- Chapter 28 of Assassination Classroom includes Itona's "handler" Shiro wearing an anti-Sensei fabric outfit with an upside-down version of Dr. Manhattan's hydrogen symbol.
- The characters of Levi and Erwin in Attack on Titan were confirmed in a blog post
by the creator to be modeled after Rorschach and Ozymandias, respectively. Levi shares Rorschach's body type (and is referred to derisively as being small, as Rorschach is), bizarre manner of speaking and behavior, horrendous upbringing, and white scarf, while Erwin shares Ozymandias' body type, facial features, and modus operandi: Both Ozymandias and Erwin are leaders who are unafraid to sacrifice many in order to save the majority. - My Hero Academia: Chapter 115 includes a mentally unstable masked man walking the streets, watching corruption, and monologuing to himself.
- Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: In Part 2 of "Chuck to the Future", after being microwaved, Chuck reforms itself pretty much like Dr Manhattan after being de-atomized.
- Psycho-Pass: At the meetup in episode 4, there's someone whose costume is of Rorschach.
- Chapter 23 of Ratman has Mirea and Shuto go see a movie together, which is about a hero named Watchaman whose overall appearance is eerily similar to Rorschach.
- Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru: After the battle with Benkei, his planet gets new slash marks that make it look like the Comedian's smiley face pin.
Comic Books
- Abyss: An autographed photo of Ozymandias is one of the items in Raifer's secret lair.
- When Mulch breaks into the actress's apartment in the Artemis Fowl Arctic Incident graphic novel, it's done in a similar style to Rorschach entering The Comedian's apartment at the start of Watchmen, including a billboard advertising a candy called Mmeltdowns.
- Astonishing X-Men: Rorschach is among the crowd of people that invades Benetech in issue 6.
- Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam: At one point a bystander can be seen wearing a Watchmen shirt.
- Issue #25 of Birds of Prey sees Ted Kord flying the Beetle around Bludhaven with Oracle and recreates several of Nite Owl's scenes in the process–likely a reference to the fact that Nite Owl was created as a Captain Ersatz of Blue Beetle.
- Chew: Savoy's nametag on his car mechanic disguise reads Hollis Mason.
- Common Grounds: Blackwatch's stained shirt shows a circular image with a red stain in the upper left, similar to the recurring symbol found throughout the Watchmen comic.
- Exiles: When the Exiles and Squadron Supreme confront Earth-712's dictators, Morph can be seen having turned into a ginger man holding a sign saying "the end is nigh", similar to Rorschach.
- Final Crisis: Final Crisis: Superman Beyond 3D features Captain Adam, an alternate universe version of Captain Atom who's a clear Expy of Dr Manhattan, who is in himself a Captain Atom Expy.
- Flex Mentallo: At one point, Walter Kovacs can be seen holding his sign.
- During the Matt Fraction run of Hawkeye, we get to see the moment when, as a kid, Clint learned that there'd been an accident and he was an orphan now. Just like Rorschach, Clint has nothing to say in response except "Good."
- A few in House of M: Bucky comes off as an Expy of the Comedian: they are both black-ops officers for the military, and Bucky’s uniform—black combat gear with Captain America shoulder pads—-is very similar to the Comedian's. Also, Richard Nixon gets a third term after overturning the 22nd Amendment and having his cronies (Bolivar Trask in House of M, the Comedian in Watchmen) get rid of any traces of Watergate.
- Damien Darkblood, Demon Detective from Invincible is very similar to Rorschach; he dresses just like him and has some of the same speech quirks.
- Judge Dredd: During the "America" story, a common graffito was "Who judges the Judges", done in a similar style to the "Who Watches the Watchmen" graffiti.
- Justice League: Cry for Justice: Prometheus explains why the heroes can't stop his plan by saying that the destruction in Star City "began five minutes ago".
- Justice Society of America: In one issue, a parallel universe Joker was shown as very old and decrepit, sporting a smiley pin with a splatter of blood.
- Kick-Ass: The scene where Hit-Girl brings out the flamethrower to kick some ass mirrors a similar scene from Watchmen.
- Kingdom Come: Hollis Mason's autobiography Under the Hood can be seen in a shop window. Also, Rorschach makes a cameo at one point.
- Marvels: The Silk Spectre and Nite Owl appear in a machine similar to Archie.
- Mighty Avengers (2013): Kevin Brashear looks a lot like Doctor Manhattan on his return from the Neutral Zone.
- Monica's Gang: The world of fictional blue characters that the gang travels to in the Avatar parody includes Dr. Manhattan.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (IDW):
- Pinkie Pie's issue includes Twilight repeating some elements of the Pagliacci joke.
- The third issue of Friends Forever has another reference; Spike's line about how Celestia could have saved them easily is almost a word-for-word quote of something the Comedian says to Dr. Manhattan in the Vietnam flashback.
- No Hero: The third issue's alternate cover is a homage to the cover of Watchmen.
- The "Cape Killer" in Satans Soldier appears to be a reference to Rorchach's "mask killer" theory.
- Spider-Man: Life Story: The image of Giant Man looming large in a forest in Vietnam appears to reference a part of Watchmen with Dr. Manhattan doing the same.
- Spider-Verse: One of the alternate Spider-Men shown in the Web of Life and Destiny in Amazing #9 is based on Rorschach.
- Star Wars (Marvel 2015): The scene where Boba Fett publicly tortures an alien in the Mos Eisley cantina, but finds no useful information from any of the bar patrons, is very similar to the scene where Rorschach breaks a drunk guy's fingers in a fruitless attempt to find out who killed the Comedian.Rorschach: I've just broken this gentleman's little finger. And his index finger. Who killed Edward Blake?Fett: I've just removed one of this thing's arms and broken two others. Who here knows the boy's name?
- Stormwatch: One issue includes Jenny Sparks relating her historical adventures in the style of the cartoons from those periods, Watchmen being one of them.
- Superior Spider Man: Otto finds himself channeling Rorschach in issue #20.Otto: No doubt our other former colleagues will realize what you have... albeit when it's far too late. They'll beat on the doors, screaming, 'save us!' and I will whisper—
- The Sandman (1989): One panel in the World's End chapter shows a character wearing a bloodstained smiley-face pin.
- The cover of the Old Wounds issue of the Team Fortress 2 comic visually references the cover of the first issue of Watchmen.
- Transmetropolitan:
- The use of a three-eyed smiley face as an Arc Symbol is reminiscent of Watchmen's use of a smiley face with blood over one eye.
- One of Spider's panels in Issue 30 (when Detective Newton has a gun to his head) is an exact copy of Rorschach's final "DO IT!!!" near the end of Watchmen.
- Issue 6's first page references an "intrinsic electric field".
- Zenith: Scott Wallace and the Lloigor are fairly transparent thematic stand-ins for Ozymandias and Doctor Manhattan. Zenith manages to find a way to beat them both.
Fan Works
- Absolute Trust: In Chapter 43, Alec references Rorschach’s famous line when Hakoda is confused about designating Omashu, currently occupied by the Fire Nation, as their rendezvous point:Alec: Bumi isn't locked in Omashu with the Fire Nation. The Fire Nation is locked in Omashu with Bumi.
- The fanfiction Beyond the Outer Gate Lies... also references the line, where the story begins with Harry trapped with a Walker on the wrong side of the Outer Gates while the Eldritch Abomination tries to make him give up all hope.He Who Walks Behind: Wizard! How long do you think you can continue, Mortal! You may have closed the Gates, you may have stopped us, but you cannot escape anymore! You have locked yourself in here, with us!Harry: I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!
- Light and Dark The Adventures of Dark Yagami: Ozymandias' "I did it thirty five minutes ago" line is referenced.
- The New Adventures of Invader Zim: In Episode 6 of season 2, Jayd is shown to be a fan of Green Lantern, while Dite says she prefers more Anti-Hero stuff like Watchmen or The Punisher.
- One for All and Eight for the Ninth: During the villain attack on their summer camp, Izuku proclaims "I'm not trapped in here with you. You're trapped in here with me!"
- Pony POV Series: In "the end", Apple Bloom confronting Diamond Tiara only to discover Diamond had already implemented her plan and there is no way to stop it references how Ozymandias' plan turns out.
- Progress: "Well then! Someday, the citizens of this city will not have their toys delivered with their meals, and will instead look up to me with a cry of 'Help us!' and I shall reply, 'No! Petition the manager instead!'"
- Shinji and Warhammer40k: In chapter 46, as an avatar of Lilith in the form of Ikari Yui is tearing up Tokyo-3, she turns and beckons for Fuyutsuki to join with her, similar to the manner in which everyone was absorbed in Third Impact in canon. Fuyutsuki merely smiles and whispers, "No."
- Steven Universe: Alternate Future: Kyanite says "I'm not in here with you, you're in here with me!" during her rousing speech in "Shining Diamond, Part 1"
- The Addams Family (2019): Wednesday tells the school's Alpha Bitch, "I’m not locked up in here with you; you're locked up in here with me."
- Batman: The Dark Knight Returns: Watchmen is one of the comics on the stand in the convenience store where Gordon shoots the 17-year old Mutant.
- Teen Titans Go! To the Movies: One of the posters on the WB lot features Doctor Manhattan with rabbit ears, titled What's Up, Doc?
- Back to the Future Part II: One of the articles in the paper in 1985-A about Doc Brown being committed reads "Nixon to seek fifth term".
- Captain America: Civil War: The Vision appears in a very conservative business suit, clearly meaning to visually reference Dr. Manhattan, a certain other godlike, inhuman creation of science from a story of infighting among superheroes. Even better, he's assigned to live with Wanda for the sole purpose of keeping her pacified, very similar to the living arrangements of Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre at the start of the story, albeit with their positions reversed.
- Preest of Franklyn appears to be an Expy of Rorschach as a gruff, masked loner in a Badass Longcoat who defies the society he views as corrupt, wandering the streets at night monologuing to himself while engaging in vigilante activities.
- Kick-Ass: When Dave is leaving the hospital, his Dad puts a copy of Watchmen in his bag.
- Problem Child 3: Dr. Peabody wears a Watchmen button on his suit.
- The Suicide Squad: During Rick Flag's death scene, he utters the line "'Peacemaker'... What a joke." It's not hard to see this as an allusion to the Comedian, who was explicitly a Captain Ersatz to Peacemaker. And on that note during the scene where the Squad goes to rescue Harley, the bloodstain on Bloodsport's shirt looks suspiciously similar to the iconic bloodstain on the Comedian's button.
- Unbreakable: Elijah's color motif is purple, and his office has a large Egyptian mural behind his chair, both of which are references to Ozymandias. As a bonus, both characters are actually secretly the villain of their respective work.
- Willy's Wonderland: Liv regards the janitor and the animatronics by saying "He's not trapped in here with them. They're trapped in here with him!"
Literature
- The Broken Empire Trilogy: When Jorg locks Costco and his fifteen supporters with him so he can beat them to death, one of them shouts that he’s simply trapped himself with them. Jorg responds that he thinks they're trapped there with him.
- The Discworld novel I Shall Wear Midnight gets one: When explaining that she has no fears about being locked in the castle dungeon, Tiffany inverts Rorschach's famous Badass Boast:I haven't been locked away from you. The rest of you have been locked away from me.
- Eleanor & Park: Watchmen is among Park's comics.
- The General Series: One of the characters mentions the story of an incorruptible cop who, after being framed and thrown into a prison with loads of convicts who hated him, used Rorshach's line: "I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."
- Happy Valley: Act Eight is given the Literary Allusion Title Nothing Ever Ends.
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Shockley reconstitutes himself after becoming an Inhuman first as a skeleton, then adding muscle and sinew before he's finally human, like Dr. Manhattan after his disintegration.
- The Big Bang Theory: Sheldon's journal in "The Bozeman Reaction" is a shout-out to Rorschach's Journal.Sheldon: Sheldon's journal. Security system in place. However, sleep continues to elude me. I've seen the underbelly of Pasadena, this so-called City of Roses, and it haunts me. Ah, the injustice, I lie here awake, tormented, while out there evil lurks, probably playing Donkey Kong on my classic Nintendo.
- Breaking Bad: In the episode "Ozymandias", Hank claiming Jack made his decision "ten minutes ago" majorly parallels Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt's infamous "thirty-five minutes ago" line in Watchmen. Both situations give a hopeless vibe to the characters desperate to stop a horrifying event from happening (Walt preventing Hank's death, and Rorschach/Night Owl preventing Ozymandias from killing half of New York's population)... only for those tragic events to happen anyway.
- Castle: At one point, Beckett suggests that Castle would look good as Dr. Manhattan: "Blue skin, brings out your eyes."
- No Heroics: There’s a brand of alcohol named Ozymandias champagne.
- The Umbrella Academy: The barbershop where Klaus meets Reginald is named "Nite Owl".
- The Wire: The second season features a company called "Pyramid Delivery", just like the one in Watchmen. In both works, the company turns out to be a front set up by the Big Bad (Ozymandias and The Greek, respectively).
- The Living Tombstone: "My Ordinary Life" quotes Doctor Manhattan's "I feel fear for the [very] last time" as the final line in the chorus, in the context of the singer's suicide.
- When entering the Elimination Chamber, CM Punk stops for a moment to remind the other competitors "I'm not locked in here with you... you're locked in here with me!"
- The Binding of Isaac: The "Anti-Gravity" item in Rebirth makes Isaac light blue, with white eyes and an atomic insignia on his forehead.
- Dreamfall: The Longest Journey: The naked bald blue-glowing Physical God of a Guardian, Gordon Halloway, looks suspiciously similar to Dr. Manhattan.
- Friday the 13th: Killer Puzzle: The description for the Supermax Jason skin reads "He is not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with him."
- How to Survive: The man who assists you on how to survive the island through scattered pages of his guidebook is named Kovac.
- The Injustice 2 video game gives this possible line from Braniac when facing off against Batman, referencing Dr. Manhattan's comment to Ozymandias near the end of the story:Brainiac: You are Earth's greatest detective?Batman: So it's been said.Brainiac: The smartest ant is still an ant.
- Katawa Shoujo: In Emi's route, Kenji asks Hisao to deliver his hidden journal to the media if something should happen to him.
- Manifest: One room in the Sanctum has a poster with the Watchmen symbol on it.
- Marathon Expanded Universe: "Apep"'s terminal from "This Message Will Self-Destruct", introduced to 1.3 quotes Ozymandias almost verbatim, down to "thirty-five minutes ago"."I assure thee, no soy ningún comandante incompetente Pfhor. I would not tell thee my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of thee affecting it. Admiral Ksandr launched the novam praemátúram thirty-five minutes ago."
- Mass Effect 3: If you've romanced Liara all the way through, her last kiss with Shepard ends with them silhouetted in each other's arms as a bright light on the horizon envelops them, looking a lot like Dan's dream sequence with Laurie.
- Middle Manager of Justice: Gloomerang's dialogue mimics that of Rorschach.
- Off: The "Panic in Ballville" segment includes a building with graffiti that reads "Who watch [sic] the watchmen?"
- Rainbow Six Siege: One of Doc's headgears is called Exner◊ and its design is a reference to Rorschach's mask. The headgear itself is named after John E. Exner, who created a standardized system of interpreting Rorschach tests.
- Saints Row IV: One of the skins for The Penetrator is called "The Good Doctor." It's blue and glowing. Sound familiar?
- Shing!: One of the achievements is named "You're Locked In Here With Me".
- The Sims 4: The caption for the Comedy skill states that "As soon as one realizes that everything is a joke, being a comedian is the only thing that makes sense."
- Spec Ops: The Line: When the team is preparing to raid the Radioman's tower, the Radioman says, "I'm not locked in here with you. You're locked in here with me." His tower is likewise decorated with a bloody smiley face much like the Comedian's.
- The Surge: One of the achievements is named "Watchman".
- System Shock: The Hacker wears a shirt in the intro with a large yellow smiley face with a red stain.
- In Team Fortress 2 during an MvM match, if the Soldier is the last man standing on the team, he might say "I'm not trapped in a facility full of robots. YOU are ALL trapped in here WITH ME!".
- Titanfall 2: The achievement you get for fighting off a pair of Reapers and their horde of Stalkers and Ticks while trapped in a simulated battleground is called, "I'm not locked in here with you!"
- Total War: Attila: In The Last Roman campaign, the Roman Expedition starts with two armies, one of which is called The Watchmen.
- To the Moon: In episode 2, when meeting Colin inside his latest coherent memory, Neil interrupts Eva's introduction of them both, by introducing himself as "Dr. Hattan; Dr. Man Hattan" and coloring his skin blue for a brief moment.
Web Animations
- Broken Saints: There's graffiti on an alley wall that reads "Who watches".
- DR. BEES: The superhero Omnipotron, an all-powerful naked blue person who experiences time non-linearly, is clearly a riff on Dr. Manhattan.
- Terrible Writing Advice: "Deconstruction" shows the edgy author giving a speech mirroring Rorschach's.
Webcomics
- Captain SNES: The Game Masta: There's a part where tachyons are used to disrupt a prescient being's future sight, just like Ozymandias does to Dr. Manhattan.
- Dinosaur Comics: This comment in a bit of Alt Text:Toronto's politicians and tourism board will look up and shout, "Boo hoo hoo we can't increase tourism and we've never even tried calling ourselves 'Omega City, Where It's Always Two For One Tacos', tell us what to do, Ryan" and I'll look down and whisper, "No."
- Marauder Shields: In episode #20, one of the companies part of an elaborate Cerberus front on Earth is Veidt Enterprises.
- Nobody Scores!: Sara references Rorchach's line in this comic.
- Penny Arcade: In "Whackmen," Tycho asks Gabe if he deleted his Twitter, to which Gabe replies, "I did it thirty-five minutes ago."
- PvP: One comic is a Watchmen parody, mixed with several newspaper comics.
- Sam & Fuzzy: Bonus put it into production 35 minutes ago.
- One part of Shortpacked! also uses the line.
- As does The Trenches, which follows up immediately by confirming it as a reference.
- Zelfia: Mayy notes that "if you're going to have grafitti in a comic book, at least ONE of them HAS to be a cut-off-or-otherwise-obscured 'Who watches the watchmen?' It's the law."
Web Videos
- Ask Lovecraft: For the episode"Watchmen", Howie's image is made up as Dr. Manhattan.
- Bennett the Sage: In the Read or Die OVA review, a very flirty scene between Nancy and Yomiko is followed by Sage imitating Rorschach making notes about the scene with the "Possibly homosexual. Must investigate further..." line.
- Blonde Guy Gamer: Croshach is a homage to Rorschach.
- Civvie 11: During the Doom 64 video, while reading the intermission text for 'Even Simpler', he segues into one of the lines from Rorschach's journal before cutting back and noting how much edgier Doomguy has become.
- Crash Course: Rorschach appears in episode 21 of Psych.
- Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin'?: In two different episodes (Yoshi's Island and Elite Beat Agents), Anthony can be seen reading the trade paperback (and trade hardcover) of Watchmen.
- Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Abridged: Dio quotes Ozymandias's "I'm not some Republic serial villain" line during his and Jotaro's battle.
- Totally Not Mark: As Mark's talks of Moro avoiding the recurring villain stupidity of not having his cards left in check in Moro: The Troubled Chapters, the video shows the iconic panel of Ozymandias telling the heroes his plan was done 35 minutes ago.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The iconic Hindu poster from the comic (most prominently seen in the "Fearful Symmetry" chapter) is very briefly shown in the Doom Patrol episode.
- Central Park: Among the comic book references in "I'm the Worst" is a parody of Dr. Manhattan on Mars.
- Harley Quinn (2019): One of the prisoners from episode six's inmate number is "011285" which is the date of the giant squid attack from Watchmen.
- Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.: Hulk riffs on Rorschach's "I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me" a couple of times.
- Justice League: Bernie's newsstand is visible in the episode "Paradise Lost".
- Justice League: Gods and Monsters: The first episode of Chronicles includes a smiley face on a wall with blood on it.
- Miraculous Ladybug: Apart from being an Expy of Batman, Knightowl of the United HeroeZ of New York has a similar moniker and appearance to Nite Owl.
- Rick and Morty: In "Juricksic Mort", after he and Morty are teleported away, Rick refers to the dinosaurs as "Doctor Manhattan highroad assholes".
- Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: In "The Night The Clown Cried", we get this exchange after a disguised Velma rescues Fred from Crybaby Clown:Velma: (using a voice modulator) Nice furbib.Fred: Wait...dry sense of humor, tense of disdain and superiority... Velma!?Velma: (takes off hat and the cloth covering the lower half of her face) Who were you expecting? Rorschach?
- Not to mention Velma's actions and throwaway line toward Mayor Nettles at the beginning of the episode are similar to those of the aforementioned hero.
- Teen Titans Go!:
- In the episode "Beast Man", you can see Dr. Manhattan on the magazine Raven reads to infuriate "The Man".
- In "Yearbook Madness", signatures of Dr. Manhattan, Rorschach, and The Comedian can be seen.
- Toy Story of Terror: The Pocketeer resembles a Fisher Price version of Nite Owl, who had a line about needing pockets and zippers in his costume.
