Comedian (Watchmen)

"It's a joke. It's all a joke. Mother, forgive me."

- The Comedian's last words

The Comedian is an amoral "super-hero" in the comic book and the secondary antagonist of the 2009 film, Watchmen. His real name is Edward Morgan Blake and he also goes by his nickname "Eddie". He was a member of both the original Minutemen and the Crimebusters (however he was expelled from the Minutemen after trying to rape another member and the Crimebusters never really took off as a group). He was promoted the film's main antagonist, but this was a misinformation campaign to hide the film's true main villain.

Biography
Edward Blake may have been on the heroes' side, but he was a violent and sadistic sociopath who was mainly interested in heroism as an excuse and means to hurt criminals. Later, the Comedian worked for the corrupt government and did even more apprehensible things as a soldier in the Vietnam War.

Blake's reasons for doing the things he does are not necessarily clear, but due to the harsh upbringing he must have endured while living during the Great Depression, it's assumed he cast aside any feelings of decency in order to survive. The Comedian sees everything he does as insignificant as the deeds of the few are never enough to change the world. This line of thinking often put him at odds with his teammates whose whole reason for donning costumes and fighting crime was to inspire people and make life better. After finding out that Ozymandias was planning to create world peace by annihilating most of New York, the Comedian's philosophy was shaken as he was forced to admit that this plan would work.

Despite his cruel nature, the Comedian was never completely heartless. During World War II, he saved by a Soloman woman and her son. When he returned to base, his captain ordered that whole area to be wiped out, killing both the woman and her son in the process. He slit the captain's throat to avenge them. This inspired him to reconnect with Sally Jupiter. He seemed geniunely remorseful for what he had done to her and the two had an affair which led to Laurie's birth. Upon figuring out that Laurie was his child, Blake quietly watched over her, albeit in an over-controlling manner such as threatening her boyfriend after Laurie took drugs. As approched old age he began to soften in his actions and only killed or maimed those he was ordered to.

The Comedian's Wrong-Doings

 * Beat up and attempted to rape the original Silk Specter but was stopped by Hooded Justice.
 * Beat up and killed innocent bystanders.
 * Burned people alive in Vietnam, while lighting a cigar with the flames.
 * Killed a woman he had an affair with, while pregnant with his baby, all because she cut his face.
 * Treating everything that he's done as a joke.
 * He killed Woodward and Bernstein for Richard Nixon. Implied in the original comic and outright shown in the videogame prequel. In the latter he also framed Underboss for the killings.
 * The movie depicts the Comedian killing John F. Kennedy, based on a joking remark in the original comic book. However, the prequel comic book starring him reveals that he did not kill JFK, but did kill Marilyn Monroe on behalf of JFK's wife.

Plot
The Comedian was a member of the original Minutemen. Throughout the movie The Comedian has committed several crimes, because he thought that humans were savages and should be treated like a joke. He eventually found out that Ozymandias was planning to kill roughly 2 million people (15 million in the movie) to save billions. Frightened, he went to see his old enemy, Moloch, telling him that he was the closest friend the Comedian had. When Ozymandias found out, he and the Comedian fought each other. Ozymandias easily outmatched him and he murdered the Comedian by tossing him out a window. The other masked heroes investigated the Comedian's death and they found out that Ozymandias was the one who murdered the Comedian, because he found out about his plan.