The Comedian is Edward Blake. He is a superhero.An effective and brutal vigilante, Blake managed to expunge most organized crime from the New York harbor. He became the youngest member of The Minutemen, a prominent group of heroes. After a photography shoot, he sexually assaulted fellow Minutewoman Silk Spectre (who was about three years older than him and whom he seemed prone to flirting with); she was spared only when another Minuteman, Hooded Justice, interrupted the assault and beat Blake, breaking his nose. The Comedian was expelled from the group - but Silk Spectre's agent - and future husband - persuaded her not to press charges against him for fear of what it would do the group's image - and continued to work on his own, although his self-restraint continued to slip. He would later have another encounter with Silk Spectre, and the second time around, he impregnated her with her daughter and successor, Laurie. While never explicitly mentioned, the second sexual encounter between the Comedian and Silk Spectre is said to be consensual, and at the end of Watchmen it is implied that, in spite of everything, Silk Spectre had feelings for the Comedian.He fought in World War II, becoming a war hero in the Pacific theater. By the late 1960s, Blake had begun working as a covert government operative. Hollis Mason, Nite-Owl, had published his autobiography Under the Hood by this point and he disclosed the Comedian's sexual assault on Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre, though Blake never sued the author. In 1966, he was invited to join the Crimebusters by Captain Metropolis, but he quickly ruined the older hero's hope of a new team by mocking him, claiming he was only doing it for vanity and glory, and even set his display on fire while saying that old fashioned crime fighting methods were not useful for saving the world when the threat of nuclear war lay overhead at all times. It was also here that the Comedian met his daughter, Laurie, now Silk Spectre II, and asked her if her mother ever talked about him while lighting a cigarette for her, but their conversation was quickly broken up by an angry Sally Jupiter. The Comedian seemed genuinely perplexed that Sally was still holding a grudge against him, saying he thought they had settled their differences, and Laurie noted that the Comedian looked sad as he watched them drive away, and felt sorry for him until her mother told her of their past history (but still not telling Laurie that she was his daughter), after which she felt nothing but disgust and hatred towards him. Alongside Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian played a major role in the United States' war with Vietnam. Shortly after Manhattan's godlike powers forced the north Vietnamese into full surrender, Blake was confronted by a Vietnamese woman he had made pregnant. He told her bluntly that he planned to leave the country immediately without her, and in a rage she slashed his face with a broken bottle. Blake shot and killed her.The costumed adventurers faced massive backlash and rioting in the 1970s; in response, Congress passed the Keene Act, requiring all heroes to register with the government if they wished to remain active. The majority of them retired in anonymity; a few, like Ozymandias, publicly revealed their identities and capitalized on the sudden fame, while others, such as Rorschach, continued their activities in open defiance of the law. Doctor Manhattan and The Comedian were two of the few who registered with, and were employed by, the government.Blake killed Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein before they could reveal the details of the Watergate scandal. Richard Nixon enjoyed unprecedented popularity and was able to serve five terms as President after a constitutional amendment. Blake was in Dallas, Texas, nominally as Nixon's bodyguard, on the day that John F. Kennedy was shot. The Iran hostage crisis in 1980 was resolved when Blake freed the captives after an assault.While on a plane during a mission in 1985, Blake noticed suspicious activity on an uncharted island. He infiltrated the island and learned of its purpose, the realization of which was severely traumatizing. Unable to bear the burden of knowledge alone, Blake broke into the apartment of Moloch, and rambled drunkenly about the island. Ozymandias, who was controlling the island's activity and had bugged Moloch's apartment for his own reasons, responded by personally murdering Blake, throwing him through Blake's apartment window so Blake would fall to his death. Blake, horrified by the truth, offered no resistance, making the crime look even more gruesome.While trying to convince Doctor Manhattan to save the Earth from nuclear war, Laurie came to the shocking realization that the Comedian was her father. This revelation provoked an unexpected emotional response in the superhuman Manhattan, who was stunned that two people as different as the Comedian and Sally Jupiter could come together and produce a child, and that child being Laurie, he realized that such odds of improbability extended to all members of the human race. This revelation encouraged Manhattan that human life was worth saving and, later, gave Laurie a chance to reconcile with her mother.Edward Blake was a skilled hand-to-hand combatant in excellent physical condition, even at the time of his death at the age of 67. His simple, street-wise fighting style was very effective. The Comedian bested Ozymandias in their first encounter - a slight that Ozymandias never got over. Blake was proficient with a .45 pistol and pump-action shotgun. He was skilled in military tactics. He is shown using many forms of weaponry skillfully, such as flamethrowers, explosives and grenade launchers. He was very talented in or received training in covert operations and unconventional warfare. He was a Black-Ops/CIA type agent during the 1960s and 1970s. At the time of his death, Blake was quite tall and had a very well-built physique. Show less «