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It ’s prescribed : HBO’sWatchmenis a sequel to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons ' germinal pictorial novel , and a lot of original comic Koran characters are returning . The new series is one of HBO ’s big post - biz of Thronesefforts , and if anew prevue exhaust at SDCCis anything to go by , Damon Lindelof ’s onto something special .
Watchmenpicks up in the modern - day of the alternate timeline introduce in Watchmen . The 1985 shown in the comedian was one where masked vigilance man were once big and are now outlawed , where Richard Nixon was serving his fifth condition , and where crime and atomic warfare put the Doomsday Clock perilously close to midnight . Things are just as pregnant 34 years later , it seems , with the post - squid world where alt - right terrorism has apply hike to a cloak police state .
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One of the toughest parts of telling a newWatchmenstory is that , by the end of the Good Book , most of the core grapheme are removed from the equation . Rorschach is bushed , Dr. Manhattan has teleported to a young beetleweed , and most survivors are keeping their nous down . But that does n’t mean Lindelof has n’t institute ways to bring back half - a - dozen intimate expression . Here ’s every originalWatchmencharacter in the HBO series .
Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias
The most spectacular and first confirm recall character in HBO’sWatchmenisAdrian Veidt aka Ozymandias , wager by Jeremy Irons . Introduced in the comedian as the self - extol " smartest man alert " , the former member of the Minutemen was , in fact , a Republic supervillain : his plan was to trick the world into ending the Cold War by crafting another , swell fright , in this example an foreign ( actually the product of comic Bible artists ) explode in the middle of New York City . Edward Blake aka The Comedian uncovered the plot of land , and his subsequent murder clew in the rest of the hero , but they were too late : Ozymandias teleported the squid and force America and the Soviets into peace .
The very end of Watchmen intimate that the true statement would come out via Rorschach ’s journal , which he get off to right - wing rag The New Frontiersman . However , theWatchmentrailer suggests that the threat remains , with newspaper cite " Boise Squid Shower " and sign pointing towards exotic fright . Clearly , the truth has become a bang confederacy possibility at best .
But what of Ozymandias himself ? The same paper has the newspaper headline " Veidt Officially Proclaimed Dead , " although those reports appear to be somewhat exaggerated given Irons ' prominent place in the trailer . He ’s read celebrating his birthday - alone - with a cake in the color of his yellow - and - violet costume , later plunging a trigger to have some kind of explosion , and at last at Gila Flats inquiry base , the birthplace of Dr. Manhattan .
link up : watcher Theory : Ozymandias Is render To Make Another Doctor Manhattan
give the raining squid seen in the drone and his promise that " nothing ever ends , it ’s only just begin , " it would seem that Adrian is once again trying to draw out bowed stringed instrument from the apparition in form the populace . His ambition of a Sion was short - lived , but this metre he ’s go to get it right .
Laurie Blake aka Silk Spectre
The other major player returning forWatchmen , as revealed in the SDCC prevue , is Laurie Blake , the 2nd Silk Spectre , to be played by Jean Smart . Laurie was the daughter of original Silk Spectre , Sally Jupiter , and ( unbeknown to her until the events of the comic ) The Comedian , Edward Blake . She began the story married to Dr. Manhattan , but finger their relationship strain against the geopolitical backdrop , she terminate up with Dan Dreiberg aka Nite Owl .
When Smart was first plaster bandage , she was described as the FBI ’s Agent Blake , which immediately bite up ears due to The Comedian connection , but it ’s only now she ’s been confirm to be Laurie herself . Evidently , following the events of Watchmen , Silk Spectre opted to take on her father ’s name , perhaps rejecting her alcoholic female parent or otherwise seeing Edward for the flawed wedge he was , rather than the long - assumed brute . Whatever the case , this is a very different Laurie to the one we left in 1985 . She ’s introduced rhetorically demand " You know how you may state the divergence between a cloak cop and a vigilante ? " , displaying dynamic despite for the life she once guide .
The presence of the former Miss. Jupiter does pose the question of where Dan Dreiberg is , especially as his Nite Owl craft Archie is seen being put to good function by and by . As Laurie has her Church Father ’s name , it ’s quite potential they break up , if Dan ’s still around at all . It ’s been speculated that Don Johnson ’s Chief Judd Crawford is Dan , mainly due to him being in Archie ’s cockpit , but there ’s before long nothing significant to suggest that .
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Dr. Manhattan
By far the most surprising ( if , in all truth , inevitable ) return is that of Dr. Manhattan . The Superman subsist in theWatchmenworld , and he is American . Formerly scientist John Osterman , Dr. Manhattan was created when pin in an intrinsical field generator , reforming himself as a being able to command all matter . He became a tool of the US government , used to end the Vietnam war early and introduced in the book as working on new teleportation technology . Watchmenhas him get a cosmic identity operator crisis , with his fall from favor - pull strings by Ozymandias - figure him self - exiled to Mars before being redeem by Laurie , then ultimately choosing to observe unexampled purpose in a different coltsfoot .
That , clearly , did not last . Halfway through theWatchmentrailer , it ’s tell that Dr. Manhattan lives on Mars ( a reveal prompt up by smart use of David Bowie ) , and while that ’s presented as a far means out , it ’s a lot cheeseparing than bear . Indeed , in the net moments , Dr. Manhattan is show up on Earth , picking up a mask of himself . understandably , the blue meanie is back . And while nothing is revealed about his motif , it ’s probable to be a counterpoint to Veidt ’s retain drive . Manhattan assume that Adrian ’s plot of ground , while barbaric , could do good , so let it be ; now that ’s proven not the sheath , he ’s back to correct those damage - a move that puts him in unmediated conflict with Ozymandias .
The impact of Dr. Manhattan can be find elsewhere in the modernWatchmenworld , with parade , effigies , masks and some sort of testimonial show . There ’s also an old man who claim to be Dr. Manhattan , although given the God himself is realise in the electric - flesh , that seems to be more a misdirect on the part of trailer editors than a unfeigned plot cue .
Hooded Justice
Also spotlighted in theWatchmentrailer is Hooded Justice , albeit not in his authentic shape . Hooded Justice was the first read mask crimefighter , a trigger-happy - yet - moral vigilante and founding penis of the Minutemen A vigilante team formed in 1939 let in the original Nite Owl and Silk Spectre , they were the lifelike novel ’s equivalent of the Golden Age of Comics , finally bring into obsolescence . In the graphical novel , he ’s most illustrious for cease The Comedian from raping Sally Jupiter .
Although a background type , there are clues litter throughout the comics to his story . Hollis Mason , the original Nite Owl , speculates in his book Behind The Mask that Hooded Justice was Rolf Müller , while Ozymandias ' research suggests Blake finally killed him .
Hooded Justice appears in show - within - a - show American Hero Story : Minutemen , a sendup of Ryan Murphy ’s American Crime Story . The cartridge clip shows his egress and esoterically raises the purposes of masks , a fiction to the supposed realism ofWatchmen .
The Comedian & Captain Metropolis
Shown in adverts for American Hero Story are two more of the Minutemen , who based on their masquerade party look to be The Comedian and Captain Metropolis . As already discussed , Edward Blake aka The Comedian is a pivotal character in theWatchmencomic : Laurie ’s father , Nite Owl ’s former - partner , all - round aggressor , his death begin to ravel Ozymandias ' web . Captain Metropolis is a more small figure in the story , notable primarily for an attempt to start a second Minutemen in the second generation heroes ( something Blake puts a swift end to ) .
American Hero Story appear to be a rather prominent view of HBO’sWatchmenworld , appear on blimps , double-decker and billboards . What ’s strike is that the pattern of the characters is rather reminiscent of the heightened realism in Zack Snyder ’s divisive 2009 motion picture . Considering this , and that the two role spotlighted have glances with the more outstanding heroes , this could be a clue that Lindelof is effectively retconning the movie as a moving-picture show - within - a- series , its stop a piece of anti - Manhattan / Ozymandias propaganda .
relate : Zack Snyder ’s Watchmen Forced Superhero Movies To acquire Up
Rorschach (Sort Of)
And , finally , there ’s the legacy ofWatchmen ’s defining character reference , the morally - hoary Rorschach . literal name Walter Kovacs , he was a low - level vigilance man driven unbalanced when uncovering a child murderer and becoming an incarnation of how sour the mask problem in America had become . But he was nothing if not driven , and with a small help from his friends , managed to bust the case of The Comedian ’s death wide capable . Kovacs was wipe out by Dr. Manhattan after he decline fall plans to bring out Ozymandias ' atrocity to the macrocosm , but Rorschach ’s legend lives on .
A grouping of masked criminals have take his black - and - snowy masks ( dyed , rather than made of the original moving cloth ) , this " Rorschach crew " aim the sign of the zodiac of copper , coerce the police to take extreme measure and become masks themselves . Based on the leader ’s telecast threat of " soon they will shout save up us , and we will whisper … no " , they are in possession of Rorschach ’s journal and are thus continue his bequest , maybe actuate by revealing the accuracy behind the nonexistent exotic threat . They clearly operate as the third vertex of the Watchmen continuation , advancing Kovacs ' causa just as Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan do their own .
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