Watchmen

Wrong, as usual.

The United States' lack of action in Eastern Europe...

...proves that the Soviet Union's aggression at the Afghan border...

...will not be opposed publicly by the United States.

Issue: The Soviet Union continued its recent series of military exercises...

...conducting a bomb test today in the Bering Sea...

...just 1500 miles off the southern coast of Alaska.

President Richard Nixon issued this warning to the Soviets:

The United States does not start fights.

Let it be clear we maintain our strength...

...in order to maintain peace...

...so any adversary should ask themselves:

"Do the consequences of attacking America...

...outweigh the potential benefits?"

As a result of the Soviet activity...

...the watchdog group of nuclear scientists...

...moved the Doomsday Clock up to five minutes until midnight:

destruction by nuclear war.

Question:

On a scale of zero to 10, zero meaning impossibility...

...10 meaning complete metaphysical certitude...

...what are the chances the Russians will actually attack the United States?

Pat Buchanan.

Zero.

The Soviets would never risk going to war...

...when we have a walking nuclear deterrent on our side.

You're referring, of course, to Dr. Manhattan...

...but does Dr. Manhattan's existence guarantee world peace? Eleanor Clift.

Well, it hasn't stopped the Soviet Union...

...from stockpiling record amounts of nuclear weapons.

You don't think it's just posturing?

Maybe the reason why the Soviets...

...are doing these bomb tests...

...is because they feel threatened by Dr. Manhattan. Of course.

Maybe the whole world feels like that.

[MTV THEME "MAN ON THE MOON" PLAYS ON TV]

Soviet ships have violated the territorial waters--

[NAT KING COLE'S "UNFORGETTABLE" PLAYS ON TV]

Just a matter of time, I suppose.

It's a joke. It's all a joke.

Mother, forgive me.

I was a hero, goddamn it!

--an act clearly meant to send a signal to the government in Saigon...

...that violence and oppression is not the way to peace.

Fuck you, pigs!

Good luck, Mr. Gorsky.

Get out of here, vigilantes!

No!

Edward Blake. Sixty-seven years old. Six-two, a solid 225.

Guy was built like a linebacker.

Yeah, I saw the body.

For a guy his age, he was in terrific shape.

You mean apart from being dead?

That's plate glass.

You'd have to step on the gas just to put a crack in it.

Had to have been thrown.

Check the bedroom?

Yeah. Drawers opened, tossed through.

Mattress flipped. Probably robbery.

Or made to look like one.

See this?

-Shaking hands with the president. Whoa.

Think Blake was a spook?

Government or black ops?

I think...

...this is way bigger than both of us.

Rorschach's journal, October 12th, 1985.

Dog carcass in alley this morning. Tire tread on burst stomach.

This city's afraid of me.

I've seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters...

...and the gutters are full of blood.

And when the drains finally scab over...

...all the vermin will drown.

The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder...

...will foam up around their waists...

...and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout, "Save us."

And I'll whisper, "No."

Now the whole world stands on the brink...

...staring down into bloody hell.

All those liberals and intellectuals...

...and smooth talkers...

...and all of a sudden, nobody can think of anything to say.

Beneath me, this awful city.

It screams like an abattoir full of retarded children...

...and the night reeks of fornication and bad consciences.

Huh.

Tonight, a comedian died in New York.

Somebody knows why.

Somebody knows.

No, I definitely heard something.

Watch the door.

Shh.

Must've been the wind. Next time you--

It all started with the gangs. You know, people tend to forget that.

Pirate outfits, ghosts.

They thought it was funny: dress up and pull heists.

As soon as we'd arrest them, they'd be back on the street.

Nobody could pick them out of a lineup because of the damn masks.

So a few of us cops, we get together...

...and we figure, what the heck, we'll mask up, too.

We'll finish what the law couldn't.

Pretty soon, the papers get wind of it. They ran with it...

...and oh, boy, we're a national pastime.

It was me, Dollar Bill, Mothman...

...Captain Metropolis, Hooded Justice...

...Silk Spectre and the Comedian.

Oh, don't get me started on him.

I must be drunk already, telling you this sob story again.

I think you were trying to make a point.

Well, my point is that we had it too easy. It wasn't fair what happened to you guys--

You guys who picked up where we left off. --with Nixon forcing you out.

Nixon, oh, that prick. To think I voted for that prick five times.

Hey, it was him or the commies, right?

Oh, wow, it's almost midnight. Gotta go.

Truth?

You were a better Nite Owl than I ever was, Danny boy.

-Hollis, we both know that's bullshit. -Hey.

Watch it with the language.

This is the left hook that floored Captain Axis, remember?

-Yeah. This just in:

The masked vigilante known as Rorschach...

...has assaulted a police officer in the early-morning hours.

Rorschach is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list...

...for violation of the Keene Act, which banned masked heroes six years ago.

Rorschach reportedly incapacitated....

Forced everyone out except him.

Oh, he'll quit.

When he's dead.

Next week? Well...

...you know, you don't have to keep humoring me like this.

If you got a hot date or something....

Hey, us retired guys have to stick together, right?

You ever miss it?

No. You?

Oh, heck, no.

Be seeing you.

Hello, Daniel.

Rorschach.

Helped myself to some beans. Hope you don't mind.

No, no. Course not.

You want me to heat those up for you?

Fine like this.

How have you been keeping?

Out of prison.

Heard about you on the news.

Say you attacked a cop.

Minor wound. Won't need hospitalization.

Daniel...

...look at this.

Is this bean juice? Human bean juice.

Badge belonged to the Comedian. Blood too. He's dead.

Let's talk downstairs.

It could have been a burglary.

Maybe the killer didn't know who the Comedian was.

An ordinary burglar? Kill the Comedian? Ridiculous.

I heard he'd been working for the government since '77...

...knocking over Marxist republics in South America.

Maybe it was a political killing or something.

Maybe.

Maybe someone's picking off costumed heroes.

You don't think that's a little paranoid?

That what they say about me now?

Paranoid?

Look, Comedian made a lot of enemies over the years...

...even among his friends.

Speaking of friends, how's Hollis Mason?

He wrote that book. Said some bad things about the Comedian in it.

I don't like what you're implying, and I like being followed even less.

Maybe I was keeping an eye on you, in case someone's gunning for masks.

-You were never that sentimental. -Attack on one is attack on all of us.

What do you suggest we do about it?

Retribution.

-Watchmen are over. -Says Tricky Dick.

Says me.

Nobody knows who you are.

You can give it up, try and have a normal life.

That what you have now? A normal life?

When you walk down the street in a city dying of rabies...

...past the human cockroaches...

...talking about their heroin and child pornography...

...do you really feel normal?

Least I'm not the one still hiding behind a mask.

No.

You're hiding in plain sight.

Be seeing you, Dan.

A maintenance hatch will let you out two blocks north.

Yeah, I remember.

Came here often, when we were partners.

Those were great times, huh, Rorschach?

-What happened? -You quit.

Rorschach's journal.

First visit of evening fruitless.

Feel slightly depressed.

Soon there will be war.

Millions will perish in sickness and misery.

Why does one death matter against so many?

Because there is good and evil, and evil must be punished.

Even in the face of armageddon...

...I will not compromise in this.

But there are so many deserving of retribution...