io9: nite owl

The Love Affair That Was The Real Reason The Comedian Died

Graeme McMillan — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:00:11 PDT

We've shown you Ponderosa's... individual take on The Dark Knight before, but now the slash artist has turned her attention to Watchmen, and revealed that never-before-known connection between Sally and Ozymandias. Yes, really. Possibly NSFW.

[Destiny Interrupted] Via.

9 Questions You May Have About Watchmen

Graeme McMillan — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:00:11 PST

You've seen the posters, the many trailers and featurettes and followed the lawsuit. But with Watchmen hitting screens on Friday, you may still be wondering what it's all about. Let us try to help.

We don't want to spoil the movie for those of you who haven't read the book, but there may be somethings that you need - or want - to know before you head to the theaters on Friday (or Thursday night, if you're very excited). So here are nine questions that you just might want some answers to, just in case. Click through to learn more.

What Is Watchmen?
Who Are The Watchmen?
Why Is Watchmen So Important?
Why Was Watchmen Supposed To Be Unfilmable?
Where Does It Take Place?
Who's The Giant Blue Guy?
What's With Characters With "II" After Their Names, Like Nite Owl II And Silk Spectre II?
What Is Tales of The Black Freighter, Anyway?
What's This About A Squid? (Spoilers, No, Seriously.)

The one question we're not answering yet? Whether we think you should go and see the movie... You'll have to wait for our review, coming early next week, for that one.

Who's The Giant Blue Guy?

Graeme McMillan — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 11:51:59 PST

That would be Dr. Manhattan. Yes, he spends a lot of the film naked; being transformed from an everyday nuclear scientist into what is essentially a glowing blue god with powers and perspective beyond those of normal human beings tends to make you less bothered about things like "clothing," apparently.

Manhattan - formerly Jon Osterman - is the only member of the Watchmen cast with superpowers; all of the others are, in their ways, mostly regular people in ridiculous outfits who fight crime with the help of technology and training... Batman, to all intents and purposes. Nite Owl is the most direct Batman-analog (complete with Batmobile-analog, the Owlship... although you can blame that one on Nite Owl's more direct inspiration the Blue Beetle), but both Rorschach and Ozymandias split well-known Batman traits between them (Rorschach gets the detective skills and obsessiveness, while Ozymandias is given the intelligence and faultless strategic-planning, as well as an element of the Bruce Wayne lifestyle); in comparison, Silk Spectre and the Comedian are more generic character types (Spectre in particular; Watchmen is a curiously male story) that owe less to superhero history and more to general popular culture archetypes.

That Manhattan becomes more than human is an important part of Watchmen; in plot terms, it alters the balance of power politically, allowing for America to become the particular dystopia that it is by the time the story takes place, but it also allowed Moore and Gibbons to step outside of the story to an extent and explore less immediate themes and more inventive storytelling techniques through the character's eyes. Manhattan's inhuman perspective also acts as an important counterpoint to the all-too-human failings of the other characters which drive the story. In many ways (and, perhaps ironically considering the emotional detachment of the character), Manhattan is the heart of Watchmen.

What's With Characters With "II" After Their Names, Like Nite Owl II And Silk Spectre II?

Graeme McMillan — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 11:48:04 PST

In the world of comics, superheroes - like movies - have sequels. This wasn't always the case, and, confusingly, still isn't; Superman is still Clark Kent and Batman is still Bruce Wayne (Let's just ignore that whole "Battle For The Cowl" thing for now, huh?) despite the fact that they've fought for justice alongside multiple Green Lanterns, Flashes and even Green Arrows. Leaving aside the tricky question of just how aging works for superheroes, Watchmen's "legacy characters" - to use a comic term for superheroes who pass their costumes and names onto others - are each an important part of the world in which the story takes place; Silk Spectre II is the daughter of the original Silk Spectre (Much in the same way that one of Moore's inspiration for the character, DC's Black Canary, was revealed to actually be her own daughter in a ridiculous 1980s storyline that preceded Watchmen's release), while the second Nite Owl was inspired to take up the cowl by the original, Hollis Mason, whose presence haunts Watchmen in more ways that one.

This does not mean, however, that you should expect to see superheroes with names like Nite Owl: The Revenge or Silk Spectre: A New Beginning. That would be dumb.

Watchmen's Axis Of Evil Has A Dangerous "Package"

Meredith Woerner — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:30:00 PST

New stills from Zack Snyder's Watchmen are popping up all over, and the movie's minor bad guys are looking pretty crazy, nothing says evil like a giant swastika. Plus check out Nite Owl's snow gear.

Thanks to Total Film, we can now get an better look at the villains from Zack Snyder's Watchmen movie that we only had mere video glimpses of before. I only wish there was more of these crazy looking baddies. Plus Empire Magazine has a round up of character images, including one non-blue face Dr. Manhattan. Oh yeah and holy hell those outfits are tight (thanks for pointing that out guys)

To view additional new Watchmen stills check out Empire Magazine and Total Film.

New Watchmen Diary Almost Flashes Us Dr. Manhattan's Goods

Meredith Woerner — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:30:00 PDT

The latestWatchmen journal is out, and this time we get a behind-the-scenes look at the cinematography, and how the team tried to make every scene symmetrical and exactly like the set-up of the graphic novel. Plus new images of Dan Dreiberg as the second Nite Owl and Billy Crudup all blued-up in his Dr. Manhattan green screen-wear, coming within a few millimeters of a full exposure. [IGN]

Prop Photos Reveal Watchmen’s New Ninja Weapons

Lauren Davis — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:20:03 PDT

Zack Snyder has repeatedly pledged that the Watchmen film will remain true to its comic roots, but he has introduced at least a few of his own innovations to the Watchmen universe. A slew of new prop photos suggests that the onscreen version of the second Nite Owl will be sporting some gizmos you won’t find in the pages of Moore and Gibbons’ opus.

Rick Gamez, whose uncredited prop work has appeared in Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and the most recent Indiana Jones, posted the concept art and finished products for two Nite Owl props.

The owl-shaped handheld is presumably a re-imagined version of the remote that commands Daniel Dreiberg's Owlship. But far more puzzling are the retractable shurikens emblazoned with Nite Owl’s signature crescent moon. Has Nite Owl somehow become a ninja in his leap from page to screen? Or is this Snyder’s attempt to make him seem more like Batman?

Rick’s Custom Props

Inside the Owlship from the Watchmen

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:46:22 PDT

Sure, you've seen the sweet footage of the outside of Nite Owl's garage-made submersible ship in previews for Watchmen. But today, io9 takes you inside the Owlship. From the floor at Comic-Con, where all 800 pounds of the ship sat behind velvet ropes, we got a long, loving look inside the steampunky, industrial ship. In this video, you see the cool walls, seats, computer displays, and (of course) the two owl-eye front windows. This is one damn cool set.

Watch How Faithful Watchmen Will Be

Graeme McMillan — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 12:59:56 PDT

Watchmen star Patrick Wilson wants to reassure fans worried about Zack Snyder's adaptation of the famous graphic novel that everything's okay; they can still expect a Cold War-era downbeat ending when the movie gets released next year. And now we can see just how faithful Snyder is being to the original ourselves, as the trailer is online for everyone to view (wait a few seconds and the trailer will play).

According to Wilson, who plays the Blue Beetle/Batman analog Nite Owl, Snyder wouldn't even consider changing the climax of the book for the big screen to something happier:

Zack tried to put everything he could in and he left it to the studio to cut it and tell him what he can’t fit in. For the script we started with, every scene has something different than what’s on the page... I have to say, if you know how much Zack believes in it, you wouldn’t believe he would go that far from the graphic novel. I don’t know how those rumors start, but that’d be a stretch!

Meanwhile, ahead of tonight's debut of the movie's trailer in theaters, Empire Online has the world exclusive online premiere for you to view. I'm not entirely convinced - it looks too clean to me, especially the Comedian in a very shiny Vietnam - but make up your own mind while enjoying the Billy Corgan sneering soundtrack.

Watchmen Trailer [Empire Online]
Patrick Wilson Says ‘Watchmen’ Ending Remains The Same

Nite Owl's Study Is A Museum Of The Minutemen

Meredith Woerner — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 13:30:00 PDT

In the latest behind-the scenes Watchmen diary from UGO original graphic novel artist Dave Gibbons explains how shocked and amazed he was by the attention to detail all around the set. And so are we — especially when it comes to has-been superhero Nite Owl's study. Click through for a clip, plus a gallery of the old time photos that adorn Nite Owl's walls, showing him at the height of his crime-fighting days. Plus some copies of his tell-all novel Under The Hood.

You can view the entire video diary at UGO.