HBO’s Watchmen added to the rich universe that Alan Moore created with his comic book series and brought it into a familiar but different present day. To close out our Watchmen recaps, we’re revisiting the big, universe-altering bombshells of the season.
The Truth About Hooded Justice
At first, the Watchmen series and Angela Abar felt distant from the events of the comics. But, the revelation that Will Reeves, the mysterious old man in the wheelchair, was the hero known as Hooded Justice reframed, not only the series, but the entire mythos of the universe. Hooded Justice was considered the first of the masked heroes and inspired the creation of the Minutemen.
Even the show within the show, American Hero Story, assumed that Hooded Justice was just a white man who turned to vigilantism to be a hero. The truth was that Will Reeves, a survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre and a cop, saw racial injustices and conspiracies around him and understood that a mask helped him do what his badge couldn’t to correct them.
The Statue of Adrian Veidt
Lady Trieu brought a gold statue of Adrian Veidt, a person who she claimed was a mentor and benefactor. Not only did we learn that Lady Trieu’s biological father was Veidt, the gold statue itself was him as well. Trieu rescued him from the isolated utopia that Dr. Manhattan created from Europa. She preserved him as a statue and reanimated him to see her carry out her master plan to destroy Dr. Manhattan and take his powers.
The Blue Husband
Speaking of Dr. Manhattan, we learned that he wasn’t actually hanging out on Mars this whole time. Angela had fallen in love with Jon Osterman, a.k.a. Dr. Manhattan, in Vietnam. He took the identity of a dead man with no family, became Calvin Jelani, and married Angela. They moved to Tulsa together, knowing their time together would be limited. Though Angela couldn’t stop his capture and death, it appeared that Jon may have been able to pass some of his powers onto her.
If you’ve missed a recap or want to revisit the entire Season 1 of Watchmen, check out our full list of recaps below.
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 4 Recap
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 5 Recap
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 6 Recap
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 7 Recap
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 8 Recap
- Watchmen Season 1 Episode 9 Recap