Watchmen (comics)/Characters: Difference between revisions

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A veteran 'hero' who was vicious even when young, and has since become a full-blown hired gun on government payroll. Dies on the first page, though we only later find out why.

* [[Anti Hero]]: Type V

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type V

* [[Heroes Want Redheads|Anti-Heroes Want Redheads]]

* [[Asshole Victim]]

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A star college athlete from Kansas who was hired by a bank to be their in-house superhero. Died in 1947, when during an attempt to foil a bank robbery, his cape got caught in the door and he was shot.

* [[All American Face]]

* [[All-American Face]]

* [[Born Lucky]]: According to the [[All There in the Manual|RPG]], his sporting and superhero career were studded with incredible strokes of good luck. Up until a certain day, that is...

* [[Impractically Fancy Outfit]]: The bank who sponsored him insisted that he wore the cape that led to his untimely death.

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Possibly the first costumed superhero. Little is known about him, save that he was extremely violent and brutal, and a supporter of the KKK and Nazis. Disappeared in 1955, possibly at the hands of The Comedian.

* [[Anti Hero]]: [[Sliding Scale of Anti Heroes|Type IV or V]]

* [[Anti-Hero]]: [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|Type IV or V]]

* [[Berserk Button]]: Seeing women hurt, possibly. His first appearance involved him stopping a rape (crippling one of the attackers in the process), he beat the Comedian severely following his attack on Sally Jupiter, and [[All There in the Manual|according to the backstory presented in the RPG]] Rolf Muller's father abused his mother -- Until thirteen-year-old Rolf beat the crap out of him.

* [[The Berserker]]

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* [[I Was Quite a Looker]]

* [[Ms. Fanservice]]

* [[My God What Have I Done]]: Later in life, she would decry the expulsion of The Silhouette from the Minutemen as unjust.

* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: Later in life, she would decry the expulsion of The Silhouette from the Minutemen as unjust.

* [[Pass Fail]]: Changed her name from Juspeczyk to cover up her Polish heritage.

* [[Redheaded Hero]]

* [[Rule ~~Thirty Four~~]]: [[In Universe]]. Sally has an unlicensed porno comic ''of herself'' among her memorabilia, making this trope Older Than The Internet.

* [[Rule 34]]: [[In Universe]]. Sally has an unlicensed porno comic ''of herself'' among her memorabilia, making this trope Older Than The Internet.

* [[Stocking Filler]]

* [[White Dwarf Starlet]]

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* [[Achilles in His Tent]]

* [[Amazing Technicolor Population]]

* [[Anti Hero]]: Type I

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type I

* [[Blessed With Suck]] / [[Cursed With Awesome]]: Manhattan's power. The accident erased him from existence, but he [[Unexplained Recovery|came back]] with godlike powers. Then again, he's gradually detaching from the rest of humanity...

* [[Blue and Orange Morality]]: Even after rediscovering the value of life, he sees life in terms of predictable/unpredictable, instead of good/evil.

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* [[Insignificant Little Blue Planet]]: Dr. Manhattan sees it this way. All life on earth could end, "and the universe would not even notice."

* [[Nigh Invulnerability]]

* [[No Plans No Prototype No Backup]]

* [[No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup]]

* [[Non Linear Character]]

* [[Non-Linear Character]]

* [[Not So Stoic]]: He only shows genuine emotion during his interview and later {{spoiler|when Adrian attempts to destroy him}}.

{{quote| '''Doctor Manhattan''': Please if everyone would just go away and ''leave me alone''... I SAID! LEAVE ME ALONE!}}

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* [[Physical God]]

* [[Power Glows]]

* [[Pro Human Transhuman]]: At times.

* [[Pro-Human Transhuman]]: At times.

* [[Reed Richards Is Useless]]: Averted. His presence and abilities have definitely solved many of the world's problems. (Not as many as he ''could'' solve, though.)

** Lampshaded by Niteowl I. He states that he plans to run a car repair shop after he puts up the cape, saying that even Dr. Manhattan can't change cars. Manhattan then explains how he can do ''exactly that''.

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A former superhero fan, then full-fledged superhero, and now retired intellectual. A gadget-based hero who flies the night skies in his state-of-the-art airship, Archie, he sometimes questions his use of million-dollar technology to fight petty crime.

* [[Anti Hero]]: Type I

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type I

* [[Ascended Fanboy]]

* [[Ambiguously Jewish]]: [[All There in the Manual|Apparently]] a lapsed Calvinist of Dutch extraction.

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** [[Badass Bookworm]]

* [[Bash Brothers]]: With Rorschach

* [[Red Oni Blue Oni|Blue Oni]]: To Rorschach (Red Oni)

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|Blue Oni]]: To Rorschach (Red Oni)

* [[Covert Pervert]]

* [[Cool Airship]]: Archie

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* [[I Call It Vera]]: He calls his airship "Archie", short for [[The Sword in The Stone (Disney)|Archimedes]].

* [[I Just Want to Be Normal|I Just Want To Convince Myself That I'm Normal]]

* [[In ~~Harms~~ Way]]: He probably could have gone on without it, but it's clear he missed his old hero days and was eager to go back.

* [[In Harm's Way]]: He probably could have gone on without it, but it's clear he missed his old hero days and was eager to go back.

* [[The Lancer]]

* [[Legacy Character]]: He even wrote a letter to his predecessor for permission to use the Nite Owl name.

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* [[Technical Pacifist]]

* [[Token Good Teammate]]: Alan Moore says that of all the Watchmen, he is the most like a classic superhero.

* [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys]]

* [[Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?]]

* [[Wide Eyed Idealist]]

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* {{spoiler|[[Ambiguously Evil]]: Was his master plan tragic, but necessary or just wrong?}}

** It can be both.

* {{spoiler|[[Anti Villain]]: Type III}}

* {{spoiler|[[Anti-Villain]]: Type III}}

* [[Ambiguously Gay]] (Movie only)

{{quote|'''Rorschach's Journal:''' Possibly homosexual? Must remember to investigate further.|His computer has a file in it titled "Boys". }}

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* {{spoiler|[[The Chessmaster]]}}

* [[Contemplative Boss]]

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Averted. Adrian really isn't motivated by greed or a lust for personal power. {{spoiler|He's a [[Knight Templar]] or [[Well Intentioned Extremist]], but [[Screw the Money I Have Rules|not a sellout]].}}

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: Averted. Adrian really isn't motivated by greed or a lust for personal power. {{spoiler|He's a [[Knight Templar]] or [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], but [[Screw the Money, I Have Rules|not a sellout]].}}

* [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]]: {{spoiler|"Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago."}}

* {{spoiler|[[Fallen Hero]]}}

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{{quote| ''Although he's DREIBERG's age, his face is serene and unlined by worry. Blond and pale, he looks thirty. When he's sixty he'll look forty.''}}

* [[Reed Richards Is Useless]]: He was averting this ''long'' before {{spoiler|...well, it hardly needs to be said at this point.}}

* [[Right Hand Cat]]: Ozymandias's genetically-engineered lynx, Bubastis.

* [[Right-Hand-Cat]]: Ozymandias's genetically-engineered lynx, Bubastis.

* [[Self Made Man]]: He inherited a fortune. He donated all of it and proceeded to make his own fortune from scratch; just to prove that it's possible.

* [[Self-Made Man]]: He inherited a fortune. He donated all of it and proceeded to make his own fortune from scratch; just to prove that it's possible.

* [[Superheroes Wear Capes]]

* [[Technical Pacifist]]

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* [[The Unfettered]]

* {{spoiler|[[Villain With Good Publicity]] / [[Visionary Villain]]}}

* {{spoiler|[[Well Intentioned Extremist]]}}

* {{spoiler|[[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]}}

* {{spoiler|[[You Are Too Late]]: Was originally the trope namer, and has one of the most iconic uses of it.}}

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* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: The "holding a handshake too long" scene that demonstrates Nite Owl II's sexual tension for Silk Spectre II is mirrored later with confirmed bachelor Rorschach doing the exact same thing to Nite Owl II.

** Although that may be due to the fact that he has [[No Social Skills]].

* [[Anti Hero]]: Type IV or V.

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type IV or V.

** Type II or III during the early days of his career. He was in better health mentally, being a vigilante was still legal, and he would leave criminals to be arrested by the police, instead of murdering them. But the Keene Act and mentally snapping after the brutal murder of a girl [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|had driven him nearer to the edge]].

* [[The Anti Nihilist]]: Rorschach believes that rules and principles are the most important in life ''because'' the world has no more meaning than the one we impose on it.

* [[Anti Villain]]: Type III

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Type III

* [[Asexual]]: He likes to think of himself as this, although he may not be completely asexual due to his active Oedipal hang-ups. He says once that putting on his mask lets him be free of "fear or weakness or lust", and he once had some kind of creepy wet-dream nightmare about his mom when he was a kid. Of course, this may signify the start of his asexuality.

{{quote| "I had feelings when I woke up. Dirty feelings, thoughts and stuff. The dream, it sort of upset me, physically. I couldn't help it. I feel bad just talking about it."}}

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* [[Conspiracy Theorist]]

* [[Civvie Spandex]]

* [[Coat Hat Mask]]

* [[Coat, Hat, Mask]]

* [[Cool Mask]]: Made from a failed prototype for a designer dress. Contains black fluids in latex which move from heat and pressure but never mix into grey.

* [[Crazy Survivalist]]

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** [[Double Subverted]]: ...but he was onto something with his "mask killer" theory; he was, initially, the only person to notice something odd.

* [[Pet the Dog]]: Rorschach may be batshit insane, [[Axe Crazy]] and treat even his team-mates with suspicion and abuse, but he does make it very clear that he ''does'' value his friendship with Nite Owl and even apologizes when Nite Owl calls him out on his behaviour.

* [[Pint Sized Powerhouse]]: The guy's 5'6". He wore elevated heels as a part of his outfit.

* [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse]]: The guy's 5'6". He wore elevated heels as a part of his outfit.

* [[Principles Zealot]]: '''YES'''.

* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Indeed, he is right to suspect right after the Comedian's murder that it's the beginning of a plot to off superheroes.

* [[Redheaded Hero]]

* [[Redheaded Stepchild]]

* [[Red Oni Blue Oni|Red Oni]]: To Nite Owl (Blue Oni)

* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|Red Oni]]: To Nite Owl (Blue Oni)

* [[Running Gag]]: He keeps breaking into Dan's house throughout the novel, forcing Dan to call the locksmith.

** Even more ironic when you notice the locksmith is the [[Meaningful Name|"Gordian Knot Lock Company"]].

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* [[Action Girl]]

* [[Anti Hero]]: Type I

* [[Anti-Hero]]: Type I

* [[Badass Normal]]

* [[Beauty Mark]]: Has the same mole as her mother's.

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* [[The Heart]]: Managed to keep six (briefly seven) people together as an effective crime-fighting team, in spite of their neuroses and occasional hatred for each other. Perhaps a subversion in that he didn't actually ''care'' about any of the individual members (except for Sally) and dumped the team when he saw that they weren't going to be profitable for much longer.

* [[May December Romance]]: With Sally. He seems to have hooked up with her when she was about seventeen or eighteen.

* [[May-December Romance]]: With Sally. He seems to have hooked up with her when she was about seventeen or eighteen.

=== Moloch (Edward Jacobi) ===