Watchmen Fans Really Don’t Like Panda

Watchmen debuted tonight on HBO, with Damon Lindelof’s highly-anticipated series that tells the tale of the world after the events of Alan Moore’s original Watchmen comic book series taking viewers to an alternative, 2019 Tulsa, Oklahoma where masked vigilantes are outlawed and the police wear masks to hide their identities for their own safety. Pretty early on, viewers are introduced to some of those mask-wearing officers, including Regina King’s Detective Angela Abar/Sister Night and Tim Blake Nelson’s Wade/Looking Glass, but there’s another masked officer that fans already can’t stand: the panda-head wearing Panda.

Warning: Mild spoilers for tonight’s series premiere of Watchmen, “It’s Summer and We’re Running out of Ice” below.

In one of the early scenes of the episode, a police officer pulls over a man in a pickup truck and quickly comes to realize that the man — who presents himself as a lettuce farmer — is actually part of the racist, white supremacy group the Seventh Kavalry. He goes back to his car and calls in to get permission to unlock his gun and only to be told that Panda is in charge of that and is very by-the-books about granting the officer permission.

Later, after a meeting of the police, Chief Judd Crawford (Don Johnson) announces that he is invoking “Article Four”, something that will allow the police to have access to their weapons without having to call in for approval. This prompts Panda to read the regulation, further proving how by the rules and, well, pedantic, he is.

And on social media fans are so not happy with Panda! Fans quickly took to Twitter to express their dislike for the character, with some cracking wise about how the annoyingly strict character reminds them of real life coworkers who might not be their favorite.

Want to see just how much Watchmen fans dislike Panda? Read on for some of our favorite reactions below and be sure to leave yours in the comments!

Watchmen airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.

So, who hates Panda?

So pedantic.

He’s that guy.

That’s a hot take.

So, why the panda head.

Nobody likes you, Panda.

See?

Respect for the costume, though.