Silhouette (M)

Silhouette AKA Ursula Zandt was a part of a crime fighting group called Minutemen. Ursula Zandt is Jewish and Austrian and lived through the Nazi occupation of her country. She and her sister, Blanche, grew up in a Nazi-run orphanage. Through those hard times, Ursula tried to keep Blanche's hopes up by reading to her and fell in love with the orphanage's pharmacist, Gretchen. Before the three planned to escape, Blanche was taken to a back room, tortured, and killed. Ursula tried to get revenge, but was overpowered by the executioner. Gretchen shot the man and the two escaped and relocated to America, where Ursula would help unfortunate children in honor of her lost sister.

As the Silhouette, Ursula became a public scourge upon the child trafficking industry. In 1939, she made the headlines after exposing a crooked publisher who was trafficking child pornography. Later, she was taking on as many child traffickers as she could before she was invited by Captain Metropolis to join the Minutemen. During her time as a member, She questioned Larry Schexnayder ( the team's PR manager, agent, etc.) and Captain Metropolis's interest in image and publicity rather than essence; she proposed to hunt down the child trafficking ring to only be denied by most of the team. She struck up a friendship with fellow teammates Hollis Mason (Nite Owl I) and Mothman (Bryon Lewis) who assisted her in her quest. She and Hollis became closer to the point they were best friends, even sharing full names, despite it being against the rules of the team's leadership. Even though Hollis discovered her orientation as lesbian, he still loved her and cherished her as his only other best friend next to Lewis.

In 1946, the press revealed that she was living with another woman in a lesbian relationship. The press became too much for the team, so Larry forced the team to vote her out. The vote was 4-2 (despite Captain Metropolis being in a secret gay romance with fellow teammate Hooded justice) and she became the second member to be discharged from the team. Ursula did not care since she never cared about the team's image, but more about her crusade. She and Gretchen moved out to a Motel in Marina Bay and announced to Hollis she would return with the results of her investigation on a new case of a serial child rapist/murderer. Unfortunately, Ursula and Gretchen were found murdered by an old enemy of her's, the Liquidator, or the executioner from the orphanage. When the funeral came, Bryon Lewis paid for the services, leaving their graves unmarked for them to rest in peace without negativity from protesters. Despite her death, Silhouette became the driving force for Hollis for his later years of crime fighting. Ursula was the first vigilante to die within the entire series of Watchmen, followed by teammate Dollar Bill.

#FemaleHeroes #Silhouette