8 Biggest Things To Come Out Of Doomsday Clock #1

4. Nite Owl Has Retired (Again)

Doomsday Clock Nite Owl Suit
DC Comics

In the original Watchmen comic, Dan Dreiberg was the second Nite Owl and one who'd taken the decision to retire the mantle once the government set about outlawing vigilantism in the seventies. In 1992, it looks as though he's repeated the process all over again, with little chance of reemerging, so it would seem.

The whereabouts of Silk Spectre are also unknown in the book, but Ozymandias definitely vocalises his attempts to 'lure' Nite Owl back for his scheme, so it stands to reason that Laurie was involved in some way too, seeing as how they ended the story as a pair of sorts.

It's unclear as to whether or not Johns has brushed aside these characters for the remainder of Doomsday Clock's story, seeing as how we know that a great deal of it will take place on New Earth, but one would hope not. Dreiberg and Laurie were two of Watchmen's most interesting characters, and it's unlikely they'd be sitting on the sidelines with the entire world at stake.

For now at least, all of the Owl's gadgets are at Ozymandias' disposal. One panel certainly focuses on the Nite Owl II suit, so it could be the case that it factors into the story later on.

Advertisement
Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.