Who killed the Comedian?

The first three chapters of Moore and Gibbons's Watchmen introduce the death of an old superhero that occurred as a result of murder. His death stirs up the interests of his former superhero colleagues who try to figure out who killed him and why they did it. These chapters examine a section of the history of superheroes related to these characters beginning from the 1950's and leading up to the contemporary setting of the 1980s. The alias of the murdered man was The Comedian.

To his colleagues, the Comedian was remembered as a cynical man who made the rest of them feel uneasy all the time. Even before the fantastical period of superheroism was disbanded, he pointed out flaws in his fellow heroes. The first batch of heroes from the earlier days consisted of the original generation of masked vigilantes. The only female among that group, Sally Jupiter, was raped by the Comedian before he was stopped by Hooded Justice. While the Comedian was getting his ass kicked for raping Sally Jupiter, he turns to Hooded Justice and points out that violently assaulting another man was achieving a sexual desire to HJ. Based on HJ's reaction to this comment, the accusation was true.

The Comedian never pretended, like the others, that his intentions as a superhero were absolutely pure or that saving the world from an evil villain was the solution to all of society's problems. He did not even pretend that his values were flawless or superior to those of normal people. Anyone would peg him as a realist, while the characteristics of his colleagues are arguably idealist in nature.

In the Nite Owl's recollection of his time with the deceased, the two are struggling to subdue a rioting crowd. As the crowd insists that they don't need any masked heroes to solve their problems, Nite Owl and the Comedian muse over this suggestion. As the Comedian admits to the ugliness of reality and his futility in attempting to change it, Nite Owl refutes the possibility altogether. In absolute frustration, Nite Owl asks about the American Dream and what happened to it. The Comedian's response to this question is, "It came true".

This statement in the text comes across as a powerful message from the writer. Americans look to the American Dream as a source of refuge against the fearsome and unknown struggles of the future. Moore and Gibbons directly challenge the American Dream through this statement. By doing so, they ask the reader to question his own selfish desires. The American Dream, which is only accomplished through the tenets of Capitalism, is a sensational method of isolating society into fragments. It is false hope for a better future.