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50 free Watchmen trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Watchmen began as a pitch called Who Killed the Peacemaker, using the Charlton heroes DC had just bought. Dick Giordano said no, Alan Moore invented replacements, and the result was the only graphic novel on Time's list of the 100 best novels. Dave Gibbons drew it on a nine-panel grid with a blood-stained smiley face on the first page and a hamburger-stained one on the last, and Moore stuck the Hugo it won upside down in his garden as a bird table. These 50 questions cover the creation and the story: the Outer Limits episode that cost the book its editor, the 101-page script for issue one, the taxi driver hired to deliver pages, the Keene Act, the murder of Edward Blake, Mars, the squid, the journal in the crank file, and the pirate comic that echoes Bertolt Brecht. Then everything after: the ownership fight over reversion rights, Before Watchmen, Doomsday Clock, Tom King's Rorschach, the directors who came and went before Zack Snyder, the Fox lawsuit that took 8.5 percent of the film, and Damon Lindelof's Tulsa-set HBO sequel. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who wrote Watchmen?
Alan Moore
Dave Gibbons drew it and John Higgins coloured it.
Q 02Who was the artist on Watchmen?
Dave Gibbons
A former surveyor, he packed every tiny panel with detail.
Q 03How many issues did the original series run?
12
Moore realised early he only had plot for six, so he alternated plot issues with origin issues.
Q 04Which publisher's characters did Moore originally want to use for the story?
Charlton Comics
His pitch was titled Who Killed the Peacemaker; DC wanted those heroes for Crisis on Infinite Earths instead.
Q 05Which DC managing editor persuaded Moore to create original characters instead?
Dick Giordano
He later joked, 'Who copy-edits Alan Moore, for God's sake?'
Q 06Which Mad magazine parody did Moore and Gibbons want to turn '180 degrees'?
Superduperman
Moore wanted 'a superhero Moby Dick', dramatic instead of comedic.
Q 07Roughly how long was Moore's single-spaced script for the first issue?
101 pages
Gibbons numbered every page in case he dropped them on the floor.
Q 08How did Moore get late scripts to Gibbons as deadlines loomed?
Hired a taxi to drive 50 miles
Gibbons' wife and son drew panel grids to save time on later issues.
Q 09Which TV series episode did Moore realise his ending resembled, prompting editor Len Wein to quit?
The Outer Limits
The episode was 'The Architects of Fear'; Moore acknowledged it in the final issue.
Q 10In what year does Watchmen's alternate history diverge from ours?
1938
Superheroes appear, the US wins in Vietnam, and Nixon is still president in 1985.
Q 11Which US president is still in office in October 1985 in the story?
Richard Nixon
Term limits were repealed and Watergate never broke because Woodward and Bernstein were implied killed.
Q 12What does Vietnam become after the American victory in Watchmen's history?
The 51st state
Doctor Manhattan won the war for the US in 1971.
Q 13Which 1977 law outlawed costumed vigilantes?
The Keene Act
Only Doctor Manhattan and the Comedian kept working, as government agents.
Q 21What 1959 accident gave physicist Jon Osterman his powers?
An Intrinsic Field Subtractor
Doctor Manhattan was built on Charlton's Captain Atom, the only hero with real powers in that line too.
Q 22Which earlier blue character had Gibbons created before the blue hero of Watchmen?
Rogue Trooper
He reused the blue skin to suggest electrical or atomic energy.
Q 23Who is Laurie Juspeczyk's mother?
Sally Jupiter
The first Silk Spectre; Laurie learns on Mars that the Comedian was her father.
Q 14Whose murder opens the story on October 12, 1985?
Edward Blake
Rorschach finds his costume and smiley badge and deduces he was the Comedian.
Q 15What is Rorschach's real name?
Walter Kovacs
He is unmasked when police capture him, framed for killing Moloch.
Q 16Which Steve Ditko creation was Rorschach chiefly based on?
Mr. A
Ditko's Charlton hero The Question was the other template.
Q 17Why did Gibbons call Rorschach his favourite character to work on?
You just have to draw a hat
A shape for the face, some black blobs, and you're done, he said.
Q 18What is Ozymandias's civilian name?
Adrian Veidt
Believed to be the smartest man on the planet, he was based on Charlton's Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt.
Q 19Which Charlton hero was Nite Owl based on?
Blue Beetle
Like Ted Kord, Dan Dreiberg had a predecessor: Hollis Mason, the first Nite Owl.
Q 20Which Charlton character was the Comedian based on?
Peacemaker
Moore and Gibbons also saw him as a bigger, tougher G. Gordon Liddy with a dash of Nick Fury.
Q 24Where does Jon exile himself after the cancer accusations?
Mars
His departure prompts the Soviets to invade Afghanistan.
Q 25Where is Veidt's private retreat, the scene of the climax?
Antarctica
Tachyons from there limit Manhattan's ability to see the future.
Q 26What does Veidt unleash on New York to unite the superpowers?
A fake alien squid-like creature
It kills half the city and is built in his own laboratories.
Q 27Who kills Rorschach to keep Veidt's secret?
Doctor Manhattan
Doctor Manhattan does it; Moore realised by issue four that Rorschach's refusal to compromise meant he could not survive.
Q 28To which newspaper does Rorschach mail his journal?
New Frontiersman
The series ends with an assistant reaching for the crank file where it sits.
Q 29What does the blue superman say when Veidt asks if he did the right thing in the end?
Nothing ever ends
He then leaves Earth for good.
Q 30What page layout does Gibbons use throughout the series?
A nine-panel grid
Gibbons liked its 'authority'; Moore liked the control it gave over pacing.