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Patrick Wilson as
Daniel Dreiberg / Nite Owl II


Nite Owl II is a superhero who uses owl-themed gadgets, in a manner which led Dave Gibbons to consider him "an obsessive hobbyist... a comics fan, a fanboy." Nite Owl was partly based on the Ted Kord version of the DC Comics superhero Blue Beetle.

Just as Ted Kord had a predecessor, Moore also incorporated an earlier adventurer who used the name "Nite Owl" (the retired crime fighter Hollis Mason) into Watchmen. While Moore devised character notes for Gibbons to work from, the artist provided a name and a costume design for Hollis Mason he had created when he was twelve.


Richard Reynolds noted in Super Heroes: A Modern Mythology that despite the character's Charlton roots, Nite Owl's modus operandi has more in common with the DC Comics character Batman.


According to Geoff Klock, his civilian form "visually suggests an impotent, middle-aged Clark Kent." The second Nite Owl is another Crimebusters vigilante who has not revealed his identity in the post-Keene Act era throughout the novel.


"Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #1" establishes that Dan Dreiberg was an abused child whose obsession with the original Nite Owl led him to plant a tracking device on Hollis' vehicle in order to track him down.


It also establishes the events of how he was taken in as his apprentice: after Hollis threatened violence if Dan attempted to contact him again (due to him not wanting a sidekick), Dan returned home to find all of his prized Nite Owl memorabilia having been destroyed by his father, who was assaulting his mother (who tried to stop him) while demanding that Dan watch him beat his mother.


Dan retreated to his now emptied room while his dad died under mysterious circumstances (his mom claims that he suffered a heart attack while beating her and mother and son decided to withhold medical treatment out of anger for what he did).

At the funeral, Hollis (having since discovered Dan's abusive childhood via police reports) confronts Dan and agrees to take him on as his sidekick. However, after training him, Hollis announces his retirement and informs Dan that he is giving him the Nite Owl identity rather than creating a sidekick persona for him.


It is also revealed that Rorschach met Nite Owl on Dan's very first patrol and offered his assistance as a partner to the young rookie hero. Snyder cast Wilson after watching 2006's Little Children, which also co-starred Haley. Wilson put on 25 lbs. to play the overweight Dreiberg. He compared Dreiberg to a soldier who returns from war unable to fit into society.




Resources: imdb.com, Wikipedia.org




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He returns to Moloch's apartment, but he discovers that Moloch is so recently dead that his cigarette is still smoldering. The police have the building surrounded and know that Rorschach is inside.

Detective Fine [From outside Moloch's apartment]: Rorschach! This is the police, we know you're in there.

Rorschach: No! No!

Detective Fine: If there's anybody in there with you, send 'em out unharmed.

Rorschach: No! No, no, no, no!

Detective Fine: Come out and make this a nice, clean surrender.

Rorschach: Walked right into it! Stupid, stupid, stupid! Never surrender.

Detective Fine: Alright, I hope you're ready, hero.

Rorschach: When you are.


Realizing he's been set up for the murder, Rorschach makes a torch out of a spray can and fights his way out of the building. Nonetheless, he is captured and unmasked.

Rorschach: Give me back my face!

He is identified on the TV News as Walter Kovacs, age 35. Walter is jailed for the murder of Moloch until sentencing.


The state psychiatrist, Dr. Malcolm Long, tells Walter that he won't want to be in the general population, because criminals he captured will want to get even. He gives Walter a psych assessment.

Rorschach [examining psychiatrist's inkblot test]: A pretty butterfly.

As Walter looks at ink blots, he recalls moments in his life. At an early age, he sees his mother kissing a man. She slaps him and says that she "should have had that abortion."

Rorschach [looking at psychiatrist's ink blot]: Some nice flowers.


We also see a young Walter seriously injure much bigger kids who are taunting him.

Rorschach [looking at psychiatrist's ink blot: Clouds.

Walter resents being called "Walter" by the psychiatrist.

Rorschach: You keep calling me Walter. I don't like you.

Prison Psychiatrist: Ah. You don't like me? Well, why is that?

Rorschach: Because you're fat. Wealthy. Liberal sensabilities.

Rorschach talks about how evil society is and recalls a seminal event, when he was a young Rorschach, and he uncovered the grisly murder of a 6-year old girl by a pedophile.


Finding a cleaver at the scene of the crime, he brutally cleaves the murderer's head in two with multiple blows. After killing the murderer who begged to be arrested . . .

Rorschach: Men get arrested. Dogs get put down.

He tells Long that "Walter died that night" and only Rorschach remains.

Rorschach: You see, Doctor, God didn't kill that little girl. Fate didn't butcher her and destiny didn't feed her to those dogs. If God saw what any of us did that night he didn't seem to mind. From then on I knew... God doesn't make the world this way. We do.


In prison, Walter is taunted by another inmate on the food serving line, and Walter splashes him with hot grease from a deep fryer, burning him horribly. Rorschach screams to the rest of the population . . .

Rorschach: None of you seem to understand. I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with mr!


Laurie snoops around in the basement of Daniel's building, and she finds the Night Owl's lab and his flying machine. She pushes a random button that activates the ship's flamethrower, starting a fire in the lab. Daniel comes down to help her put out the fire. He tells her that the ship is called "Archie" after Merlin's pet owl, Archimedes.


He says that he inherited a lot of money from his father who was disappointed that he became a crime fighter. Daniel tells Laurie that Hollis was his hero. She tries on the night vision owl goggles, and she says that this must be how Jon sees. Daniel looks disappointed and goes upstairs.


A newscast in the background reports the buildup of Soviet tanks. Laurie follows and tells him "Jon sees a lot of things, but he doesn't see me." The two make love on the sofa as Daniel observes that they may be going too fast. Laurie says that they have all the time in the world.


Locked in his cell, Rorschach is taunted by a dwarf, Big Figure, a crime kingpin he had arrested 15 years earlier, now looking for revenge. Big Figure tells Kovacs that he can wait as long as necessary to get into his cell.


Daniel has a strange dream in which he and Laurie are naked on a field under the stars. She pulls off their "skin" revealing their superhero costumes as a nuclear explosion goes off and vaporizes them. He awakens, and Laurie finds him staring at his Night Owl gear.

Laurie: Dan? Is everything alright?

Dreiberg: God I'm tired of being afraid, afraid of war, afraid of the mask-killer... and afraid of this goddamn suit, and how much I need it.


Laurie: Me too. So to hell with it; let's take Archi out.

Dreiberg: You're serious.

Laurie: I used to be a masked avenger too, you know; I'm used to getting up at 3 in the morning and doing something stupid.





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