Man of Steel director Zack Snyder confirmed he wanted to include a Watchmen Easter egg in his 2013 movie and give a nod to Doctor Manhattan.
While both Superman and the Watchmen are connected on the pages of DC comics and shared the Doomsday Clock series, the two worlds have remained separate on the silver screen. However, it turns out Snyder wanted to homage Watchmen with his DC Extended Universe debut.
Speaking during a Man of Steel quarantine rewatch party, Snyder confirmed one scene was going to reference Doctor Manhattan. The scene in question follows Kal-El launching his Kryptonian scout ship from the Arctic and a stream of Mars being beamed to the government. In the Watchmen comics, Doctor Manhattan exiles himself to the Red Planet. However, Snyder didn't directly state that Doctor Manhattan himself was going to appear.
Snyder had other Easter eggs that were cut from the film as well. It's recently come to light that Harry Lennix's General Swanwick was actually J'onn J'onnz in disguise, meaning Martian Manhunter was already in Man of Steel — albeit undercover.
Before Snyder was overseeing the DCEU, his credits included the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake and 2006's 300. Watchmen was his first foray into superhero movies, and although it was divisive, it was a precursor for Man of Steel. Snyder followed up Man of Steel with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, and planned to round off a five-movie arc that would've involved a second and third Justice League. As for Watchmen, HBO continued the legacy of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' Watchmen comics with 2019's TV series of the same name.
The Doctor Manhattan hint would not have been the only Watchmen connection Snyder snuck into Man of Steel. The scout ship scene included actor Alessandro Juliani monitoring Mars as Officer Sekowsky. Juliani had a minor role in 2009's Watchmen as a Rockefeller Military Base Technician. There was also an Easter egg that included the Comedian's iconic smiley face that graces much of Watchmen's promotional material.
Currently, there is no official word about an upcoming Superman appearance in any future DC Extended Universe films.
Directed by Zack Snyder and written by David S. Goyer, Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni and Russell Crowe.