Introducing The Watchmen Part 2

by Helen Earnshaw | 4 March 2009

Yesterday we took a closer look at some of Watchmen's charactersincluding Rorschach, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre.

This weeks sees the superhero graphic novel make it to the big screen for the very first time, directed by Zack Snyder. Set in an alternate 1985 America in which costumed superheroes are part of the fabric of everyday society, and the "Doomsday Clock" - which charts the USA's tension with the Soviet Union - is permanently set at five minutes to midnight.

When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the washed-up but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes.

As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion - a ragtag group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers - Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future.

Lets meet the rest of the cast.

Jon Osterman/Dr Manhattan

Jon planned to follow in his father's footsteps to become a watchmaker but after his father saw the bombing of Hiroshima he urges his son to study nuclear physics.

After attending university and graduating with a Ph.D. in atomic physics Jon is transformed into a blue-skinned superpowered being in an accident in the lab where he was caught in an Intrinsic Field subtractor.

Of all the Watchmen Jon is the only one with superpowers. He becomes contracted by the United States government who give him the name Dr Manhattan, giving the west an advantage over the Soviet Union and the tension between the two sides begins to increase.

After meeting Laurie Juspeczyk/Silk Spectre II he begins a relationship with her. But he accused of giving cancer to those who are exposed to him for a long period of time.

He he leaves Earth for Mars because of these allegations.

Edward Blake/The Comedian

The Comedian is a brutal vigilante who kicked off his career as a teenager, becoming the youngest member of The Minutemen, a famous group of heroes.

But he was expelled from the group after a sexual attack on fellow group member Sally Jupiter, Silk Spectre II's mother.

Blake fought in the Second World War before working as a covert government operative. He was the only other superhero, along with Dr Manhattan, to be government sanctioned after the Keene Act was passed, which banned costumed superheroes.

Despite displaying no superpowers The Comedian was highly skilled at hand-to-hand combat with an effective street wise style.