| “ | I'm Count Vertigo, and I approve this high! | „ |
| ~ Count Vertigo |
Cecil Adams, self-styled Count Vertigo, formerly known as The Count, is one of the main antagonists appearing in seasons 1 and 2 of the TV show Arrow. He was a notorious drug lord known for leaving a mark by injection on the victim/customer's neck that looked like a vampire's bite, earning him the name Count.
He is played by Seth Gabel.
Biography
Season 1
In "Vertigo", after The Hood found out that his sister had been dealt Vertigo, he headed out for revenge. The Count sent his men out to slow down the vigilante. However, in the end, The Hood gave him a taste of his own medicine and injected him with considerable amounts of his own drug, an amount doctors have never seen anyone live through before. He was strapped to a gurney and wheeled off into a hospital, declared insane.
It was then revealed that Dr. Webb, who was in charge of him, began selling Vertigo on the street, framing The Count for it. He began faking his escape from the mental hospital, using the Count's kidney report to reverse engineer vertigo. He also upgraded the original formula. His plan failed when the Hood found the Count in the basement and was told by Dr. Webb himself that the Count was not sane, so the Hood did not kill him, instead sending him back to the mental hospital.
Season 2
In "State v. Queen", It is revealed that the Count recovered from his overdose on Vertigo, and was sent to Iron Heights. He escaped from prison during The Undertaking. It is revealed that the Count let Barton Mathis out, another criminal that likes to kill his victims with a liquid, and dress them up as pretty dolls. Six months later, he returned under his commonly known name in the comics, "Count Vertigo". Once again, he put Vertigo out on the street and poisoned almost the entire city with it, by using flu injection vans throughout the city. He even managed to infect Adam Donner and John Diggle. Felicity Smoak, the person that found his delivering method, was taken hostage by Count Vertigo when she came to investigate. He was able to put the pieces together, and figured out that Oliver Queen is the vigilante. Count Vertigo called Oliver from Oliver's office at Queen Consolidated, and informed him that he abducted Felicity. After Oliver arrived, he tried to talk the Count out of harming Felicity. When the Count threatened to inject Felicity with Vertigo, Oliver killed him with three arrows to the chest, which caused him to fall through the window where he landed on top of a car parked next to the building. The Count's death caused many to believe The Arrow has started killing people once again, an assumption that was proven wrong. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Count Vertigo was sent to kill the Arrow by Sebastian Blood.
Trivia
- In the comics, Count Vertigo, whose real name was Werner Vertigo, had the ability to disorient his victims using a chip planted in his skull, which is manifested in Arrow as the drug called Vertigo.
- Count Vertigo is easily one of the most vilest villains in the Arrowverse, alongside Dollmaker, Werner Zytle, Matthew Shrieve, The Trickster, Lonnie Machin, Zoom, Vandal Savage and Konstantin Kovar.
- According to actor Seth Gabel, his performance as Count Vertigo was based on Batman's greatest foe and archenemy, The Joker.
- Interestingly, after his death in Season 2, his real name wasn't revealed until Season 5 by Adrian Chase.
