It takes a lot to get us to blog at 1 am, but this just hit the web. Zack Snyder has the first look at the Watchmen from the movie version.

Comedianfull

Niteowlfull

Ozymandiasfull

Rorschachfull

Silkspectrefull

Ay caramba!

UPDATE: Why does Ozymandias’s exo-skeleton have nipples? SUSPICIOUS.

1 COMMENT

  1. that is crazy to see. First impressions: the Comedian and Rorschach look the best.

    this movie is really happening! it’s a strange world we comic fans are now living in.

  2. I’m kinda concerned about that Silk Spectre, too. The others look great, though.

    The Comedian and Rorschach are respectively very “Whatever happened to the American dream? You’re looking at it” and “You know what I wish? I wish all the scum of the Earth had one throat and I had my hands about it.”

    And the Ozymandias pose is different, but I can still imagine him saying “I don’t mind being the smartest man in the world. I just wish it wasn’t this one.”

  3. With the exception of Rorschach – which is hard to screw up since it only requires a trenchcoat and a hat – they all look RUBBISH!

    Nite Owl is especially ridiculous, a bargain basement Batman, though Ozymandias comes a close second. And why is The Comedian wearing a wig?

  4. Most of these kind of remind me of the Batman movies, in a bad way.
    Although the Comedian is cool, and Roscarch is fantastic. But where is Nite-Owl’s paunch! I’m sure the flick will be amazing… but where is that paunch…

  5. I think they look great.

    Dressing real people up in silly costumes is no easy task. Kudos to the costume designers on these.

  6. Will flashbacks be done in Spandex? If so, the rubber look for the present-stuff would make sense and actually add to elements of parody in Watchmen….. it’s all very 80’s Burton Batman

  7. Nite Owl is especially ridiculous, a bargain basement Batman,

    Not that I care all that much either way about this movie, but isn’t that pretty much what Nite-Owl is?

    He’s a Blue Beetle stand-in, and the Silver Age Beetle was a pretty direct Batman lift.

  8. I agree. Nite Owl looks appropriately ridiculous. I especially love the huge, visible zipper running down the front of the costume.

    Ozymandias’s sculpted musculature, the nipples and codpiece (cue the “one-eyed monster” jokes) also look absurd, which is entirely right and proper given the character’s monstrous narcissism and careful manipulation of his image.

  9. Not only does that Silk Spectre look not quite right, it really reminds me of Phantom Lady’s costume–the current DCU, Stormy Knight version, that is. I guess Silk Spectre has not only a bit of Nightshade in her, but also a bit of Phantom Lady, too…

    Still, the rest look reasonably faithful to the look of the originals, which is nice to see. I can’t off hand think of anthing about the comic’s Silk Spectre costume that cries out for drastic change when other characters’ didn’t, but I guess I can wait until we see more in future images, trailers, and the movie itself.

  10. It’s a fine line. They still have to look like superheroes, or “underwear perverts” as some crank in England calls ’em.

  11. This isn’t madness. This is bullshit.

    I think it’s more a result of the comic being a comic and coming out in the mid-80s, and commenting on the superhero stories that had come before it, and the movie being a movie and coming out in the late aughts, and commenting on the superhero movies that had come before it.

  12. Damn you, movie publicity stills and your inability to match up to my fondest desires for a movie made based on comic books I like! Damn you straight to hell!

  13. > Dressing real people up in silly costumes is no easy task.
    > Kudos to the costume designers on these.

    I agree. I think they look fine. If they can act the part, the costumes won’t distract from the movie.

  14. @Bulent:

    “I think Alan’s work is absolutely groundbreaking and whether he sat down to do that or not, that’s what he did. I think that for me, it’s about adapting that great work into a movie, but it’s also certainly about making a film that does hopefully to the cinematic superhero genre, what the book did to the comic book world. It’s my hope and my intent to shine a light on the current state of superhero movies and what they mean to pop culture, and what they mean to people who enjoy them, and comic book fans.”

    From an interview with Zack Snyder here.

    So I think Jack is dead on the money.

  15. I’ve got one word for everybody. 300 was great. Okay, that’s three words, and 300 is in fact a number. So, that’s two words and a number for everybody. Yeah! Who else wants some?

    Okay, I’m going to get on with my day now. :)

  16. I think they all look pretty great. Always thought Rorschach’s mask was more plastic-y, but whatever – just looking forward to seeing the patterns move. That Nite Owl may be a look prior to his taking up the costume again post-retirement. As for the Silk Spectre, we’ve known for a while they were updating her look. They still gave her heels and made the costume somewhat fetish, just in a different way. Stills works for me.
    In fact, wasn’t John Cassaday doing some of the design work on these? I wonder how much of his concepts was incorporated.

  17. It’s stills like this that make me so glad that I’ve long since outgrown that “Oh my god, look what they’ve done with the printed version of ______ (fill in blank)”

    You know, I’ll just wait until I see the actual movie and make my judgement then.

  18. WHAT’S WITH THE NIPPLES? Yo, the Sabretooth photo you posted earlier had unnatural nipple accentuation going on, too. What is with the nipples?
    Joel Schumacher, may a thousand curses rain down upon your house!!!

  19. But (he said, preparing to be ignored) this look for Nite-Owl fits the concept of the character. He’s a Silver-Age hero in the BlueBeetle/Batman mold. If he were to look like Adam West no one would take the images seriously, so they borrow from a look for Nite-Owl and Ozymandias that the movie-going audience would be more familiar with. As a movie, it’d probably be better to connect to other movie looks than to connect to one initially designed only for comics. I’d rather wait and see. So far 4 images are not a lot to judge a whole movie on (unlike, say, “Wanted” which looks like it really took a detour off the path of the original story).

    Plus this could be an image from when they’re in their “fighting trim”, not older and paunchier ’cause that’d look really odd for a promo picture designed to sell a super-hero movie.

  20. Well, I’m happy with all of them. They get across an idea of the character quickly and (as far as I can tell) accurately. I especially like nite-owl! First, he looks like a Batman analog that the movie-going audience will recognize as such (that’s important), and even better I like the fact that the semi-body-armor will hide the fact that he’s put on weight… Until he takes it off. So he can still strike terror into the hearts of crooks, even though he’s doughy. I kind of like that idea.

  21. I dunno… if you look closely at Nite-Owl, he’s definitely not ripped… I even see the traces of paunch.

    I think they’ve done a wonderful job. If we’re gonna bitch about these, we should bitch about the slight changes in font for the Indian Restauraunt sign… I mean seriously… they couldn’t match the font? How easy would that have been…

  22. cool look can’t wait for the film the comedian is just oozing the bastard the charact ir as for nipples on Ozymandias and Nite owl because the original costuems from the book won’t translate to film without sucking though one thing missing from Ozymandias which hopefully is due to her proably winding up being CGI is Bubastis she should be at Ozymandies side.

  23. lame

    didn’t the director make all these announcements about his reverance for the comic?

    but then again, if that were true, he wouldn’t be making this movie, now would he?

  24. UPDATE: Why does Osymandias HAVE an “exo-skeleton”?
    Why don’t super-heroes in comic-based movies wear COSTUMES?!??

  25. “This isn’t the WATCHMEN COMIC BOOK anymore…

    This is the WATCHMEN MOVIE.

    Get . Over. It. ”

    that’s funny, it at least looks like it’s trying pretty hard to look somewhat like a comic that came out a couple of decades ago that also happens to be titled WATCHMEN.

  26. And yet people are complaining it doesn’t look like the comic. It’s not the comic. It’s the movie – 2 separate media with their own sets of expectations and requirements. I only have to point to the X-Men costuming brouhaha ( no spandex, leather) to remind everyone of this.

    And note I originally said, “anymore…”

  27. If Dr. Manhattan isn’t fully naked, I’m worried we may see the most terrifying opening day fan protest in movie history.

  28. What is going on here!? Why are they determined to ruin something so beautiful as the Watchmen!

    In the comic The Comedian’s hair swept back at more of an 85 degree angle, his shoulder pads had an America theme AND WHY ISN’T HE SMOKING A CIGAR!

    The Nite Owl and Ozymandias are just offensive! In the comic Nite Owl was a tough vigilante who looked silly, and I wish they made this one look silly too so I could point to the screen and say “he looks silly, he can’t be a vigilante! hahahahahaha.”

    And why would they make Ozymandias’ body black and with nipples!? Helloo Batman & Robin! It’s like they’re trying deliberately to have his costume evoke the neo-Egyptian aesthetic that Oz was so fond of in the book. I understand that the old statues he reveres had nipples BUT HE WEARS PURPLE IN THE COMIC!

    I need to see a full body shot of Silk Spectre to really judge (hubba hubba). But I don’t see any Silk…or any Spectre for that matter. I wish they would have kept her in a black one-piece bathing suit with yellow gauze wrapped around her. I also don’t see any ‘S’ earrings! I don’t know who that is, but it’s not Silky!!

    Rorschach looks good. It looks like that trenchcoat might be leather though. I hope the “human bean juice” shows up on it! (heh)

    All in all these images are ruining my comic book!! I’m throwing it away!

  29. I really like these, with the exception of Ozymandias. That pic makes him look like a villain, and in the book, he had more of a bright, colorful, family friendly look to him.

    SPOILER That’s why it’s surprising when he turns out to be the villain in the end. /SPOILER

    Silk Spectre actually looks good upon my second look at it. You don’t get to see it that well because of how she’s posed, but that’s what she looks like in the book. The Nite Owl looks like it could have potential when we actually see it moving on screen. I see that there’s a hint of a paunch…

    Rorschach and, wow, the Comedian look perfect.

  30. Oh HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!
    Yes, yes, I see—anyone complaining about the costumes is juvenile!
    So stupid, so naive!!! This is a MOVIE! Not a COMIC BOOK!Yeahyeahyeah.

    Whayt about the fact that this is a PERIOD piece?

  31. Brian… that’s not a spoiler. In fact, it’s a huge misunderstanding. You’re just unwilling to admit the genius of what Ozymandias was trying to accomplish.
    Rorshach… that bastard is the villain.
    BR

  32. Tom sed:

    “If Dr. Manhattan isn’t fully naked, I’m worried we may see the most terrifying opening day fan protest in movie history.”

    Somehow I suspect Fandom Assembled will manage to give the filmmakers a break on that one.

  33. Rather than keep up the sarcasm (which is really fun and really tempting, but already covered here), I guess I’ll just ask — why do people want remakes and reinterpretations to be exactly the same as the original whatever-it-is? And if people want direct note-for-note mimics of something they’ve already seen, why did everyone hate Gus Van Sant’s “Psycho” remake? That’s as “faithful” an adaptation as one can get, right?

    Isn’t the whole point of a new version of an old story to refresh it or reinterpret it? Otherwise, isn’t it cheaper just to go read the comic again?

  34. Ozymandias: “‘Don’t go outside wearing rubber nipples and a purple codpiece?’ Dan, I’m not a shy, vanilla Puritan. Do you seriously think I’d display my fetishistic costume if there remained the slightest chance of you ruining my exhibitionist streak? I went dancing thirty-five minutes ago.”

  35. Jesse,
    Some fans want extremely-literal translations because they’re extremely literal-minded, sure. But others see warning lights when a work threatens to diverge so much from the original concept that it’s clear that the creator is just using the franchise as an excuse to do his own thing, which *might* be good on occasion but is more often worse than a literal-minded adaptation (ALIEN3, the LXG film).

  36. I think that Silk Spectre look so f-in HOT! What’s wrong with all of you comic book geeks, don’t you like to see a hot babe in skin tight latex?? Damn, Malin Ackerman is fine!

    “Oh, boo hoo it’s not exactly like the original!”

    Have you looked at the horrible outfit she is wearing in the book? It looks like an trucker in drag! I think all of the costumes are awesome. What’s wrong with a little nipple? I guess you guy were born with out nipples?

    I sooo tired of you online losers trying to shoot everything down. Why not wait until you see the movie before you judge it?

  37. I have to jump into the discourse between Brian Spence and BradyDale. One of the great things about Watchmen is the open ending. I personally sided with Rorschach, and interpreted the recovery of his journal as a glimmer of hope for justice, whereas my twin brother chose the side of Ozymandias, acknowledging the necessity of sacrificing half of New York. We each looked at one another, thinking “what the f***?!” and tried to explain why the other was wrong, to no avail. I hope the film preserves the comic’s highly discussion-provoking ending, rather than feed us one side or the other.

    As for the nipples: that’s gross. And I really hope Dan has those love handles. Laurie can’t steer all by herself!