» 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐂 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘 | 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘

[assertiveness]

cw: sexual abuse, rape, child abuse, grooming, pedophilia mentions

— history

Born out of a contradiction that should should have never occurred, Laurie is the daughter of Minutemen members The Comedian and Silk Spectre, born of an affair the two had. Their long and complicated history goes back to when the two were members of the rising masked superhero movement, and founders of the group 'The Minutemen'. The two originally were mere coworkers, with Silk Spectre acting as a 'beard' for the Hooded Justice, when after a photoshoot The Comedian physically, verbally, and sexually assaulted the female vigilante, nearly raping her in the process. She was saved by Hooded Justice who went on to write about this incident in a best selling book, which Sally forced Laurie to never read.

Sally at a young age ran away from home, heading to New York bouncing from one job to the other (waitress, burlesque dancer which inspired the outfit), and finally settling on being a vigilante, leading the way in being the first Female superhero and changing her last name to Jupiter to hide her polish ancestry. Seen as a sex symbol, Sally at first staged her heroics until she could learn to properly fight and gain a reputation for herself, joining others to form the Minute Men in this conquest. It is in this history of Sally that we see complicated themes emerge that contradict the purity 'heroes' are suppose to have and be. Sally is shown to blame herself for her assault, opting not to press charges against The Comedian, and we also see her vote out Silhouette from the Minutemen due to being a lesbian despite covering for Hooded Justice and his own homosexuality. These are regrets that Sally has as she is shown to take revenge on Silhouette's behalf after she was murdered by the Liquidator, and is shown calling out members of the Minutemen who voted her out originally as they were also members of the LGBTQ+ community. These details are important to note because Laurie takes after Sally in many ways, such as her vocal nature and desire for social change.

When Sally retired near 1949, she married her agent (the one who ran her career and orchestrated 'fake fights'), and gave birth to Laurie. At a young age, Laurie realized that her 'father' was not her real father, and believed Hooded Justice to be her real parent, not realizing his true sexual orientation. As her step-father was aware she was not his child, he often mistreated, verbally and emotionally abused Laurie, often bullying and picking on her. 

At age 16, in 1966 (approx.) Laurie is escorted to her first meeting of the Crime Busters by her mother, where she meets Dan Dreiberg (Night Owl II), Jon Osterman (Dr. Manhattan), and Edward Blake (The Comedian). Here she becomes friends with Dan, falls in love with Jon (who is twice her age), and has her first and only conversation with The Comedian who remarks she looks just like her mother, and is pulled from him by Sally. She notes that he seems rather sad, but she also learns of the sexual/physical assault he did on his mother. It is during this time and the next ten years that she spends being a masked vigilante and dating Jon, moving in with him at age 20 into their own apartment in Washington. 

From here until presently, the Keene act passes in 1977, outlawing masked vigilantes except those who are directly contracted by the government, forcing all members of the Crime Busters to retire. Laurie happily puts away her costume, being forced to be a kept woman by the government for the sake of Jon, being put on the payroll and being escorted everywhere she went (to ensure she did not step out of line). Other members of the group such as Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias) turn their time as a costumed vigilante into a profitable endeavor (much like the original Silk Spectre had done). 

In 1985, Eddie Blake (The Comedian) is murdered and Rorschach becomes suspicious, hinting that this was no random crime but rather part of a mysterious endeavor to kill off all former and current vigilantes. It is during this time that Laurie and Jon's relationship began to crumble, and Laurie now at 35 is lamenting what her life has been. She leaves the omnipotent vigilante, and moves in with Dan, starting a romantic relationship with him.  

— personality

At first introduction, Laurie is shown immediately barging into the scene to scold Rorschach for visiting them on a military base, and to immediately correct him for calling her Laurie Jupiter, and calling him out for avoiding her question as to why he was there. This first scene is critical in showing us the kind of person Laurie is- she is quick to call out injustices, immediately telling Rorschach she doesn't care about the death of The Comedian because he tried to rape her mother in the past. She is blunt and to the point, not letting manipulations or slight of hands phase fly past her. She also immediately shows her pride in her heritage and subtly showing a love she has for her mother, by using her real surname versus 'Jupiter'. Despite this initial introduction, there are deeper layers to Laurie's personality that unfold as the series progresses (not touched upon in the movie).

Laurie is a woman who grew up in the shadow of her mother, Sally (the original Silk Spectre) who coached and groomed Laurie to take over the family business. Originally wanting to be a vet, Laurie was forced at a young age to take on gymnastics and ballet, building her body's endurance and physical capabilities. As she grew up and was eventually forced to take on the role of Silk Spectre at sixteen (donning a rather inappropriate outfit for someone her age), Laurie grew bitter and resentful towards her mother calling the ten years she spent in the Crime Busters group (formed from the Minute Men) as 'lost years'. Despite the anger and guilt she placed on her mother, she shows some levels of affection towards the other and a need to please her by relenting to joining the Crime Busters, using her real surname, and even defending her by saying "God knows I'm not my mother's biggest admirer, but some things shouldn't happen to anybody." Interestingly enough, it is through these words that we also see the liberal and feminist side of Laurie. She is also shown to be rather protective, yet commanding towards her mother, scolding her for finding a 'Tijuana Bible' of herself as endearing, and seeming to have no anger towards The Comedian for his assault towards her. 

In the comic series, we see Laurie look the part of beautiful seductress, but she is shown to be down to earth, rough around the edges, no-nonsense, and with a wicked sense of humor reflective of her true father. A few instances of her humor as seen as she laments over a perverted villain (who ended up being brutally murdered by Rorschach). When she finds this out, she immediately burst into laughter saying she shouldn't find it funny or laugh, yet she continues on, as she and Dan make a joke about The Comedian's death in between. 

Despite having strong moral convictions and a sense of feminism, Laurie is someone who is shown to be rather contradictory, with one foot in what she wants, and the other in what she does. She says she is a feminist and 'liberated' yet she obeyed her mothers wishes for her to become a superhero (secretly enjoying it in the end), and remained by Jon Osterman's (Dr. Manhattan) side for nearly two decades as a domesticated girlfriend, not asking much from him. She also seems to resent and blame others for being forced to be a superhero, claiming she did it because of her mother, then later on because of Night Owl II (to sexually arouse him), yet she is shown to enjoy the thrill that comes with fighting crimes and doing stupid things late a night. She is shown to resent the government for viewing her as a tool to keep Dr. Manhattan happy, lamenting "If I'm gonna be a kept woman for the military's secret weapon, then the military can stand me a bowl of spaghetti...", and yet she remains with Jon despite him slowly losing his humanity and acting rather uninterested with her. Another contradiction shown is just how independent and strong she is, fighting and defending herself verbally from others, yet clinging onto the relationships she has with the men in her life to make her feel wanted and loved, something she reflects upon by stating her relationship with her step-father has influenced her choice in men and relationships - "Probably why I'm edgy in relationships, with strong, forceful guys".  

Two of the most important relationships she has in the series is the romantic relationship she has with Dr. Manhattan and later on with Dan Dreiberg (Night Owl II). At the age of 16, during her first meeting with the Crime Busters, Laurie meets Dr. Manhattan and is immediately smitten by him, being drawn in by his power, alluring appearance, and over-imposing presentation of himself (he had reconstructed himself to be taller, muscular, and shows himself fully naked before others most of the time). As a young teenage girl at the time, it is possible she was drawn to him as he represented the ultimate father figure - and she is often shown to deal with stressful situations by asking others to deal with it on her behalf, such as asking Jon (Dr. Manhattan) to make Rorschach 'go away' for her. Although she has spent nearly two decades with the man who could be considered close to God of her own accord, she shows levels of resentment towards the government, misplacing her feelings for Jon onto them as holding her 'hostage' to him. As for Jon, we see his treatment of her become worse over the years, making it clear that he never quite loved her for her, but rather found her to be a young and amusing distraction, that kept him tethered to his humanity. He is shown to disregard her feelings and worries about their relationship, pretending to care and simply keeping up with being a partner. The turning point for the relationship between the two is when they are having sex, and Dr. Manhattan clones multiple versions of himself to give her the attention she wants, all while working in a different room. When she calls him out on this, and they argue over the situation, he is still working on his project without giving her his full attention. It is here we finally see her break from her arrested development and leave him, fully calling him out on his behavior the remaining few times they have encounters later on. 

With Dan, she has kept an amicable friendship with him over the years when they first met at the Crime Busters meeting. Dan is presented as a soft and rather weak man despite his immense level of strength and wealth. He becomes sort of a comfort for Laurie, turning to him and inviting him out to dinner when she became stressed over Rorschach's unannounced visit. Later on, when she leaves Jon and breaks up with him, she turns to Dan for comfort and help, moving in with him and starting a romantic relationship in the process. There is some level of blame she tries to place on him, hinting that she donned her costume once more to help him to become sexually aroused, but he is quick to call her out, stating that's bullshit and she knows it. This indicates that Laurie was never quite good at hiding the fact that she actually enjoyed fighting crime to an extent. 

There is some parallels between the two, possibly indicating why they would be drawn to each other (and why they would eventually break up down the line). They're both predecessors to the name/personas they took on, they are both the 'normal' ones of the groups, not committing any crimes or abusing their power (a theme reoccurring in the series) , and they both seem to turn to each other because despite the fact that it may seem she's running to another man to save her, they both save each other. It is through Laurie that Dan gains the confidence to return back to being the Night Owl. 

Admis the chaos, grey morality, and trauma most of the other masked vigilantes have, Laurie and Dan are the two characters who are shown to deal with their failings in a rather healthy manner. Individuals such as The Comedian claim to be for peace and justice, but he often engaged in illegal and questionable behaviors, assaulting and killing the opposing force without mercy. Others such as Dr. Manhattan became alienated and resorted to a rather questionable relationship with an underage Laurie to feel human again/as a result of his humanity lost (similar to how a millionaire begins to engage in worse and worse behavior to feel something). This is what makes Laurie so grounded- despite having a tangled relationship with her mother, anger and trauma over an absentee father (and a terrible step-father), she does not engage in any questionable behaviors at all. She simply laments over the wasted years of her life, refusing to accept that she genuinely enjoyed being a hero in the end. 

There is some hope for Laurie however, as towards the end of the series we see a woman heading into middle age come to terms with who she wants to be, and what she wants to do with her life. As she comes to learn the truth about who her father is and why her mother would consent to sleeping with him willingly, she comes to forgive her mother for her faults stating - "You've never done wrong by me." She also comes to realize that she doesn't need anyone to save her, as she's always been able to do this on her own.