Watchmen’s ending ranks among the greatest plot twists in comics history, but one obscure piece of franchise paraphenalia inadvertently teased Ozymandias’ villainous turn in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ seminal work. An RPG module published soon after the original Watchmen run detailed one hero’s dark turn years before Ozymandias’ terror plot, showing that Moore and Gibbons’ world was never a simple superhero story of good vs. evil.

Set in the 1960s, the Who Watches the Watchmen? RPG – written by Dan Greenberg – features a plot in which people close to Watchmen’s various vigilantes are kidnapped. Captain Metropolis suggests that it is the work of crime boss Moloch, suggesting that the heroes team up to find their missing loved ones.

However, as the story progresses, players uncover the complicated truth of the kidnappings – in a reveal that mirrors the iconic ending of the graphic novel, as one hero is discovered to be the true mastermind who set the game’s events in motion.

This Obscure ’80s Watchmen RPG Foreshadows The Climax Of The Book

Captain Metropolis’ Dark Turn

In the Who Watches the Watchmen? RPG adventure, players can assume the role of famous Watchmen heroes like Nite Owl, Rorschach, Silk Spectre, the Comedian and Ozymandias and embark upon an investigation that takes them into the heart of a vast conspiracy – one that could wind up hitting rather close to home, depending upon how the campaign goes. If players uncover enough evidence in their investigation, they’ll eventually learn that it was none other than Captain Metropolis himself, who staged the kidnappings in a vain attempt to assemble the Crimebusters team, when all else had failed.

The ultimate revelation of Captain Metropolis staging the kidnappings is a shrewd way to foreshadow Ozymandias’ plan to “save” the world in Watchmen, and is in keeping with the self-reflexive nature of Moore and Gibbons’ original work. RPG writer Dan Greenberg manages to keep true to the themes of Watchmen through the roleplaying adventure, with the story artfully existing within the same murky morality as presented by the original comic, through which creator Alan Moore revolutionized the entire approach to superheroes and forever changed the comic book medium.

Captain Metropolis’s Dark Turn Parallels Ozymandias’ Actions in Watchmen

Extension Of A Theme

This “villainous” turn Captain Metropolis takes is entirely in keeping with Watchmen’s view of the world, primarily because Metropolis is trying to save the world in his own way, much like Adrian Veidt would attempt on a much grander scale two decades later. Even though he stages the kidnappings and even commits murder along the way, Captain Metropolis thinks he is acting in the best interests of the public at large, not realizing it ultimately amounts to villainy. In the world of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, every character is more complicated than they initially appear.