History Trivia / Watchmen

* CreatorBacklash: Alan Moore regrets that this book helped usher in UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, admitting that he was undergoing a CreatorBreakdown while writing it. He has no issue with the comic itself though.
-->[[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/alan-moore-donates-screen-royalties-black-lives-matter-1235590134/ When I was doing things like ''Watchmen'', I was not saying that dark psychopathic characters are really cool, but that does seem to be the message that the industry took for the next 20 years.]]

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: It took over thirty years to adapt the graphic novel into a film. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_of_Watchmen_(film) See here for more details]].

* DoingItForTheArt:
** The endless subtle hints and foreshadowing, or minor connections within the ChekhovsArmy that one can find during the second read through can ''not'' be a coincidence. There are also the ''very'' detailed instructions Moore gave to the artist.
** Chapter 5 is palindromic both in shape, dominant colors and focus characters [[note]] Rorschach/Detectives/News Stand/Black Freighter/Dan and Laurie/Ozymandias/Dan and Laurie/Black Freighter/News Stand/Detectives/Rorschach[[/note]]. It's impossible to notice until someone mentions it. And then you realize the significance of the final words of the chapter: [[spoiler: "Everything balances."]]

* HardToAdaptWork: The comic was optioned for a movie almost immediately, then spent twenty years bouncing around writers and directors before the film was made. Among the many struggles was the comic having a very broad timeline of events, switching character viewpoints almost every issue, the heavy amounts of supplemental material included in the margins, the low action quotient, the big comic book spectacle that DOES happen and on top of all that [[TooBleakStoppedCaring the very dark and psychological story]]. At one point it was suggested to make into a mini-series.

* PublicMediumIgnorance: ''Watchmen'' is [[InsistentTerminology frequently called a "graphic novel"]]. However, it was originally published from 1986-1987 as a twelve issue standard comic book limited series. But immediately after the end of the limited series, it was compiled into what is more properly called a "trade paperback" (being among the very first comic book limited series to receive this treatment; ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' also gets this misconception) and it is in this sole format that ''Watchmen'' is still published to this very day. [[AudienceAlienatingPremise Theater attendance even took a hit]] when some people found that this film (based on a comic book previously not well known outside of hardcore comic book fandom) that looks like a cool superhero story was mostly deconstructing the medium.

* BeamMeUpScotty: According to many people online, one of Rorschach's most iconic quotes is "I wish all the scum of the Earth had one throat and I had my hands around it." Except while the quote is from Rorschach, it doesn’t appear anywhere in the comic -- it was on one of the promo posters released to advertise the upcoming series. It reads as follows: "You know what I wish? I wish all of the scum of the Earth had one throat and I had my hands about it." Rorschach (1975).

* BeamMeUpScotty: According to many people online, one of Rorschach's most iconic quotes is "I wish all the scum of the Earth had one throat and I had my hands around it." Except that line of dialogue, or anything remotely similar to it, ''never'' appears in any version of the movie or comic. It's a great line and totally in character for Rorschach, but it's not from ''Watchmen'' and nobody is quite sure how it came to be connected with the character or the work itself.
** The quote sounds like a attested quote from the Emperor Caligula: "Would that the Roman people had but one neck!" It may be that the telephone game got into play (and since the sentiment is very Rorschachian, somehow got stuck to the character).
** An almost identical quote was spoken by serial killer [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Panzram Carl Panzram]], saying "I wish that you all had one neck and that I had my hands on it." While it would make complete sense for Alan Moore to have drawn inspiration from [[MisanthropeSupreme Panzram]] for Rorschach, whether he consciously did so is unknown.
** The quote can be found on one of the promo posters that was released to advertise the upcoming series. It reads as follows: "You know what I wish? I wish all of the scum of the Earth had one throat and I had my hands about it." Rorschach (1975).

* SpoiledByTheCastList: The comic has TheReveal when Rorschach is unmasked as the reader may catch that he was in some scenes as a RecurringExtra, a red-haired man who appeared homeless while holding a picket sign saying "The End is Nigh." But he was one of a number of minor background characters, and being a comic they aren't played by actors. The movie faithfully replicates this development, but with Creator/JackieEarlHaley announced in the role anyone familiar with him will be cued in to this twist.

* NamesTheSame:
** The second season of ''Series/TheWire'' also features a company called "Pyramid Delivery". In both works, the company turns out to be a front set up by the BigBad ([[spoiler:Adrian Veidt]] and The Greek, respectively).
** Edgar Jacobi presumably bears no relation to the Tooth Fairy's first victim in ''Literature/RedDragon'', Edward Jacobi.

* AcclaimedFlop: A common joke among critics was "Who watched the ''Watchmen''? Not many." It was a comic book-based movie that was [[UsefulNotes/RestrictedRating rated R]], which is potentially a box office killer for this sort of film (although it's said to have come from Dr. Manhattan's frontal nudity for the most part). Also, being based on a comic book, mainstream audiences expected a superhero romp but instead got a cerebral deconstruction of the genre instead.

* AcclaimedFlop: A common joke among the critics was "Who watched the ''Watchmen''? Not many." It was a comic book based movie that was [[UsefulNotes/RestrictedRating Rated R]], which is potentially a box office killer for this sort of film. The R-rating is said to have come from Dr. Manhattan's frontal nudity for the most part. Also, being based on a comic book, [[AudienceAlienatingPremise mainstream audiences expected a superhero romp but instead got a complex, cerebral deconstruction instead]].

* DisownedAdaptation: Creator/AlanMoore does not like the idea of the ''[[{{Prequel}} Before Watchmen]]'' comics, and refused to read them or ''Doomsday Clock'', and has abstained from watching the film adaptation or the HBO series. Dave Gibbons, on the other hand, was more open to the idea of prequels, even wishing the new team of writers and artists well; however, he insists that to him, these aren't canon at all, but merely derivative work. [[http://screenrant.com/watchmen-sequel-doomsday-clock-dave-gibbons-not-intested/ Gibbons also states that he is utterly indifferent to]] ''ComicBook/DoomsdayClock'' and that he categorically will not read them and that the interviewer should consider himself lucky that he got more than a "no comment" out of him. He also has a consulting credit on the show and drew the cover on a decorative Bible given to young Jon Osterman as a gift.

* CreatorBacklash: In [[https://collider.com/watchmen-malin-akerman-interview a 2020 interview]], Creator/MalinAkerman admitted that she believes she was way out of her depth in her role in the film, with the scale of the film and her acting alongside highly-trained theater actors while having no training herself contributing to an intense feeling of impostor syndrome. She stated that her experience on the film motivated her to recalibrate career-wise and pursue projects that aligned with her likings and interests.

* DarkhorseCasting: Except for Creator/PatrickWilson, None of the actors who played the main characters were huge stars at the time of the film's release. Arguably the two biggest names (Jackie Earle Haley and Jeffrey Dean Morgan) had primarily gotten work as a child star and in parts on TV, respectively.

* PublicMediumIgnorance: ''Watchmen'' is [[InsistentTerminology frequently called a "graphic novel"]]. However, it was originally published from 1986-1987 as a twelve issue standard comic book limited series. But immediately after the end of the limited series, it was compiled into what is more properly called a "trade paperback" (being among the very first comic book limited series to receive this treatment; ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' also gets this misconception) and it is in this sole format that ''Watchmen'' is still published to this very day.
* [[AudienceAlienatingPremise Theater attendance even took a hit]] when some people found that this film (based on a comic book previously not well known outside of hardcore comic book fandom) that looks like a cool superhero story was mostly deconstructing the medium.

** Creator/SteveDitko was a major inspiration for both Moore and Dave Gibbons. The characters are derivatives of Ditko's Charlton creations, while Rorschach was intended as a {{Deconstruction}} of ''ComicBook/MrA''. Both Moore and Gibbons also took inspiration from Ditko's eye for character creation to create figures who were iconic and recognizable even if they were one-shot characters. Gibbons also cited Ditko's art on his run of [[ComicBook/TheAmazingSpiderManLeeAndDitko The Amazing Spider-Man]] as a major inspiration, especially for its blend of real places with the bizarre and fantastic as well as his use of the 9 Panel Grid.

** On a similar note, Dr. Manhattan's line "I am tired of Earth, of these people. I am tired of being caught in the tangle of their lives" is often misquoted as "I am tired of ''this world'', of these people", probably because the latter sounds more nonspecific and poetic.

* QuoteSource:
** TheSeventies
** BewareTheSuperman
** AGodIAmNot
** GraveClouds
** HeadbuttingHeroes
** NonPoweredCostumedHero
** PhysicalGod
** PrinciplesZealot
** SexIsViolence
** SuperpowerLottery
** YouAlreadyChangedThePast
** YouAreTooLate

* ImageSource:
** CityNoir
** CouldntFindALighter (poster)
** DeadlyDelivery
** HomophobicHateCrime
** MonochromaticEyes
** MisterBig
** SlowMotionFall
** SonOfAWhore
** SuperpowerLottery
* QuoteSource:
** AntagonistInMourning
** PayEvilUntoEvil
** StepfordSnarker

* RealLifeRelative: The son of Zack Snyder plays young Rorschach.

* DyeingForYourArt: Matthew Goode (Ozymandias) usually has dark hair. What you see in the movie is actually a wig [[http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w218/MeganPhntmGrl/Ozymandias/ozymandias044.jpg (here's a picture of it being applied)]].

* WriterRevolt: The executives wanted a steamy sex scene. Zack Snyder and crew placated by accentuating it with Music/LeonardCohen's "Hallelujah".

* CareerResurrection: Although he regained much critical respectability through his work in ''Film/LittleChildren'', Creator/JackieEarleHaley didn't fully become a recognizable presence again until his portrayal as Rorschach drew the attention of general audiences. His acting was widely commended as one of the film's best components, with many noting how closely his performance hewed to the comics.

* CharacterSpecificPages:
** [[Characters/WatchmenRorschach Walter Kovacs / Rorschach]]
** [[Characters/WatchmenOzymandias Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias]]

* ImageSource:
** BadassBoast
** InterplayOfSexAndViolence
** ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals
** PersonOfMassDestruction
** VigilanteExecution
** TheWatchmaker

** Creator/SteveDitko was a major inspiration for both Moore and Dave Gibbons. The characters are derivatives of Ditko's Charlton creations, while Rorschach was intended as a {{Deconstruction}} of ''ComicBook/MrA''. Both Moore and Gibbons also took inspiration from Ditko's eye for character creation to create figures who were iconic and recognizable even if they were one-shot characters. Gibbons also cited Ditko's art on his run of [[ComicBook/LeeDitkoSpiderMan Spider-Man]] as a major inspiration, especially for its blend of real places with the bizarre and fantastic as well as his use of the 9 Panel Grid.