58
votes
Why is Rorschach's mask symmetrical?
As the comic states, the material is "heat and pressure sensitive", and this is what determines the black and white portions. This means that the pattern on the mask will be based on the pressure and ...
- 4,810
54
votes
Accepted
Why does Dr Manhattan work for the US government?
Immediately after his transformation to Dr. Manhattan, he continued to do things he would have done as a human. He continued his relationship with Janey, for example, even though he no longer seemed ...
- 7,218
46
votes
Accepted
How does Batman fit into the timeline of Watchmen?
Batman is never mentioned by name in the novel, but it is extremely likely that he and all other "famous" comic book characters are comic book characters in-universe, if they exist at all.
From the ...
- 6,506
39
votes
Accepted
Did Rorshach know Edward Blake was the Comedian before the Comedian died?
It appears that he did not. On page 4 of the first issue of Watchmen, Rorschach appears in his civvies and is carrying his sign when he walks past the two police detectives that just finished looking ...
- 99k
37
votes
Accepted
What does this line mean in the Watchmen movie?
Rorschach is saying he's not surprised Dr. Manhattan is on Veidt's side, and resigning himself to his fate by keeping to his beliefs.
Here's the corresponding scene from the graphic novel:
Rorschach ...
- 16.4k
34
votes
Accepted
Was the first Nite Owl pro- or anti-Dr. Manhattan?
The original Nite Owl's feelings about Dr. Manhattan are complicated.
Firstly, Nite Owl acknowledges Dr. Manhattan's and Watchmen's superiority when it comes to fighting crime. This is seen in the ...
- 20.6k
31
votes
Accepted
Why was New York attacked and not Moscow or another city?
The existence of Doctor Manhattan has made the Unites States totally dominant over the other countries of the world. While there are other nuclear powers (principally the Soviet Union) capable of ...
- 99k
29
votes
How does Batman fit into the timeline of Watchmen?
It's an easter egg and also confirming that Batman does not exist since the Waynes haven't been murdered (as you see a Watchman prevents the first shot).
The movie's whole intro sequence is used to ...
- 10.6k
27
votes
Accepted
How is Ozymandias so strong?
According to Alan Moore, Ozymandias is the only person in the world who is capable of using 100% of his brain. This gives him unparalleled control over not just his mind, but also his body.
Adrian ...
- 708k
24
votes
Why does Dr Manhattan work for the US government?
Because he was working for the US military studying nuclear physics; and after the accident, the military marketed him as a government superhero
To answer your second question: He slowly lost ...
- 12.2k
22
votes
Why is Rorschach's mask symmetrical?
Ok trying again but this time differently formulated.
You haven't missed anything. It is just never addressed in the Watchman universe why the pattern is always symmetrical.
The reason it is not ...
- 7,017
21
votes
Accepted
What happened to Ozymandias's cat, Bubastis?
It was disintegrated, same as in the movie. Whether it became Dr. Meowhattan is left unanswered.
This is just a speculation, but seeing film Nixon's attitude towards Dr. Manhattan, I would expect ...
- 20.6k
15
votes
What was Silk Spectre II's relationship with superheroics?
TL;dr - Laurie is a highly trained athlete without an outlet for her physicality and a woman in her sexual prime who has been ignored/neglected by her lover.
Although she had ambivalent feelings ...
- 708k
14
votes
Accepted
What is the in-film explanation for Comedian's crying?
Movie
In the film version, the method of his discovery isn't explained in any great detail. It seems that he gained access to Adrian's kill-list (somehow) and learned what was going on at Karnak (...
- 708k
13
votes
Accepted
Was Edna Mode's "No Capes!" rule inspired by Dollar Bill?
It would appear the answer is no; Bird has previously said in an interview he's never read Watchmen and has only heard of it in broad terms so it's unlikely it influenced his "No capes!" ...
- 144k
12
votes
Accepted
What was the Comedian's motivation for fighting crime?
I believe a bit of questioning the premise of the question is in order here: did he really want to become a crimefighter? According to Before Watchmen: Minutemen he was hardly more than a thug before ...
- 20.6k
11
votes
Accepted
What is the fluid in Rorschach's mask?
It's just two "viscous fluids". No further scientific explanation is offered in any of the comics (or supplementary materials) regarding the composition of the material or liquid involved.
...
- 708k
9
votes
Accepted
Why was the end of Watchmen changed in the movie version?
In an interview with CBR, one of the Watchmen screenwriters, David Hayter (who had been attached to the Watchmen film project since 2001), sheds some light on this change. According to Hayter, the ...
- 17.9k
9
votes
Why was New York attacked and not Moscow or another city?
If the attack had been on Moscow, the immediate assumption is that the Americans, through Dr. Manhattan, are somehow responsible, and the nukes fly. When you've already got a character who is ...
- 21.6k
9
votes
How is Ozymandias so strong?
In the original books, Adrian Veidt attributes his own powers to training and discipline. An interview Veidt gave to Nova Express is included at the end of Chapter XI:
NOVA: So, how do you get to be ...
- 1,909
7
votes
Accepted
Why did news media immediately assume that the squid was an alien invasion?
The devil is in the details, and Ozymandias planned this well.
There are several establishing shots of the surrounding area, both before and after the "squid" impact, that show it materialized on top ...
- 36.6k
7
votes
Why is Dr Manhattan's method of killing so messy?
I tried to find a source to back up my answer, but I failed to do so.
What I'll try to do here is to put myself in Dr. Manhattan's shoes.
So, we all know that Dr. Manhattan has a large apathy ...
- 962
6
votes
Why didn't Ozymandias kill the Comedian with a gun, or a knife?
Firstly, Veidt did not want this to look like an assassination. In fact, he tried to make it like a burglary gone wrong - and what kind of burglar carries a knife or a firearm around?
Granted, the "...
- 20.6k
5
votes
Are there any other DC characters mentioned in the Watchmen universe (prior to the Doomsday Clock crossover)?
Doc Savage and The Shadow are mentioned in the fictional "Under the Hood" segment at the end of Watchmen #1
The world of Doc
Savage and The Shadow was one
of absolute values, where what
was ...
- 708k
5
votes
Why does Dr Manhattan work for the US government?
Also too, remember that Dr. Manhattan has no free will. The past and the future are the same thing to him. All he does is step through time following a script, basically. In other words, he's fated ...
- 1,057
5
votes
Why did Jon Osterman never contact his father?
He did
In Before Watchmen1 - Dr. Manhattan #1, he visits his father, who is delirios.
Later he figures that Osterman Sr. was right, and Dr. Manhattan is not Jon Osterman, but something else entirely....
- 20.6k
5
votes
Watchmen's The Comedian and the JFK assasination?
Another hint of the implication of The Comedian being involved in the assassination is a 1986 B&W promotional poster of The Comedian standing with a sniper rifle
- 51
4
votes
What happened to Ozymandias's cat, Bubastis?
Although the script for the movie went through several iterations, all of the versions agree that Bubastis was simply 'obliterated' by the Intrinsic Field Subtractor machine.
Jon enters the corridor ...
- 708k
4
votes
Why was Dr. Manhattan blue?
Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons said in a Q&A that he wanted Manhattan's blue skin to represent a sort of barely-contained "electrical energy or atomic energy" in the reader's ...
- 708k
4
votes
Was Rorschach's Pagliacci joke a real joke?
You are Pagliaccio!
Put on the costume, the powder and the paint:
the people pay and want to laugh.
And if Harlequin steals your Columbine,
laugh, Pagliaccio, and all will applaud you!
Change all your ...
- 41
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