Gender: Female
First Appearance: "Deadly Force"
Other Appearances: "The Edge," "The Silver Falcon," "City of Stone" Part III, "Revelations," "Protection," "Turf," "Hunter's Moon" Parts I-III, "The Journey" (scene deleted), "...For It May Come True"
Maria Chavez was Captain of Detectives in the 23rd Precinct of the NYPD. She was Elisa Maza's superior. Acquainted with the Maza family, she provided support for them when Elisa was shot, as well as assuring them that Tony Dracon (the presumed shooter) would be brought to justice. Along with Matt Bluestone, Chavez did just that, arresting him when he was found with the guns he'd stolen.
Following Elisa's recovery and reassignment to active duty, Chavez partnered her with Matt Bluestone, a decision which was not initially popular with Elisa but which she made for Elisa's own safety and well-being. Some time later, when Matt disappeared while hunting for "Mace" Malone, Maria contacted Elisa, hoping that she would have some knowledge of her partner's whereabouts. She did not, prompting Chavez to ask Elisa to try to find him. This was fortunate for Matt, as it eventually saved him from Tony Dracon.
During the "City of Stone" crisis, Captain Chavez informed Elisa that the broadcast with Demona's spell originated at Pack Media Studios, which led to Elisa's confronting Xanatos. Later, Maria inadvertently set into motion the events that led Matt Bluestone to learn about the Manhattan Clan by contradicting one of Elisa's excuses about her whereabouts.
Soon after, Maria Chavez also helped trick Dracon into believing that Elisa had become a bad cop. Then, she went undercover with Officer Morgan as the proprietors of a dry cleaner's, in their efforts to expose Tony Dracon's protection racket. However, when they refused to pay Dracon's thugs, Pal Joey gassed them and left them to be killed by a bomb. Fortunately, they were saved by Broadway (though they never knew it).
What Captain Chavez did during Elisa's absence from New York (during her Avalon World Tour) is unknown, but when Elisa returned (calling it "personal time"), she was willing to re-accept her (mostly because of Elisa's skill and Matt's support). A few weeks later, she had Elisa on another undercover case, this time posing as "Salli," a recruit to Tomas Brod's gang. With Elisa on the inside, they were able to stop Brod's gang war with Dracon and imprison the lot of them.
When Jason Conover came to town, Chavez assigned Elisa to day shift temporarily so that she could show him the ropes. A few days later, Maria was injured in the Hunters' attack on the clock tower, suffering damage to her leg. She remained in the hospital during the revelation that gargoyles lived in Manhattan, though she was visited by Matt and Elisa.
As soon as she was able, Maria Chavez resumed her duties as Captain of Detectives. She has been back in that role since.
In the Goliath Chronicles, Maria Chavez appeared in the dream-world created by Titania to teach Goliath his value. There, she was looking for volunteer officers to help track down the gargoyles, which she perceived as a threat to the city.
In Puck's nightmare future world, Maria Chavez was dead, being survived by a daughter.
Maria Chavez had the same police training as Elisa, and thus possesses self-defense and other police-related skills.