Nite Owl I
Hollis Mason was a policeman who became a "masked adventurer" after being inspired by the New York Gazette's article on Hooded Justice. After years of serving on The Minutemen, he wrote a book called "Under the Hood", which exposed much about the Minutemen, most notably the attempted rape of Sally Jupiter (Silk Spectre I) by The Comedian. After the dissolution of The Minutemen and the rise of Doctor Manhattan, he elected to retire and work on old cars, passing his mantle on to a fan, Dan Dreiberg, who would become Nite Owl II. Later, on Halloween, 1985, during the riot that broke out after Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II freed Rorschach from prison, a violent street gang attacked Mason in his home, mistaking him for the current Nite Owl, and beat him to death in one of the most gruesome scenes in the novel.
Silk Spectre I
Sally Juspeczyk was an ex-waitress and burlesque dancer before becoming a crimefighter on the advice of her agent, and future husband, Laurence Schexnayder. Silk Spectre I was indecently assaulted by The Comedian, but the attack was ended upon Hooded Justice's intervention. An emotionally turbulent second encounter with the Comedian resulted in the birth of her daughter, Laurel, who would become Silk Spectre II. Silk Spectre I was involved in a tumultuous marriage with Schexnayder, which subsequently ended in divorce. Both her appearance in a Tijuana bible and her career as a burlesque dancer suggest she welcomes male attention. She later retires to a rest home in California.
Captain Metropolis
Nelson Gardner, an ex-Marine Lieutenant, was one of the more active proponents of The Minutemen group; he suggested that a collaboration of forces would be the most effective way to fight crime. "Social ills" motivate him to fight crime; however, what he defines as a "social ill", for example anti-war demonstration, belies the fact that his motivations for changing the world are selfish, or at least conservative, rather than pro bono publico, although he insists that this isn't true.
It is also suggested that he was involved in a homosexual relationship with Hooded Justice, thus necessitating a need for Sally Jupiter (Silk Spectre I) and Hooded Justice's sham relationship in order to keep the public from suspecting any relationship, which would subsequently damage the image of The Minutemen.
Hooded Justice
An extremely large, imposing figure, Hooded Justice, whose real identity is not revealed in Watchmen but who some claim is ex-circus strongman Rolf Muller, was the first of the costumed vigilantes. Strong rumours persist, implying that he was in fact a homosexual; Hooded Justice interferes with The Comedians attempt to rape Silk Spectre I, punching The Comedian. The Comedians response implies that Hooded Justice has a penchant for homosexual sadism, and that The Comedian will seek vengeance for his intervention. Sally Jupiter, or Silk Spectre I, posed as his girlfriend, but this was generally believed to be a sham relationship set-up to avoid anti-homosexual sentiments against The Minutemen.
Hooded Justice vanished when The Minutemen were questioned by the House Un-American Activities Committee, and was never seen again. There is speculation that he was killed by The Comedian, the results of the grudge that The Comedian held against him for interfering with his rape on Sally Jupiter.
Mothman
Something of a minor character, Byron Lewis was also investigated by HUAC, and had difficulty clearing his name. This is considered to be the starting point of the alcoholism that consigned him to a sanatorium. He is not a main focus of the storyline, but appears in flashbacks, at one point reduced in his later years to fragile sanity, unnerving the second Silk Spectre. He is regarded fondly by most of the Minutemen, and the first Nite Owl sends the second to visit him, uncostumed, on his behalf.
Dollar Bill
Dollar Bill was originally a star college athlete from Kansas who was actually employed as an in-house super-hero by one of the major, but unnamed, national banks. While attempting to stop a raid upon one of his employer's banks, his cloak became entangled in the bank's revolving door and he was shot dead at point blank range before he could free it. In "Under the Hood", Hollis Mason's tell-all book, he described Dollar Bill as an honest, friendly young man, and laments on the stupidity of capes because of this. Interestingly enough, Dollar Bill's clear commercial motivations (public identity, hired by a bank) are never commented on by his peers or the subsequent generation of vigilantes who all seem to regard him as a worthy hero - even Rorschach, who condemns Ozymandias for his commercialization, laments Dollar Bill's untimely death.
In the movie The Specials, the character of U.S. Bill was originally called Dollar Bill. However, DC would not allow the use of the name for a superhero character.
In the movie The Incredibles, there are two scenes with superheroes/villains whose capes have gotten caught or snagged on various objects, leading to their deaths. This could be based on Dollar Bill's accident, given the number of other possible references in the film, or it could be that the writers could have simply had the same idea.
Silhouette
Ursula Zandt became a crimefighter in 1939, and subsequently joined The Minutemen. In 1946 she was expelled from the group when it was publicly revealed that she was a lesbian; six weeks later she and her lover were killed by an adversary seeking revenge. A Jew who left Austria due to the rise of Nazism, she caused Sally Jupiter annoyance by refering to her Polish origins; Jupiter often denied her upbringing in Poland. Along with Mothman, she is one of The Minutemen about which little is known.
Rorschach & Nite Owl I-III: Nite Owl and Rorschach, working together, bring down Big Figure and the Underboss in 1965. And then that could lead to possibly two more prequels with Rorschach and Nite Owl. Focus more on the events leading up to Keane Act and then after. Perhaps do more foreshadowing of the Watchmen. The final Rorschach film could end with the start of Watchmen.
