Take the outlawed superhero community of Pixar's "The Incredibles," drop it into a multi-generational tribal tale like "The Godfather II" and add a trippy riff on "Forrest Gump's" at-the-elbow-of-history plot device (one character parties at Studio 54 with Jagger and Bowie, another pulls the trigger the day JFK died in Dallas), and you start to get a feel for "Watchmen." Here's a look at some of the key characters:
The Comedian: (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)
He's comedic in the same way the Joker is funny; a thuggish killing machine, this "hero" is the ultimate fixer for American black-ops at home and abroad. His murder is the mystery at the heart of the story.
Rorschach: (Jackie Earle Haley)
The inscrutable masked loner was a product of a vicious upbringing (he shed no tears when his prostitute mother was murdered by her pimp) and sees the world in absolutes of black and white, which is why he alone is on a mission to solve the slaying of the unpopular Comedian.
Dr. Manhattan: (Billy Crudup) A scientist who is transformed into a blue-skinned "quantum being," the most powerful force on Earth, he becomes a tool of the U.S. government and wins the Vietnam War. He also is becoming progressively withdrawn from humanity and stops wearing clothes -- yes, "Watchmen" shows the full Monty.
Nite Owl II: Patrick Wilson His gadgets recall a certain Gotham City resident, but this caped hero, pulled back from a pudgy retirement, is meek without his costume and, in another first for superhero cinema, has sexual dysfunction issues.
Silk Spectre II: Malin Akerman
