List of ''Watchmen'' characters

The six main characters of the 1986 comic book limited series Watchmen (from left to right): Ozymandias, the second Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, the Comedian (kneeling), the second Nite Owl and Rorschach

Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins, published by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987. Watchmen focuses on six main characters: the Comedian, Doctor Manhattan, the Nite Owl, Ozymandias, Rorschach, and the Silk Spectre. These characters were originally based on the Mighty Crusaders[1] and then reworked in an unsolicited proposal to fit superhero properties DC had acquired from Charlton Comics in the early 1980s. Series writer Alan Moore created the main characters to present six "radically opposing ways" to perceive the world, and to give readers of the story the privilege of determining which one was most morally comprehensible.[2]

Main characters

The Comedian

The Comedian is a vigilante from the comic miniseries Watchmen. His real name is Edward Morgan Blake. The Comedian was initially based on the Shield and then on the Charlton Comics character Peacemaker, with elements of the Marvel Comics spy character Nick Fury added. Moore and Gibbons saw The Comedian as "a kind of Gordon Liddy character, only a much bigger, tougher guy".[3] Gibbons went with a Groucho Marx-style appearance (mustache and cigar) for the Comedian in his design, deciding that the "clown" look had already been appropriated by the DC Comics supervillain the Joker.[4] His costume itself was noted by Gibbons as being particularly problematic; he was initially designed with a more militaristic costume which was later dropped for a black leather outfit with a "rapist mask".[4] He believes that humans are savage in nature, and that civilization can never be more than an idea. He, therefore, chooses to become a mockery of society, fighting and killing without reservation.

Blake's murder, which takes place shortly before the story begins in 1985, sets the plot of Watchmen in motion. The character appears throughout the story in flashbacks and aspects of his personality are revealed by other characters.[5] Richard Reynolds described The Comedian as "ruthless, cynical, and nihilistic, and yet capable of deeper insights than the others into the role of the costumed hero".[5] Nicholas Michael Grant said the Comedian is "the only character in the Watchmen universe who is almost totally unlikeable."[6]

In the Watchmen film, he is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The film also places him as John F. Kennedy's assassin, as shown in the opening montage. In Watchmen: The End is Nigh, the Comedian is voiced by Mark Silverman.

Doctor Manhattan

Dr. Jonathan "Jon" Osterman is a vigilante and the only character with superpowers,[7] with the arguable exception of Ozymandias, who could possibly possess superhuman speed. He was originally a physicist who was transformed into a blue, irradiated powerful being after he was disintegrated in an Intrinsic Field Subtractor in 1959. He had returned to the chamber to retrieve his girlfriend's watch (which he had repaired), and was accidentally locked inside when the Subtractor started automatically. Osterman was blown into atoms, with nothing left of his body. Within a few months, his disembodied consciousness managed to reconstruct a physical body for itself, after several hideous partial reconstructions. Following his reanimation, he is immediately pressed into service by the United States government, which gives him the name Doctor Manhattan, after the Manhattan Project. Though he dabbles briefly in crime-fighting, his greatest influence is to grant the U.S. a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union during the Cold War, with his most significant action taking place after he is personally asked by President Richard Nixon to intervene in the Vietnam War, leading to an unqualified victory for the U.S. with the defeat of North Vietnam and the Vietcong, preventing the collapse of the Saigon government. Since he works for the U.S. government, he is exempt from the provisions of the Keene Act, but spends much of his time doing advanced technology research and development, and physics research. He is single-handedly responsible for the shift to electric-powered vehicles (by synthesizing the needed elements and chemicals himself) and Veidt credits him with causing a huge leap forward in myriad areas of science and technology. As a result, the technology of the alternative 1985 of the Watchmen universe is far more advanced. After the death of his father in 1969, he does not conceal his birth name and is referenced as "Jon" or "Dr. Osterman".

In the Watchmen film, Doctor Manhattan is a CGI character whose body is modeled after fitness model Greg Plitt, with voice, motion capture, and facial performance provided by Billy Crudup (who also plays Osterman prior to his transformation). In Watchmen: The End is Nigh, Doctor Manhattan is voiced by Crispin Freeman.

Nite Owl

Nite Owl II (Daniel Dreiberg) is a superhero who uses owl-themed gadgets, in a manner which led Dave Gibbons to consider him "an obsessive hobbyist... a comics fan, a fanboy."[8] Nite Owl was partly based on the Ted Kord version of the DC Comics superhero Blue Beetle. Just as Ted Kord had a predecessor, Moore also incorporated an earlier adventurer who used the name "Nite Owl" (the retired crime fighter Hollis Mason) into Watchmen.[3] While Moore devised character notes for Gibbons to work from, the artist provided a name and a costume design for Hollis Mason he had created when he was twelve.[9] Richard Reynolds noted in Super Heroes: A Modern Mythology that despite the character's Charlton roots, Nite Owl's modus operandi has more in common with the DC Comics character Batman.[10] According to Geoff Klock, his civilian form "visually suggests an impotent, middle-aged Clark Kent."[11] The second Nite Owl is another vigilante who has not revealed his identity in the post-Keene Act era throughout the novel.

"Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #1" establishes that Dan Dreiberg's mother was physically abused by his father. Dreiberg's obsession with the original Nite Owl led him to plant a remote microphone device on Hollis' vehicle in order to track him down.[12] It also establishes the events of how he was taken in as his apprentice: His father dies of an apparent heart attack while beating Dan's mother (Dan and his mother hold off calling for an ambulance) At the funeral, Hollis, having since discovered Dan's abusive childhood via police reports, confronts Dan and agrees to take him on as his sidekick. However, after training him, Hollis announces his retirement and informs Dan that he is giving him the Nite Owl identity rather than creating a sidekick persona for him. It is also revealed that Rorschach met Nite Owl on Dan's very first patrol and offered his assistance as a partner to the young rookie hero.[12]

In the Watchmen film, he is played by Patrick Wilson, who put on 25 pounds (11 kg)[13] in between the filming of his flashback scenes and the 1985 scenes, showing the physical decline of his character.

Ozymandias

Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt) was a former superhero who draws inspiration from his hero Alexander the Great and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, for whom he is named. A child prodigy, he graduated from high school and college before he was 18 and learned the art of lying as he hid the full scope of his brilliance for most of his childhood after being accused of cheating. When he inherited his family's fortune upon his parents' death in a car accident, Adrian gave it away to see if he could be a success by himself. Veidt traced Alexander the Great's path across the globe and ultimately returned to the United States, where he became a successful businessman. However, when his business partner and would-be love interest overdosed on drugs (purchased with funds given to her by Adrian as a gift to allow her to have fun in New York City one night), Veidt decided to avenge her death as a superhero. His costume was conceived as a Halloween costume but he quickly developed a name for himself as a hero.[14] Two years before the Keene Act passed, Veidt went public with his secret identity and began merchandising his alter ego as he became one of the most important businessmen in the USA. However, his fear of a nuclear war between the USSR and the USA, plus a rivalry with the Comedian (who unknowingly planted the idea of stopping the inevitable nuclear holocaust into Veidt's head), led to him engaging in the vast conspiracy at the heart of the Watchmen series.

Ozymandias was directly based on Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt, whom Moore had admired for using his full brain capacity as well as possessing full physical and mental control.[3] Veidt is believed to be the smartest man on the planet, even capable of outsmarting Dr Manhattan. His combination of intelligence and highly advanced fighting skills makes him perhaps the most feared and dangerous of the mortal vigilantes. He was even able to catch a bullet fired at him (Chapter XII, page 15). He is often accompanied by his genetically-engineered lynx, Bubastis. Richard Reynolds noted that by taking initiative to "help the world", Veidt displays a trait normally attributed to villains in superhero stories, and in a sense he is the "villain" of the series; however, he purposely acts for an objective greater good, thus avoiding the traditional "villain" classification, which is typically self-serving, delusional or evil.[15] Gibbons noted "One of the worst of his sins [is] kind of looking down on the rest of humanity, scorning the rest of humanity."[16] In 2008, he was ranked number 10 on the Forbes Fictional 15.[17] Wizard magazine also ranked Ozymandias as 25th Greatest Villain of All Time and IGN ranked him as 21st Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.[18]

In the Watchmen film, Veidt is played by Matthew Goode. His costume was designed to parody the rubber suits featuring nipples in the film Batman & Robin. This incarnation of Veidt uses a German accent when speaking with friends and an American accent when speaking publicly. Instead of breeding a giant monster and placing it in New York to massacre half the city as in the comics, Veidt destroys New York, along with many major cities across the globe, with energy blasts designed to look as though Doctor Manhattan had caused it, bringing world peace.

Rorschach

Rorschach is a noir private detective-themed vigilante who wears a white mask with constantly shifting ink blots. Rorschach continues to fight crime in spite of his outlaw status, eventually making the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List. He was born Walter Joseph Kovacs, the son of an abusive prostitute by a man whose last name his mother never bothered to learn, and spent much of his childhood in a home for troubled youth, after which he began working in a garment factory. After reading about the murder of Kitty Genovese and the reported complete indifference of the witnesses of the crime, he modified a special fabric that she had ordered, according to him, to create a mask and became a vigilante, eventually forming a productive partnership with Nite Owl II. In 1975, after failing to rescue a young girl, he lost all faith in humanity and began to embrace extremist right-wing ideology.

When the story begins, a man is seen walking around New York carrying a sign that reads, "The End Is Nigh," but it is not until several chapters later that the reader learns that this man is Kovacs/Rorschach.

Moore based Rorschach on the Steve Ditko creations The Question and Mr. A. Moore said he was trying to "come up with this quintessential Steve Ditko character — someone who's got a funny name, whose surname begins with a 'K,' who's got an oddly designed mask".[19] As a result, Rorschach's real name is given as Walter Kovacs. Ditko's Charlton character The Question also served as a template for creating Rorschach.[3] Comics historian Bradford W. Wright described the character's world view as "a set of black-and-white values that take many shapes but never mix into shades of gray, similar to the ink blot tests of his namesake". Rorschach sees existence as random and, according to Wright, this viewpoint leaves the character "free to 'scrawl [his] own design' on a 'morally blank world'".[20] Moore said he did not foresee the death of Rorschach until the fourth issue when he realized that his refusal to compromise would result in him not surviving the story.[2]

Rorschach is close friends with the second Nite Owl. He is the first hero Rorschach meets with when Comedian is killed[21] and Nite Owl organizes a rescue mission to free Rorschach from jail when he is arrested.[22] Before Watchmen: Nite Owl reveals that Rorschach was active as a hero before Nite Owl made his debut and on the latter's first night out as a hero, Rorschach sneaks into his owl ship and offers his services to Nite Owl as a partner.[12]

In Doomsday Clock, Kovacs is succeeded by Reginald "Reggie" Long, son of Dr. Malcolm Long, the psychologist in Watchman who was assigned to evaluate Rorschach after he is apprehended.

In the Watchmen film, he is played by Jackie Earle Haley.

Silk Spectre

Laurel Jane "Laurie" Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre) is the daughter of Sally Jupiter, the first Silk Spectre. Laurie's mother apparently wanted her to follow in her footsteps and so she fought crime for ten years before the Keene Act banned vigilantes. Unlike the other protagonists, Silk Spectre was not based on a particular Charlton character, although her relationship with Dr. Manhattan is similar to that between Captain Atom and the heroine Nightshade. Moore felt he needed a female hero in the cast and drew inspiration from comic book heroines such as Black Canary and Phantom Lady.[3]

Laurie is kept on retainer by the government because of her relationship with Doctor Manhattan and lives on a government base at the beginning of the comic. When Doctor Manhattan leaves Earth, the government has her removed from the base and suspends her expense account, forcing her to move in with Dan, with whom she starts a romantic relationship. At the end of the eighth issue, Doctor Manhattan appears and takes her to Mars because he knows she wants to convince him to save the world. On Mars, she realizes that The Comedian was her biological father. After the final encounter with Veidt at the end of the series, she assumes the identity of Sandra Hollis and continues her relationship with Dan. An offhand comment to Dan, in which she claims to want a better costume, with leather and a sidearm, implies she's thinking about taking over her late father's identity, thus becoming the second Comedian.

In the Watchmen film, she is played by Malin Åkerman. In a 2003 draft script by David Hayter, which was reviewed by IGN, Laurie uses the name Jupiter, and the alter ego name "Slingshot".[23] The former detail seems to have been retained in the final version of the film (though the Nite Owl's goggles gave her last name as her mother's maiden name, Juspeczyk). The film gives her date of birth as December 2, 1949. Silk Spectre was ranked 24th in Comics Buyer's Guide's 100 Sexiest Women in Comics list.[24]

Minor characters

Key to the success of Watchmen is the wide range of characters it features beyond the 'main' stars. Moore stated in 1988 that, in Watchmen, "we spend a good deal of time with the people on the street. We wanted to spend as much time detailing these characters and making them believable as we did the main characters."[25] Moore and Gibbons deliberately wanted all their characters "to have a place in this vast organic mechanism that we call the world."[25] The fleshing-out of the world was, in Moore's words, to demonstrate that "all the way through the entire series human life is going on with all of its petty entanglements and minor difficulties and all the rest of it."[26] Moore adds that it is possible to see the story as being as much about the supporting as the main characters:

What Nixon does and what Dr. Manhattan does and what Veidt does — it affects the people on the street corner but only peripherally, indirectly... And yet, in some ways, those people on the street corner, it's their story. They're the people we're concerned about.[26]

Minutemen

The Minutemen are a superhero group that came before the Watchmen. The group was founded in 1939 during the Golden Age. The group later disbanded in 1949 following some public controversies. Among its notable members are:

Hollis Mason

Hollis Mason is the first Nite Owl who retired in 1962, and author of the autobiography "Under The Hood" which appears in excerpts throughout the story. Hollis was the only member of the Minutemen who did not have any social problems and mainly enjoyed being a costumed adventurer. On Halloween 1985, The Knot-Tops led by Derf assault Hollis in retaliation for the release of Rorschach, which was caused by Nite Owl II (Daniel Dreiberg) and Silk Spectre II (Laurie Juspeczyk). Derf hits Hollis on the head with Mason's own Nite Owl trophy killing the former superhero (in the film, this event is only depicted in the director's cut version). Hollis' death was avenged when Derf is among those killed by Ozymandias' giant monster.

Before Watchmen: Night Owl #1 showed that Dan Dreiberg's obsession with the original Nite Owl led him to plant a remote microphone device on Hollis' vehicle in order to track him down.[12] At the funeral of Dreiberg's father, Hollis discovered Dan's abusive childhood via police reports. He confronted Dan and agrees to take him on as his sidekick. After training Dan, Hollis instead announced his retirement and granted Dan the Nite Owl identity, rather than creating a sidekick persona for him.

In the film, he is played in old age by Stephen McHattie, and in youth by Clint Carleton.

Sally Jupiter

Sally Jupiter (real name Sally Juspeczyk) is the first Silk Spectre and founding member of the Minutemen who is now retired. She is later the domineering "stage mom" of Laurie Juspeczyk (who becomes Silk Spectre II). Sally married her manager, Laurence Schexnayder, shortly after retiring. She narrowly avoided being raped by the Comedian, although years later she had a consensual affair with him, and ultimately bore his child. Sally adores the attention she receives from fans of "The Silk Spectre", though Laurie is repulsed at her mother's sexually explicit exploits in promoting herself.

In the film, she is played by Carla Gugino.

Captain Metropolis

Captain Metropolis (real name Nelson "Nelly" Gardner) is a former Marine Lieutenant. He was one of the more active members of the Minutemen, having organized its formation. Metropolis was involved in a sexual relationship with Hooded Justice. The relationship was reported to be abusive, with Hooded Justice abusing and cheating on Metropolis until H.J.'s mysterious disappearance in the early 1950s, elaborated on below in the character's own thumbnail. In the 1960s, the Captain unsuccessfully attempted to recruit the second generation of superheroes into a new group called the Crimebusters. He was killed in a car accident in 1974 that left him decapitated.

He was played in the film by Darryl Scheelar.

Hooded Justice

Hooded Justice is the first masked vigilante, often initialled "H. J." by his teammates. His real identity is never conclusively revealed but in Hollis Mason's book it is suggested to be circus strongman Rolf Müller.

This is retconned heavily in Before Watchmen: Minutemen #6, where we learn that he is not Rolf Muller (a character that sexually abused and killed children), but it is strongly implied that he is Muller's son or ward, Jacob. Assuming that he himself was a victim of Muller's abuse, it explains a great deal about his violent persona, costume, and mask. A violent vigilante, Hooded Justice shared a romantic homosexual relationship with Captain Metropolis and a deep-seated rivalry with Comedian, after he prevented Blake from sexually assaulting Silk Spectre. Hooded Justice's relationship with Metropolis was a fractured one; Justice repeatedly cheated on his boyfriend with male prostitutes, physically abusing them in sadomasochist sexual encounters. This resulted in bribery of his lovers and the usage of Silk Spectre as his public girlfriend. He ultimately disappeared in the 1950s after refusing to cooperate with HUAC's new policy on costumed vigilantes. In the original novel it is suggested that he was murdered either by the Comedian for voting him out of the Minutemen (as Ozymandias believes), or by the Stasi of his native East Germany. In the retcon we learn that Hollis Mason, mistakenly believing him to be Muller, attacked Hooded Justice and snapped his neck, killing him. He was never actually unmasked, and Metropolis burned down the headquarters with his former lover's body inside; it later turns out that the Comedian was the one who misdirected Mason to believe that Justice was Muller, so Ozymandias was partially right. Much of the "Under the Hood" information on Muller and HJ is revealed to be a deliberate lie on Mason's part. This may be contrary to the intent of the original novel. In chapter 1, the fourth panel of page 25 focuses on two old men sitting affectionately together near Dan and Laurie in Rafael's restaurant. They look very much like older versions of Rolf Muller and Nelson Gardner, and it was speculated by many fans that these were in fact Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis, who had faked their deaths in order to retire and be together. Dave Gibbons said this was unintended but allowed that it might be true. In the retconned world of Before Watchmen, it is obviously not the case.

In the film, Hooded Justice was played by Glenn Ennis who speaks the character's one line with a subtle German accent.

Dollar Bill

Dollar Bill (real name William Benjamin "Bill" Brady) is a bank-sponsored member of the Minutemen who was created for publicity purposes. While he is described as having no actual superpowers, Dollar Bill was known for having apparently supernatural luck, surviving many things that should have outright killed him. Socially conservative, he is portrayed in Before Watchmen as homophobic (barely tolerating his homosexual Minutemen colleagues) and close friends with the ultra-right-wing Comedian, voting to let him stay after the attempted rape of Sally Jupiter. He dies during a bank robbery in 1947 when his cape is caught in the bank's revolving doors, allowing the robbers to shoot him at point-blank range. This was a problem he warned his employers about, but they insisted the cape had to be part of the costume as Mason laments in his book. Even Rorschach, who dislikes Ozymandias for making his superhero alter-ego into a toy line, laments Dollar Bill's death while Hollis Mason commented in his book that his death would've been averted if Dollar Bill designed his own costume.

In the film, he is portrayed by Dan Payne.

Mothman

Mothman (real name Byron Lewis) is a former member of the Minutemen who suffered from alcoholism and mental illness later in life. Lewis had a privileged upbringing and sought to help the less fortunate and fight oppression and corruption as a crimefighter. To this end, Lewis created a costume with special wings that helped him glide, dubbing himself "Mothman". However, a series of near death experiences in perfecting his wings left Lewis in constant pain and a drug addict and an alcoholic, with him requiring a drink each time before he flew for "courage". Lewis's mental stability ultimately deteriorated after he was called before HUAC, leading to him being forcibly brought to a mental asylum in Maine, but was briefly released for the Minutemen's reunion.

In Doomsday Clock #2, the obituary in the newspaper revealed that Mothman is dead. In Doomsday Clock #4, a flashback involving the earlier history of Reggie revealed that he met Mothman at the same asylum following the alien monster's attack. Reggie and Mothman grow closer as Mothman plans to train Reggie to defend himself against the guard Jason. When Reggie saw the news that exposed Veidt's involvement with the alien monster attack, he set fire to the asylum as Mothman sees the fire and states that it is calling to him and walks towards the fire.

In the film, he is portrayed by Niall Matter.

Silhouette

The Silhouette (real name Ursula Zandt) was a gun-toting vigilante and member of the Minutemen. Before Watchmen gave a new backstory, that Ursula was motivated by the deaths of her parents and sister at the hands of the Nazis in their native Austria. According to the first Nite Owl, Silhouette was the first member of the Minutemen who went public with her career as a super-hero, when she busted a child pornography ring in New York. She had a close working relationship with Nite Owl and, after being forced out of the Minutemen (upon being publicly outed as a lesbian), continued to work with Nite Owl. She investigated a string of child murders until she and her lover Gretchen were killed by The Liquidator, a criminal she had fought years earlier as seen in Before Watchmen: Minutemen #4. In the film, the words "lesbian whores" scrawled on the wall at the scene of her murder implied that her killer was motivated by homophobia and not necessarily revenge.

She is portrayed by Apollonia Vanova in the film.

Adversaries

The following are villains in Watchmen:

Moloch the Mystic

Moloch The Mystic (real name Edgar William Jacobi, also known as Edgar William Vaughn, and William Edgar Bright ) is a former supervillain who fought the Minutemen. Moloch was jailed for a time during the 1970s. He is dying of cancer, which he received from Adrian Veidt. Moloch was later murdered by Adrian, who frames Rorschach.

In the film, he is primarily played by Matt Frewer, with Mike Carpenter playing Moloch as a younger man in various flashbacks.

Liquidator

Liquidator is a costumed criminal who was active in the 1940s and was first seen in Before Watchmen: Minutemen #4. He was the one who killed Silhouette and her lesbian lover. Some days later, he was killed by Sally Jupiter.

Big Figure

Big Figure is jailed dwarfish crime boss and former adversary of Nite Owl and Rorschach. He tries to get revenge when Rorschach is imprisoned in the same prison as he is only for him and his minions to get killed by Rorschach during a prison riot.

In the film, he is played by an uncredited Danny Woodburn.

Twilight Lady

Twilight Lady is a dominatrix-styled villain of Nite Owl II, seen only in an autographed photograph and erotic dream sequence in the original novel. The character has two completely different origins in later material written by other writers.

In the video game Watchmen: The End is Nigh which is set in the 1970s, Twilight Lady (voiced by Courtenay Taylor) is established as a madam whose clients include many high-profile Washington politicians, who she blackmails for state secrets and money. In the game, Nite Owl II and Rorschach must fight her and the Comedian, the latter of whom is ultimately sent to kill the Sin Queen to stop her extortion racket.

However, Before Watchmen: Nite Owl portrays her as a dominatrix who befriends Nite Owl II when a fight between Dan and a crook spills over into her place of work. Falling for the hero and inspired by his heroic actions, she adopts the "Sin Queen" alias and becomes a super-hero, investigating a series of prostitute murders along with Nite Owl and a jealous Rorschach. The murderer of the prostitutes turns out to be a fire and brimstone minister whom Rorschach is friends with; Nite Owl rescues the Sin Queen, whom the minister kidnaps and threatens to burn alive. The near death experience causes her to give up her would-be career as a hero. Dan lied to Laurie about her being a former lover of his, and passed her off as a criminal who was fixated on him to hide their relationship.

Other characters

Doug Roth

Doug Roth is a reporter for Nova Express. He is present at Dr. Manhattan's interview with Ted Koppel and reveals that several of his coworkers died of cancer, presumably from Manhattan. This leads to Manhattan's self-imposed exile on Mars.

Roth was played by John Shaw in the film.

Janey Slater

Janey Slater is the first girlfriend of Dr. Jon Osterman. She leaves him in 1966 after she perceives a relationship building between Osterman and Laurie. Veidt gives Janey cancer as part of his scheme to exile Dr. Manhattan. Janey erroneously believes that Jon Osterman gave it to her.

In the film, she is played by Laura Mennell.

Bernard

Bernard is a newsdealer who appears periodically on the central New York street corner. Bernard is amongst the many characters who dies when Veidt's monster appears in New York, and he dies trying to protect his young namesake. Moore has stated that he "is in some ways every man, because he's a complete prat and doesn't know what's going on... [h]e is like a lot of people, he is a function of the news... [regurgitating news headlines] think[ing] that's an opinion."[27]

Malcolm Long

Malcolm Long, Ph.D. is the psychologist who is assigned to evaluate Rorschach after he is apprehended. He is initially very hopeful of curing Rorschach, even though his utter lack of emotion makes Long's psychological evaluation techniques useless. Rorschach's unveiling of events that shaped his uncompromising mindset greatly affects Dr. Long's own outlook and marriage. Malcolm and his wife die when Veidt's monster appears in New York.

In Doomsday Clock, Malcolm has a son named Reggie who became the second Rorschach.

In the film, he's played by William S. Taylor.

Detective Steven Fine

Detective Steven Fine is the police officer that investigates Edward Blake's murder, and captures Rorschach. He deduces that Dan Dreiberg is Nite Owl II, and hints at this to Dreiberg in an effort to warn him away from further activity. Fine dies when Veidt's monster appears in New York.

He is portrayed by Jerry Wasserman in the film.

Detective Joe Bourquin

Detective Joe Bourquin is the partner to Detective Steven Fine. Bourquin dies when Veidt's monster appears in New York.

In the film, he is renamed Detective Gallagher and is portrayed by Don Thompson.

Seymour

Seymour is a junior worker at the New Frontiersman magazine offices, designed by Moore to be "the ordinary common slob".[25] He is the final character in Watchmen, playing a pivotal role in the final pages, whom Moore describes as "the most low-life, worthless, nerdy sort of character in the entire book who finally has the fate of the world resting in his pudging fingers".[25]

It is revealed in Doomsday Clock #1 that he was “brutally beaten to death” after the publication of Rorschach’s journal.

In the film, Seymour is played by Chris Gauthier.

Bubastis

Bubastis is a genetically-altered red lynx with stripes that was created by Ozymandias, who she served as his sole companion. When meeting with a toy company, Adrian Veidt asked for the toy company to make a toy of Bubastis as well. When Doctor Manhattan was lured into the intrinsic field subtractor, Veidt regretfully apologizes to Bubastis and turns on the machine which kills Bubastis and temporarily disassembles Doctor Manhattan.

In the film, Bubastis has blue skin.

Alien Monster

The Alien Monster (referred to by fans as the Squid) is a 100 ft. giant squid-like monster with one eye, dozens of long muscular tentacles, and an exposed brain. It was created by Ozymandias as part of his plan to save the world from a nuclear holocaust. Adrian Veidt had transported science fiction writers Max Shea and James Trafford March, surreal artist Hira Manish, and an assortment of other writers, artists, and scientists to his private island under the impression that they are being used for a top secret movie production. It took several months to genetically-engineer the monster where its brain was actually the cloned brain of the deceased psychic Robert Deschaines which was augmented by a psychic resonant device. Once it was complete, Veidt had the ship that was taking them home blown up to erase his involvement in what will happen next. At midnight on November 2, 1985, Veidt teleported the Alien Monster into the heart of New York City, where its tentacles and large sections of its body exploded upon impact. In addition, the Alien Monster's brain unleashed a massive psychic shockwave that caused thousands more deaths. Its dead body was discovered by Doctor Manhattan and Silk Spectre.

In Doomsday Clock #3, the Alien Monster was seen in Rorschach II's nightmare.

In the film, the Alien Monster was replaced with exploding energy reactors that generating a Radioactive Decay Signature similar to Doctor Manhattan as a way to frame him for the retaliated attack in light of the cancer allegations against him.

Doomsday Clock characters

This is a list of original characters that appear in the Watchmen sequel series Doomsday Clock.

Bubastis II

Bubastis II is a genetically-altered lynx that is the pet of Ozymandias and the successor of the original Bubastis. It was later revealed to have been cloned from the original Bubastis as it had some of the energy needed to track Doctor Manhattan.

Rorschach II

Rorschach (real name Reginald "Reggie" Long) is the son of Malcolm Long who becomes Walter Kovacs's successor as the new Rorschach. He is recruited by Ozymandias as his new employee in his quest to find Doctor Manhattan where their search for him takes them to the DC universe.

Mime and Marionette

Mime and Marionette (real names Marcos Maez and Erika Manson) are a criminal husband-and-wife team. Mime wields invisible weapons while Marionette wields wires.

As a child, Erika has a father who owns a shop that sells marionettes who befriends a mute kid named Marcos Maez. When her father hung himself when threatened by crooked cops, she and Marcos badly beat up the cops which started their life of crime.

They got imprisoned for theft and murder until they were freed by Rorschach II on Ozymandias' behalf. Ozymandias offered Marionette and Mime an opportunity to find their son if they help him find Doctor Manhattan. While in the DC Universe after arriving in one of Nite Owl's old owlships, Mime and Marionette wander the streets of Gotham City where they end in Joker's territory. After killing Joker's henchmen while having a drink at the bar, both of them plan to look for Joker. They finally meet Joker at the top of the Gotham City Police Department as one of Joker's henchmen brings the defeated body of Batman to him. The two of them accompanied Joker to the underground villain meeting held by Riddler which is crashed by Comedian. By the time Comedian catches up to Mime and Marionette, Joker saves them from Comedian by using his joy buzzer on him. Joker admits that he has taken a liking to Mime and Marionette.

Inspired by Charlton Comics characters Punch and Jewelee.

References

  1. ↑ Khoury, George (December 2008). The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore (Indispensable ed.). TwoMorrows. p. 109.
  2. 1 2 Eno, Vincent; El Csawza. "Vincent Eno and El Csawza meet comics megastar Alan Moore". Strange Things Are Happening. May/June 1988.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Cooke, Jon B. "Alan Moore discusses the Charlton-Watchmen Connection". Comic Book Artist. August 2000. Retrieved on October 8, 2008.
  4. 1 2 Gibbons, Dave; John Higgons (2008). Watching the Watchmen. United States: DC Comics. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-84856-041-3.
  5. 1 2 Reynolds, p. 106
  6. ↑ Paige MacGregor (August 14, 2008). "Fatal Attraction: Hating to Love Watchmen's Comedian". Hating to Love Watchmen's Comedian. Fandomania. Retrieved 21 November 2009.
  7. ↑ Wright, p. 272
  8. ↑ Gibbons, "Watchmen Round Table: Moore & Gibbons" in David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview (1988), p. 47
  9. ↑ Kallies, Christy. "Under the Hood: Dave Gibbons". SequentialTart.com. July 1999. Retrieved on October 12, 2008
  10. ↑ Reynolds, p. 32
  11. ↑ Klock, p. 66
  12. 1 2 3 4 Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #1
  13. ↑ Amsden, David (1 March 2009). "Patrick Wilson, Superstar". New Yorker. Retrieved 14 April 2009.
  14. ↑ Watchmen #11 and Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #1
  15. ↑ Reynolds, p. 110
  16. ↑ "Talking With Dave Gibbons". WatchmenComicMovie.com. October 16, 2008. Retrieved on October 28, 2008.
  17. ↑ Ewalt, David M. "The Forbes Fictional 15 No. 10 Veidt, Adrian". Forbes.com. December 18, 2008. Retrieved on January 17, 2009.
  18. ↑ Ozymandias is number 21 Archived 2012-06-16 at the Wayback Machine., IGN.
  19. ↑ Stewart, Bhob. "Synchronicity and Symmetry". The Comics Journal. July 1987.
  20. ↑ Wright, p. 272–73
  21. ↑ Watchmen #1
  22. ↑ Watchmen #10
  23. ↑ Stax. "The Stax Report: Script Review of Watchmen." IGN. September 9, 2004. Retrieved on March 5, 2009.
  24. ↑ Frankenhoff, Brent (2011). Comics Buyer's Guide Presents: 100 Sexiest Women in Comics. Krause Publications. p. 23. ISBN 1-4402-2988-0.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Christopher Sharrett, "(Interview with) Alan Moore," in David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview #65 (1988), p. 7
  26. 1 2 Moore, "Watchmen Round Table: Moore & Gibbons," in David Anthony Kraft's Comics Interview #65 (1988), p. 37
  27. ↑ Moore in Comics Interview #65 (1988), p. 41
  • Klock, Geoff. How to Read Superhero Comics and Why. Continuum, 2002. ISBN 0-8264-1419-2
  • Reynolds, Richard. Super Heroes: A Modern Mythology. B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1992. ISBN 0-7134-6560-3
  • Wright, Bradford W. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Johns Hopkins, 2001. ISBN 0-8018-7450-5
  • Gibbons, Dave. "Watching the Watchmen: The Definitive Companion to the Graphic Novel". Titan Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84856-041-3
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.