The Commedian was a member of the Minutemen who formed as a "masked adventurer" justice league., but he soon left the group after his sexual assault on Silk Spectre. He went on to become a government agent with a distinctly mercenary sense of duty.

Serving in every major conflict from, the Comedian was a super-soldier involved in covert operations, including assassinations and the establishment of puppet regimes.

The Comedian expected the worst of humanity and acted on that worldview with his own brand of self-interest and cynical humor. He thrived on chaos and had no trouble killing anyone whom he was ordered to kill or who got in his way. He once severely beat Ozymandias.He was most likely responsible for Hooded Justice's "disappearance."

Although amoral by nature, the Comedian was thunderstruck by Ozymandias' bloody plan to save the world, his knowledge of which led to his death at the hands of Ozymandias.

The Comedian was self-made and obstinate. He lived by his own rules and had no patience for idealistic schemes. His tough-minded, cynical personality, however, gave him unique insight into others. He first pointed out Dr. Manhattan's otherworldiness and its consequences; he also remarked on Rorschach's grim change of character and complete submersion into his vigilante alter ego. Indeed, the Comedian's deep personal insights are catalyst to all the costume heroes that their purpose and meaning were obsolete and even silly in an era of geo-politics, the Cold War, and the real threat of nuclear destruction.