Watchmen: Nite Owl

With the Watchmen movie coming up, it's understandable that the topic will come up in conversation occasionally. However, every time it does I get an odd look the moment I mention my favourite Watchmen character.

Nite Owl.

People just look at me as if I misprounouced the name of my fiance on the alter, but it's true.

"But he's so boring!"
"He doesn't really DO anything."
"He's like Batman without anything interesting."

One particular interpretation I've heard of the Watchmen shows three of the main characters as 'aspects' of Batman. Veidt is Batman's intelligence without his morality or desire for vengeance, Rorscharchs is Batman's vengeance without his cunning or morality, and Nite Owl is Batman's gadgetry and sense of justice.

Nite Owl is just a guy who is morally good at heart who happens to have a knowledge of mechanics/electronics and a desire to help the world, who gets in WAY over his head.

The others are either so crazy, have their heads so far into the clouds or so caught up in their own problems they don't really notice just what they're getting into. Nite Owl is the one person who has his head on his shoulders firmly enough to realise what's happening is bigger then any of them (well, except maybe one or two).

Rorsharch is an amazing character, but there's nothing actually LIKEABLE about him, same with the Comedian. Both of them are FRIGGIN' MENTAL. Veidt and Dr Manhattan are both highly interesting character studies of what would occur if you gave people these abilities, but still they're not particularly empathisable, and I, for one, never felt like I could relate to them. Silk Spectre was too caught up in her own problems, and I never really got a feel for the character.

Nite Owl is a (relatively, he still dresses as an Owl and fights crime) sane individual who just wanted to try and help. When the Keene act passed, he didn't have some grand scheme to avoid it, or just go crazy and ignore it. He was as surprised as anyone and was afraid to break it.

Let's face it, all nerds have harboured hidden dreams of one day being a superhero, and for most of us Nite Owl is a look at who we would have become had we done so. A relatively normal person who is out of his/her depth, but still tries to do their best. I find that incredibly relatable, which I imagine was the point to the character. It's Nite Owl who grounds the whole story, his feeble protests that remind us that what's happening IS extraordinary, something we often forget in the constant realm of comic books where death is temporary and breasts are forever perky.

I am looking forward to seeing Nite Owl in action in the movie.