An Watchmen TV show image is revealed showing the full lineup of the Minutemen, the precursors to the Crimebusters team that formed the ensemble of protagonists who were the focus of the comics and movie. Despite the popularity of Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the seminal comic, the series disregards its events and instead follows on from the comics, while also subtly altering established canon to flesh out its own history and gradually revealing what happened to the comic’s main characters.
Watchmen is set in a modern day alternate reality that takes place three and a half decades after the events of the comic, where police officers wear masks to protect their identities and families from a ruthless group of white supremacists, also featuring disconnected scenes involving the slightly surreal exploits of Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias, now an old man imprisoned on a country estate, in addition to historical explorations into the gradual growth of vigilantism.
In keeping with the latter of these facets and posted to the Twitter account of HBO, the image shows the ‘40s vigilante team the Minutemen, which from left to right consists of Silhouette, Mothman, Dollar Bill, Nite Owl, Captain Metropolis, the Comedian, Silk Spectre and Hooded Justice. The image is one of a number of panels from the comic Watchmen has recreated or referenced, and was posted with the none-too-subtle caption, “There’s always one joker who kneels in front,” referencing the crouching character of the Comedian.
Although much emphasis is placed on Alan Moore as the writer of the Watchmen comic due to his iconic contributions to the medium’s history and development, just as significant is the art of Dave Gibbons. As well as the aforementioned panel recreations, the comic is full of enough distinctive visuals and iconography that they are easily recognized when duplicated as Easter eggs via flashes of visual references.
The most recent episode of Watchmen, “This Extraordinary Being,” gave us the backstory for Hooded Justice, so it’s not unreasonable to assume others of the original team might receive further use should it become relevant to the plot of the show, especially since several of them were little more than footnotes in the comic’s history and so have plenty of opportunity for further development. This especially applies to the Comedian. Given his significant role in the events that preceded the comic, as well as the emphasis the show is continuing to place on injustices of the past returning to affect the present, this brief flash is unlikely to be all that we will see of him.
Watchmen airs Sundays at 9pm on HBO.
Source: HBO