming autonomous), and makes Sarge Steel a Cabinet -level official with overall control of all governmental metahuman activity on the civilian side. General Wade Eiling is made his equivalent in the Department of Defense . Waller is put on probation by Bush because of her "lone wolf" tactics, much to her displeasure. Waller

2244-513: The various heroes. Vigilante succeeds in tracking down Jericho but, having promised Rose Wilson not to kill him, instead gouges out Jericho's eyes to stop him from using his powers. The Vigilante had been operating unseen in Europe for several years before moving back to the U.S. and going after local mobs and criminals. In the DC Rebirth miniseries Vigilante: Southland , a new Vigilante

2295-513: The various pieces of a chess game; one King, one Queen and several Bishops, Rooks, Knights and Pawns. The Bishops oversaw the Rooks behind the scenes while the Rooks planned missions and supervised the field agents, or Knights, and the Knights' support, the Pawns. List of operatives during first series. The Agency is first set up by Amanda Waller to serve as a small branch of Task Force X under

2346-415: The wake of events depicted in the mini-series The OMAC Project and Infinite Crisis , Checkmate is re-chartered as a United Nations Security Council-affiliated agency and was again given its own series, Checkmate (vol. 2). The Checkmate organization was created by Paul Kupperberg and Steve Erwin , first appearing in Action Comics #598 (March 1988). The precursor to this fictional organization

2397-614: The world (unleashing a nuclear warhead on the country of Qurac as leverage). They are able to defeat Cheshire, and the warheads are destroyed. A man called David Said has taken over the role of King within the organization, and in the "Knight Moves" storyline Checkmate invades the Batcave , in order to recruit the Huntress in the process. On Batman's word, she agrees to temporarily assume the mantle of Queen, using this position to relay information to Batman on at least one occasion. After

2448-592: Was known as the Agency , first appearing in Vigilante #36. Harry Stein was appointed Valentina Vostok 's replacement in The Agency's command position by Amanda Waller . Stein later sought out the most stable personnel available from the American and international intelligence and law enforcement communities to form Checkmate. His agency would field only the best-trained and well-equipped of agents, working under

2499-468: Was re-organized and its title was revived with Checkmate (vol. 2). This volume ended after publication of its 31st issue, dated December 2008. After the cancellation of the second volume, the team returned in the Final Crisis one-shot tie-in "Resist" by Greg Rucka and Eric Trautmann. The name Checkmate is taken from the winning move in chess , and the agency's hierarchy is modeled after

2550-487: Was restructured utilizing the "Rule of Two". Each super-powered or otherwise enhanced member in the "Royal Family" must have an un-powered counterpart in a corresponding position of power. Pawns still remain as low-level field agents. The Rooks make their first appearance in issue #25 as Checkmate's highly powerful black ops squad (while the Knights are "Special Agents" and Bishops "Advisers"). Specifically they include four operatives of different specialties one being Cinnamon ,

2601-507: Was shown for the first time in the pages (and cover) of the JLA issue where the superteam moved to their classic headquarters on an orbiting satellite. In Detective Comics #493 (August 1980) it was revealed that Greg Saunders had a nephew, Michael Carter , who became a costumed crimefighter too, the Swashbuckler. The Swashbuckler was created by the issue's writer, Cary Burkett , for a fanzine he published in middle school. Burkett said he made

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