| Watchdogs | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Captain America #335 (Nov 1987) |
| Created by | Mark Gruenwald Tom Morgan |
| In-story information | |
| Type of organization | Terrorist |
The Watchdogs are a fictional right-wing terrorist group in the Marvel Universe. They were almost exclusively enemies of Captain America, and first appeared in Captain America vol. 1, #335.
Contents |
The Watchdogs claimed to be an organization dedicated to restoring and preserving traditional American culture and values, and fighting against indecency, immorality, and sexual perversion. The Watchdogs sought to impose their conservative moral views on the general public; they believed in strict enforcement of family values, and sought to denounce and were violently opposed to pornography, obscenity, sex education, abortion, homosexuality, and the teaching of evolutionary theory. Their terrorist activities, which included vandalism, arson, intimidation, assault, kidnapping, brainwashing, and murder, were targeted primarily at people who produced material which the Watchdogs considered pornographic, including nude art and sexually explicit music.
The Watchdogs were active in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, West Virginia, Missouri, plus Washington, D.C. and New York City. The Watchdogs imprisoned their kidnapping victims at a large compound in Vermont, where they forced them to wear "dog collars" which the Watchdogs could use to administer a painful electric shock as punishment for undesirable behavior. The prisoners were forced to participate in group activities such as sing-alongs, and exposed to constant televised Americana imagery such as baseball games, American flags, fields of flowers, and happy children.
The Watchdogs were headed by a leader referred to as Watchdog Prime (real name unknown), also called Watchdog One or Top Dog. Each state ("realm") is governed by a Head Dog. Each realm has one or more operating units ("packs"). Individual cells of Watchdogs, called "dogpounds," were organized by city and led by "pack leaders." Members call one another Dog-Brothers. Unbeknownst to nearly all of its membership, the Watchdogs were partially funded by the Red Skull through his dummy corporation, the Freedom Foundations; the Watchdogs received the rest of their funding through public contributors and other undisclosed financiers. Watchdog Prime held the position of one of the Red Skull's "division chiefs," and the Red Skull saw in them an opportunity to harm America by creating chaos. Whether Watchdog Prime was deceived by the Skull or was secretly working against that which he claimed to uphold is unknown.
The Watchdogs use conventional technology, with all weapons and paraphernalia purchased from legitimate retailers; members use their own ground vehicles, usually pick up trucks, vans, motorcycles, and recreational vehicles. The Watchdogs wore identical costumes of synthetic stretch fabric resembling riot gear, consisting of tight-fighting purple shirts and pants with gold-colored gloves, leather boots and accessories, armored kevlar vests, and hard plastic helmets with built-in visors. They were trained in the use of firearms, and usually armed themselves with conventional American-manufactured handguns, shotguns, and rifles, and Army surplus explosives. Watchdogs also carried Army surplus walkie-talkies, and short-wave radios. The Red Skull denied Watchdog Prime's request for funding to purchase exotic weaponry, because use of such weapons would undermine the group's image as a grassroots organization.
A Watchdog member must be an adult male over 21 with a valid gun permit willing to sign an affidavit in blood that he is not a homosexual, believes in the Bible and the United States Constitution, disavows all immoral acts, and is willing to use violence to oppose all activities, materials, institutions, and individuals which are deemed by the organization to undermine the morality and decency of the United States.
The Watchdogs were introduced as the first group fought by John Walker and Lemar Hoskins after officially becoming the new Captain America and Bucky, respectively. A major Watchdog pack torches an adult bookstore and women's health clinic, and attempts to lynch an alleged pornographer. This pack is busted by John Walker, as the interim Captain America, who was initially conflicted in his opposition to the Watchdogs because he shared their political views.[1] The Watchdogs later hold Walker's parents captive in an effort to get revenge upon him; during the ensuing melee, the Watchdogs murdered his parents, and Walker became a bitter enemy of the organization.[2] The Red Skull was seen to have employed a single Watchdog in his elite cadre of bodyguards.[3]
At the public ceremony where Walker relinquished his title of Captain America to Rogers, a lone Watchdog shot and apparently killed Walker, only to be shot in the head by a Scourge of the Underworld.[4] The assassination of Walker was a ruse, though, set up by the government to allow Walker to become U.S. Agent without the baggage associated with his term as Captain America. The "Watchdog" had been a fake, but the Scourge was apparently real.[5] As Captain America, Rogers continued to oppose the Watchdogs, especially once they kidnapped his then-girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal.[6] Although he and U.S. Agent arrested all the Watchdogs at the Vermont compound,[7] the organization was apparently still active by Captain America vol. 1, #394, when Watchdog Prime joined his fellow division chiefs in a meeting with the Red Skull. At the time, they were expanding their operations and membership westward across the United States.[8]