This is where someone might say “But we saw Rorschach’s origin in Watchmen” while a diehard fan might deny that this was really as much as we needed to see. It’s true that we saw Rorschach as a kid and that his life was no bowl of peaches since his own mother abused him relentlessly and his father was a no-show his entire life. Walter Kovacs didn’t exactly get a fair shake, and by the time he was sent to a home for troubled children, it might have been too late to do anything about his serious mental instability. When a person hears their mother is dead and their only response is ‘good’ then there might be a few issues that need to be worked out. In any case, an origin story for Rorschach might be kind of interesting to see what made this vigilante into what he was and perhaps to flesh out his character a bit despite what we managed to see in the Watchmen movie. Jackie Earle Haley did a great job with the psychotic hero, but seeing how he was turned into this would be intriguing and it would go a long way towards explaining his overall mental state. After all, Rorschach is probably the least mentally stable of the bunch no matter that he’s the most direct and the most likely to stay whatever course he sets for himself.
When the other heroes were convinced that allowing Ozymandias to simply get away with his scheme in the movie, Rorschach and Nite Owl were prepared to blow the secret, though Nite Owl might have been willing to at least compromise. When Rorschach refused, Dr. Manhattan made it clear that he couldn’t let him say anything since it would destabilize an already unstable system. Considering the home he came from and the mess that was already made of his life though, finding out what gave Rorschach such a strong and unwavering sense of purpose would be something that might help round out the character for a lot of people, since within the confines of the movie he’s one of the most psychotic heroes around, possibly even worse than the Comedian, who was at least open about how bad he really was. How the guy was ever considered to be a hero is something else, but apparently it doesn’t take much to be seen as a hero, so long as one doesn’t go on an unwarranted crime spree. Even when the other heroes were hanging up their suits and staying home, Rorschach was out on the streets taking care of bad guys, despite the fact that the city didn’t want him any longer. Maybe that’s his whole purpose, to just stay the course no matter what. It would make a certain amount of sense.
Characters such as Rorschach tend to be driven in a way that’s almost maniacal if it’s not quite there since their sense of justice is skewed in a way but it’s also so absolute that trying to steer them from it is about as easy as tipping over a skyscraper. Plus, if a person gets dragged into their world they tend to find that these characters aren’t completely there and are only visiting the realm of sanity and don’t mean to stay that long. Rorschach strikes me as a character that is best left alone no matter that he does benefit from having allies now and again. His kind of madness is the type that’s built-in and fostered from an early age, especially when it has to do with the only parent he has turning on him and treating him like a mongrel dog that they have no intention of taking care of. The fact that he showed no remorse over his mother’s death isn’t surprising, but the fact that he didn’t at least curse her validated listing him as a sociopath that had already been made and was just waiting to be unleashed. Rorschach is actually one of the worst kinds of heroes since he believes he’s doing right, and a lot of times he actually is, but he’s bound to do right even if he has to do a lot of wrongs to make it happen. In other words, he’s a ‘burn the forest to save the trees’ kind of guy is what it feels like and won’t stop unless someone stops him.
Out of all the Watchmen, he’s the most likely to form an origin story around since he’s the most disturbed and the most likely to warrant a story of his own that could wrap everyone up as he goes. He’s not a perfect character and he’s not trying to be, as he has his sights set forward and not back. Above all though, a Rorschach movie would draw people in since it’s a disturbing look into a mind that’s bound to be more disquieting than any villains.
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