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The series is perhaps best known for being one of the first serious attempts at examining how modern society and culture might ''really'' react to the presence of costumed vigilantes with secret identities (though it wasn't the first to deconstruct it, as Creator/MarvelComics did quite a bit of this in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} -- what sets ''Watchmen'' apart is how it framed its narrative against the backdrop of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar in a more realistic light). More broadly, though, the whole story is a protracted examination of the conflict between {{power}} and morality. It's no accident that it was written towards the end of the Cold War, when UsefulNotes/{{the United States}} and the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion -- two superpowers of a different sort -- were reaching the apex of their power on the world stage. At the heart of the story's complex web of character relationships, the superheroes are ultimately divided by questions about the values and pitfalls of moral systems. Several characters are unabashedly amoral nihilists, and consciously reject the notion of following ideals; others fall to the opposite extreme, and steadfastly refuse to compromise their ideals for any reason. The story demonstrates the perils of both ways of thinking, while also following the struggles of ordinary people caught in the middle, who are just trying to do the right thing.

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The series is perhaps best known for being one of the first serious attempts at examining how modern society and culture might ''really'' react to the presence of costumed vigilantes with secret identities (though it wasn't the first to deconstruct it, as Creator/MarvelComics did quite a bit of this in UsefulNotes/{{the MediaNotes/{{the Silver Age|OfComicBooks}} -- what sets ''Watchmen'' apart is how it framed its narrative against the backdrop of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar in a more realistic light). More broadly, though, the whole story is a protracted examination of the conflict between {{power}} and morality. It's no accident that it was written towards the end of the Cold War, when UsefulNotes/{{the United States}} and the UsefulNotes/SovietUnion -- two superpowers of a different sort -- were reaching the apex of their power on the world stage. At the heart of the story's complex web of character relationships, the superheroes are ultimately divided by questions about the values and pitfalls of moral systems. Several characters are unabashedly amoral nihilists, and consciously reject the notion of following ideals; others fall to the opposite extreme, and steadfastly refuse to compromise their ideals for any reason. The story demonstrates the perils of both ways of thinking, while also following the struggles of ordinary people caught in the middle, who are just trying to do the right thing.



** Captain Metropolis, a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero apparently opposed to the civil rights movement -- his secret homosexual relationship with Hooded Justice notwithstanding. He really isn't a bad guy, though both Dollar Bill and Nite Owl are probably more intrinsically heroic.

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** Captain Metropolis, a [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks [[MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero apparently opposed to the civil rights movement -- his secret homosexual relationship with Hooded Justice notwithstanding. He really isn't a bad guy, though both Dollar Bill and Nite Owl are probably more intrinsically heroic.



* DeconstructorFleet: A famous example. The series examines nearly ''every'' facet of the {{superhero}} genre, and deconstructs nearly ''all'' of it. It takes place in an [[AlternateTimeline alternate]] version of the 20th century with a history based on the history of comic books, with [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the first generation of superheroes emerging in the late 1930s]], [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks a new generation of heroes in the post-World War II era]] fighting crime with super-science, and the heroes ultimately [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks facing increasingly complex political and social issues in the 1970s]]. The cast also includes nearly ''every'' classic superhero archetype: [[CaptainPatriotic star-spangled soldiers]], [[MostCommonSuperpower bombshell sex symbols]], [[TheCape upstanding paragons of virtue]], [[TheCowl nocturnal street vigilantes]], [[GadgeteerGenius clever crimefighters with advanced gadgets]], and even a wise scientist empowered by a {{freak lab accident}}.

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* DeconstructorFleet: A famous example. The series examines nearly ''every'' facet of the {{superhero}} genre, and deconstructs nearly ''all'' of it. It takes place in an [[AlternateTimeline alternate]] version of the 20th century with a history based on the history of comic books, with [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks [[MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks the first generation of superheroes emerging in the late 1930s]], [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks [[MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks a new generation of heroes in the post-World War II era]] fighting crime with super-science, and the heroes ultimately [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks [[MediaNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks facing increasingly complex political and social issues in the 1970s]]. The cast also includes nearly ''every'' classic superhero archetype: [[CaptainPatriotic star-spangled soldiers]], [[MostCommonSuperpower bombshell sex symbols]], [[TheCape upstanding paragons of virtue]], [[TheCowl nocturnal street vigilantes]], [[GadgeteerGenius clever crimefighters with advanced gadgets]], and even a wise scientist empowered by a {{freak lab accident}}.



* DifferentWorldDifferentMovies: The existence of real superheroes led to the American comic book industry developing very differently than in our world, ultimately resulting in superhero comics falling out of popularity and comic books about ''pirates'' becoming popular instead. To elaborate: Congress chose not to [[NewMediaAreEvil scapegoat]] comic books during the national panic over juvenile delinquency in the 1950s (since this might have cast the U.S. government's relationships with comic book-inspired "costumed adventurers" in a negative light), meaning that the UsefulNotes/{{the Comics Code}} was never established under government pressure, Creator/ECComics never went out of business due to their crime and horror comics suffering heavy censorship, Creator/DCComics never overtook EC to become an industry leader, and Creator/MarvelComics (apparently) never took off by marketing themselves as the YoungerAndHipper alternative to DC. By the mid-1980s, when the story takes place, EC Comics is the biggest comic book publisher in the world, DC Comics is a second-string competitor to EC, and there's no indication that Marvel even exists.

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* DifferentWorldDifferentMovies: The existence of real superheroes led to the American comic book industry developing very differently than in our world, ultimately resulting in superhero comics falling out of popularity and comic books about ''pirates'' becoming popular instead. To elaborate: Congress chose not to [[NewMediaAreEvil scapegoat]] comic books during the national panic over juvenile delinquency in the 1950s (since this might have cast the U.S. government's relationships with comic book-inspired "costumed adventurers" in a negative light), meaning that the UsefulNotes/{{the MediaNotes/{{the Comics Code}} was never established under government pressure, Creator/ECComics never went out of business due to their crime and horror comics suffering heavy censorship, Creator/DCComics never overtook EC to become an industry leader, and Creator/MarvelComics (apparently) never took off by marketing themselves as the YoungerAndHipper alternative to DC. By the mid-1980s, when the story takes place, EC Comics is the biggest comic book publisher in the world, DC Comics is a second-string competitor to EC, and there's no indication that Marvel even exists.



* GenreBusting: It's a FilmNoir RaygunGothic [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] / [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] / [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] SciFi CyberPunk Political AlternateHistory {{Deconstruction}} of superheroes that ''invented'' half the tropes used by modern comics, and quite a few others besides. Phew.

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* GenreBusting: It's a FilmNoir RaygunGothic [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks [[MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] / [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks [[MediaNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] / [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks [[MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]] SciFi CyberPunk Political AlternateHistory {{Deconstruction}} of superheroes that ''invented'' half the tropes used by modern comics, and quite a few others besides. Phew.



* UnbuiltTrope: Even though it started UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, this comic really reads, in retrospect, like a deconstruction of the very things it inspired.

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* UnbuiltTrope: Even though it started UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, MediaNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, this comic really reads, in retrospect, like a deconstruction of the very things it inspired.
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Probably a typo


* TheFirstSuperheroes: The story takes place in an alternate universe where superheroes have existed since the late 1930s, with an actual superhuman appearing in the 1950s, altering the course of human history. While the blunt of the story takes place in the then-present 1980s, portions of it expand on the moment the superheroes first appeared:

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* TheFirstSuperheroes: The story takes place in an alternate universe where superheroes have existed since the late 1930s, with an actual superhuman appearing in the 1950s, altering the course of human history. While the blunt brunt of the story takes place in the then-present 1980s, portions of it expand on the moment the superheroes first appeared:
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** Adrian Veidt says in his interview that he stopped a plot from the Pentagon to spread specific diseases in Africa. This refers to real-life conspiracy theories that attributes the origin of HIV/AIDS to the US government.
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** In a contemporary interview, Moore spoke about additional inspirations for some of the characters, besides Rorschach being based on Batman. The Comedian is a darker version of two Marvel characters: ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/NickFury. Doctor Manhattan takes a couple of elements from ComicBook/{{Superman}}. Ozymandias has elements of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]].

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** In a contemporary interview, Moore spoke about additional inspirations for some of the characters, besides Rorschach being based on Batman. Namely: The Comedian is a darker version of two Marvel characters: ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/NickFury. Doctor Manhattan takes a couple of elements from ComicBook/{{Superman}}. Ozymandias has elements of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]].
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** In a contemporary interview, Moore spoke about additional inspirations for some of the characters, besides Rorschach being based on Batman. The Comedian is a darker version of two Marvel characters: ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/NickFury. Doctor Manhattan takes a couple of elements from ComicBook/Superman. Ozymandias has elements of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]].

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** In a contemporary interview, Moore spoke about additional inspirations for some of the characters, besides Rorschach being based on Batman. The Comedian is a darker version of two Marvel characters: ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/NickFury. Doctor Manhattan takes a couple of elements from ComicBook/Superman.ComicBook/{{Superman}}. Ozymandias has elements of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]].
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** In a contemporary interview, Moore spoke about additional inspirations for some of the characters, besides Rorschach being based on Batman. The Comedian is a darker version of two Marvel characters: ComicBook/CaptainAmerica and ComicBook/NickFury. Doctor Manhattan takes a couple of elements from ComicBook/Superman. Ozymandias has elements of [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]].
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Spelling/grammar fix(es)


** In the first issue, gets into an argument with Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre) and (at Laurie's behest) is teleported outside the facility by Dr. Manhattan. In the final issue, Manhattan scatters Rorschach's atoms again, but with decidedly more '''fatal''' results.

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** In the first issue, Rorschach gets into an argument with Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre) and (at Laurie's behest) is teleported outside the facility by Dr. Manhattan. In the final issue, Manhattan scatters Rorschach's atoms again, but with decidedly more '''fatal''' results.
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** I WILL GIVE YOU BODIES BEYOND YOUR WILDEST IMAGINATIONS.

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** I WILL GIVE YOU BODIES BEYOND YOUR WILDEST IMAGINATIONS.IMAGININGS.
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Crosswicking new trope.

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* TheFirstSuperheroes: The story takes place in an alternate universe where superheroes have existed since the late 1930s, with an actual superhuman appearing in the 1950s, altering the course of human history. While the blunt of the story takes place in the then-present 1980s, portions of it expand on the moment the superheroes first appeared:
** There are excerpts from a book written by Hollis Mason, one of the original superheroes, explaining how the first costumed vigilantes started to appear after the 1938 debut of Hooded Justice, the first vigilante, and how they came together in the Minuteman superteam.
** There is a extended flashback sequence showing the origin story of Doctor Manhattan, the nuclear physicist that gained godlike powers in 1959, becoming this reality's first public superhuman. The sequence includes his first months of Doctor Manhattan's public career as the world reacts in astonishment.
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* DatedHistory: Rorschach's account of the murder of Kitty Genovese is based on a ''New York Times'' article that came out shortly after Genovese's death, which said that 38 people watched her being killed in plain view, and did nothing. This was, for years, the only narrative about what happened, and was the one Moore drew on. However, later researchers found that the ''Times'' story lacked evidence: nobody saw the attack in its entirety and those that did see it only saw parts of it. Some people heard her cries for help, but assumed it was a lover's quarrel or just people leaving a bar. The killer attacked Genovese twice, disguising himself after the first attack, so people didn't realise it was the same guy. After the second attack, one of Genovese's neighbours called the police and another, a 70-year-old woman, cradled her while she was dying. So while Genovese's murder was undoubtedly horrible, it was no more awful than most murders: the story that people watched it happen and didn't lift a finger is entirely without foundation, and seems to have been made up by the original reporter, as the ''Times'' itself acknowledged in a [[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/nyregion/winston-moseley-81-killer-of-kitty-genovese-dies-in-prison.html 2016 article]]. While it is is fitting for Rorschach to believe such a bias-reinforcing story, even Dr. Long on hearing this story, does not demolish this claim, since this was indeed the widely accepted narrative for a long time.

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* DatedHistory: Rorschach's account of the murder of Kitty Genovese is based on a ''New York Times'' article that came out shortly after Genovese's death, which said that 38 people heard and some even watched her being killed in plain view, and did nothing. This was, for years, the only narrative about what happened, and was the one Moore drew on. However, later researchers found that the ''Times'' story lacked any evidence: nobody saw the attack in its entirety and those that did see it only saw parts of it. it and the first stabbing punctured her lungs, meaning she wouldn't have been able to scream. Some people heard her cries for help, but assumed it was a lover's quarrel or just people leaving a bar.bar and one even shouted at Kitty's killer to leave her alone. The killer attacked Genovese twice, disguising himself after the first attack, so people didn't realise it was the same guy. After the second attack, one of Genovese's neighbours called the police police, despite being a gay man who would have opened himself up to harassment or arrest from the NYPD, and another, a 70-year-old woman, cradled her while she was dying. So while Genovese's murder was undoubtedly horrible, it was no more awful than most murders: the story that people watched it happen and didn't lift a finger is entirely without foundation, and seems to have been made up by the original reporter, as the ''Times'' itself acknowledged in a [[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/05/nyregion/winston-moseley-81-killer-of-kitty-genovese-dies-in-prison.html 2016 article]]. While it is is fitting for Rorschach to believe such a bias-reinforcing story, even Dr. Long on hearing this story, does not demolish this claim, since this was indeed the widely accepted narrative for a long time. Even the NYT reporters knew it was exaggerated but editor Abe Rosenthal insisted on the outlandish details to sell copies and psychologists figured the same out too, eventually dropping the case from their teachings.
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''Watchmen'' by Creator/AlanMoore and Dave Gibbons is a 12-Issue MiniSeries that ran from September, 1986 to October, 1987, published by Creator/DCComics, and subsequently printed as a single volume graphic novel. It is one of the most famous and influential {{deconstruction}}s of the {{superhero}} genre.

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''Watchmen'' is a 12-issue comic book MiniSeries written by Creator/AlanMoore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons is a 12-Issue MiniSeries that ran from September, September 1986 to October, October 1987, published by Creator/DCComics, and was subsequently printed as a single volume single-volume graphic novel. It is one of the most famous and influential {{deconstruction}}s of the {{superhero}} genre.
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By the 1940s, superheroes are a very real part of American life and culture, but they're ultimately unprepared for the new ''status quo'' of the early 1960s, whfen the U.S. government's experiments in theoretical physics lead to the birth of "Doctor Manhattan", an omniscient PhysicalGod with the power to remake the universe at will. The latter half of the 20th century sees the US winning UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar with Doctor Manhattan's help, leading to a greatly escalated UsefulNotes/ColdWar.

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By the 1940s, superheroes are a very real part of American life and culture, but they're ultimately unprepared for the new ''status quo'' of the early 1960s, whfen when the U.S. government's experiments in theoretical physics lead to the birth of "Doctor Manhattan", an omniscient PhysicalGod with the power to remake the universe at will. The latter half of the 20th century sees the US winning UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar with Doctor Manhattan's help, leading to a greatly escalated UsefulNotes/ColdWar.
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* EverybodySmokes: one societal change in the timeline seems to be the invention of a new way to smoke tobacco in long thin pipes that resemble a cogarette holder wiith a bulb at the end.

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* EverybodySmokes: one societal change in the timeline seems to be the invention of a new way to smoke tobacco in long thin pipes that resemble a cogarette cigarette holder wiith with a bulb at the end.



* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: Eddie Blake's funeral is in the rain. The priest reads a passage from the book of Matthew, commenting that rain falls of the good and evil alike, [[RuleOfSymbolism ehile Ozymandias is the only one under an umbrella]].

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* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: Eddie Blake's funeral is in the rain. The priest reads a passage from the book of Matthew, commenting that rain falls of the good and evil alike, [[RuleOfSymbolism ehile while Ozymandias is the only one under an umbrella]].

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'''''[[TropeCodifier The]]''''' {{deconstruction}} of the {{superhero}} genre.

''Watchmen'' by Creator/AlanMoore and Dave Gibbons is a 12-Issue MiniSeries that ran from September, 1986 to October, 1987, published by Creator/DCComics, and subsequently printed as a single volume graphic novel.

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'''''[[TropeCodifier The]]''''' {{deconstruction}} of the {{superhero}} genre.

''Watchmen'' by Creator/AlanMoore and Dave Gibbons is a 12-Issue MiniSeries that ran from September, 1986 to October, 1987, published by Creator/DCComics, and subsequently printed as a single volume graphic novel. \n It is one of the most famous and influential {{deconstruction}}s of the {{superhero}} genre.

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* DelinquentHair: Knot Tops are associated with street thugs, but are also a popula subcultural hairtyle, with one patron at Happy harry's complaiing that everyone just assumes anyone wearing their hair in that style is involved with crime.



* EverybodySmokes: one societal change in the timeline seems to be the invention of a new way to smoke tobacco in long thin pipes that resemble a cogarette holder wiith a bulb at the end.



* FakeBand: Pale Horse and Kristallnacht, who are playing a show at Madison Square Garden on November 2nd. Their fans seem to be mostly in the Knot Top subculture.
* FantasticDrug: KT-28 is a popular new street drug. What it is is never explained, with some inferance that it is halluciogenic and raises agression in its users.



* GangOfHats: The Knot Tops are a new popular subculture in New York, and the style is favored by many street thugs.



* HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: Adrian Veidt eats a ball of hashish and has a vision that eventually leads to his plan of "conquesting the evils that beset men".

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* HigherUnderstandingThroughDrugs: Adrian Veidt eats a ball of hashish and has a vision that eventually leads to his plan of "conquesting the evils that beset men". There is also a female Knot Top who has a vision of [[spoiler:the Squid]] while high on KT.



%%* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: ''...And it rains on the just and unjust alike... Except in California.''

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%%* * ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals: ''...And it rains on Eddie Blake's funeral is in the just rain. The priest reads a passage from the book of Matthew, commenting that rain falls of the good and unjust alike... Except in California.''evil alike, [[RuleOfSymbolism ehile Ozymandias is the only one under an umbrella]].



%%* ItWillNeverCatchOn: The "cowboy actor" joke.

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%%* * ItWillNeverCatchOn: The "cowboy editor at the New Frontiersman is furious that "a Cowboy actor" joke.is considered for a Presidential bid. In the Watchmen timeline, Nixon is still the president in the 1980's, and Ronald Reagan presumably only ever became the governor of California.



%%* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown:
%%** Ozymandias does this to the Comedian.
%%** Dan Dreiberg and Laurel Juspeczyk vs. a dozen thugs in an alley. In the movie, the violence is ramped up significantly.

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%%* * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown:
%%** ** Ozymandias does and the Comedian have a history with these, with the Comedian beating Ozymandias when they first met, claiming he mistook him for a new villain, and Adrian notes that this is apparently a common occurance between masked heroes meeting for the first time. Later, when [[spoiler:Adrian kills Eddie for getting too close to the Comedian.
%%** Dan Dreiberg
truth]], the old and Laurel Juspeczyk vs. mentally broken [[spoiler:Eddie]] can't put up much of a dozen thugs fight.
** When Hooded Justice walks
in an alley. In on The Comedian trying to rape Silk Spectre, he beats the movie, the Comedian up very brutally, and we also learn Hooded Justice was infamous for using excessive violence is ramped up significantly.in his fight against crime.



%%* PhysicalGod: Discussed regarding Doctor Manhattan.

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%%* * PhysicalGod: Discussed regarding Doctor Manhattan.Manhattan, with a remark about God being American being sanitized to "Superman is American" in a press release.



* PopCulturedBadass: in the Nove Express interview, Adrian says his favorite music is Dub Reggae, which the reporter find to be a very modern and eclectic choice.



* PsychicPowers: Plays an indirect but key role in the plot. A young psychic is kidnaped and killed so that his brain can be cloned and used as the template for Veidt's "alien" squid creature.

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* PsychicPowers: Plays an indirect but key role in the plot. A young psychic is kidnaped and killed so that his brain can be cloned and used as the template for Veidt's "alien" squid creature. There are also other psychically sensitive individuals in story, including the father who got alarming visions of [[spoiler:what would happen to New York very soon]] and decided to [[OffingTheOffspring kill his children to spare them]] and then himself.



* TheQuincyPunk: The Knot Tops are a mix between 80's punk with some Asian style influnces, notably the eponymous hairstyle, and the subculture is associated with criminality, although there are non-criminals who also wear the style and are indeed offended at being assumed to be criminals for their fashion choices, and we also see a [[BourgoisBohemian rich woman at a high end restaurant with a Knot Top hairstyle]].



* ShootTheBuilder: The scientists [[spoiler: Ozymandias hired to make his psychic-squid "alien"]] were invited to a work's-end celebration on a boat rigged to explode. Taken even further, in that the person hired to bomb the boat was then assassinated, and then the assassin hired for that job, and so on and so forth. The villain ''really'' wanted to leave no witnesses.

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* ShootTheBuilder: The scientists [[spoiler: Ozymandias hired to make his psychic-squid "alien"]] were invited to a work's-end celebration on a boat rigged to explode. Taken even further, in that the person hired to bomb the boat was then assassinated, and then the assassin hired for that job, and so on and so forth. The villain ''really'' wanted to leave no witnesses. Ozymandias also poisons his servants at his Antarctic base, then opens the dome of his botanical garden to let the snow cover them.
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* DeathByOriginStory: Subverted and played straight with Rorschach. When his mother died, all he said was "Good." But when Kitty Genovese was killed and multiple people heard and saw this event yet did nothing, he decided to become a vigilante.

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* DeathByOriginStory: Subverted and played straight with Rorschach. When his mother died, all he said was "Good." But when Kitty Genovese was killed and multiple people heard and saw this event yet did nothing, he decided to become a vigilante. Also, he considers the disturbing case of the kidnapped child detailed in DeathOfAChild to be the moment when Walter Kovacs died and he just became Rorchach



* DeathOfAChild: One part has the police investigate the aftermath of a murder-suicide where a man took his life after killing his two young daughters.

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* DeathOfAChild: One part has the police investigate the aftermath of a murder-suicide where a man took his life after killing his two young daughters. Rorschach's also recounts the story of a time when he was investigating the kidnapping of a young girl that the police didn't care to look for, and finds that the kidnapper in a panic had butchered the girl and fed her to his dogs, which causes Rorschach to shackle the man to a radiator and set the building on fire.
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* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The central premise of the story:
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1.) Deconstruction. 2.) Character reaction. 3.) Not an outcome. 4.) Character reaction. 5.) Plot happens. 6.) Cape Snag 7.) Character reaction. 8.) Plot happens.


** What else can become of people who dress up in costumes when 1: They have no proper training or resources, 2: They're all at least a little unbalanced, and 3 (most importantly): They are taking the law into their own hands in a world just as full of political and social complexities as the real world? They die. Or they go insane (presuming they weren't [[BlackAndWhiteInsanity insane already]]). [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Or they become monsters.]]
** The Minutemen have many of the prejudices of that time period. Hooded Justice is a Nazi supporter until the start of the Second World War, Captain Metropolis has racist opinions of black and hispanic people, the Comedian attempts to rape Silk Spectre on the basis that he thinks she wants it because she wears a {{Stripperific}} outfit, and Silhouette is thrown out of the group when she's discovered to be a lesbian.
** The first Nite Owl (Hollis Mason) is a police officer during his day job, so he actually is properly trained to enforce the law and has official authority if he chooses to impose it. This is why he's largely the OnlySaneMan among either generation of superheroes.
** In Hollis' autobiography Under The Hood, he casually mentions that once the "costumed hero" phase hit its peak, most costumed villains simply gave up entirely or became regular criminals because, honestly, what's the point?
** In the same autobiography, it's briefly mentioned that all the costumed criminals who didn't give up or move on to less glamorous crimes simply ended up in jail and ''stayed'' there. No [[CardboardPrison Cardboard Prisons]] here.
** Minutemen member Dollar Bill is killed ignobly after his [[CapeSnag cape gets caught]] in the revolving door at a bank. The robbers then simply walk right up to him and shoot him point blank.
** After the antagonist reveals his scheme to Nite Owl II and Rorschach, Nite Owl tries to talk him out of it, only for the antagonist to inform him that the only reason he tells the pair about it in the first place is because [[YouAreTooLate he already set it into motion, and it's too late for them to stop him]].
--->"''Do'' it"? Dan, I'm not a republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my masterstroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago.
** Despite all the effort that the antagonist goes through to pull off his plan, it's ''heavily'' implied [[AllForNothing that it will still fail in the long run, and the world will be even worse off for it]]. Especially since [[spoiler:Rorschach mails his journal--which details his investigation into the Comedian's death and the antagonist's involvement in it--to a magazine publisher]]. Turns out that it's not that easy for one man to completely change the course of history singlehandedly.
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In this context overpower is correct not over power


* BestedByTheInexperienced: Former superhero Hollis Mason (Nite Owl I) is killed by a gang of street thugs who over power him. Justified because its one against many and he is much older. But he still puts up a good fight.

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* BestedByTheInexperienced: Former superhero Hollis Mason (Nite Owl I) is killed by a gang of street thugs who over power overpower him. Justified because its one against many and he is much older. But he still puts up a good fight.

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