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Dollar Bill
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Real Name
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Bill Brady
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First Appearance
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Watchmen #1 (September, 1986) [Mentioned in Under the Hood back-up prose piece]
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Creators
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Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
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Team Affliation
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The Minutemen
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Aliases
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None
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Base of Operations
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New York City
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Powers
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None
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Skills and Abilities
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Unknown, presumably hand-to-hand combat expertise
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Tools and Weapons
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None
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Dollar Bill (Bill Brady) is a minor superhero who appears in the extra material in the book comic book Watchmen and stars in the one-shot Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill.
Origin
Bill Brady was a successful athlete from Kansas who was hired by the National Bank company to become their own superhero Dollar Bill.
Biography
Not much has ben mentioned of Bill Brady's youth save that he was born in 1917. A college star athlete from Kansas, Bill Brady initially attempted to become a performer with disappointing results until he was hired by the National Bank Company in New York City to become the company's own official superhero. The Dollar Bill concept was created by the National Bank Company's marketing team to utilize the surging popularity in superheroes and felt that if they had their own hero to "protect their customers' money", they could attract a lot of good PR. The costume was designed by the company with bright, flamboyant colors with a large dollar logo and a long cape to appeal to kids. Bill began both fighting crime (often in the banks of the National Bank Company) and advertising the bank with advertisements and merchandise. Over time, he eventually joined the superhero team the Minutemen and helped them fight crime as a team.
His life came to a tragic end in 1947 when, while trying to stop a bank robbery, his cape was caught in the revolving door at the bank, giving the criminals time to shoot and kill him. His funeral was attended by the Minute Men, a police contingent and representatives from the National Bank and Captain Metropolis gave the eulogy.
Personality
Though Dollar Bill largely appears off-panel, much is known about how he related to other people and for the most part had a good reputation. He had faults, though, including prejudices against homosexuals and his defence of the Comedian despite his attempted rape of another team member. But despite this and the fact that his entire identity was created as a publicity stunt, the opinions of him by his peers seemed largely positive.
Skills and Abilities
Dollar Bill had a very strong build, good agility and endurance and stamina thanks to his athletics training in college. As a superhero it seemed he was largely successful, which gave him a lot of practical fighting experience.