Is the Comedian in 'Watchmen' on HBO? Eddie Blake's story, explained
"Once you realize what a joke everything is, being the Comedian is the only thing that makes sense."
The original Watchmen story opens on the Comedian/Edward Blake’s death at the hands of a masked figure later revealed to be Ozymandias/Adrian Veidt. HBO’s Watchmen takes place decades later. So is it possible that the Comedian survived and somehow shows up in the new miniseries premiering Sunday night on HBO? The answer is more complicated than you think.
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Yes, the Comedian died in Watchmen, but any comic book fan can tell you that no superhero is ever gone for good. Dead characters come back all the time, and that’s exactly what happened in comic series Doomsday Clock, a crossover between the DC universe and Watchmen that launched in 2017 and concludes in December 2019. (For what it’s worth, Watchmen co-creator Alan Moore personally disavowed the sequel, so purists may not consider it part of the official story.)
Anyway, in Doomsday Clock, we learn that Eddie Blake was actually saved at the last minute by Doctor Manhattan, who transported the Comedian to Earth-Prime (where Batman and Superman hang out). While there, Blake comes into contact with the Joker and few other new characters, including the supervillain duo Mime and Marionette (who have confirmed roles in HBO’s Watchmen). Most important, the Comedian is still alive but in Mime and Marionette’s custody at this point in the story.
With Mime and Marionette set to appear in the HBO series, it’s possible that the Comedian could turn up too. Then again, that would be a pretty huge twist for fans who’ve only read the original comic or seen the movie, and it would require a lot of exposition in a nine-episode mini-series with limited time to tell a complicated story.
Even if the Comedian remains dead in Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen adaptation, that doesn’t mean he won’t turn up at all. There’s at least one moment in a flashback where he makes a very brief (and blurry) appearance onscreen. Blink and you’ll miss it, but if the question is simply: Does Eddie Blake show up in HBO’s Watchmen at all? Then the answer is yes.
Watchmen premieres on Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO.
