Dwight McCarthy

[close] Dwight McCarthy is a main protagonist in Frank Miller's Sin City universe. He appears in A Dame to Kill For, The Big Fat Kill, Family Values, The Babe Wore Red and That Yellow Bastard. In the 2005 film adaptation, he was portrayed by Clive Owen.

Prior to his first chronological appearance in A Dame to Kill For, Dwight worked for a time as a talented photographer for a Basin City newspaper. However, he was prone to reckless and violent behavior, further aggravated by alcoholism, which cost him his job. After getting sober and curbing his aggressive tendencies, he found work as a seedy private investigator, often taking pictures of adulterous men.

Dwight is first introduced as a man who lives in total abstinence in order to keep out of trouble. Having a history of bad tempers, wild drinking and wild love affairs (as well as a mysterious, but seemingly significant, incident involving his father, briefly mentioned in A Dame to Kill For) he lives completely denying himself even a taste of what he refers to as "the fire". During this time he appears to be a tortured soul who is afraid even to rev the engine of his Mustang or grow his hair, all the while trying to not 'let the monster out.'

At all times Dwight is a model of chivalry, treating all women, especially the prostitutes of Old Town, with the utmost respect and offering them his protection. His passion for romance runs deep and a woman in need of help is the trigger for his involvement in all the stories he stars in. Miller, on the special 2-Disc Sin City DVD has stated he is the story's "everyman": Rather than a Anti-hero like Marv or a Folk hero like John Hartigan, Dwight is simply someone who tries to do the right thing and find his place in the world. He also, in explaining the character to actor Clive Owen, described Dwight as a modern iteration of Philip Marlowe.