Watchmen is a limited series of comic books written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, published serially from 1986 to 1987 and then republished as a single volume in 1987. Set in an alternate 1985 in which masked vigilantism has been banned, Watchmen follows a cadre of “costumed heroes”—some of whom work for the government—who uncover a plot hatched by one of their own to stop global nuclear annihilation by killing a significant portion of New York City residents. The text explores themes surrounding the absurdity of costumed crimefighting, the American psyche, and the pursuit of a meaning for existence.

Watchmen is commonly referred to as a graphic novel, but Moore preferred the term “comic,” a convention this Study Guide will adopt. The work is widely considered to be one of the greatest contributions to comics and as having made a significant contribution to literature. In 1988, it won the Hugo Award, the most prestigious prize in the field of science fiction, and in 2005, it appeared on Time magazine’s list of the 100 greatest novels in English since the magazine’s first publication. It produced a series of spinoff comics, none of which involved Moore or Gibbons. In 2009, Zack Snyder adapted the comic into a major motion picture, and in 2019 Damon Lindelof created a TV series for HBO that revisits the same world—with both new and familiar characters—that takes place 30 years after the events of the comic. Moore was so displeased with both adaptations that he refused to have his name acknowledged in their credits as a co-creator of the source material.

This Study Guide is based on the Deluxe Edition published by DC Comics in 2013.

Content Warning: The source text contains depictions of graphic violence, violence against animals, suicide, alcohol addiction, and attempted rape. The source text also contains outdated, racist, and misogynistic language, which is reproduced in this guide only through quotations.

Plot Summary

Watchmen takes place in an alternate 1985 where superheroes, generally referred to within the text as “costumed heroes” or “masked vigilantes,” moved from the comic pages to real life beginning in the late 1930s. In 1940, a group called the Minutemen formed to combine the efforts of various crimefighters but collapsed within a decade due to internal dissensions and several members reaching a tragic end. In 1960, a true superhero emerges when nuclear physicist Jon Osterman suffers a laboratory accident that turns him into the nearly omnipotent Dr. Manhattan. He gives the US a decisive strategic advantage in the Cold War and is the source of boundless technological progress, but his main contribution ends up helping the US win the Vietnam War, which then prompts Richard Nixon to abolish term limits and serve until at least 1989. The public eventually grows tired of costumed heroes, especially after police forces go on strike. In 1977, Congress passes the Keene Act banning costumed heroes, except for Dr. Manhattan’s research and The Comedian’s (Eddie Blake’s) covert work on behalf of the government, mainly toppling left-wing governments.

The story begins with The Comedian being tossed out of his apartment window and falling to his death. Rorschach (Walter Kovacs) is an archetypical private detective who knew The Comedian and suspects a conspiracy against costumed heroes. He eventually secures the cooperation of Nite Owl (Dan Dreiberg) and Dr. Manhattan’s lover—Laurie Juspeczyk, formerly the second Silk Spectre—who feels like a prisoner in Manhattan’s lab and eventually develops feelings for Dan. As they investigate the murder, the comic sketches out piece by piece the background of these various characters and the world they inhabit.

Dr. Manhattan flees to Mars after accusations that his presence gives people cancer, and in his absence, the threat of nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union sharply escalates. With the main cast fixated on their own pursuits, the primary commentator on the approaching war is a New York newsvendor. One of his customers is reading a comic called “Tales of the Black Freighter,” which is about a sailor who loses touch with reality out of fear of pirates attacking his family and that serves as an ongoing story-within-the-story throughout the narrative.

Eventually, Rorschach and Nite Owl discover that Ozymandias (Adrian Veidt), their former colleague who has leveraged his costumed past into a corporate empire, is planning to kill half of New York City with a simulated attack by a giant extraterrestrial monster in order to force the world’s superpowers to align against an external threat. They also discover that Adrian Veidt murdered The Comedian after he discovered Veidt’s plans. Veidt carries out his plot, and it appears to work, as the immediate danger of war is avoided. Yet before leaving Earth for good, Dr. Manhattan issues a warning to Adrian that nothing truly ends, just as a small right-wing newspaper is about to publish Rorschach’s diaries, which tell the full story of Adrian’s plot.