Watchmen showrunner Damon Lindelof opened up about that shocking Hooded Justice reveal in last night’s episode.
Major spoilers regarding Watchmen episode six ahead!
Watchmen‘s sixth episode featured a major reveal that retcons the original graphic novel. In the Watchmen comic book, the one character who’s backstory is a mystery is Hooded Justice, who is the first superhero. It is speculated in the comic that Hooded Justice is Rolf Muller by Hollis Mason, the original Night Owl. However, Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen series revealed that Hooded Justice is actually Will Reeves.
A few episodes back, it was revealed that Will Reeves was the grandfather of Angela Abar, who is the main character of the Damon Lindelof series. After Angela takes her grandfather’s nostalgia pills, she relives his past where she sees how he became Hooded Justice. Damon Lindelof spoke with Collider about that massive Hooded Justice reveal in the recent Watchmen episode:
“That was one of the first ideas I had. I’ve been obsessed with who was Hooded Justice, it was this great unanswered mystery from the original Watchmen and Alan Moore didn’t want it to be answered, and so I had to start with saying the most active piece of hubris I could possibly engage in — trying to answer who was Hooded Justice. But if I’m going to do that I have to also answer the following question, which is why did he hide his identity? Why was Hooded Justice’s identity kept from us? When all the Minutemen were on a first-name basis with each other; they know that the comedian is Eddie Blake, they call him Eddie; they know that Nelson Gardener is Captain Metropolis, they call him Nelly; they knew that Byron is Mothman, they call him Byron. Why did no one one call Hooded Justice by his first name? Why did they only call him HJ? Why did no-one know who he really was? I have to answer that question satisfyingly.”
In the Watchmen comic book, Hooded Justice is seemingly a white man underneath his mask, however it turns out Will Reeves used makeup to conceal his race. Damon Lindelof goes on to explain why they decided on Will Reeves becoming the first superhero, Hooded Justice:
“And the answer was, what if he was an African American man and he had to hide his identity because you could not be a black superhero in the 1940s? You would literally be murdered if your identity was known. That idea scared the living daylights out of me but I couldn’t shake it, and the entire season was all about trying to pull that off in some authentic way.”
What are your thoughts on Damon Lindelof’s comments? Did you enjoy the Hooded Justice reveal? Comment below!
Here is the official synopsis for Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen:
Set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws, WATCHMEN embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel while attempting to break new ground of its own.
Watchmen stars Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Jean Smart, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, and James Wolk. The series is produced for HBO by White Rabbit in association with Warner Bros. Television, based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel co-created and illustrated by Dave Gibbons and published by DC.
Watchmen airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
Source: Collider
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