- "I'm Count Vertigo, and I approve this high!"
- —Count Vertigo[src]
Count Vertigo, formerly known as The Count, was the dealer and creator of a drug called Vertigo. He received his original nickname because his first customers, or "victims", were left with a mark by the injection of the drug on their neck, shaped like a vampire's bite. The Count was killed by Oliver Queen when he tried to kill Felicity Smoak.
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.
In "Unfinished Business", it was 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 then dress them up as pretty dolls. Six months later, he returned under his commonly known name in the comics, "Count Vertigo". He, once again, 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. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that Count Vertigo was sent to kill the Arrow by Sebastian Blood.
Personality
Count Vertigo was psychotic, sadistic, ruthless, unreasonable, and a person who took great pleasure in seeing people suffer, but after he was injected by his own drug Vertigo by The Arrow, he became a shell of his former self. However, when he returned as "Count Vertigo", his personality returned to as it used to be.
Appearances
Season 1
Season 2
- "State v. Queen"
- "Three Ghosts" (mentioned)
- "Streets of Fire" (mentioned)
Trivia
- In the original DC comics, Count 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. The DC comics version of Count Vertigo first appeared in World's Finest Comics #251. The character was created by Gerry Conway, Trevor Von Eeden, and Vince Colletta.
- Count Vertigo interestingly deduced Oliver's identity as The Arrow, purely based on Oliver's connection to Felicity Smoak.
- Count Vertigo mentioned that he was given his chance to make Vertigo again by a mysterious man, this man was revealed to be Sebastian Blood.