presents a set of familiar superhero archetypes -- and then subverts them completely . Rorschach -LRB- Jackie Earl Haley -RRB- is like the Spirit ... except he 's a joyless , hard-line misanthrope . The Comedian -LRB- Jeffrey Dean Morgan -RRB- is like Captain America ... but loyal only to sadistic thrills and a corrupt worldview . Nite Owl -LRB- Patrick Wilson -RRB- is part Batman , part Iron Man ... except he 's also a schlubby , impotent coward . Ozymandias -LRB- Matthew Goode -RRB- is the resident genius ... who 's built an empire on superhero toys . -LRB- You see what we mean by irony . -RRB- Says Billy Crudup , whose blue , naked Dr. Manhattan is an almighty Superman dangerously detached from his own humanity : '' ` Watchmen ' is a kind of thrilling thought experiment . What would people who dress up in costumes to fight crime actually be like ? Well , they 'd probably be fetishists who lived on the fringes of society . They 'd all be a bunch of freaking lunatics . '' Yet for all its self-awareness and cynicism , `` Watchmen '' is n't some cheap-and-silly ``
-LRB- Entertainment Weekly -RRB- -- They have come to glimpse the miracle . They have come to witness the revolution . They have come for `` Watchmen '' -- the allegedly unfilmable superhero movie , the long-awaited adaptation of the comic book that changed the face of comic books forever . Billy Crudup plays Dr. Manhattan , a powerful superhero in `` Watchmen . '' On this warm July morning , over 5,000 fans attending the annual geek pop summit known as Comic-Con have assembled inside the San Diego Convention Center for a first look . Many spent the night on the sidewalk . Some have come in costumes . Behind the stage , indie-movie icon Kevin Smith parks himself in front of a closed-circuit TV , a happy grin on his bearded mug . `` You have to understand , I 've been waiting for this moment for years , '' says Smith . `` This is it , man . This is the pinnacle . '' All this , for a violent , ironic superhero epic that does n't like superheroes in the first place . Directed by `` 300 's '' Zack Snyder , `` Watchmen ''