Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book limited series created by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins, published by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987. Watchmen focuses on six main characters: the Comedian, Doctor Manhattan, Nite Owl II, Ozymandias, Rorschach, and the Silk Spectre II. These characters were originally based on the Mighty CrusadersKhoury, George (December 2008). The Extraordinary Works of Alan Moore (Indispensable ed.). TwoMorrows. p. 109. and then reworked in an unsolicited proposal to fit superhero properties DC had acquired from Charlton Comics in the early 1980s. Moore later based the team's predecessors, the Minutemen, on the Mighty Crusaders. Since the publisher planned to integrate Charlton's superheroes into the main DC Universe and the script would have made many of them unusable for future stories, series writer Alan Moore eventually agreed to create original characters. Moore wished the main characters to present six "radically opposing ways" to perceive the world, and to give readers of the story the privilege of determining which one was most morally comprehensible.Eno, Vincent; El Csawza. "Vincent Eno and El Csawza meet comics megastar Alan Moore". Strange Things Are Happening. May/June 1988.
The protagonists of Watchmen were reused in the prequel series Before Watchmen, which also gave backstories to several minor characters from the original graphic novel, and introduced new characters.
Later on, several Watchmen characters reappeared in the limited series Doomsday Clock, bringing them into the main DC Universe.
The television series Watchmen is set in the same canon as the limited series, taking place in 2019 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Overview Key A model served as a body double, with the actor's likeness superimposed onto the model. Actor lent only their likeness for their film character. Appearance through a photographic still. Appearance by an in-universe actor portraying the character. Character was not in the film.
Character Motion comic Video game Film Mockumentary Short film Television series Watchmen: Watchmen: Watchmen Under the Hood Watchmen: Watchmen Twilight Lady Tom Stechschulte Courtney Taylor Doctor Manhattan Crispin Freeman Billy CrudupJaryd Heidrick Yahya Abdul-Mateen IIDarrell SnedegerZak Rothera-OxleyTom Mison Rorschach I Jackie Earle Haley Jackie Earle HaleyEli Snyder Nite Owl II Patrick Wilson The Comedian Mark Silverman Jeffrey Dean Morgan Hooded Justice Glenn Ennis Louis Gossett Jr.Jovan AdepoDanny Boyd Jr.Cheyenne Jackson Captain Metropolis Darryl Scheelar Jake McDormanChris Whitley Silk Spectre I Carla Gugino rowspan="2" Dollar Bill Dan Payne Mothman Niall Matter Brennan Kerr The Silhouette Apollonia Vanova rowspan="2" Nite Owl I Stephen McHattieClint Carleton Stephen McHattie William Taylor William S. Taylor Bernard Jay Brazeau Wally Weaver Rob LaBelle Laurence "Larry" Shexnayder Frank Cassini Larry Culpeper Ted Friend Bartender John Destry Woman on Street Jennefer Jenei Big Figure Danny Woodburn Moloch The Mystic Matt FrewerMike Carpenter Matt Frewer The Sea Captain Gerard Butler Gerard Butler Money Lender Cam Clarke Cam Clarke Sea Captain's Daughter Siobhan Flynn Siobhan FlynnSalli Saffioti Ridley Jared Harris Jared Harris Sea Captain's Wife Lori Tritel Lori TritelBridget Hoffman Ozymandias Matthew Goode Jeremy Irons Silk Spectre II Malin ÅkermanHaley Guiel Jean Smart Janey Slater Laura Mennell Sara Vickers Richard Nixon Robert Wisden Himself Wade Tillman Tim Blake Nelson Philip Labes Angela Abar Regina KingFaithe Herman Lady Trieu Hong Chau Bian Trieu Jolie Hoang-RappaportElyse Dinh Mime Tom Mison Marionette Sara Vickers Agent Petey Dustin Ingram Robert Redford Himself
Crimebusters The Crimebusters are a superhero group that succeeds the Minutemen and are the main characters of Watchmen. The group was short-lived when the Keene Act that forbade non-government sanctioned superheroes was passed. Among its notable members are:
The Comedian
The Comedian (Edward Morgan "Eddie" Blake) is a vigilante, initially based on the Shield and then on the Charlton Comics character Peacemaker, with elements of the Marvel Comics spy character Nick Fury added. Moore and Gibbons saw the Comedian as "a kind of Gordon Liddy character, only a much bigger, tougher guy".Cooke, Jon B. "Alan Moore discusses the Charlton-Watchmen Connection". Comic Book Artist. August 2000. Retrieved on October 8, 2008. Gibbons went with a Groucho Marx-style appearance (mustache and cigar) for the Comedian in his design, deciding that the "clown" look had already been appropriated by the DC Comics supervillain the Joker. His costume itself was noted by Gibbons as being particularly problematic; he was initially designed with a more militaristic costume which was later dropped for a black leather outfit with a "rapist mask". He believes that humans are savage in nature, and that civilization can never be more than an idea. He, therefore, chooses to become a mockery of society, fighting and killing without reservation.
Blake's murder, which takes place shortly before the story begins in 1985, sets the plot of Watchmen in motion. The character appears throughout the story in flashbacks and aspects of his personality are revealed by other characters.Reynolds, p. 106 Richard Reynolds described the Comedian as "ruthless, cynical, and nihilistic, and yet capable of deeper insights than the others into the role of the costumed hero". Nicholas Michael Grant said the Comedian is "the only character in the Watchmen universe who is almost totally unlikeable."
In the Watchmen film, he is portrayed by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. The film also places him as John F. Kennedy's assassin, as shown in the opening montage. In Watchmen: The End Is Nigh, the Comedian is voiced by Mark Silverman.
Due to his death in the graphic novel, he does not appear in the HBO sequel series Watchmen, but he is mentioned and his legacy lives on through his daughter Laurie. The Comedian is seen briefly in a flashback episode in which he is portrayed by an uncredited actor. According to a Peteypedia article, Lady Trieu's mother Bian My had encountered Blake during the Vietnam War in 1971, during which he and his battalion of Blazin' Commandos' burned down her village.
In Watchmen Chapter I, Comedian is voiced by Rick D. Wasserman.
Doctor Manhattan
Dr. Jonathan "Jon" Osterman is a vigilante and the only character with superpowers.Wright, p. 272 His character was based on the Charlton Comics character Captain Atom. He was originally a physicist who was transformed into a blue, irradiated powerful being after he was disintegrated in an Intrinsic Field Subtractor in 1959. He had returned to the chamber to retrieve his girlfriend's watch (which he had repaired), and was accidentally locked inside when the Subtractor started automatically. Osterman was blown into atoms, with nothing left of his body. Within a few months, his disembodied consciousness managed to reconstruct a physical body for itself, after several hideous partial reconstructions. Following his reanimation, he is immediately pressed into service by the United States government, which gives him the name Doctor Manhattan, after the Manhattan Project. Though he dabbles briefly in crime-fighting, his greatest influence is to grant the U.S. a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union during the Cold War, with his most significant action taking place after he is personally asked by President Richard Nixon to intervene in the Vietnam War, leading to an unqualified victory for the U.S. with the defeat of North Vietnam and the Vietcong. This prevents the collapse of the Saigon government. Since he works for the U.S. government, he is exempt from the provisions of the Keene Act, but spends much of his time doing advanced technology research and development, and physics research. He is single-handedly responsible for the shift to electric-powered vehicles by synthesizing the needed elements and chemicals himself, causing a huge leap in many areas of science and technology. As a result, the technology of the alternative 1985 of the Watchmen universe is far more advanced. After the death of his father in 1969, he does not conceal his birth name and is referred to as "Jon" or "Dr. Osterman".
Perhaps due to his own transhumanist nature, Doctor Manhattan is not only able to perceive time as non-linear, with him often describing past, present and future events as though they were all happening within the time of his retelling of them, this also leads to him acting in accordance with a personal philosophy which most closely resembles determinism. While he can change reality to his will, he believes himself and all of his actions to be pre-determined. He therefore both does and does not possess free will and is, in a way, controlled by forces well within his control. He refuses to change the pre-ordained course of events.
In the Watchmen film, Doctor Manhattan is a CGI character whose body is modeled after fitness model Greg Plitt, with voice, motion capture, and facial performance provided by Billy Crudup (who also portrays Osterman prior to his transformation). In Watchmen: The End is Nigh, Doctor Manhattan is voiced by Crispin Freeman.
In the Watchmen TV series, he is portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. For much of the series, he is solely known by the name Cal Abar, the husband of series protagonist Angela Abar and the survivor of an unnamed accident in 2009 which wiped his memory. In reality, Manhattan installed a device into his forehead that suppressed his superpowers and his omniscient sense of time, allowing him to pursue a comfortable relationship with Angela, though this did remove his memory prior to 2009. Late in the series, in 2019, Angela discovers a plot by the white supremacist ring the Seventh Kavalry to destroy Manhattan and harness his powers; Angela subsequently forcibly removed the device from his forehead, causing him to regain his abilities and appearance. Immediately afterward, Manhattan is captured by the Kavalry and transported into a synthetic lithium cage. As Senator Joe Keene, the Kavalry's leader, prepares to destroy Manhattan while harnessing his powers (ultimately killing Keene in the process since the machine didn't have a component that can filter the atomic energy), Lady Trieu intervenes, kills the rest of the Kavalry, and continues the demonstration in attempt to take his powers for herself so that she can do improvements to the world which Doctor Manhattan never got around to doing. Trieu is successful in killing Manhattan and he shares a final moment with Angela before he dies, though Trieu's plans are ultimately upended by Veidt and she is killed by another of his attacks. At the end of the series, Manhattan is implied to have transferred his powers to Angela.
In Watchmen Chapter I, Doctor Manhattan is voiced by Michael Cerveris.
Nite Owl