41 Hidden Details You Probably Overlooked in HBO's Watchmen

*Warning: Spoilers for all aired episodes of HBO's Watchmen ahead.

Instead of a direct retelling of the iconic graphic novel, HBO’s Watchmen examines a world shaped over three decades after the events of the original comics, set in 1985. The story concluded (spoiler alert!) with the Cold War ending, thanks to the machinations of former masked hero Ozymandias, also known as Adrian Veidt, who orchestrated a fabricated alien invasion to unite the warring nations.

However, the world remains far from perfect, as shown by the rising body count in Watchmen-the-series. Despite being set decades after the graphic novel, HBO’s Watchmen is filled with subtle nods to the themes and events crafted by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon.

1. The Comedian’s Button

A recurring symbol in Watchmen is the yellow smiley face, inspired by the button worn by the Comedian—whose murder sets the graphic novel in motion. This imagery is subtly mirrored in the egg arrangement Angela Abar (Regina King) creates while cooking in the first episode.

2. The Comedian’s Blood

In the final moments of the first episode, a subtle nod to the Comedian's demise is made. The bloodstain on Judd Crawford’s discarded badge mirrors the one found on the Comedian’s button. Additionally, a similar blood droplet appears in one of the egg yolks, adding to the eerie symbolism.

3. The 51st State

During the opening episode of Watchmen, Angela reveals her origins in the state of Vietnam. The Vietnam War holds significant importance in the Watchmen comic series, where Dr. Manhattan, a superpowered being aiding the U.S., secures a decisive victory for the nation, leading to Vietnam's incorporation as the 51st state.

4. Tricky Dick

The first two episodes explore Nixonville, a trailer park teeming with Seventh Kavalry members. The area is adorned with a towering statue of Richard Nixon. In the comic series, the U.S. triumph in Vietnam bolstered Nixon's popularity, enabling him to overturn the 22nd Amendment and extend his presidency beyond 1985. A scene in the pilot reveals Nixon's visage etched into Mount Rushmore.

5. The Sundance Kid

According to the comics, Robert Redford is poised to step into the political arena, potentially succeeding Ronald Reagan as the Watchmen universe’s next actor-turned-president. In HBO’s Watchmen, which is set in 2019, it’s revealed that Redford has held the presidency for several decades.

6. Adrian Veidt, Dead?

In the conclusion of the Watchmen graphic novel, Adrian Veidt, a former masked vigilante, achieves his goal of preventing World War III by orchestrating a massive squid attack on New York City, which is mistaken for an extra-dimensional assault. This event prompts the U.S. and USSR to de-escalate their Cold War tensions, as the perceived alien threat takes precedence. However, Rorschach’s journal, which exposes Veidt’s deceit, is sent to the right-wing publication The New Frontiersman, suggesting that some may uncover the truth behind the squid attack. This likely explains why Veidt, presumed to be Jeremy Irons’s character, has staged his death and gone into hiding, as hinted by a newspaper headline in the show’s pilot.

7. New Frontiersman and Nova Express

In episode 2, the New Frontiersman is seen promoting conspiracy theories, including the truth about the squid rain. The Nova Express, another newspaper from the Watchmen universe, is also sold by the news vendor. Unlike the New Frontiersman, the Nova Express is its ideological counterpart and enjoys greater credibility.

8. A Familiar Salesman

The newspaper vendor in episode 2 bears a striking resemblance to the one from the Watchmen comic, a recurring character known for his love of conspiracy theories and chatter. This original vendor met his end during Veidt’s squid attack, sharing traits with his HBO counterpart.

9. Electric Cars

While electric vehicles are present in our reality, they are typically too costly for someone like the farmer/cop killer (and electric car driver) from the Watchmen pilot to afford. In the graphic novel, this is addressed by Dr. Manhattan’s ability to synthesize lithium, essential for battery production, making electric cars widely accessible even in 1985 within the Watchmen universe.

10. The Dr. Manhattan Cancer Connection

In the pilot episode, the Seventh Kalvary is shown to be orchestrating a scheme involving outdated watch batteries. These batteries, made of “synthetic lithium,” were banned before the show’s timeline due to their alleged link to cancer. In the graphic novel, Adrian Veidt’s strategy includes spreading the belief that Dr. Manhattan’s presence causes cancer, a fear that persists. Watches serve as a recurring symbol in both the graphic novel and the series.

11. Manhattan on Mars

During the pilot episode, Judd Crawford notifies the widow of the slain officer about her husband’s death. In the background, a livestream on her TV shows Dr. Manhattan on Mars, where he has presumably resided since the conclusion of the comics. The intricate sandcastle he constructs bears a resemblance to both Veidt’s estate and the magnetic toy structure Topher Abar builds in episode 2.

12. Airships

Thanks to Dr. Manhattan’s advancements, airships have become a reality, serving as flying billboards for the upcoming series American Hero Story: Minutemen. The Tulsa police department utilizes a distinct airship design, strikingly similar to the one Nite Owl employs in the comics.

13. Owl Goggles

The airship used by the police department isn’t the only piece of technology in the HBO series inspired by Nite Owl. In episode 2, Angela dons goggles that closely resemble those worn by the second Nite Owl, though his version lacked X-ray functionality—a limitation of the '80s era.

14. American Hero Story: Minutemen

A clever nod to Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story series (which, as far as we know, isn’t part of the Watchmen universe), American Hero Story: Minutemen pays homage to the original group of masked vigilantes, the Minutemen, who operated during the 1940s before disbanding. The pilot features a commercial for this show, and several characters are seen watching it in episode 2.

15. Hooded Justice

Hooded Justice, a founding member of the Minutemen, chose retirement over revealing his identity to the House Un-American Activities Committee in the Watchmen universe. His distinctive attire—a large cloak, hood, and noose—mirrors the outfit worn by Bass Reeves in the silent film featured in HBO’s Watchmen pilot, though Reeves substitutes the noose for a lasso. In episode 2, American Hero Story explores the theory that Hooded Justice was Rolf Müller, a circus strongman, a claim debunked in the prequel Before Watchmen.

16. Dollar Bill

Dollar Bill, another Minutemen member, stands out as the only superhero employed by a private entity—National Bank. A National Bank poster featuring Dollar Bill is visible in the Seventh Kalvary’s cattle ranch base, which is raided by the Tulsa police in the pilot episode.

17. The Moth

Episode 2 references The Moth, one of the few surviving original masked superheroes from the Watchmen comic, who is said to reside in an asylum. In HBO’s Watchmen, journalists equipped with motorized wings are referred to as “Moths.”

18. Face/Mask

In the pilot episode, Judd Crawford instructs Looking Glass to “pull your face down,” referring to his mask, which bears a striking resemblance to Rorschach’s iconic mask, also called his “face.” During the interrogation scene with the Seventh Kalvary member, reflections enhance the similarity between Looking Glass’s mask and Rorschach’s.

19. Squids

During Angela’s visit to her son Topher’s career day, a classroom poster detailing the “Anatomy of a Squid” is visible. This references the Veidt-orchestrated “alien” squid attack, which most characters in HBO’s Watchmen still believe to be genuine. The occasional “squid rain” in the show is likely a government-engineered tactic to maintain the deception.

20. “The Future is Bright”

In the pilot episode, a man is seen holding a sign that reads “The Future is Bright,” an inverted version of Rorschach’s infamous “The End is Nigh” sign, which he carries around Manhattan when unmasked.

21. Countdown

A shift from fear to optimism is depicted in episode 2, where Angela and Cal (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) observe a clock counting down to Christmas. This clock mirrors the Doomsday Clock from the comics, symbolizing humanity’s proximity to nuclear destruction. A similar clock, stained with blood and surrounded by bodies, appears at Madison Square Garden after the squid attack. The same clock face is visible in the background during Adrian Veidt’s servants’ performance in episode 2. Veidt’s pocket watch and the timer in Angela’s bakery, where she questions Will again, share the same design, all displaying a few minutes to midnight.

22. The Watchmaker’s Son

The play written by Veidt, titled The Watchmaker’s Son, narrates Dr. Manhattan’s origin. Set in the 1950s at the Gila Flats Test Base, scientist Jon Osterman enters the Intrinsic Field Subtractor to retrieve a watch he fixed for his girlfriend, Janey Slater. When the Subtractor activates, Osterman transforms into Dr. Manhattan. The play’s title references Dr. Manhattan’s father, a watchmaker, and concludes with Osterman declaring, “Nothing ends. Nothing ever ends,” closely mirroring Dr. Manhattan’s final words in Watchmen.

23. Poison Pill

During the Tulsa police’s pursuit of the Seventh Kalvary, one member ingests a poison pill to avoid capture, mirroring a scene from the Watchmen comics. In the comics, Adrian Veidt’s would-be assassin uses the same method to end his life, a ploy orchestrated by Veidt to mislead Rorschach into believing the Comedian’s killer harbored a vendetta against masked heroes.

24. From Russia with Love

In the Watchmen comic, following Adrian’s attack on Manhattan, which effectively ends the Cold War, New York embraces Russian culture, as seen in posters and storefronts like “Burgers ’n’ Borscht.” This cultural shift aligns with the persona of one of Angela’s colleagues, a cop who dons a red and yellow tracksuit, adopts a Russian accent, claims to be a Communist, and goes by the name Red Scare.

25. “Who Watches the Watchmen?”

The Tulsa police department’s motto, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?,” translates to “Who watches the Watchmen?” In the comics, this phrase is used by the public, who resent superheroes and riot after the police strike to demand the outlawing of vigilantes.

26. Have a Drink

Judd Crawford’s office at police headquarters, featured in the pilot, contains two subtle nods. One is an owl-shaped mug, a clear reference to the two superheroes named Nite Owl—one from the Minutemen and the other from the Watchmen.

27. Under the Hood

The second Easter egg in Crawford’s office is a copy of Under the Hood, the memoir penned by Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl. Excerpts from his book were interspersed throughout the text of Watchmen.

28. 1985

Angela’s lair passcode is “1985,” the year in which the events of the Watchmen comics unfold.

29. Nostalgia

On Adrian Veidt’s desk, there’s a glass object that bears a striking resemblance to a bottle of Nostalgia perfume, one of the many products manufactured by Veidt’s corporation.

30. The Pale Horse

In the first and second episodes, Adrian Veidt arrives at his country estate on a white horse. The term Pale Horse is notably significant toward the end of Watchmen. A band named Pale Horse performs at Madison Square Garden on the night of the squid attack, and all their listeners perish.

31. Ancient Obsession

Veidt’s horse is named Bucephalus, after Alexander the Great’s steed. In the comics, Veidt’s fascination with Alexander the Great is evident as he retraces the conqueror’s journey through the Mediterranean and Northeast Africa. This obsession resurfaces in the episode when Veidt’s play references the Gordian knot, a symbol of complexity that Alexander famously solved by cutting it. Veidt uses the knot as a metaphor for his intricate plan to end the Cold War through a fabricated extradimensional attack.

32. “Unforgettable”

In the pilot episode, a cover of Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable” plays faintly as Veidt converses with his servants. This song holds significance in the comics, where its lyrics are paired with a scene depicting the second Nite Owl and the second Silk Spectre becoming intimate aboard Nite Owl’s ship.

33. To-may-to, To-mah-to

At Adrian Veidt’s estate, tomatoes grow on trees, a testament to his fascination with genetic engineering. This interest is further highlighted by his army of clone servants. In the comics, while Veidt hasn’t yet engineered humans, he does possess a genetically modified lynx named Bubastis.

34. Senator Joe Keene

Toward the end of the Watchmen pilot, as Judd Crawford heads toward his tragic end, a radio broadcast mentions former senator Joe Keene, described as “a real cowboy, unlike our current Sundancer-in-Chief,” and his son, Joe Junior, also a senator. The younger Keene appears in the second episode and is set to play a recurring role throughout the season. The elder Keene is known for introducing the Keene Act, which outlawed masked vigilantism.

35. More Nite Owl, Anyone?

The pilot’s closing scene reveals Judd Crawford’s killer to be an elderly man who, as a child, survived the Tulsa Race Massacre shown earlier in the episode. Subtitles may help catch the subtle detail: as Angela finds her boss’s body, the distant hoot of an owl can be heard in the background.

36. Psychic Powers

In the second episode of Watchmen, Will Reeves (Louis Gossett Jr.) quips that he used “psychic powers” to kill Judd Crawford. While this isn’t true, psychic abilities are a genuine phenomenon in the Watchmen universe. Adrian Veidt exploited these powers—specifically, the stolen brain of a psychic individual—to execute his elaborate squid attack.

37. Black and Yellow

The Tulsa police department’s aesthetic—black uniforms, bright yellow masks, and batons—mirrors the color palette of Watchmen’s iconic cover, where the yellow originates from the Comedian’s infamous smiley face button.

38. Manhattan Powers

In episode 2, Will references three of Dr. Manhattan’s abilities from the comics: the capacity to grow in size, create duplicates of himself, and alter his skin color.

39. Happy Halloween

A particularly poignant scene in the graphic novel depicts the first Nite Owl, now elderly and uninvolved, being mistaken for his successor and murdered. His body is discovered by three trick-or-treaters dressed as a ghost, a pirate, and a devil. Similarly, in episode 2, Cal and two of his and Angela’s children appear as trick-or-treaters: a ghost, a pirate, and, notably, an owl.

40. Plenty o’ Pirates

While owls dominate much of Watchmen, pirates also play a significant role. Beyond the Halloween costume, a LEGO sculpture of a pirate ship under attack by a giant squid appears in the background of a scene. Additionally, one of the Tulsa detectives is named “Pirate Jenny.” This ties back to the graphic novel, where a subplot involving the Black Freighter pirate ship was omitted from the 2009 film. Essays within the Watchmen universe delve into the popularity of pirate comics, revealing that one writer was recruited by Veidt to assist with the squid plot.

41. Silhouette Lovers

In the early moments of episode 2, Angela passes a painted silhouette of two lovers embracing. This image mirrors one prominently featured in the comics. The Silhouette, a member of the Minutemen, shares the name, though little is known about her.