By Ronald Byrd
Real Name: Possibly Rolf Muller
Occupation: Crimefighter; possibly a circus strongman
Group Affiliation: The Watchmen
Base of Operations: New York City
Outed in: Watchmen #9
Hooded Justice was the first costumed crimefighter to appear publicly on the alternate Earth that is the home of the Watchmen, debuting in the fall of 1938. Nothing is known about the tall, muscular Justice’s origin. Known for his violent demeanor in combat, he was among the founders of the Minutemen in 1939, and in 1940 he prevented the Comedian from raping their teammate, the Silk Spectre.
The Comedian responded to the beating with the remark: “This is what you like, huh? This is what gets you hot… ” The implication is that Hooded Justice’s crimefighting activities serve as a release for more than one kind of aggression; the Comedian also implied that he would one day seen vengeance on Hooded Justice for the beating. Unknown to the general public, Hooded Justice had a gay relationship with one of his teammates, Captain Metropolis, who alone among the Minutemen may have known Justice’s true identity. Although the Silk Spectre often pretended to be his girlfriend in public, he also had frequent rough sex sessions with young men, perhaps supporting the Comedian’s speculation.
In 1955, six years after the Minutemen disbanded and following demands that he testify before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, Hooded Justice vanished from sight and was never heard from again. A corpse tentatively identified as that of circus strongman Rolf Muller was found not long afterward, leading some to speculate that the two men were one and the same. However, while some right-wing sources speculated Muller, of East German descent, had been a communist agent, it is known that, before the bombing of Pearl Harbor brought the US into World War II, Hooded Justice expressed approval for the activities of the Third Reich, hardly something one would expect from a communist of that era (Actually, it seems unlikely that a gay man would support either the Soviets OR the Nazis.). Then again, the Comedian, who may or may not have retained his grudge against his former teammate, was himself an active anti-communist government agent who conceivably could have played a role in these events; the full story of Hooded Justice’s life and presumed death remains unknown.
Hooded Justice had no superhuman powers but possessed an unusual level of strength, stamina, and brutality.
The Watchmen created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Art by Dave Gibbons. © and ® DC Comics. Used without permission.
Tags: Alan Moore, gay, superhero, Watchmen
I’m sorry, but I like that he smacked the Comedian down; he deserved it. I really liked the series, and so avoided the movie. And a friend said I was right to avoid it, that it was terrible. Well, I saw it recently, and really enjoyed it. A lot!
Hi, Mark in Iowa,
I’m sure the Comedian deserved a smack down because he was no saint himself. There were some obvious differences in the movie, but I enjoyed watching it, too. Thanks for posting! Come back often!
Joe
Hi, I’m an Argentinean big fan of comics in general and of Alan Moore’s works in particular. Since I bought the spanish edition of Watchmen 10 years ago, I’ve read it 3 or 4 times, but the latest was no less than 4 years ago. My question is When is “outed” that Hooded Justice is gay, since I don’t remember if it’s clear that he is one of the gay members that Sally Jupiter was talking about. I know I should read the comic one more time -and I really want to- but that doesn’t seems possible for me now, so I preffer to ask somebody who has interesting observations in the medium as yourself.
Good page, have a happy 2010 starting!
PS: Sorry for my poor english. I have to work on that too.
Hi, Federiken,
I have to say that it’s been a long time since I last read Watchmen. Longer than four years ago, at least all the way through. Around late March or April I read small parts of it to write an entry for Joey the cab driver. I don’t remember Moore writing anything that clearly (claro?) made Hooded Justice gay. It would be sutil and might not translate well into Spanish if it was in dialog.
So I can’t tell you for certain without reading Watchmen again. As much as I’d like to do that, there a some other comics characters in need of writing about and projects keeping me busy. Lo siento.
Your English is very good. Much better than my Spanish! I had no trouble understanding your comments.
¡Gracias por la escritura!
Happy New Year to you in big, beautiful Argentina!
Joe
“Actually, it seems unlikely that a gay man would support either the Soviets OR the Nazis.”
But plenty of them did. Really, I don’t think it’s that different from gay people supporting the Catholic church, for example — if what they’re saying resonates with somebody, they simply ignore the parts of the message that they don’t agree with… or worse, they agree with that part, too, and get deeper into a vicious circle of self-loathing. Not exactly an uncommon thing, that.
Hello,
I can’t comment for Ronald and it’s unlikely he will because he’s long moved on to new priorities. But yes, I agree with your point as there are examples. The matter of the Englishman whose name escapes me who defected To Russia comes to mind and there were gay men involved early in the SS. The quote is Ronald’s viewpoint and didn’t want to ask him to edit it.
Thanks for visiting and writing!
Joe