Summary
Watchmen’sending ranks among the greatest plot twists in comics history, but one obscure piece of franchise paraphenalia inadvertently teased Ozymandias’ villainous turn inAlan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal work.An RPG module published soon after the originalWatchmenrun detailed one hero’s dark turn years before Ozymandias’ terror plot, showing that Moore and Gibbons’ world was never a simple superhero story of good vs. evil.
Set in the 1960s, theWho Watches the Watchmen?RPG – written by Dan Greenberg – features a plot in which people close toWatchmen’svarious vigilantes are kidnapped. Captain Metropolis suggests that it is the work of crime boss Moloch, suggesting that the heroes team up to find their missing loved ones.
However, as the story progresses, players uncover the complicated truth of the kidnappings – in a reveal that mirrors the iconic ending of the graphic novel, as one hero is discovered to be the true mastermind who set the game’s events in motion.
Published in 1987, theWho Watches the Watchmen?RPG has the distinction of being one of the only pieces ofWatchmenmedia to be officially sanctioned by Alan Moore. The adventure takes place in 1966, right after the failed“Crimebusters” meeting set up by Captain Metropolis, depicted inWatchmen#2.
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Captain Metropolis' Dark Turn
The ultimate revelation of Captain Metropolis staging the kidnappings is a shrewd way to foreshadow Ozymandias’ plan to “save” the world inWatchmen.
In theWho Watches the Watchmen?RPG adventure, players can assume the role of famousWatchmenheroes like Nite Owl, Rorschach, Silk Spectre,the Comedian and Ozymandiasand embark upon an investigation that takes them into the heart of a vast conspiracy - one that could wind up hitting rather close to home, depending upon how the campaign goes. If players uncover enough evidence in their investigation, they’ll eventually learn that it wasnoneother than Captain Metropolis himself, who staged the kidnappings in a vain attempt to assemble the Crimebusters team,when all else had failed.
The ultimate revelation of Captain Metropolis staging the kidnappings is a shrewd way to foreshadow Ozymandias’ plan to “save” the world inWatchmen, and is in keeping with the self-reflexive nature of Moore and Gibbons’ original work. RPG writer Dan Greenberg manages to keep true to the themes ofWatchmenthrough the roleplaying adventure, with the story artfully existing within the same murky morality as presented by the original comic, through which creatorAlan Moore revolutionized the entire approach to superheroesand foreverchanged the comic book medium.
The RPG’s details help to sell the reality ofWatchmen’s alternate history, such as Captain Metropolis using the civil unrest of the 1960s to his advantage, by attempting to shift blame to civil rights and peace activists during the course of the investigation.
In the world of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’Watchmen, every character is more complicated than they initially appear.
Captain Metropolis’s Dark Turn Parallels Ozymandias’ Actions in Watchmen
Extension Of A Theme
This “villainous” turn Captain Metropolis takes is entirely in keeping withWatchmen’s view of the world, primarily because Metropolis is trying to save the world in his own way, much like Adrian Veidt would attempt on a much grander scale two decades later. Even though he stages the kidnappings and even commits murder along the way,Captain Metropolis thinks he is acting in the best interests of the public at large, not realizing it ultimately amounts to villainy.In the world of Alan Mooreand Dave Gibbons’Watchmen, every character is more complicated than they initially appear.
Watchmen
In the mid-eighties, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created Watchmen, changing the course of comics' history and essentially remaking how popular culture perceived the genre. Popularly cited as the point where comics came of age, Watchmen’s sophisticated take on superheroes has been universally acclaimed for its psychological depth and realism.
