10 Best Batman Analogues

10. Nite Owl

Frequently imitated, but never outclassed, Watchmen is a cornerstone of modern comics. Alan Moore and David Gibbons' beautiful meta deconstruction of the history of the superhero genre is arguably DC's finest ever work, and at its core is a cast of various superhero analogues.

Although the characters in Alan Moore's original proposal would have been from Charlton Comics, which DC had recently acquired, then-editor Dick Giordano convinced the writer to create his own heroes instead.

One such hero is Nite Owl, a legacy character with multiple men operating under the guise in the Watchmen universe. The first is police officer Hollis T. Mason, a man inspired by comics like Superman to train his body, don a costume and battle all manner of colourful golden age villains. Mason would give up the mask when his mission stopped being fun, due to the world growing darker and his age catching up with him.

Daniel Dreiberg would be the next man to take up the Nite Owl mantle, although his version was closer to the Ted Kord incarnation of Blue Beetle. Dreiberg would use his considerable intellect and way with machines to battle crime in a much darker world.