Watchmen hits theaters on March 6, marking the end of a long, long wait for legions of fans of Alan Moore's groundbreaking comic. Aficionados have followed the development of the film closely, watching for every new photo, trailer, and news item about this long-anticipated release. Fans of the comic will undoubtedly be lining up to catch the first showings, but what if you've never read the original comic book, and are hesitant to see a film about heroes you've never heard of? Never fear, for Weekly Ketchup columnist Greg Dean Schmitz has written up a definitive guide to the heroes of Watchmen, so you can learn about everyone's sordid backgrounds (or most of them, anyway) before seeing the film.

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The Comedian

Real Name: Edward "Eddie" Blake

Played By: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, best known for his TV work as the brothers' dad in Supernatural and as Denny Duquette, heart patient turned ghost in Grey's Anatomy.

Concept: The Comedian got his start back in the early days of costumed heroics in a costume patterned after clowns, but Blake was always one of the more violent heroes, in an obvious and no doubt intended contradiction. The Comedian's costume evolved to be more armored, with shoulder pads adorned with U.S. flag imagery, with a "smiley face" button on his chest to keep the "Comedian" motiff. Not himself being super-powered, The Comedian enjoyed using dangerous weapons like big honking guns, grenade launchers and flame throwers.

History: Back in the Minutemen days, The Comedian was the team's youngest member, and also the one that caused the most friction within the group, leading to a violent confrontation with another hero named Hooded Justice. Over time, Blake turned out to be the hero most eager to work directly for the U.S. government as a soldier and assassin around the world, most notably in Vietnam (along with Dr. Manhattan). In the 1970s, The Comedian teamed up with Nite Owl to help control civilian anti-hero protests, but clearly The Comedian enjoyed "controlling" the mobs a bit too much. Blake's violent death by defenestration at the beginning of Watchmen is the event that kicks off the rest of the story.

Charlton Comics Inspiration: Ironically, the Charlton basis for The Comedian is The Peacemaker, a hero devoted to the cause of peace who uses non-lethal weapons to further his cause. By contrast, The Comedian was perfectly okay with killing people, and his causes were usually far from peaceful.

Other Inspiration: Eddie Blake's appearance was loosely inspired by 1970s action star Burt Reynolds, his role as a henchman for Richard Nixon was inspired by G. Gordon Liddy, and the comics character that he is closest to being a twisted version to is arguably Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Comedian can also be seen as belonging to the same school of patriotric superheroes as Captain America, although most are not as violent as The Comedian.

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Rorschach

Real Name: Walter Joseph Kovacs

Played By: Jackie Earle Haley, who is probably best known for his work as a child/teen actor in the 1970s, including the first three Bad News Bears movies and the role of Moocher in Breaking Away.

Concept: Vigilantes are rare in the real world, but when we do hear about them, they are often associated with psychological conditions. Such is the case with Rorschach, whose mask is based upon the inkblots of the same name, and who himself has a severely disturbing psychological background. The son of a prostitute, Kovacs took on the identity of Rorschach as a way to mete out his own type of dark justice on the world, which frequently included mutilation and murder. Rorschach's key piece of equipment is a grappling hook gun, but he also shows a MacGyver-like knack for improvising household items into weapons. Rorschach is most famous as the narrator for much of Watchmen and his dark view of the world, which includes rants about all the forces he perceives as being responsible for the world's ills. These rants display a strong sense in moral absolutism and moral objectivism, as well as very anti-communist, anti-liberal views.

History: Rorschach got his start trying to be a "good" costumed adventurer, but an encounter in 1975 with a murderer who fed a young girl to his dogs flipped Rorschach from being a man who wore a mask to being a mask who was also a man, and just as violent as any criminals. Early in his crimefighting career, Rorschach teamed up with Nite Owl (who supplied him with his grappling hook gun). When the Keene Act outlawed costumed vigilantes, Nite Owl retired, but Rorschach never did. A wanted man, Rorschach frequently finds himself simultaneously fighting both the police and the criminals he's after.

Charlton Comics Inspiration: Rorschach was based upon The Question, and the visual similarities between the two characters are probably the closest of any in Watchmen. Like Rorschach, The Question wore a trenchcoat, hat and a strange mask that covered his face, in his case, a flesh-colored blank slate with no mouth, nose or eyes. Unlike Rorschach, The Question avoided violence, but when he became a recurring character on the Justice League Unlimited TV series, The Question was adapted as something of a Rorschach homage himself, particularly his tendency towards paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories.

Other Inspiration: In a way, Alan Moore took elements of Batman and split them up between Rorschach and Nite Owl. Nite Owl has a Batman-ish costume and the gadgets, while Rorschach can be seen as what might have happened to the Dark Knight if he lost all touch with reality and gave into his basest nature.