The Watchdogs are dedicated to restoring and preserving traditional American culture and values, and fighting against indecency, immorality, and sexual perversion. They first appeared in Captain America #335 (August 4, 1987).
The Watchdogs are secretly funded by the Red Skull and is responsible for killing John Walker’s parents when they discovered his identity as the new Captain America.
The Watchdogs seek to impose their conservative moral views on the general public; they believe in strict enforcement of family values, and are violently opposed to pornography, obscenity, sex education, abortion, homosexuality, and the teaching of evolutionary theory. Their terrorist activities, which include vandalism, arson, intimidation, assault, kidnapping, brainwashing, and murder, are targeted primarily at people who produce material which the Watchdogs consider pornographic, including nude art and sexually explicit music. The Watchdogs are headed by a leader referred to as Watchdog Prime, also called Watchdog One or Top Dog. Each state (“realm”) is governed by a Head Dog. Each realm has one or more operating units (“packs”). Individual cells of Watchdogs, called “dogpounds,” are organized by city and led by “pack leaders.” Members call one another Dog-Brothers. Unbeknownst to nearly all of its membership, the Watchdogs were partially funded by the Red Skull through his dummy corporation, the Freedom Foundations; the Watchdogs receive the rest of their funding through public contributors and other undisclosed financiers. Watchdog Prime held the position of one of the Red Skull’s “division chiefs,” and the Red Skull saw in them an opportunity to harm America by creating chaos. Whether Watchdog Prime was deceived by the Skull or was secretly working against that which he claimed to uphold is unknown.
