Warning! Spoilers ahead for Rorschach #7!
As the mystery of DC Comics' Rorschach continues to unfold in the Watchmen universe, it's just been revealed that their version of Spider-Man is also a pirate. Due to costumed vigilantism and superpowers being a reality in the universe created by Alan Moore, pirates take the place of superheroes as the prevailing comic book genre. Rorschach writer Tom King has taken some fun liberties in the series' latest issue, turning some of the more popular pirate characters into counterparts for superheroes in Marvel and DC Comics, including the most popular pirate being a dead ringer for the Amazing Spider-Man.
The series from Tom King with art by Jorge Fornés has seen the return of Rorschach in the present, despite the original having been killed by Dr. Manhattan in the original Watchmen storyline from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Now, new Rorschachs have emerged, and the first one was revealed to be comic book creator Wil Myerson. Working with a paranoid young woman known as The Kid, the pair of them were recently killed during their attempt to assassinate a presidential candidate, leading a detective to try and get to the bottom of who they were and their motives.
In the Watchmen universe, Myerson is credited with creating one of the biggest pirate heroes of all time known as Pontius Pirate. Just like with Marvel and DC superheroes, blockbuster movies have been made about the character, and the swashbuckling hero has a large fan following. Not only that, but Rorschach #7 reveals that Pontius Pirate is the Watchmen counterpart for Spider-Man, first appearing in "Astonishing Suspense #15", mirroring Spider-Man's own debut in the real Amazing Fantasy #15. This makes sense considering that Myerson is supposed to be the fictional equivalent to Spider-Man creator Steve Ditko.
Remarkably, Tom King has been using Rorschach as a means to create his own brand of commentary on the comics genre and its overall impact on society. Likewise, the detective soon meets with a fictionalized version of the iconic Frank Miller (though he has the same name). In Watchmen, Miller was apparently credited for his more serious take on the Seaman with his Dark Fife series, which culminated with The Dark Fife Returns, clearly a parallel for his work on Batman and The Dark Knight Returns. However, due to the Kid's ability to influence different men into believing they're the next Rorschach, Miller himself is dressed up as such during his interview with the detective, sharing details about his relationship with Myerson and the seance tape they listened to that convinced Myerson and The Kid to kill the candidate, believing that they were being given instructions from Doctor Manhattan himself.
With Myerson having been killed, it appears as though the next known Rorschach is surprisingly this fictional version of Frank Miller, provided there's not any other versions of Rorschach that The Kid managed to create. In any case, the fact that the Watchmen universe's pirate characters have actual superhero equivalents like Spider-Man is pretty interesting, allowing King to make his commentary, comparisons, and allegories even more palpable as the series continues from DC Comics.