Hooded Justice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hooded Justice | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Hooded Justice is a fictional superhero who appeared in the graphic novel Watchmen published by DC Comics in 1986.
[edit] Character history
Hooded Justice is credited with being the first costumed superhero to appear in the Watchmen universe in the fall of 1938. Described as a large man, built like a wrestler, he wore a mostly black and red costume, with a mask that resembled that of a Ku Klux Klansmen. Almost nothing is known about his origin, and no one, except possibly Captain Metropolis, has seen him without his trademark mask. When Captain Metropolis formed the superhero team the Minutemen, he was one of the first members, later joined by Silk Spectre, the Silhouette, Nite-Owl, the Comedian and Mothman.
Not long into their partnership, dissention was already growing between members of the team, and on one occasion Hooded Justice prevented Comedian from raping the Silk Spectre by beating him mercilessly. To this Comedian responded that Hooded Justice got pleasure in causing pain and being brutal, implying that his crime fighting activities served as more of a parallel to sexual release. Hooded Justice denied this, and the Comedian swore his eventual revenge on him for the assault.
Unknown to the general public at this time, Hooded Justice had a relationship with fellow gay teammate Captain Metropolis, in which Hooded Justice appeared to be the more dominant partner, judging by a letter written by Laurence Schexnayder. To cover up the relationship, Silk Spectre often pretended to be his girlfriend in public (possibly as a favor to him for saving her from the Comedian). Hooded Justice himself would also have rough sex sessions with young men, adding further validity to the Comedian's earlier assertion.[1]
In 1949, the Minutemen disbanded, and six years later Hooded Justice was ordered to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee for growing speculation that he was a Communist supporter. Soon after, he disappeared and was never heard from again. Not long after that, a corpse tentatively identified as former circus strongman Rolf Muller was found, and immediate speculation began as to whether Muller and Hooded Justice were one and the same. Right wing sources speculated that Muller, being of East German descent, was a Communist agent. However, it is also known that prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hooded Justice spoke in favor of the activities of the Third Reich, hardly something characteristic of a supposed Communist; whether or not a homosexual man would have supported either the Communists or the Nazis is questionable in and of itself. One possibility to all this is that the Comedian, being a government anti-Communist agent, somehow played in these events to deface Hooded Justice's character and finally get his revenge. The full story of Hooded Justice's life and the events surrounding his death continues to be a mystery.
[edit] Powers
Hooded Justice has no powers to speak of, but he does have a tremendous amount of strength and tolerance to pain.
![[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Watchmen_letter.jpg){kind=link}