WatchmenSave

We open in an alternate-history 1985. Richard Nixon is in his fifth term as U.S. President. America won the Vietnam War in 1971 due to one superhero's direct intervention. The Cold War is at its peak. Nuclear annihilation is days away. A government-issued superhero team — the Watchmen — has been disbanded since 1977 due to the Keene Act outlawing vigilantes.

A retired Watchmen member named Edward Blake — the Comedian — is murdered in his Manhattan apartment by an unknown assailant. The film opens with the Comedian's funeral, where the remaining Watchmen — Nite Owl, Silk Spectre, Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, and the masked vigilante Rorschach — convene. Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) suspects a conspiracy targeting masked heroes.

Through extensive flashbacks structured as Rorschach's investigation, we learn the team's backstories. Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) — once nuclear physicist Jon Osterman — was disintegrated by a particle accelerator in 1959 and reconstituted himself as an atomic blue-skinned cosmic being. He has been the U.S. government's exclusive superhero for two decades; his existence created the alternate timeline. The Comedian was a violent, morally-bankrupt asset who killed an unarmed Vietcong woman pregnant with his own child in 1971.

Adrian Veidt — Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), the world's smartest man — has been operating as a public business mogul since the Keene Act. Rorschach's investigation leads him to suspect Ozymandias of orchestrating Blake's murder. The investigation pulls in Dan Dreiberg (Nite Owl), Laurie Juspeczyk (Silk Spectre II), and Dr. Manhattan.

Dr. Manhattan, increasingly detached from human concerns, leaves Earth for Mars after being accused of causing his ex-girlfriend's cancer. The Watchmen are reduced to four functional members. Russian nuclear escalation in response to Manhattan's absence pushes the world to imminent war.

Rorschach and Dan Dreiberg trace the conspiracy to Ozymandias. They confront him at his Antarctic compound. Ozymandias reveals his plan: he has been engineering a giant interdimensional creature — a fake alien threat — to manufacture a unifying global enemy. He has just teleported the creature into Manhattan, killing millions but uniting Russia and America against a common alien foe. The plan works. World War III is averted.

Rorschach refuses to compromise. He insists on exposing Ozymandias publicly, which would unravel the staged peace. Dr. Manhattan arrives and kills Rorschach to preserve the lie. Manhattan, having decided humanity needs the peace more than the truth, leaves Earth permanently. The film closes with a journalist receiving Rorschach's mailed journal in his New York office — implying the truth may eventually emerge.

Watchmen grossed $185 million globally on a $130 million budget — modest commercial success. Critics responded warmly to Snyder's textual fidelity but found the runtime exhausting. The film became the standard by which Alan Moore adaptations are measured. It also established Zack Snyder as a serious auteur capable of handling literary-quality source material — a reputation that would carry into his DCEU work.