History ComicBook / Watchmen

In 1983, DCComics acquired the rights to the character lineup of the defunct CharltonComics. In an effort to reintroduce these characters in a big way, DC approached veteran ''SwampThing'' scribe AlanMoore and asked him to write a story around these characters that was set in TheDCU. Upon reading his initial outline, however, DC higher-ups changed their minds and asked Moore to either create new characters (and a new [[TheVerse 'verse]]) or write a story that ''wouldn't'' render all of the characters completely unusable going forward. Moore chose to create new characters, and in 1986, the classic {{Deconstruction}} of the superhero genre made its debut.

* LudicrousPrecision: Not extremely ludicrous, but... [[spoiler:"I did it thirty-five minutes ago"]]. (In the film) Rorschach, from n floors down, breaks three pieces of police-line tape at their exact intersection with his GrapplingGun.

* ExcuseMeWhileIMultitask: [[spoiler: Veidt starts explaining his motives to Dan, while he effortlessly repels Rorschach's attack]].
** Dr. Manhattan is able to work on a lab experiment while two copies of himself have a menage a trois with Laurie.

* OutGambitted: Everyone sees to forget that, despite his death, [[spoiler:Rorschach left his journal full of sensitive information to the press. Determining that this was probably the safest course of action to keep to his principles. The future was uncertain anyway.]]

* AnimatedAdaptation: Parodied with HarryPartridge's ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/485797 Saturday Morning Watchmen]]'' Played with by the Watchmen "motion comic" DVD.

* AnimatedAdaptation: Parodied with Harry Partridge's ''[[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/485797 Saturday Morning Watchmen]]'' Played with by the Watchmen "motion comic" DVD.

* FridgeLogic: Chapter 11 actually manages to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this, qualifying as an in-universe use of the trope. When [[spoiler: Veidt reveals that he hired his own assassin in order to cast suspicion away from him]], Dan expresses disbelief, and asks what would happen if [[spoiler: the assassin shot at him instead. Veidt replies that he would have just had to catch the bullet.]] Dan's reaction is priceless, and the look on [[spoiler: Veidt's]] face is just awesome. [[spoiler: The fact that he actually ''does'' catch a bullet in the next chapter, in spite of his own doubt, makes it even better. Also, it's worth nothing that he managed to ''block'' the bullet with a heavy lamp when the assassin did shoot at him.]]

* AnimationAgeGhetto: In-universe, for pirate comics. Those written by Max Shea as described and shown as extremely dark and disturbing, and his HighOctaneNightmareFuel skills are even a plot point, but a newspaper story about his disappearance refers to them as "children's pirate comics".

* Excessive use of purple pyramid imagery (easily confused with a pink triangle in the comic) is a purposeful visual reinforcement of Veidt's homosexuality. Because Moore and Gibbons chose their visual aspects very carefully, this is a subtle hint that really takes the "ambiguous" out of this trope, at least for Veidt.

-->-- '''Juvenal''', ''Satires''

* LiteraryAllusionTitle: Not only the series title (from {{Juvenal}}), but also the [[{{Epigraph}} chapter titles]].

* HumansAreSpecial: Dr. Manhattan actually disagrees with this sentiment, and overall considers the existence of life to be an overrated phenomenon. [[spoiler: He changes his mind when he learns that the Comedian was Laurie's father, and decides that such an incredibly improbable circumstance not only makes Laurie's life miraculous, but also the lives of every other human being]].

** Additionally, in a paper from his childhood, Rorschach states that he believes that President Truman dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was a good thing because it ended the war, yet he refuses to accept [[spoiler:Adrian attacking New York]], which essentially amounted to the same thing.
** The reason Rorschach refuses to accept the above spoiler is because of the deception behind it. He is a man of blacks and whites, and this is a huge grey area.

* MonsterModesty: Doc Manhatten employs this trope when he isn't fully naked.

** Dr. Manhattan. On the one hand, his father's speech patterns. On the otherm his appant foreskin.

* AmbiguouslyJewish: Dr. Manhattan.
** Hardly that ambiguous, given his father's speech patterns (''Ach!'')
** He wasn't circumcised in the book but he was in the film, apparently because they were worried that the presence of foreskin could upset American audiences.

* AnachronicOrder: Dr. Manhattan's backstory. See NonLinearStorytelling below.
* AnalogyBackfire: The lock company "[[CuttingTheKnot Gordian Knot]]"; arguably, choosing the name Ozymandias.
* AndIMustScream: Dr. Manhattan's whole life is kind of one. As he explains to Laurie, he can see past, present, and future with perfect clarity, but [[YouCantFightFate can't change anything that's going to happen]]. Picture being able to foresee every bad decision and mistake you will ever make in your [[{{Immortality}} very, very long]] life, and being able to do absolutely nothing about it.

** Also invoked in TheSimpsons, with [[SpinoffBabies Watchbabies]] in [[VForVendetta V for Vacation]].

* AntiVillain: See the DarkMessiah entry.

* ArcWords: And images, too. "Who Watches the Watchmen?" See also "Motifs".
** The smiley face/clock/watch/etc. ([[EasterEgg look for it again]] in the climactic scene!)

* {{Asexuality}}: Rorschach, and Dr. Manhattan, though he only does it to keep Silk Spectre happy. see ''Characters.{{Watchmen}}'' for details.

* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Because he did it thirty-five minutes ago. Except it went exactly as he predicted, so maybe he wasn't the bad guy after all, depending on whether you think temporary world peace was worth the millions of deaths]].

* BigDamnHeroes: [[spoiler:Subverted. [[YouAreTooLate They're thirty-five minutes too late]] to make any difference.]]

* BlackComedy: When reminiscing about their crimefighting days, Laurie and Dan wind up talking about a guy who pretended to be a villain because he was a masochist who wanted costumed heroes to beat him up. (Evidently, nobody ever explained SafeSaneAndConsensual to him.) Laurie asks what finally happened to him.

* TheCanKickedHim: Rorschach uses a toilet to kill a goon. In depth: the goon came at Rorschach with a poorly-insulated arc welder. Rorschach smashes his prison toilet to flood the cell with water and fry the bastard.
** And in [[Film/{{Watchmen}} the film]], a saw with a frayed cable is used to similar effect.

* TheCape: Captain Metropolis, a [[TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] hero apparently opposed to the civil rights movement -- his [[spoiler: 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.

* CaptainErsatz: The entire lead cast, since DC wouldn't let Moore use the Charlton Comics characters he originally wrote the story for. The full list: Nite Owl is BlueBeetle, Rorschach is TheQuestion, Ozymandias is Thunderbolt, Silk Spectre is Nightshade, The Comedian is Peacemaker, and Doctor Manhattan is CaptainAtom. Moore would later admit that it was probably better this way.

* CelibateHero: Rorschach and (possibly) Ozymandias; see ''Characters.{{Watchmen}}'' page.

* CharacterDevelopment: Unless you saw the movie first, or you read major spoilers, your first impression on all major characters ''will'' be turned on their heads by the end. This is a ''fact''.

** Particualrly for Rorschach, who's [[spoiler: short]] and scrawny, yet manages to break a toilet with ''one foot''.
*** Rorschach is a justified case. He's said to be in incredible shape, not scrawny, and he was previously shown to "play through the pain" and suppress the natural hesitation you get from kicking in a toilet or jumping through a window. There's no excuse for [[spoiler:Ozymandias catching a bullet]] though.
** This is part of Captain Metropolis' backstory; sickly as a boy, he beat asthma by working out, then applied his now-impressive physique to fighting crime.
* ChekhovsGun: Rorschach's journal, which sets up [[spoiler:the plot twist in the final frame]].
** There are a lot of them. Some others: Silk Spectre finding a gun on a dead New Yorker with which [[spoiler:she later shoots Ozymandias]] Rorschach turns out to be [[spoiler:that guy we've seen holding the TheEndIsNigh sign and buying ''New Frontiersman'']].

** And the [[spoiler:'Institute For Extra-Spatial Studies']]. Jeez, too many.

* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: It's often thought that the second-generation supergroup is called "The Watchmen". They're not called anything because there isn't really a group. The second-generation group that Captain Metropolis ''tried'' to found would have been called "The Crimebusters".
** It ''is'' true in TheFilmOfTheBook, though.

* CreatorBacklash: Really, now.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [-'''Dr. Manhattan:''' "I'm disappointed in you, [[spoiler: Adrian]]. VERY disappointed."-]

* LudicrousPrecision: Not extremely ludicrous, but... [[spoiler:"I did it thirty-five minutes ago"]]. (In the film) Rorschach, from n floors down, breaks three pieces of police-line tape at their exact intersection with his grapple-pistol.

* InventionalWisdom: The owl ship's "cigarette lighter" and "giant flamethrower" buttons are nearly identical. Laurie learns the difference the hard way.
** No, the reason that Laurie pushed the flamethrower button thinking it was the lighter button was because there was no cigarette lighter on the owl ship at all.

* TheCanKickedHim: Rorschach uses a toilet to kill a goon. In depth: the goon came at Rorschach with a poorly-insulated arc welder. Rorschach smashes his prison toilet to flood the cell with water and fry the bastard. Which he immediately Lampshades:
--> '''Rorschach''': "Hrm. Never disposed of sewage with toilet before. Obvious, really."

* AlliterativeName: '''D'''aniel "Nite Owl" '''D'''reiberg. The Silk Spectre(s). Also the new presidential candidate, film star Ro[[spoiler:bert]] Re[[spoiler:dford]].

* CrapSackWorld: At least according to Rorschach

* LudicrousPrecision: Not extremely ludicrous, but... [[spoiler:"I did it thirty-five minutes ago"]].