Laurel Juspeczyk (Watchmen)

Laurie Juspeczyk was born in 1950. Sally Jupiter pushed her daughter into the "family business" of crime fighting. Laurie never held much interest in becoming her mother's successor, but went along with Sally's wishes anyway; growing up, the brunette Laurie knew Laurence Schexnayder was not her real father, and always believed, incorrectly, that her real father was Hooded Justice. Laurie Juspeczyk is liberal-thinking and a "modern" woman. Clearly Laurie is proud of her Polish heritage insisting that everyone uses her real name of Juspeczyk and not her mother's assumed name of Jupiter. She is vocal in her feminist and humanitarian concerns and is quite a conditioned fighter, and at the start of the story is shown to have a strained relationship with her mother. Driven by the memories of her own experience, Sally tried to keep Laurie from knowing some of the harsher realities of the crime-fighting life; for example, she didn't allow her to read Hollis Mason (Nite Owl I)'s autobiography Under the Hood (which included the Comedian's sexual assault on Sally, something Laurie knew nothing of). Sally acted like an agent for her daughter, picking out her revealing costume, bringing her to the meeting of the ill-fated "Crimebusters" in a limousine and waiting outside for her to finish. After the meeting broke up, Laurie met the Comedian outside, who commented and complimented her for being the spitting image of her mother, but their conversation was broken up quickly by an angry Sally. Laurie noted that the Comedian looked sad as he watched them drive away, and she felt sorry for him. The following car ride home was when Sally told her daughter of her history with the Comedian (but did not tell her that the Comedian was her father). Disgusted and deeply saddened for her mother's pain, Laurie never forgave the Comedian for his actions, though it seems that as time passed, and in a complicated way, Sally was able to come to terms with it, even to the point that she was willing to defend the Comedian from Laurie's derogatory remarks after he was murdered.

Shortly after the meeting of the Crimebusters, Laurie met and became involved with Dr. Manhattan, something her mother did not approve of, likening Laurie's relationship with Manhattan to being the equivalent of sleeping with an H-bomb. Drawn to him from the moment she first saw him, Laurie worked with Manhattan in some of his various domestic assignments, including the suppression of riots during the police strike of 1977. Never exactly happy being a vigilante and not happy with the government taking advantage with her relationship with the superhuman Manhattan, Laurie was more than pleased to quit being a superhero when the Keene Act of 1977 forced all but government-sponsored superheroes to retire.

After retiring, Laurie lived with Dr. Manhattan for a number of years, but their relationship became strained, owing to Manhattan's growing disconnection with humanity. Rorschach came to see the two one evening, warning them of a potential masked hero killer and asking for their help in stopping him. Both turn him down, with Manhattan teleporting him out of the facility. Laurie eventually left Manhattan and began living with Dan Dreiberg, a.k.a. the second Nite Owl, and the two soon became romantically involved. Dreiberg and Laurie decided to don their old costumes and take Dreiberg's airship "Archie" out. During their flight, they found a building on fire and rescued the inhabitants. Excited by returning to being heroes, the two make love, afterwards deciding that Rorschach may have been right about his masked killer theory and break him out of prison.

Soon after, Laurie was brought to Mars by Manhattan, where she attempted to convince him to save humanity from impending nuclear war. During their conversation, Laurie finally came to the realization that, to her horror, her father was really the Comedian. Moved by the sheer unlikelihood of two people as different as Sally Jupiter and the Comedian producing a child, and the child being Laurie, Dr. Manhattan realized the miracle and value of human life and agreed to save the planet. The pair returned to Earth, only to find half of New York City destroyed by Ozymandias' creature. They teleported to Ozymandias' lair in Antarctica, where Laurie attempted to shoot Ozymandias, only to be thwarted by his ability to catch bullets (something joked about previously). After realizing that Ozymandias' plan had worked, and that, despite the loss of several million lives, nuclear war had been averted while also uniting the nations of the world, the heroes (with the exception of Rorschach) decided that Ozymandias' plan should be kept secret to serve the greater good. Veidt offers Dan and herself hospitality, to which they accept.

Shortly after these events, Laurie and Dan Dreiberg adopted new appearances and identities, now calling themselves Sam and Sandra Hollis, and sporting blonde hair. They visited Sally Jupiter - now living in a retirement home - and Laurie told her mother that she had realized the truth about her father. The issue was put to rest for Laurie, who accepted that the situation between her mother and the Comedian was too complicated, and forgave her. "Sam and Sandra" left soon afterwards, indicating that they would continue to adventure, although Laurie expressed the wish for a better superhero identity, a more protective leather outfit, a mask, and a firearm. This parallels the Comedian's change from a gaudy yellow clown suit to paramilitary gear, even the aforementioned firearm. After watching them leave, Sally picked up an old photograph of the Minutemen, which included the Comedian, and kissed his half of the picture as tears rolled down her face.

Powers and AbilitiesEdit

Powers

None

Abilities

Gymnastics
Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)

Strength level

Athlete-level strength

TriviaEdit

Unlike most of the Watchmen characters, Silk Spectre was not based on any particular hero. ^[1]

Appearances in Other MediaEdit

The Silk Spectre was featured in the 2009 Watchmen movie directed by Zack Snyder, where she was played by Malin Akerman.

LinksEdit

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Footnotes

↑ | Alan Moore interview in Comic Book Artist #9

Watchmen

This article features characters, items or events exclusive to the continuity of the "Watchmen limited series," or the Watchmen Movie. This template will categorize all articles that include it into the Watchmen category.

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Laurel Juspeczyk (Watchmen)

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HistoryEdit