Watchmen

Justice is coming to all of us. No matter what we do.

RELEASED 4 Mar 20092h 43m★ 7.4 TMDB

In a gritty and alternate 1985, the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown. But after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered, an investigation into the killer is initiated. The reunited heroes set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so they uncover a sinister plot that puts all of humanity in grave danger.

Why it matters in DC

The investigation of a former vigilante's murder exposes a world shaped by the retirement and suppression of costumed heroes. Its alternative history makes the existence of superheroes a political and social question, placing it outside the normal Justice League-style shared setting.

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Where it fits in the DC universe

Watchmen is title 8 of 24 in our Live-action Elseworlds viewing sequence. The Watchmen film adapts a separate superhero world rather than the standard DC hero continuities. The later television series draws on the graphic novel's history rather than simply continuing every choice made by this film. Keep that distinction in mind before treating the two screen titles as an ordinary film-and-sequel pairing.

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