History Film / WatchMen

* AccentRelapse: Though it's never mentioned in the film, Matthew Goode decided to play Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias as a German immigrant himself (not just the son of immigrant parents) who has learned to adopt a newscaster-perfect American accent in public but slides back into a relatively light German one in private. It helps to establish that he's just that cunning. Sadly because this was done rather subtly, quite a few viewers saw it as OohMeAccentsSlipping or just plain wondered WhatTheHellIsThatAccent There's a video of the actor discussing the role doing the switch very suddenly and for contrast, going from his own British accent to explaining that "Veidt's public peRRsona is veRRy [=AmeRRican=]" [in an American accent, hard Rs and all] "bot oo-en hhe iss in pri-vit he bekomms a bit Gehr-mahn" [in a German accent]. Done that quickly, it's ''jarring''.

* ManOnFire: During the PrisonRiot, a random inmate or guard, is seen on fire, running around and screaming.

-->'''Dr. Manhattan:''' She was pregnant...and you gunned her down.

* ManOnFire: During the PrisonRiot, a random inmate is seen on fire, running around and screaming.

* ArtisticLicensePrison: During the prison break, Rorschach kills the prison gang leader Big Figure by following him into a public restroom located on the cell block (there are clearly cells adjacent to the restroom). The problem is, there wouldn't be such a restroom where the prisoners are housed. The prisoners have toilets in their cells, and prisons don't have such restrooms in the cell blocks because it would create a place where prisoners could meet without being observed, and the guards wouldn't enter because they wouldn't know what was going on inside and could easily be trapped.
** Also, Rorschach takes out an attacker in the cafeteria by throwing a pan full of frying oil into his face. There wouldn't be a oil fryer on the serving line for the prisoners, ''in order to prevent exactly that sort of thing from happening.''

* AuthorTract: Adrian's TakeThat speech to a big-shot of the oil industry [[spoiler:''seems'' to be this, causing the audience to roll their eyes at yet another superhero movie with a message. Turns out it was just a RedHerring to make the audience not notice him checking his watch or suspect that his solution to the energy crisis isn't something else instead.]]

* MookHorrorShow: The Vietcongs get massacred by the Watchmen when they participate in the Vietnam War, mostly thanks to Dr. Manhattan. They personally surrendered to him when they gave up.

* {{Recut}}s: This movie has two additional cuts, one that adds about a half hour to the run time and a second one that brings the total time to over three and a half hours by adding in Tales of the Black Freighter.

* ScarySymbolicShapeshifting: During the animated ''Tales Of The Black Freighter'' chapters, the shipwrecked captain appears to physically degenerate as the horror of his efforts to save his homeland weigh upon him, at one point even manifesting BlackEyesOfEvil and a grin full of shark teeth. However, though there is a supernatural element of the ''Black Freighter'' comic, it's clear that this is intended to be a strictly symbolic transformation given that he appears fully human when he arrives home.

* HollywoodDressCode: Dan's cardigans, thick glasses and bow ties = [[HollywoodNerd nerd]]. Veidt's very, very Eighties suits = everything you already think about the corporate atmosphere of that era, conveniently packaged with [[Film/WallStreet colored shirts with white collars and cuffs]].

After almost 20 years in development limbo (including a script by Creator/DavidHayter, AKA [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake]], and not one, but ''two'' attempts by Creator/TerryGilliam), the movie was [[SavedFromDevelopmentHell eventually made and released]], using a script by Alex Tse which preserves some of Hayter's elements.

This page is for movie-only tropes -- most will be on the main ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' page. Similarly, movie-specific character tropes go [[Characters/Watchmen2009 here]].

After almost 20 years in DevelopmentHell (including a script by Creator/DavidHayter, AKA [[Franchise/MetalGear Solid Snake]], and not one, but ''two'' attempts by Creator/TerryGilliam), the movie was released, using a script by Alex Tse which preserves some of Hayter's elements.

** In the graphic novel, Rorsarch killed the kidnapper by handcuffing him in his house and set it on fire, leaving him a hacksaw. This was felt to be too similar to ''Film/{{Saw}}'', so it was changed to Rorsarch blugeoning him to death with a meat cleaver.

** Dreiberg has a copy of ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' on his desk.

** Ozymandias is combined with Captain Metropolis, [[DemotedToExtra whose role is significantly diminished]]. In this version, ''he's'' the one who proposes the creation of the Watchmen ([[AdaptationNameChange "The Crimebusters" in the comic book]]), and ''he's'' the one who presents an ambitious plan for {{saving the world}} to the other heroes -- only to get mocked by the Comedian.

* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the graphic novel, Rorsarch killed the kidnapper by handcuffing him in his house and set it on fire, leaving him a hacksaw. This was felt to be too similar to ''Film/{{Saw}}'', so it was changed to Rorsarch blugeoning him to death with a meat cleaver.

* TheFaceless: Rorschach.

* EvilutionaryBiologist: [[spoiler:Adrian Veidt]]: "A world united in peace... there had to be sacrifice."

* HitlerAteSugar: Averted, where Rorschach uses the [[SoundValidTrue valid]] logic associated with this trope:

!!This movie provides examples of:

* AccentRelapse:
** Though it's never mentioned in the film, Matthew Goode decided to play Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias as a German immigrant himself (not just the son of immigrant parents) who has learned to adopt a newscaster-perfect American accent in public but slides back into a relatively light German one in private. It helps to establish that he's just that cunning. Sadly because this was done rather subtly, quite a few viewers saw it as OohMeAccentsSlipping or just plain wondered WhatTheHellIsThatAccent
** There's a video of the actor discussing the role doing the switch very suddenly and for contrast, going from his own British accent to explaining that "Veidt's public peRRsona is veRRy [=AmeRRican=]" [in an American accent, hard Rs and all] "bot oo-en hhe iss in pri-vit he bekomms a bit Gehr-mahn" [in a German accent]. Done that quickly, it's ''jarring''.

* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Silhouette's unpleasantness is nonexistent. She and her female lover become tragic hate crime victims. Ozymandias is also supposed to affect a very pleasant and charming exterior whereas Matthew Goode comes off as too cold and stand-offish.

* AdaptationalDumbass: One mild example with Laurie: in the comic, the character is a smoker, which is why she hits the flame-thrower button in the Owl Ship, thinking that it's a cigarette lighter. Since Laurie doesn't smoke in the film, her hitting the button here seems more like a case of, "oohh, I wonder what this button clearly marked with a fire icon does?".

* AgeLift: Sally and Eddie had their Minutemen-era ages lifted for the film, as Gugino and Morgan could not convincingly play the characters that young. Sally went from being 19 to being 25, while Eddie changed from 16 to 19 in early screenplay drafts before they settled on him being 22. Other ages and dates were tweaked a bit, as revealed in supplementary materials.
** In a broad sense the main cast are played by actors in their 30's while they are supposed to be in their mid 40's in the present day. It was a necessary deal since so much of the story features flashbacks to decades in the past, rather than trying to subtly portray the age differences of 25-45 they maintained a standard appearance throughout the film. This contrasts the older heroes, who are seen in various stages between their 20's and their 70's using make-up.

* AmbiguouslyGay: Veidt, though it's much less ambiguous in the film than it was in the novel, the biggest example being when Dan accesses Veidt's personal computer and a folder entitled "Boys" is visible on the desktop. In the opening montage, they're slightly anvilicious about it: he's also seen going into Studio 54 and shaking hands with someone who looks an awful lot like [[Music/DavidBowie Ziggy Stardust]], who purposely epitomized the drug and sex culture of the 70s (Mick Jagger is next to Bowie). To make it even less ambiguous, the Village People are in that same scene.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: It ends with Nite Owl and Silk Spectre ([[spoiler:now lovers]]) coming out of retirement to fight crime together. Then there's TheStinger, implying that they may have to deal with the fallout from [[spoiler: Rorschach exposing Ozymandias' crimes...]]

* AuthorTract: Adrian's TakeThat speech to a big-shot of the oil industry [[spoiler: ''seems'' to be this, causing the audience to roll their eyes at yet another superhero movie with a message. Turns out it was just a RedHerring to make the audience not notice him checking his watch or suspect that his solution to the energy crisis isn't something else instead.]]
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: Adrian Veidt and his plan to kill millions of people.]]
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Ozymandias' plan could only work assuming that the rest of the watchmen, especially Jon, were able to be manipulated.]]

* BigBadFriend: [[spoiler:Adrian Veidt. Unlike in the graphic novel, he and Dan are close, affectionate friends in this version -- Adrian's [[GermanicDepressives Germanic depressive]] tendencies ''only'' melt around Dan, and it's highly unlikely Adrian would have taken that penitential beating from anyone else.]]
* BigNo:

** Laurie has one when [[spoiler:she realizes that the Comedian is her father]].
* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The ending as it's presented, especially when you consider the possibility that the rag Rorschach sent his journal to might actually publish it, revealing Ozymandias' plan and possibly sending the world back toward nuclear devastation.]]
* BloodierAndGorier: A rather notorious example of the trope. While ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' wasn't the cleanest graphic novel to hit the market, the film is extremely unsubtle in its depiction of violence.

** When Dr. Manhattan kills someone he disintegrates them with what appears to be a quick flash of light. The movie makes it into a more obvious explosion of gore (possibly to differentiate from simply teleporting people away). [[spoiler: This is especially obvious in Rorschach's death, which lingers on the Rorschach-esque image in the snow]].

* {{Bookends}}: Begins and ends Rorschach's voiceover.
-->'''Rorschach''': Rorschach's journal. October 10th, 1985...

* BuryYourGays: Silhouette, who kisses a nurse on V-Day, [[HistoricalInJoke while a sailor in uniform glances at them and walks by]]. They strike up a relationship and are eventually found murdered for it. The newspaper lying on the bed with them states she was also kicked out of the Minutemen for it. Which is odd, since there was a gay couple in the Minutemen (though they may not have been 'out' yet).

* CaptainsLog / PrivateEyeMonologue: Rorschach's journal voiceovers.

** Ozymandias is combined with Captain Metropolis, [[DemotedToExtra whose role is significantly diminished]]. In this version, ''he's'' the one who proposes the creation of the Watchmen ([[AdaptationNameChange "The Crimebusters" in the comic book]]), and ''he's'' the one who presents an ambitious plan for {{saving the world}} to the other heroes--only to get mocked by the Comedian.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Adrian Veidt isn't one, but played straight with the oil tycoons who try to make him give up on clean electricity after [[spoiler: Dr. Manhattan's disappearance]].

* CreatorCameo: Zack Snyder had a cameo as one of the American soldiers behind the Comedian in the Vietnam War scene.

* CurbstompBattle: Ozymandias defeats both Rorschach and Nite Owl II [[spoiler:and The Comedian]] with ease during their final confrontation.
* CyanidePill: Adrian Veidt reaches into the mouth of his would-be assassin to get at his cyanide pill. [[spoiler: More accurately, he feeds it to the hitman to clean up that loose end. The whole thing was staged to throw suspicion off Veidt.]]

* [[DidYouJustScamCthulhu Did You Just Scam Cthulhu?]] [[spoiler:DID YOU JUST USE THE RESULTS OF SCAMMING CTHULHU TO SCAM THE ENTIRE ''WORLD''?]]
* DullSurprise: Creator/MalinAkerman, as Laurie Juspeczyk, gives rather ... ''measured'' responses to being on Mars and to being told the world will end.
* EvilutionaryBiologist: [[spoiler: Adrian Veidt]]: " A world united in peace... there had to be sacrifice. "

** Veidt's disk has a folder titled "Boys". Veidt's TV wall is full of easter eggs, including "[[Film/ThreeHundred 300 Spartans]]", a ''porn movie'', Apple's famous '1984' commercial, a [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Marvin the Martian]] cartoon (possibly a reference to Dr. Manhattan's fate), ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior'' and a ''Series/MacGyver1985'' episode (the man climbing the parachute, [=MacGyver=] possibly referring to Ozy himself).

** [[spoiler: Captain Metropolis and Hooded Justice]] can be seen staring at each other adoringly in the retirement scene from the intro. It was mentioned in passing in the original comic that those two were secretly lovers.
** Veidt's Watchmen toyline is made up of the real life action figures released by DC Direct. However, the ones in the movie are painted in brighter, comic accurate colors.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The [[VillainProtagonist Comedian]] has a mental breakdown when he discovers Ozymandias' plan.
** Also ironically, in the deleted scene where Nite Owl finds out about Hollis Mason's murder, he beats a member of the gang responsible so hard the guy loses teeth... and ''[[AxCrazy Rorschach]]'' is the one who tells him to stop - because they're in public (he probably wouldn't have objected if there hadn't been an audience).

-->'''[[spoiler: Rorschach]]:''' Well, what are you waiting for? Do it...''[[SuddenlyShouting DO IT!]]''

* FilmAdaptationLiveAction: A film based on the graphic novel ''{{ComicBook/Watchmen}}''.
* {{Fingore}}: In addition to Rorschach's [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique bone-snapping interrogation methods]], in the director's cut, Veidt's secretary's fingers are shot off by the assassin hired [[spoiler:by Veidt]] to kill Veidt.
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: [[spoiler: The last inkblot pattern that Rorschach's mask forms is almost identical to the blood splatter he makes when Manhattan kills him.]]

** The opening montage includes shots of all the characters, including [[spoiler: a young Walter Kovacs watching a man leave his mother's bedroom, and a young Laurie Jupiter watching her parents argue]]. Both scenes are revisited as important parts of the characters' backstories.
** In the scene where the gunman fires at Veidt and the tycoons, [[spoiler: the light above the elevator that signals his arrival is the same color as Veidt's suit, hinting at who hired him.]]

-->You keep calling me Walter. I don't like you.

* GenreDeconstruction: Snyder said his intention wasn't to translate the comics deconstruction of comic book conventions to comic book movies, but by its nature elements of this certainly crept in. Rorschach's voice is about the most extreme PrivateEyeMonologue you can imagine, especially as this movie was made in the wake of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and talk of Christian Bale's [[GutturalGrowler absurdly low and scratchy]] Batman voice. The costumes of the 1940's heroes are generally made of cloth and leather while the 1980's heroes wear latex and rubber suits, which reflects the changing pattern of Hollywood superhero costumes. Ozymandias outfit in particular has [[FormFittingWardrobe sculpted nipples]], a reference to the infamous designs in ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''. The violence level is also ramped up.

* HazyFeelTurn: [[spoiler: Dr. Manhattan turning to Ozymandias' side.]]
* HeroicBSOD: Dr Manhattan has one when he thinks that [[spoiler:he caused the death of many of his old friends and soon his old girlfriend by giving them cancer]].
-->'''Dr Manhattan''': '''I SAID, LEAVE ME ALONE!'''
* HistoricalInJoke: The Comedian [[spoiler:killed JFK]], Ozymandias went to Studio 54, and many, many more.
** '''The Comedian:''' "Ain't had this much fun since [[spoiler: Woodward and Bernstein.]]" ...Guess that explains how Nixon stuck around.
*** At The Comedian's funeral, "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel plays over the background. That song was written in the aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, [[spoiler:which, in the ''Watchmen'' film universe, was carried out by The Comedian.]]

-->'''Nite Owl II''': [[spoiler:[[{{BigBad}} Adrian]]]]'s a '''pacifist'''. He's a '''vegetarian''', for Christ's sake. He's never killed anyone in his life.
-->'''Rorschach''': [[SoWasX Hitler was vegetarian]].

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: The man trying to kill Veidt is a ''horrible'' shot. Veidt could've probably stood completely still and been perfectly safe, considering his first two shots aren't even close to hitting him while he's standing still.

** [[spoiler:Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias hired the guy to stage the assassination attempt. Not only did he know it was coming, the guy probably had explicit instructions to NOT shoot him.]]
* InPrisonWithTheRogues: Rorschach gets set up and walks straight into a crime scene with cops tipped off ready to arrest him. He gets put in a prison full of criminals who know and resent him. But they soon learn that if any of them try to screw with him, they'll be lucky to walk away with severe scarring. As Rorschach makes it clear: "I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!"

* InSpiteOfANail: A very minor blink-and-you'll-miss-it example. In spite of the AlternateHistory, the ''Film/MadMax'' films still get made in this continuity.

** Rorschach asks his shrink as he puts on his mask "What do you see?"
** The opening montage showed among other things, Hollis Mason (Nite Owl I) beating up a mugger. The deleted scene [[spoiler: of his death]] also showed a montage of him beating up criminals.

* LetsGetDangerous: Dr Manhattan doing something akin to a PowerWalk when he finally goes after [[spoiler:Ozymandias.]]

-->The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout 'Save us!'... and I'll look down, and whisper "no."

* MadeOfPlasticine / LudicrousGibs: What happens when Dr. Manhattan uses his [[IncrediblyLamePun explosive]] powers against gangsters, Viet Cong, and [[spoiler:Rorschach]].

* MetaTwist: [[spoiler:While it's obvious to a modern reader that Veidt is the murderer/guiding force behind the plot of the graphic novel, the book first appeared before comics in general became much DarkerAndEdgier and it was perfectly reasonable for an audience to assume that Veidt was the honest, caring man he seemed to be. Nowadays, a saintly-seeming character in a work otherwise full of grim antiheroes sticks out really obviously as the villain, so, film!Veidt became a glacial, aloof, rather sneering figure to actually ''detract'' the likelihood of his being the culprit from a newcomer's POV -- only for it to still be him. But then it's twisted ''again'' in the end by how much less at peace he seems than his comic-book counterpart...]]

* MookHorrorShow: The Vietcongs get massacred by the Watchmen when they participate in the Vietnam War, mostly thanks to Dr Manhattan. They personally surrendered to him when they gave up.

-->"She was pregnant...and you gunned her down."
* NecessarilyEvil: [[spoiler:Ozymandias presents himself far more as this in the film than in the graphic novel, down to standing there and letting Dan beat him up. It was only ExecutiveMeddling that saved him- in earlier drafts, he made Dan promise to protect his utopia and then ''let Dan kill him''.]]
* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Laurie

-->'''Silk Spectre I''': I'm 67 years old; every day, the future looks a little bit darker. But the past...[[WartsAndAll even the grimy parts of it]]...keep on getting brighter.

* NotHisSled: [[spoiler: The giant squid does not appear.]]
* NothingButHits: Along with going by the (comic) book and adding just about every song that's quoted in ''Watchmen'', the other music from the soundtrack is also well-known (though not exactly from the mid-1980s which are the setting).

* OffscreenTeleportation: When he's interrogated, Rorschach describes an occasion where he threw two objects through windows, yet is able to get inside the house and stand next to the man he threw it at in about two seconds. Rorschach being Rorschach, he's something of an UnreliableNarrator.
* OminousMultipleScreens: In his lair Ozymandias is shown viewing a wall filled floor to ceiling with television screens, each showing a different image, in order to demonstrate his ability to pay attention to each one simultaneously.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The original comic passed through generations of filmmakers, including the likes of Creator/TerryGilliam, trying to make it into a comprehensible movie. It became famous for being impossible to adapt to the screen. Among the reasons listed is the constantly switching narrative (the first chapter is mostly the perspective of the police investigating Comedian's death), the page layout being too intricately crafted to replicate in a film (the chapter "Fearful Symmetry" mirrors itself in color and layout) and the [[AnachronicOrder non-linear order]] (Dr. Manhattan alone sees time as omni-present, leading to his chapter being about him experiencing all major events of his life at once). The film's solution was to replicate the story as closely as possible, using the comic itself as a storyboard (much like Snyder's adaptation of ''Film/ThreeHundred''), and streamline the narrative to keep the focus on the principle characters. The antagonist's plot is simplified to reduce the number of new concepts needing to be explained to the audience: [[spoiler: instead of Veidt sending a genetically engineered squid upon a major city to scare the world into fearing an alien invasion, he detonates Dr. Manhattan inspired bombs (of comparable strength to a nuke) around the world to make them fear Dr. Manhattan personally, achieving the same effect of distracting the world from nuclear war and being more open to world peace]]. This has caused some debate as to its value compared to the original comic, while it may have lost that visceral reaction to such a devastating event, many said it possibly improves upon the original by being simpler and better {{foreshadowed}}.

* RRatedOpening: Parents who took their children to the big new superhero movie ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids and somehow missed the R rating]]) most likely left the theater after watching an old man being brutally beaten up and thrown out of a skyscraper. If not, the opening montage (which includes among others, two dead women with "LESBIAN WHORES" written on a nearby wall in something red that looks very much like it could be their own blood) could be enough.

*** Dr. Long (the psychiatrist)'s briefcase also has 3-0-0 as combination number, and Veidt is watching ''The 300 Spartans'' on TV among other things.

** A ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'' dummy can be seen being burnt during the 70's flashbacks in with the protesting. [[Film/ManOfSteel Which is also funny considering this is also a flash forward on Synder's film after]] ''Film/SuckerPunch''.

* SlowMotion: Prolifically used during the fight scenes to zoom in on injuries. Even in the sex scenes, to some tropers' dismay. For a Snyder movie, it's restrained.

---> '''Rorschach:''' Funny story. Sounds unbelievable. Probably true.

* SpandexLatexOrLeather: All three, actually, and more. The 1940s-vintage heroes mostly wore Spandex or its period equivalent (rather amusing are the realistic ''canvas'', silk or cotton home-made costumes, considering that the heroes in question were ordinary people having either a bout of schizophrenia or a surfacing vigilante streak); some of those that didn't - like Silhouette - wore leather. The later Comedian preferred leather body armor, and Silk Spectre II was in latex. (Creator/MalinAkerman famously commented that her costume made her "smell like a giant condom".) Both [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nite_owl_film.png Nite Owl]] and [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ozymandias.jpg Ozymandias]] wear form-fitting latex resembling what is worn by any Batman in film.

* ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish: Ozymandias' password is [[UsefulNotes/RamsesII RAMESESII]].

* RealFootageRecreation: The film recreates the [[WhoShotJFK assassination of President Kennedy]] based on footage such as the UsefulNotes/ZapruderFilm.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech:
--> '''Dr Manhattan''': "I have walked across the surface of the Sun... The world's smartest man poses no more threat to me does than its smartest ''termite''."
* ThouShaltNotKill: Rarely for a superhero/comicbook movie, completely averted by the heroes. Dr. Manhattan has a habit of exploding everyone from petty crimebosses to Vietcong, Rorschach is...[[SociopathicHero Rorschach]], and even Dan and Laurie have no problems jamming knives into peoples' necks during a bit fight scene.

* VillainousBSOD: [[spoiler:Ozymandias appears to be going through one of these during the last we see of him. He's shaky, staring into space, and looking like he's about to fall over. Of course, the fact that what he did saved the world could make this just as strongly count as a HeroicBSOD.]]
** [[spoiler:Ozymandias actually confirms this on screen. He is the type of person that despises killing and would not normally ever willingly do it. But the destruction he caused was the only way to prevent global nuclear annihilation (conflict between the US and USSR which was rapidly approaching). He killed millions, [[TheNeedsOfTheMany to prevent a nuclear holocaust that would kill billions]]. And he stated that he forced himself to feel every single death and that he would have to live with that burden.]]
* VillainousPlanInertia: Played with; before the big boss fight, Ozymandias informs the heroes that even if they were to defeat him, his plan had already been set in motion and could not be stopped. [[spoiler: He's right, of course, and the fight never happens as a result.]]
* VisionaryVillain: [[spoiler: Ozymandias and his vision of world peace bought at a terrible price.]]

-->'''Manhattan''': "She was pregnant... and you gunned her down."
-->'''Comedian''': "That's right. And you know what, you ''watched'' me. You could've turned the gun into steam, the bullets into mercury, the bottle into goddamned snowflakes, but ''you didn't'', did you? You really don't give a ''damn'' about human beings. You're driftin' out of touch, doc. God help us all."

-->'''Dan''': "You live off people while insulting them, and nobody complains because they all think you're a crazed lunatic!"\\
(''{{beat}})''\\
'''Dan''': "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have said that..."\\
'''Rorschach''': "''Dan. You are a good friend. I know being around me can be difficult.''"\\
'''Dan''': "It's all right. Forget about it."
* WhoShotJFK: The opening credit sequence reveals that it was [[spoiler: The Comedian]], from the grassy knoll of course.
* WilhelmScream: There is one in the prison riot.

* YouAreTooLate: Obviously. Our "heroes" tried to [[spoiler:stop Ozymandias from killing millions of people]]. Yeah...the bombs were already detonated.

->''"Who watches the Watchmen?"''

** Also Doctor Manhattan to Ozymandias: the speech ending in "This world's smartest man poses no more threat to me than does its smartest ''termite''."

--> '''Dr Manhattan''': "I have walked across the surface of the Sun... To me, the world's smartest man means no more to me than its smartest ''termite''."

* MetaTwist: [[spoiler:While it's obvious to a modern reader that Veidt is the murderer/guiding force behind the plot of the graphic novel, the book first appeared before comics in general became much DarkerAndEdgier and it was perfectly reasonable for an audience to assume that Veidt was the honest, caring man he seemed to be. Nowadays, a saintly-seeming character in a work otherwise full of grim antiheroes sticks out really obviously as the villain, so, film!Veidt became a glacial, aloof, rather sneering figure to actually ''detract'' the likelihood of his being the culprit from a newcomer's POV- only for it to still be him. But then it's twisted ''again'' in the end by how much less at peace he seems than his comic-book counterpart...]]

** John F. Kennedy is shot and killed by the Comedian instead of Lee Harvey Oswald.
** The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was never ratified and the Watergate scandal was never made public (the latter implied to be due to the Comedian's assassination of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein). As a result, Richard Nixon is now serving his fifth term as president.