Watchmen, the seminal comic series by Alan Moore Dave Gibbons, has received multiple adaptations over the years since its publication in 1986: A motion comic, a 2009 film by director Zack Snyder and the recent HBO continuation each offers its own, unique take on the source material. However, Snyder wasn’t the first to attempt a Watchmen film, nor was he the first to significantly alter the comic’s disturbing ending.
The first screenplay for a Watchmen film was written by Sam Hamm in 1988, just one year after the comic’s conclusion, to be directed by Terry Gilliam. Targeted for release in 1991, the adaptation was canceled due to concerns about the budget and the script, which changed several elements of the source material.
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The original ending to Watchmen depicts Adrian Veidt/Ozymandias confronted in his Antarctic palace, Karnak, by Nite Owl, Rorschach, Silk Spectre and Dr. Manhattan. There he reveals his grand plan to save humanity from the mutually assured destruction of the Cold War. At midnight on November 2, 1985, Veidt teleported the Extra-Dimensional Biological Entity (E.D.B.E.) — a gargantuan, psychic, squid-like monster — to New York City. Due to Veidt’s faulty teleportation device, the “Squid” died upon arrival, triggering a giant, psychic shockwave that killed three million people and traumatized the world.
The United States and Soviet Union, now aware of a greater extraterrestrial threat to mankind, agree to end the Cold War and focus their resources on combating the new alien enemy. What they do not know, however, is that it’s not even a real alien. The E.D.B.E. was designed and engineered by Veidt, with help from a team of scientists, writers and artists who think they’re working on a science-fiction movie. The rest of the Crimebusters know the truth but agree to keep quiet for the good of humanity, save for Rorschach who is killed by Dr. Manhattan.
The recent HBO series treats this ending as canon, as there are multiple flashbacks to the “11/2 Psychic Shockwave” or “Dimensional Incursion Event (D.I.E.)” as they came to be known. While Zack Snyder’s film adaptation stays mostly true to the original comics, it does not keep this ending. The same showdown in Veidt’s Antarctic compound occurs, only in this version, Veidt didn’t teleport a giant squid monster, but rather the Sub-Quantum Unified Intrinsic field Device (S.Q.U.I.D.) which triggered massive explosions in cities around the world. This S.Q.U.I.D. mimics Dr. Manhattan’s energy signature, thereby framing him for the attacks. The rest of the ending plays out largely the same, with the others staying silent except for Rorschach, who is killed.
In the unused 1988 Sam Hamm Watchmen script, the ending is changed even more substantially. When Ozymandias reveals his plan, he hasn’t gone through with it yet. Unlike the other versions, it’s not too late to stop him. This Adrian Veidt’s plan is to use a tachyon chamber to travel back in time to assassinate Jon Osterman before the accident that transforms him into Dr. Manhattan. Veidt’s rationale is that Dr. Manhattan interfering in Vietnam to help America win is what led to the impending nuclear war with Russia. However, in a move of uncharacteristic recklessness, Veidt is accidentally vaporized by his own time machine. Dr. Manhattan then uses the time machine to stop his former self from getting trapped in the intrinsic field experiment test chamber which, ignoring time paradoxes, prevents the creation of Dr. Manhattan and allows Osterman to live a happy life with Janey Slater.
The film’s timeline then changes to our reality’s timeline, with the U.S. losing Vietnam, Nixon resigning and nuclear war averted. Interestingly, Rorschach, Nite Owl, and Silk Spectre are transported to then-present day New York City where, in a confusing meta twist, Watchmen is a successful comic book series. This script features many other differences as well, such as the exclusion of Hollis Mason, Rorschach’s journal, most of the original Minutemen, Sally Jupiter and the curious inclusion of a subplot where Dr. Manhattan cures Silk Spectre of lung cancer. These are significant changes from the big screen version we eventually got.
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