Watchmen

:For the Canadian band, see The Watchmen.

Plot Summary

Rorschach's investigation into the murder of Edward Blake reveals that the Comedian had told an old adversary, Moloch, of a plot—one which shattered the Comedian's philosophical armor and brought him to a nervous breakdown. Rorschach confronts Doctor Manhattan with his theory of a conspiracy to murder former superheroes. This meeting ends abruptly and Silk Spectre II, who has been in a long term relationship with Doctor Manhattan, decides to get out for a bit to clear the air by spending some time with Nite Owl II.

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Rorschach also approaches Ozymandias, the genius head of a global business empire who, in earlier times, had trained himself to the height of human physical ability to assume the costumed identity of Ozymandias, before retiring and devoting himself to his business concerns. Ozymandias shows only moderate interest in Rorschach's concerns. Later an assassination attempt is made on Ozymandias, but he thwarts the attempt. (It is later learned that Ozymandias himself hired the assassin.)

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This meeting indicates there is attraction between her and Nite Owl. Silk Spectre II has grown increasingly detached from "Jon"—that is, Jon Osterman, alias Doctor Manhattan. The reader finds out that superheroes have been banned for the last decade apart from those working for the government: Doctor Manhattan, who is regarded as a national defense asset, and the Comedian, who is a covert operative for the government.

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Appearing at a television interview, Doctor Manhattan is ambushed by the media and told that a number of his close associates have died of cancer. Manhattan responds in anger by teleporting the audience and crew out of the building. He then travels to the Los Alamos facility where, as a young scientist, he had been caught in the nuclear accident that led to his transformation to Dr. Manhattan. This episode also gives Manhattan an opportunity to reflect on his relationship with the Comedian: they served together in Vietnam, and Doctor Manhattan did not intervene when the Comedian murdered his pregnant Vietnamese lover. Doctor Manhattan teleports himself to Mars and causes the U.S. government to panic. Silk Spectre II, having no one else to turn to, seeks out Nite Owl II and they become lovers. They decide to leave retirement to break Rorschach, who had been captured by the police and examined by a criminal psychologist, out of jail.

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After a successful jailbreak, Doctor Manhattan arrives and teleports Silk Spectre II to Mars with him. Through flashbacks, it is revealed that the Comedian was Silk Spectre II's father. Silk Spectre breaks down because she'd always hated the Comedian who had beaten and nearly raped her mother, the original Silk Spectre. During their debate, it becomes clear Doctor Manhattan has little concern for humanity. His abilities and intimate relationship with larger universal forces have distanced him from his humanity.

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However, the details of Silk Spectre's birth shows him that the probability of any particular person being born are extremely low and constitutes a statistical miracle. This convinces him that life is worth saving and to return to Earth to intervene.

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Rorschach and Nite Owl II interrogate minor criminals and piece together clues to implicate Ozymandias as the only person capable of organizing the plot to kill off the masked adventurers. Rorschach and Nite Owl II track Ozymandias to his Antarctic base while Doctor Manhattan and the Silk Spectre II go there directly.

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When confronted, Ozymandias reveals that he killed the Comedian in order to hide a much larger global conspiracy. By pure luck, while on an unrelated covert mission, the Comedian had found an island where Ozymandias was conducting a genetic experiment. The genetic experiment was the construction of a giant squid-like mutant with great telepathic abilities. The mutant would be teleported into New York City to send a psychic shockwave which would kill millions of innocent people. His logic was that the apparent threat of an alien invasion will convince the world powers to unite. This is his solution to stop global warfare.

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Knowing that Rorschach and others would investigate the murder of the Comedian, Ozymandias started the smaller falsehood of a serial killer or plot murdering masked heroes in order to hide the true reason for the Comedian's death. Ozymandias also orchestrated the media rumour and false evidence of cancer victims that forced the exile of Doctor Manhattan, the only figure he felt he could not completely control and counter.

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The heroes ask him to stop his plot but Ozymandias tells them that they are too late; he'd teleported the creature to New York City before they arrived. After a confrontation with Doctor Manhattan and hearing news of a ceasefire, Ozymandias advises the others not to reveal his conspiracy since to do so would restart the global crisis that would have triggered nuclear war. Reluctantly, the majority of his opponents agree to keep silent. Only Rorschach disagrees and wants to disclose the plot to the world. In order to keep these secrets, Doctor Manhattan kills Rorschach, on Rorschach's insistence. Doctor Manhattan leaves the Earth for the last time, cryptically warning Ozymandias that "nothing ever ends" and saying that he has gained an interest in human life, and intends to create some.

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Ozymandias's ploy to peacefully unite the world has worked for now, but as a coda we see that Rorschach has sent his private journal detailing the fraud to a far right-wing newspaper that has been supportive of costumed adventurers, The New Frontiersman. The book ends with the flunky assistant editor being given a chance to publish something from the "crank file" and reaching for Rorschach's journal.

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Much of the series is spent detailing information from the past, including the origins of Nite Owl I, Rorschach, and Doctor Manhattan. It also describes many cultural details which only turn out to be relevant at the end of the book; for example, the writer of a famous series of pirate comics is one of the people hired by Ozymandias to create his monster. It also spends a great deal of time detailing the everyday comings and goings of the people around a small newsstand in New York City, which turns out to be ground zero for the teleported monster.

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