Graphic novel → Film · Direct adaptation

Watchmen (2009)

The twelve-issue spine survives almost intact; the machine that ends it is swapped from a squid to Doctor Manhattan.

Source

Watchmen · Graphic novel · 1986–1987 · 12 issues

Alan Moore (writer), Dave Gibbons (artist), John Higgins (colorist)

DC Comics

Adaptation

Watchmen · Film · 2009 · 1 film, 3 cuts

Zack Snyder (director), David Hayter (screenwriter), Alex Tse (screenwriter)

Warner Bros. Pictures / Paramount Pictures (international)

TrueToPage 67 · Watchmen (2009 Theatrical) · v0.2frozen inventorycatalog score

CutNo Black Freighter. Hollis Mason survives off screen. The street-level New York cast is reduced to walk-ons.

Three cuts, one page. The headline scores describe the theatrical cut. Switch cuts to recompute coverage; the Ultimate Cut restores the pirate comic and the Director's Cut restores Hollis Mason's death.

The prose back matter (Under the Hood, the Manhattan dossier, Nova Express, the Veidt Method) is absent from every cut. A separate direct-to-video Under the Hood featurette exists and is treated as a separate work, not a cut.

Fidelity

Higher = more of the source is still true. Fidelity is not quality.

Plot structure70The twelve-issue order is kept: Blake's murder, Rorschach's investigation, Manhattan's exile to Mars, the frame-up and prison, Antarctica, New York. Two structural changes cost the points. The climax mechanism is replaced, so the last two issues run on a different causal engine, and the ground-level New York thread (the newsstand, the psychiatrist's marriage, the detectives) that the book uses as a chorus is cut to walk-ons, which removes the book's second spine.strong evidence

Character64Rorschach, Manhattan, and the Comedian arrive with their attested traits intact. Dan Dreiberg loses his paunch and gains a fighter's body and an outburst at Veidt the book never gives him. Veidt is played cold where the book writes him genial. Hollis Mason and Malcolm Long keep their jobs but lose their arcs in the theatrical cut, and the newsstand pair is gone. Prominence-weighted, the leads carry the number up and the supporting cast pulls it down.partial evidenceN = 17 people

Dialogue & voice62Gibbons says some of the film's best dialogue comes straight from Moore's script, and Rorschach's journal and Manhattan's Mars monologue are delivered close to the page. What does not survive is the book's counterpoint: captions running against panels, the pirate comic answering the main story, the back-matter prose voices, and the street chatter. Several lines are reassigned or trimmed to fit new scene shapes.partial evidence

Theme & tone50The argument is kept: a peace built on a lie, and nothing ever ends. The moral weather is not. The book renders costumed violence as brief, ugly, and slightly ridiculous; the film stages it as extended slow-motion spectacle, so scenes written to indict the hero read as celebration. Replacing the deliberately absurd squid with a sober energy device also removes the book's joke about how a genius ends a war, a change Gibbons himself endorsed for the screen.partial evidence

Coverage63Theatrical cut. All twelve issues' main narrative appears in some form. Absent: Tales of the Black Freighter in full, Hollis Mason's death, the prose back matter after each issue, most of the newsstand and street-level cast, and Malcolm Long's home life. The Director's Cut restores Mason's death and character beats; the Ultimate Cut adds the pirate comic, and each has its own coverage number on the cut toggle.strong evidence

Additions restraint90Little is invented. The opening-credits montage dramatises alternate-history moments the book only implies or reports in back matter; Dan physically attacks Veidt after Rorschach's death; the team is named the Watchmen, which the book never does. No new characters and no new subplots. The Manhattan-framed climax is counted as a replacement on plot structure, not as an addition here.strong evidence

Ending

Side by side, in our words.

On the page · Watchmen

Veidt teleports a genetically engineered creature into Manhattan; its psychic death shock kills about three million people and is read as an alien attack. The superpowers stand down. Manhattan kills Rorschach to protect the lie, tells Veidt that nothing ever ends, and leaves the galaxy. Rorschach's journal sits in the crank pile at the New Frontiersman.

On the screen · Watchmen

Veidt detonates reactors bearing Manhattan's energy signature in New York and other world cities, killing millions and framing Manhattan as the attacker. The superpowers unite against Manhattan. He kills Rorschach, tells Veidt nothing ever ends, and leaves. Dan beats Veidt before walking out. The journal reaches the New Frontiersman.

Same shape, different machine. The alien-threat device is replaced by a Manhattan frame, which turns the book's bystander god into the scapegoat and gives his exit a motive the page does not. The Rorschach death, the lie holding, the journal, and the final line are all kept.

Mapping

14 rows. Every source unit, including the ones that never appear.

Source unit	What happens there	On screen	Notes	Cut	Evidence
Issue 1 · At Midnight, All the Agents…	Edward Blake is thrown from his window; Rorschach investigates and warns Dan, Veidt, Manhattan and Laurie of a mask killer.	Film, opening to ~0:25	Kept. The murder is expanded into a long fight; an alternate-history credits montage is inserted before Rorschach's investigation.	all	strong
Issue 2 · Absent Friends	Blake's funeral; flashbacks to the Minutemen, the Crimebusters meeting, Vietnam, and the 1977 riots; Rorschach visits Moloch.	Film, ~0:25–0:45	Kept, condensed. The Crimebusters are renamed the Watchmen. The Sally Jupiter assault, the Vietnam shooting and the riot are all present.	all	strong
Issue 3 · The Judge of All the Earth	Laurie leaves Jon; a TV interview ambushes Manhattan with cancer accusations; he exiles himself to Mars; the newsstand and the pirate comic begin.	Film, ~0:45–1:00	Kept in the Manhattan and Laurie beats. The newsstand is a walk-on; the pirate comic is absent in the theatrical and Director's cuts.	all	strong
Issue 4 · Watchmaker	Manhattan's origin and his non-linear experience of time, told from Mars.	Film, Mars sequence ~1:00–1:15	Kept close to the page, including the structure of simultaneous moments and the glass palace.	all	strong
Issue 5 · Fearful Symmetry	Rorschach is lured to Moloch's apartment, framed, and arrested after a fight with police; the issue is drawn as a mirror.	Film, ~1:15–1:25	Kept. The palindromic page structure is a medium device and is not carried.	all	strong
Issue 6 · The Abyss Gazes Also	Dr. Malcolm Long interviews Rorschach in prison; the Blair Roche kidnapping and the birth of Rorschach; Long's marriage strains.	Film, prison and origin ~1:25–1:40	Kept in the interview and origin. The method of the Grice killing is changed. Long's home life is cut.	all	strong
Issue 7 · A Brother to Dragons	Dan and Laurie fail in bed, suit up, rescue tenement fire victims in Archie, and succeed.	Film, ~1:40–1:52	Kept, condensed. The fire rescue and the costume-as-cure beat are both present.	all	strong
Issue 8 · Old Ghosts	Prison riot and Rorschach's breakout; the Knot-Tops murder Hollis Mason by mistake.	Film, breakout ~1:52–2:02; Mason's death Director's Cut and Ultimate Cut only	Breakout kept. Mason's death is absent from the theatrical cut and restored in the longer cuts.	Director's Cut, Ultimate Cut	strong
Issue 9 · The Darkness of Mere Being	Laurie on Mars; she realises Blake was her father; Manhattan is persuaded life is a thermodynamic miracle.	Film, Mars ~2:02–2:12	Kept, including the memory sequence and the miracle argument.	all	strong
Issue 10 · Two Riders Were Approaching…	Dan and Rorschach deduce Veidt; Veidt's scientists die on their island; the pair fly to Antarctica; the journal is mailed.	Film, ~2:12–2:22	Kept, condensed. The island scientists are replaced by the reactor programme's collaborators.	all	partial
Issue 11 · Look on My Works, Ye Mighty…	Veidt explains the plan and reveals it was done thirty-five minutes ago; the creature arrives in New York and the newsstand cast die.	Film, Karnak ~2:22–2:35	The monologue and the thirty-five-minutes reversal are kept. The creature is replaced by Manhattan-signature explosions in several cities. The New York street cast's deaths are not staged.	all	strong
Issue 12 · A Stronger Loving World	Manhattan arrives, kills Rorschach, tells Veidt nothing ever ends and leaves; Laurie meets Sally; the journal at the New Frontiersman.	Film, ~2:35 to end	Kept, with the Manhattan frame in place of the alien. Dan attacking Veidt is added. The Sally scene and the journal are present.	all	strong
Tales of the Black Freighter (intercut, issues 3–11)	A shipwrecked mariner races home on a raft of corpses and destroys what he meant to save; the pirate comic mirrors Veidt.	Ultimate Cut only, animated and intercut	Absent from the theatrical and Director's cuts. The Ultimate Cut intercuts an animated version at roughly the page positions.	Ultimate Cut	strong
Back matter, issues 1–11 (Under the Hood, the Manhattan dossier, Nova Express, the Veidt Method, Rorschach's file)	Prose documents after each issue that supply the world's history and the characters' public selves.	omitted	Absent from every cut. Fragments surface in the credits montage. A separate direct-to-video featurette dramatises Under the Hood and is a separate work.	all	strong

Change log

The argument. The mapping above is the evidence.

Ending changed
The engineered creature is replaced by Manhattan-signature energy blasts, and the world unites against Manhattan instead of an alien.
Issues 11–12 → Film, final act, all cuts
The outcome is the same, but the book's bystander god becomes the scapegoat, which gives Manhattan's exit a reason the page withholds and removes the deliberate absurdity of the book's device.
Attribution: Zack Snyder, in 2009 interviews, citing the running time a squid would need to set up.
Omitted
Tales of the Black Freighter is absent from the theatrical and Director's cuts.
Pirate comic intercut through issues 3–11 → Ultimate Cut only · Theatrical, Director's Cut
The pirate story is the book's commentary on Veidt. Without it his arc has no mirror.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Omitted
Hollis Mason's murder is cut from the theatrical release.
Issue 8 → Restored in the Director's Cut and Ultimate Cut · Theatrical
The book pays for the breakout with an innocent death. The theatrical cut leaves that bill unpaid.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Omitted
The prose back matter after each issue does not appear in any cut.
Issues 1–11, end pages → omitted
Under the Hood, the Manhattan dossier and the Veidt Method carry the world's history and the characters' public voices. The credits montage stands in for a fraction of it.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Condensed
The street-level New York cast is reduced to walk-ons.
Newsstand, detectives, Dr. Long's marriage, issues 3–11 → Film, scattered cameos
The book keeps ordinary people on the page so the ending kills someone the reader knows. The film's catastrophe lands on extras.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Invented
An opening-credits montage dramatises the alternate history, including Blake as the Kennedy shooter.
Back matter and scattered references → Film, title sequence
Efficient medium translation of back matter, but it states as fact things the book only implies.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Tonal shift
Fights are staged as extended slow-motion spectacle.
Alley fight issue 3; prison riot issue 8 → Film, all cuts
The book draws violence brief and ugly so the reader questions the people committing it. Staged as spectacle, the same scenes invite admiration.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Identity / design change
Costumes are redesigned: armoured Nite Owl, dark armoured Ozymandias, latex Silk Spectre.
Character designs throughout → Film, all cuts
The book specifies deliberately homemade, slightly foolish costumes. The redesigns are counted as attested-appearance misses, not as a taste judgment.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Invented
Rorschach kills Gerald Grice with a cleaver instead of chaining him to a stove and burning the house.
Issue 6 → Film, prison origin sequence
The book's method is a choice to walk away; the film's is a direct act. It changes the moment Kovacs becomes Rorschach.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Invented
Dan beats Veidt after Rorschach's death.
Issue 12 → Film, final act
The book's Dan accepts the lie in silence. Giving him an outburst gives the audience a release the page refuses.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Invented
The 1960s team is named the Watchmen.
Issue 2 (the Crimebusters) → Film, flashback
The book never applies the title to a team. Small, but it is a stated fact changed.
Attribution: unknown / production decision
Kept, unflinching
Manhattan's nudity, the Saigon shooting, Rorschach's death, and Veidt's plan succeeding are all kept.
Issues 2, 4, 11, 12 → Film, all cuts
A softer adaptation would have clothed the god, spared the woman, saved Rorschach, or let the heroes win. This one did none of those.
Attribution: Zack Snyder, per Gibbons' account of the production.
Kept, unflinching
The last image is Rorschach's journal in the New Frontiersman crank pile.
Issue 12, final page → Film, final shot
The ending's whole ambiguity rides on that page. It was kept.

People

Trait score = attested traits kept ÷ attested traits shown. Unstated traits are not rows.

Rorschach / Walter Kovacs · Jackie Earle HaleyleadAltered7/10 attested traits kept70

Iconography and no-compromise death survive. Roche method and clipped voice do not.

Appearance	Shifting inkblot mask, fedora, trench coat.Watchmen #1	preservedstrong
Identity	Walter Joseph Kovacs; unmasked vagrant with an End is Nigh sign.Watchmen #1, #5-6	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Human street fighter, no superpowers; police can overpower and unmask him.Watchmen #5-6	alteredstrong
Personality	Isolated, paranoid, morally absolute, socially abrasive.Watchmen #1, #6	preservedstrong
Moral code	Refuses to compromise after Veidt's peace is shown to work.Watchmen #12	preservedstrong
Relationships	Former Nite Owl partner; suspects Veidt; mails journal to New Frontiersman.Watchmen #1, #10, #12	preservedstrong
Vocation / role	Only major hero still fully illegal after the Keene Act.Watchmen #1	preservedstrong
Voice	Journal/speech in clipped article-dropping diction marking pre- vs post-Roche Kovacs.Watchmen #1, #6	alteredstrong
Arc	Roche case: leaves killer chained in a burning building with a hopeless cutting tool.Watchmen #6	alteredstrong
Plot function	Detective who reconstructs the conspiracy, refuses the lie, and is killed to protect it.Watchmen #1-12	preservedstrong

Doctor Manhattan / Jon Osterman · Billy CrudupleadAltered9/10 attested traits kept90

Origin and Mars arc close. Ending rewrite changes his historical function.

Appearance	Blue, often unclothed, hydrogen-atom forehead mark.Watchmen #3-4	preservedstrong
Identity	Jon Osterman, watchmaker's son turned physicist.Watchmen #4	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Matter control, teleportation, non-linear time; setting's only superhuman.Watchmen #4	preservedstrong
Personality	Grows emotionally detached from ordinary human scale.Watchmen #3-4, #9	preservedstrong
Moral code	Treats human life as statistically insignificant until Laurie's parentage strikes him as a miracle.Watchmen #9	preservedstrong
Relationships	Janey Slater then Laurie; used as a US military asset.Watchmen #4, #3	preservedstrong
Vocation / role	Government superweapon and later energy researcher.Watchmen #4, #3	preservedstrong
Voice	Affectless temporally displaced diction, not a robot vocoder.Watchmen #4	preservedstrong
Arc	Accident, weaponization, Mars exile, return, departure from Earth.Watchmen #4, #3, #9, #12	preservedstrong
Plot function	Not the scapegoat of Veidt's hoax; witness to an apparent alien catastrophe.Watchmen #11-12	alteredstrong

Nite Owl II / Dan Dreiberg · Patrick WilsonleadAltered6/10 attested traits kept60

Midlife outline survives. Vulnerability and Karnak blocking do not.

Appearance	Soft middle-aged civilian; owl costume reads as slightly naive gadget-hero.Watchmen #1, #7	alteredstrong
Identity	Daniel Dreiberg, second Nite Owl.Watchmen #1	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Human gadgeteer; fights limited and mostly non-lethal.Watchmen #7-8	alteredstrong
Personality	Anxious, nostalgic, sexually blocked without the costume.Watchmen #7	alteredstrong
Moral code	Wants to do good; after the reveal accepts silence to keep Veidt's peace.Watchmen #7, #12	preservedstrong
Relationships	Hollis's successor; Laurie becomes his lover; Rorschach former partner.Watchmen #1, #7, #12	preservedstrong
Vocation / role	Retired costumed adventurer and owl-tech inventor.Watchmen #1, #7	preservedstrong
Voice	Mild conversational register, not hard-boiled narration.Watchmen #1, #7	preservedpartial
Arc	Impotence to costumed potency to moral compromise.Watchmen #7-12	preservedstrong
Plot function	Leaves Karnak with Laurie before Rorschach is killed; does not watch the death.Watchmen #12	alteredstrong

Silk Spectre II / Laurie Juspeczyk · Malin AkermanleadAltered6/10 attested traits kept60

Parentage reveal and plot function survive. Name, costume, and non-lethal physicality do not.

Appearance	Golden-age-cut second Silk Spectre costume (heels/choker in Gibbons design).Watchmen #1	alteredstrong
Identity	Laurel Jane Juspeczyk; Polish heritage; resists stage name Jupiter.Watchmen #1, #9	alteredstrong
Body / ability	Trained human fighter; book alley/prison beats limited, not massacre.Watchmen #7-8	alteredstrong
Personality	Frustrated, vivid, angry at her mother and at Manhattan's detachment.Watchmen #3, #9	alteredstrong
Moral code	Argues individual human lives matter; tries to stop Veidt.Watchmen #9, #12	preservedstrong
Relationships	Sally's daughter; Manhattan's lover then Dan's; biological daughter of the Comedian.Watchmen #9	preservedstrong
Vocation / role	Second Silk Spectre; government companion to Manhattan until she leaves.Watchmen #1, #3	preservedstrong
Voice	Colloquial emotional register, not Rorschach telegram voice.Watchmen #3, #9	preservedpartial
Arc	Mars conversation forces parentage realization that rekindles Manhattan's interest.Watchmen #9	preservedstrong
Plot function	Emotional hinge who talks Manhattan back from abandoning Earth.Watchmen #9	preservedstrong

Ozymandias / Adrian Veidt · Matthew GoodeleadAltered6/10 attested traits kept60

Same utilitarian crime, different public face and weapon.

Appearance	Blond, Egyptian-kitsch purple-and-gold costume, not a molded muscle suit.Watchmen #1, #11	alteredstrong
Identity	Adrian Veidt, publicly the smartest man in the world.Watchmen #1, #11	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Peak-human athlete (vegetarian, trained), not superhuman.Watchmen #11	preservedstrong
Personality	Publicly warm admired philanthropist; warmth is load-bearing so the twist lands.Watchmen #1, #11	alteredstrong
Moral code	Utilitarian: kill millions to avert nuclear war.Watchmen #11-12	preservedstrong
Relationships	Kills the Comedian for discovering the plan; frames Rorschach via Moloch.Watchmen #2, #5, #11	preservedstrong
Vocation / role	Retired hero turned conglomerate CEO including energy ventures.Watchmen #1, #10-11	preservedstrong
Voice	Composed articulate exposition of the plan.Watchmen #11	preservedpartial
Arc	Captain Metropolis's failed Crimebusters meeting and the Comedian's cinder taunt help set the plan; after success he asks Manhattan if it was right.Watchmen #2, #12	alteredstrong
Plot function	Architect of a fake extra-dimensional attack (engineered psychic creature on New York).Watchmen #10-12	alteredstrong

The Comedian / Edward Blake · Jeffrey Dean MorganleadAltered9/10 attested traits kept90

Funeral/Vietnam among closest stretches. Sally/Laurie relationship less clear.

Appearance	Leather, cigar, bloodied smiley-face pin.Watchmen #1	preservedstrong
Identity	Edward Blake, the Comedian.Watchmen #1	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Human government operative; extremely violent, not superpowered.Watchmen #2	preservedstrong
Personality	Nihilist, sadistic, cynically clear-eyed about costume heroics.Watchmen #2	preservedstrong
Moral code	Treats life as a joke and works as Nixon's man.Watchmen #2	preservedstrong
Relationships	Attempted to rape Sally Jupiter; later a second consensual relationship produced Laurie.Watchmen #2, #9	alteredstrong
Vocation / role	Government-sanctioned hero with Manhattan; Vietnam operative.Watchmen #2, #4	preservedstrong
Voice	Mocking, crude, needling.Watchmen #2	preservedstrong
Arc	Discovers Veidt's plan, is murdered, reconstructed in funeral flashbacks.Watchmen #1-2, #11	preservedstrong
Plot function	The corpse that starts the mask-killer investigation.Watchmen #1	preservedstrong

Moloch / Edgar Jacobi · Matt FrewersupportingSame6/6 attested traits kept100

Function kept; screen time condensed.

Identity	Edgar Jacobi, formerly Moloch.Watchmen #2	preservedstrong
Appearance	Aged, sick former costumed criminal.Watchmen #2	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Dying of cancer as part of Veidt's smear against Manhattan.Watchmen #2, #5	preservedstrong
Vocation / role	Retired supervillain.Watchmen #2	preservedstrong
Relationships	Receives a broken unmasked visit from Blake.Watchmen #2	preservedstrong
Plot function	Murdered so Rorschach can be framed.Watchmen #5	preservedstrong

Sally Jupiter / Silk Spectre I · Carla GuginosupportingAltered4/6 attested traits kept67

Identity	Sally Jupiter, first Silk Spectre.Watchmen #2, #9	preservedstrong
Appearance	Aging former pin-up / costumed heroine.Watchmen #2, #9	preservedstrong
Relationships	Mother of Laurie; victim of Blake's assault; later a second relationship with Blake.Watchmen #2, #9	alteredstrong
Vocation / role	Retired first Silk Spectre living in California.Watchmen #2, #12	preservedstrong
Plot function	Key to Laurie's parentage and the California coda.Watchmen #9, #12	preservedstrong
Voice	Under the Hood memoir/interview texture in back matter.Watchmen #1-2 back matter	omittedstrong

Hollis Mason / Nite Owl I · Stephen McHattiesupportingAltered5/6 attested traits kept83

Death is cut-gated. Trait score uses fullest cut. Memoirs remain outside the feature.

Identity	Hollis Mason, first Nite Owl.Watchmen #1	preservedstrong
Appearance	Older man; auto shop civilian life after retirement.Watchmen #1	preservedstrong
Vocation / role	Memoirist of Under the Hood as well as retired hero.Watchmen #1 back matter	omittedstrong
Relationships	Mentor/predecessor to Dan Dreiberg.Watchmen #1, #7	preservedstrong
Personality	Old-fashioned, decent, nostalgic about the Minutemen.Watchmen #1-2	preservedstrong
Plot function	Beaten to death by Knot Tops after the prison break is public.Watchmen #8	preservedstrong

Malcolm Long · supporting prison-scene rolesupportingAltered2/4 attested traits kept50

Vocation / role	Prison psychiatrist assigned to Rorschach.Watchmen #6	preservedstrong
Plot function	Framing device for Rorschach's origin.Watchmen #6	preservedstrong
Arc	Rorschach's worldview infects him; marriage deteriorates; he is among the New York dead.Watchmen #6, #12	omittedstrong
Relationships	Married to Gloria; the marriage is a collapsing counterpoint.Watchmen #6	omittedstrong

Captain Metropolis · history-montage presence at most; function reassignedsupportingOmitted1/3 attested traits kept33

Delta omitted for plot function even if a credits cameo survives.

Identity	Captain Metropolis (Nelson Gardner), Minuteman trying to form a new team.Watchmen #2	preservedpartial
Plot function	Chairs the Crimebusters meeting; the Comedian burns his display.Watchmen #2	omittedstrong
Vocation / role	Old-guard organizer of a failed second super-team.Watchmen #2	omittedstrong

Bubastis · creature effect at KarnaksupportingAltered2/3 attested traits kept67

Appearance	Genetically engineered lynx, Veidt's companion at Karnak.Watchmen #10-12	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Lynx present during the Antarctic climax.Watchmen #11-12	preservedstrong
Plot function	Part of Veidt's biotech line that also produces the creature.Watchmen #10-11	alteredstrong

Island artists and scientists (Veidt's creature crew) · absentsupportingOmitted0/3 attested traits kept0

Vocation / role	Writers, artists, and scientists hired under cover of a monster movie.Watchmen #8, #10-11	omittedstrong
Plot function	They design the creature; Veidt kills them to keep the secret.Watchmen #11	omittedstrong
Identity	Missing-persons thread including writer Max Shea.Watchmen #3, #8, #10	omittedstrong

The alien creature (psychic squid) · absent from all cutssupportingOmitted0/3 attested traits kept0

S.Q.U.I.D. acronym is not the creature.

Appearance	Gigantic engineered psychic cephalopod.Watchmen #11-12	omittedstrong
Body / ability	Dies on teleport into New York and emits a psychic shockwave.Watchmen #12	omittedstrong
Plot function	The fake extra-dimensional attack that unites the superpowers.Watchmen #12	omittedstrong

Bernard and Bernie (newsstand) · cameo theatrical; expanded Ultimate CutcameoAltered3/3 attested traits kept100

Trait score uses fullest cut.

Vocation / role	News vendor Bernard and young reader Bernie at a New York newsstand.Watchmen #3 onward	preservedstrong
Plot function	Civilian chorus who die in the New York attack.Watchmen #12	preservedstrong
Relationships	The two Bernies form a small street-level bond across issues.Watchmen #3-12	preservedstrong

Janey Slater · present in origin and TV ambushcameoSame3/3 attested traits kept100

Identity	Janey Slater, Manhattan's first lover.Watchmen #4	preservedstrong
Plot function	Cancer accusation on television helps drive Manhattan off Earth.Watchmen #3	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Develops cancer as part of Veidt's smear.Watchmen #3	preservedstrong

Veidt's assistant (assassination scene) · on-screen victim, more graphiccameoAltered2/3 attested traits kept67

Vocation / role	Veidt employee present during the staged assassination.Watchmen #5	preservedstrong
Plot function	Shot during Roy Chess's attack, selling the mask-killer theory.Watchmen #5	preservedstrong
Body / ability	Wounded by gunfire (book: chest shot).Watchmen #5	alteredstrong

Creator stance

Time-stamped. Co-creators are never collapsed.

Alan Moore

writer of source

January 2008

Disowned

Signed a document permitting the studio to remove his name from the film and to send his share of the money to Dave Gibbons.

Moore's refusal predates this film and covers every screen adaptation of his DC work; it is a rights and ownership position as much as an artistic one.

About:ownershipsource ↗

Alan Moore

writer of source

September 2008

Disowned

Told the Los Angeles Times he would not see the film and expected to be spitting venom on it for months; suggested it might be cursed from afar.

About:qualityfidelitysource ↗

Dave Gibbons

artist of source

May 2008

Championed

Said the film would be as faithful to the graphic novel as a movie can be, and that the most important thing was that it be a good movie.

About:fidelityqualitysource ↗

Dave Gibbons

artist of source

January 2014

Championed

Called the film incredibly true to what he and Moore made, with dialogue lifted from the script and images from his pages; endorsed the Manhattan ending as the better choice for a special-effects film; found the whole unwieldy in length.

About:fidelityqualitysource ↗

Zack Snyder

director

2009

Participating adapter

Maintained he had not really changed the ending: the squid was a thirty-minute detour the film could not afford, and the Manhattan device reaches the same conclusion while leaving room for Rorschach and Nite Owl.

About:fidelitysource ↗

Zack Snyder

director

2009

Participating adapter

Said the squid would take fifteen minutes to explain properly, that the studio wanted the film as short as possible, and that a S.Q.U.I.D. acronym was left on Veidt's consoles as a nod.

About:fidelitysource ↗

Planned: watchmen-gn-to-2019-hbo.

Sources

Every score note points here. Wikipedia is a lead, not an authority.

secondaryAlan Moore Has His Name Removed from Watchmen
Moore's January 2008 statement that he signed off his credit and money to Gibbons; cites Wizard.
secondaryMoore: spitting venom on WATCHMEN film
Moore's September 2008 Los Angeles Times remarks that he would not watch the film.
primaryInterview: Dave Gibbons talks Watchmen and more (Den of Geek)
Gibbons' pre-release position on fidelity, May 2008.
primaryThe Dave Gibbons Interviews: Watching the Watchmen in Book and Film
Gibbons on dialogue lifted from the script, images from his pages, his endorsement of the changed ending, and the film's length; January 2014.
secondaryWhy Zack Snyder Insisted That He Didn't Actually Change Watchmen's Ending
Snyder's 2009 New York Times reasoning for the Manhattan device; attribution of the ending change.
secondaryWhy Zack Snyder's Watchmen Used Doctor Manhattan Instead of Squids
Snyder's 2009 MTV comments on set-up time, studio length pressure, and the S.Q.U.I.D. nod.
secondaryWatchmen: The Ultimate Cut (DVD Talk review)
Runtimes of the three cuts (162, 186, 215 minutes); the Ultimate Cut's Black Freighter intercut and the restored Hollis Mason material.
referenceWatchmen (2009 film), Wikipedia
Lead for credits, release dates, and home-video editions. Not an authority for any score.

Record watchmen-gn-to-2009 · schema 0.2 · scoring 0.2-inventory · frozen seed inventory. Fidelity is not quality; the score is not a review.