While HBO’s Watchmen may not be a reboot or a sequel of any kind, it definitely pulls a lot from the world that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons created. From headlines reading that Adrian Veidt has been confirmed dead to a video of Dr. Manhattan on Mars, there’s a lot about the old comics that new viewers may want to know about.

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While a quick watch of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen film may answer a few surface questions about what’s going on, they won’t answer all of them. Questions like: “What’s the deal with the squids?”, well, fans will have to either turn to the comic or continue reading.

8 Hooded Justice

Watchmen's Hooded Justice

Though his real identity was never revealed, thanks to an early retirement caused by the Keene Act, Hooded Justice, was the first masked hero and a founding member of the Minutemen. He’s also the only masked vigilante whose fate isn’t ever fully fleshed out.

There is speculation that Rolf Muller, a circus strongman who quit his job around the same time as Hooded Justice’s disappearance, was actually leading a double life, but it’s never been verified. When his body washed up on the coast of Boston three months later, most people just went along with the speculation. It’s important to note that, in the comics, Hooded Justice is shown to be a nazi supporter with sadomasochistic tendencies who was likely working with communists.

7 Adrian Veidt’s Master Plan

Squid. Cancer. World Peace. No, it’s not some weird word association game. These three things were instrumental in Adrian Veidt’s plan to bring about world peace.

See, while the cold war was beginning to heat up more and more and Adrian began to see that there would be an inescapable war that would devastate the entire planet. So, being the smart guy that he is, smartest in the world some would say, Veidt decides that he’d create a giant squid. Yes, really.

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He literally flew scholars and artists to a private island to hatch this plan. Afterward, unleashing it on an unsuspecting New York with the help of a teleporter he had (somewhat unsuccessfully) reverse-engineered from Dr. Manhattan’s ability. Likely the one thing about that plan that actually makes sense is that he made sure Dr. Manhattan had no idea what he was doing, and that he was as far away as possible

6 Rorschach's Journal

Fans of the comic likely haven’t forgotten about Rorschach’s journal. Not only have readers already spent a significant portion of time reading Rorschach’s deepest, and often darkest, thoughts. What’s likely just as important as what’s inside this journal is the location of it.

As Moore’s story reaches its conclusion, Rorschach finds himself with the rest of the masked heroes who all agree to coverup Veidt’s gruesome plan. Stating that he’ll have to be killed to keep silent, Rorschach remains defiant as Dr. Manhattan lifts his hand and ends his life.

5 Tricky Dick

nixon-watchmen

There are plenty of surprises within the first few episodes of HBO’s Watchmen, but one that may seem a bit out of left field for some viewers might be who’s seated in the oval office.

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Well, one of the many things that changed after Doctor Manhattan showed up was that the watergate scandal didn’t happen. In fact, Nixon remained so popular, thanks to his victory in Vietnam, that he did away with presidential term limits altogether. Nixon wasn’t exactly polling high towards the end of the series though and it’s mentioned that Robert Redford is considered a bid.

4 The Vietnam War

Dr Manhattan Winning Vietnam War in Watchmen

In the comics, Tricky Dick (with the help of Doctor Manhattan, obviously) was actually able to come out on top during the Vietnam war. With this victory (and Doctor Manhattan) behind him, he was able to extend his presidency for much longer than any president before him.

Tricky Dick manages to stay in power through both his “3rd presidential heart op” and the conclusion of the comic. However, with millions of lives lost in New York, a giant squid to clean up, and no one with an appetite for calamari, Dick just didn’t have any room to grow. Can’t ride that Vietnam wave forever.

3 Robert Redford

With Doctor Manhattan’s arrival in America, Nixon’s run as president had seemingly no end in sight. However, after the conclusion of Watchmen, Nixon wasn’t seated in such a great position and would likely have a hard time getting re-elected for what would be his sixth term as president.

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While it wasn’t a major plot point in the comics, fans would do well to remember that Robert Redford was actually considering a presidential bid as the comics came to a close.

2 Rorschach’s Final Act

Rorschach Death in Watchmen

Fans may have spent much of the comic getting into Rorschach’s head, trying to understand the mangled mess that was his mind, but at the conclusion of the comic, many more people were likely allowed to enter his mind as well.

While Ozymandius and the rest of the watchmen were either celebrating or lamenting their part in his master plan, Rorschach decided that he would not remain silent. Even though Doctor Manhattan used his power to obliterate Rorschach, he would not be able to silence him. For little did anyone know that Rorschach had already mailed his journal (and all of its secrets) into a local publication called New Frontiersman.

1 Adrian Veidt’s “I Did It!” Moment

Adrian Veidt spent a lot of time, money, and resources to make sure that his plan to avoid a nuclear holocaust would succeed. After all, how could he not? If he achieved his goal, then humanity would enter a new age of peace and unity, right? America and Russia would become besties and instead focus on the outside threat, giant explosive space squids, right?

Well, fans may never know how things turned out after the events of the comics, but in HBO’s adaptation at least, things do not seem to have gone according to plan.

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