Chronology

This page contains a timeline of events of the Watchmen universe. This list includes elements seen in the viral marketing of the movie.

NOTE: This page may contain spoilers.

1916

• Hollis Mason is born.

1920

• Sally Juspeczyk is born.
• Nelson Gardner is born.

1924

• Edward Morgan Blake is born.

1927

• Hollis Mason's father leaves his father's farm at Montana for New York.

1928

• Hollis Mason's father begins working at Vernon's Auto Repairs.
• The Canada Malting Company constructs the largest factory on the shores of the Hudson.

1929

• Jon Osterman is born.
• Financial crash: the malting factory remains unfinished.

1930

• John David Keene is born.

1931

• Beatrice starts dating Fred Motz.

1933

• At the age of 17, Hollis Mason encounters a situation he calls "The Ride of the Valkyries": Beatrice and Fred leave Moe Vernon, who then commits suicide.
• Janey Slater is born

1935

• Peter Joseph Kovacs and Sylvia Joanna Kovacs leave Ohio for New York

1937

• Wally Weaver is born
• The Kovacses divorce.

1938

• First issue of Action Comics is released.
• Hollis Mason graduates police college.

October 13

Hooded Justice stops a supermarket robbery, and inspires Hollis Mason to become the first Nite Owl.

The above is possibly the "point of divergence" between our universe and theWatchmenuniverse; HJ's appearance is the earliest known historical event that didn't occur in our world, and caused the appearance of the othermasked adventurers.

• Mason as Nite Owl fights at Gotham Opera House

1939

The Minutemen first Christmas party

January 12

Daily World has an article about Sally Jupiter.

• Adrian Veidt is born. His parents reach America.
• Comedian cleans up New York harbor.
• Comedian takes out bank robber
• Silk Spectre is taken in a photograph with Police Chief.
• Silhouette exposes child pornography ring.
• Mothman is disovered by the media, described as "a man who can fly."
• Hollis Mason begins work as a policeman at the age of 23.

Autumn

The Minutemen superhero group is formed.

• The Minutemen's first mission is to expose Italian weapon smugglers. They were actually fireworks smugglers. Nevertheless C.M. covers their blunder and the Minutemen are hailed as heroes.

December 25

The Minutemen's first Christmas party is thrown.

1940

January

"Charlie" abandons Sylvia Kovacs after their semi-permanent relationship.

March 21

Walter Kovacs is born to Sylvia, father unknown.

October ?2

After a group photo is taken of the Minutemen, the Comedian attempts to rape Silk Spectre I, but is stopped by Hooded Justice.

The papers of the day say that scientists have just created plutonium.

1941

December 7

Attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States enters World War II.

• Silhouette and Silk Spectre do pinup shots to inspire American soldiers. Tension arises between the two.
• Eddie Blake is stabbed by a small-time hoodlum, causing him to start wearing a more protective costume.
• While fighting with Japanese smugglers, Blake is approached by Agent Kaufax who recruits him.

1942

• Norman Rockwell paints Silk Spectre with Hitler.
• The Comedian is sent to South Pacific during the war to make himself of a hero.

1945

• Dan Dreiberg is born.
• Jon Osterman learns watch repair from his father.

Feb 23

Comedian lands at Iwo Jima and plants the American flag

August 2

King Taylor sends a letter to Laurence Schexnayder.

August 6

An atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima by Miss Jupiter.

August 7

Jon Osterman's father pushes his son towards becoming a physicist rather than a watchmaker, and throws his old pocketwatch out of a window in Brooklyn.

August 9

Second atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki (historical; not mentioned in story).

August 14

V-J Day (historical). Silhouette meets her companion, then a nurse in Times Square.

September 2

World War II ends (historical).

1946

Silhouette's murder

October 1

Silhouette is reported to have a lesbian lover and is expelled from the Minutemen.

November 12

Silhouette and her lover are murdered by the Liquidator.

1947

• Silk Spectre I retires from crimefighting to marry her agent, Laurence Schexnayder.
• Dollar Bill dies while stopping a bank robbery.
• The Doomsday Clock is invented

1948

• Jon Osterman enrolls at Princeton University.
• Comedian has another encounter with Sally Jupiter.

1949

• The Minutemen disband.
• The Doomsday Clock is set to 3

1950

• Laurie Juspeczyk is born.
• Walter Kovacs sees a man pay his mother

1951

• Amendment 22 is ratified following Roosevelt's four terms in office.

July

At the age of 10, Walter Kovacs gets into a fight while picking up groceries, resulting in him being submitted to a home.

1952

• Walter Kovacs writes the essay My Parents.

1953

May 27

At 13, Walter Kovacs tells a counselor about his dream.

1954

• Laurie's first memory with the snowglobe. She witnesses Schexnayder and Sally scolding each other.

1955

• Hooded Justice goes missing.

1956

• Sally Jupiter and Laurence Schexnayder get divorced.
• Sylvia Kovacs is killed by her pimp, George Paterson. Walter Kovacs (16) starts working in a garment firm.
• Senate subcommittee meetings are held.
• Adrian Veidt begins his journey to northern Turkey and follows the path of Alexander the Great.

1958

• Jon Osterman graduates from Princeton University with a Ph.D. in Atomic Physics.
• Ozymandias makes his debut by busting an opium and heroin smuggling racket.
• Fall: Hank Meadows dies.

1959

May 12

Jon Osterman arrives at Gila Flats test base in Arizona as a research scientist replacing Hank Meadows. He meets Milton Glass, Wally Weaver and Janey Slater for the first time.

July

Jon Osterman and Janey Slater travel to New Jersey – Jon to visit university friends and Janey to visit her mother. At an amusement park, a photographer takes their picture. Janey's watch is broken and Jon promises to fix it. At his hotel, they make love for the first time.

August

Jon Osterman is accidentally locked in the Intrinsic Field Test Chamber before an experiment. He is disintegrated.

The above is possibly the second "point of divergence". The transformation of Osterman changed political matters and made science advance more rapidly than in own world.

September

A funeral service is held for Jon Osterman.

October

Janey Slater places the photograph of her and Jon behind glass at the Bestiary.

November

Jon Osterman's nervous system appears for a moment in the men's bathroom at Gila Flats while Milton Glass and a colleague are washing their hands.

November 10

Jon Osterman's circulatory system is seen in the Gila Flats kitchen by Dexter Redback.

November 14

Jon Osterman's partially muscled skeleton appears for thirty seconds to J. Sanderson outside the perimeter fence at Gila Flats.

November 22

Jon Osterman rematerializes in the Gila Flats cafeteria, having transformed into the being that will later be known as Dr. Manhattan.

December 25

Jon Osterman and Janey Slater spend Christmas together. He tells her that he will always want her, knowing that it is not true.

1960

Because of the existence of Dr. Manhattan, eugenics, quantum physics, transports and other sciences, start to leap forward from that year on.

The debut of Dr. Manhattan

February

Jon Osterman is named Dr. Manhattan by the government and marks his forehead with the symbol of a hydrogen atom.

March

Dr. Manhattan is introduced to the world.

May

National Comics publish "Tales of the Black Freighter".

June

Several costumed adventurers attend a Red Cross charity fundraiser for famine in India. The Comedian, Captain Metropolis, Dr. Manhattan, Ozymandias, Nite Owl (Hollis Mason) and Mothman attend. Dr. Manhattan feels that only Ozymandias seems interesting. Hollis Mason first considers retiring from crime fighting.

November

While fighting crime, Dr. Manhattan blows up a criminal's head in a vice-den owned by Moloch.

1961

September

Dr. Manhattan meets with the current president, John F. Kennedy, at the White House.

1962

• Walter Kovacs receives an order for a dress in a Dr. Manhattan spin-off fabric intended for Kitty Genovese who refuses to buy it.

• Mothman is submitted into a mental institution in Maine.

March 10

Wally Weaver writes a testimony concerning Dr. Manhattan to Senators George Malloy, Colin Newberry and William Holmes.

March 15

Wally Weaver writes the affidavit of his testimony and publishes it.

May

Hollis Mason retires from crime fighting to open an automobile repair shop, reveals his true name to the public and starts to write his autobiography, Under the Hood. At a civic banquet, he is awarded with a golden statuette of him as the Nite Owl, with the engraving "In Gratitude". At the banquet, he speaks to Dr. Manhattan, who tells him about electric cars.

• Dan Dreiberg contacts Hollis Mason and requests to become his successor; he debuts as Nite Owl II.
• Sally Jupiter hosts Hollis, Nelson Gardner, and Byron Lewis at her house; her daughter Laurie meets them.

1963

The Comedian assassinates JFK

• President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.
• While the Comedian is going to arrest Moloch, they learn about the President's death
• Jon Osterman tells Janey Slater that he knows the future. Wally brings her the earrings

1964

• Dr. Manhattan informs the Pentagon that he will change his costume.

March

Kitty Genovese is attacked and murdered outside of her New York City home. Walter Kovacs decides to make his mask.

• Moloch kidnaps the governor of New Jersey.

1965

• Nite Owl II and Rorschach team up to fight crime. Underboss is brought down and Big Figure is put in prison.

1966

Crimebusters meeting

April

French withdraw military commitment from NATO.

First heart transplant is performed.

Captain Metropolis attempts to bring the Costumed adventurers together and form a new group of heroes, the Crimebusters. The Comedian meets Laurie Juspeczyk, who flirts with Dr. Manhattan

May

Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre II go out on patrol together and kiss for the first time. Janey Slater subsequently leaves Jon in anger and throws her earrings.

1968

• Richard M. Nixon is elected President; he promises to send Dr. Manhattan to Vietnam.
• Nite Owl II arrests Twilight Lady.

1969

• Jon Osterman's father dies. He then reveals his true identity to the public.
• Blair Roche is born.

1970

• Gila Flats closes down.
• On Laurie Juspeczyk's birthday, she and Jon Osterman move into a Washington apartment.
• Veidt purchases his island.

March 11

NBS Nightly News with Ted Philips features Dr. Manhattan

May 22

Nixon authorizes the Wrath of God.

June 15

Day one of Wrath of God operation.

June 18

The Gazette publishes Nixon's response to the Soviets concerning Vietnam and Dr. Manhattan

1971

January

President Nixon asks Dr. Manhattan to intervene in Vietnam.

March

Dr. Manhattan is reintroduced to Eddie Blake in Vietnam.

May

Viet Cong surrender.

June 15

Ton Duo Thang and Creighton Williams Abrams sign the act of military surrender. America wins the Vietnam War.

Comedian in Saigon

June

V.V.N. Day, celebrating American victory in the Vietnam War. President Nixon arrives in Saigon by helicopter to great applause. A pregnant Vietnamese woman accosts the Comedian. When he refuses to take responsibility for their baby, she slashes him across the face with a broken bottle, leaving a permanent scar. In return, he shoots her dead. Dr. Manhattan watches, but does not interfere.

November

Wally Weaver dies of cancer, aged 34.

1972

• Nixon is elected to a second term.
• Keene is elected as a Senator in New York.
• Moloch hijacks Queen Elizabeth II.

1973

The Comedian's banquet

• Riot in Sing Sing prison, the Underboss escapes with the help of Jimmy the Gimmick.
• Nite Owl II and Rorschach look for Jimmy who is injured in the process.
• They go to the sewers and discover missing FBI associate director, Mark Felt.

November 5

Two reporters, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, are found dead in a garage while investigating the Watergate scandal.

November 6

Wall Street Post reports their deaths.

• Banquet is held in honor of the Comedian. Laurie accuses him of attempting to rape her mother.

1974

• Captain Metropolis is decapitated in a car crash.

1975

Birth of Rorscach

January 20

Richard Nixon proposes a Constitutional amendment that will allow him to run for a third term as president.

• Adrian Veidt retires from costumed crimefighting and sets up a commercial empire called Veidt Enterprises.

July 12

Veidt's interview to Doug Roth is published in Nova Express.

Summer

Gerald Anthony Grice, an unemployed man, kidnaps and murders six-year-old Blair Roche. Walter Kovacs intervenes and starts to become violent; birth of Rorschach.

• Fast and safe airships will soon be economically viable.

1976

September

The Probe features an interview with Sally Jupiter.

• Nixon is elected to a third term.

1977

January or February

Nite Owl and Rorschach investigate the disappearance of Violet Greene. They end up pursuing the Twilight Lady.

The Comedian over the rioters

.

March 2

The police go on strike. Riots spring up in New York and Washington. In New York, the Comedian, Nite Owl II and Rorschach attempt to keep the peace; Dr. Manhattan and Silk Spectre II settle the riots in Washington. Dr. Manhattan teleports the rioters home.

July 1

Rorschach interrogates Dwayne Carter.

July 6

After a thorough investigation down the sewers, he falls into a trap set up by Crime.

July 7

Rorschach visits the Gunga Diner.

August 3

The Keene Act, an emergency bill proposed by Senator Keene, is passed, outlawing costumed superheroes that are not government-sanctioned.

1978

15 March

Alexander Haig writes his memorandum expressing concerns about the Comedian.

14 July

A Top Secret paper concerning Dr. Manhattan's invasion to Afghanistan is authored

28 October

Rorschach kills Franklin Smith and Daziel Amrand, suspects of Loomis murder.

Police Officers James Schwarz, Mark Pallazo and Grevin Adell come to apprehend Rorschach but are injured.

27 November

Rorschach is called wanted by the FBI.

1979

• The United States bombs Beirut.

1980

• Nixon is elected to a fourth term.
• Comedian resolves the Iran hostage situation.

1981

• Dr. Manhattan and Laurie Juspeczyk move into the Special Talent Quarters at Rockefeller Military Research Center.

1982

• Laetril is outlawed.

August 22

World Chess Association sends a congratulation letter to Veidt about his victories.

1983

• Dominique Hirsch is born.

1984

• Flint Editions, New York, print the volume "Treasure Island Treasury of Comics".
• Nixon is elected to a fifth term.

July 12

A gathering against famine is organized by Veidt at Yankee Stadium.

October 14

Time Magazine runs an article about Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias joining their power.

1985

• Blake runs across Veidt's island.

August 26

The New Yorker runs an article about Dr. Manhattan and Ozymandias joining their power.

October

Blake visits Moloch and tells him about the island.

Friday, October 11

The Soviet Union conducts a bomb test in the Bering Sea

Airing of an episode of late night UK current affairs review World in Focus with Jeremy Miller, in which photo-journalist Alain Guillon and author Hal Eisner discuss the emerging geopolitical crisis.

Edward Blake is ambushed in his high-rise apartment and thrown out of the window. He dies upon hitting the ground.

Saturday, October 12

Steven Fine and Joe Bourquin investigate Blake's apartment. Dr. Manhattan and Laurie Juspeczyk are informed of Blake's death.

Hollis Mason meets his old foe, the Screaming Skull, at a supermarket; they trade addresses.

After nightfall, Rorschach investigates Blake's apartment and discovers Blake's Comedian costume and a photograph of the Minutemen. He takes Blake's blood-stained smiley-face badge.

Hollis Mason meets Dan Dreiberg for their customary Saturday beer night. Dreiberg leaves Mason's home shortly before midnight.

Sunday, October 13

Dan Dreiberg arrives home to find Rorschach waiting for him. He is informed of the Comedian's death and takes the Comedian's smiley-face badge.

Rorschach sleeps through the day and wakes at 4:37, then continues his investigation at Happy Harry's, then visits Adrian Veidt at his office

At 8:30 he infiltrates Rockefeller Military Research Center and finds then Dr. Manhattan and Laurie Juspeczyk.

At 9:30, Laurie Juspeczyk and Dan Dreiberg meet for dinner at Rafael's restaurant until 11:30.

Wednesday, October 16

Laurie Juspeczyk visits her mother, Sally Jupiter, in a retirement home in California while Dr. Manhattan, Adrian Veidt, Dan Dreiberg and Edgar William Jacobi attend Eddie Blake's funeral.

Rorschach later accosts Jacobi at his home who in turn tells him about Blake's visit mentioning a "list", an "island" and the "blue guy";

Rorschach then visits the cemetery alone to pay his last respects to Blake.

Nova Express runs a story about Nixon's third heart operation.

Saturday, October 19

After an argument, Laurie Juspeczyk leaves Dr. Manhattan. She visits Dan Dreiberg, and they are accosted by Knot Tops on the way to visit Hollis Mason. Laurie decides to check in to a hotel.

Meanwhile, Dr. Manhattan gives a televised interview on the ABC network. Doug Roth, a reporter from Nova Express, accuses Osterman of causing cancer in people he worked with. While being harassed about it, Osterman teleports the crew and audience outside the studio. He briefly visits the abandoned Gila Flats, picks up an old photo of himself with Janey Slater, then teleports to Mars.

Sunday, October 20

The main headline of the New York Gazette's morning edition is "Dr. Manhattan Leaves Earth". The day's New Frontiersman claims that Russians are responsible. Walter Kovacs buys a copy of both papers before breaking into Dan Dreiberg's house again (now wearing his Rorschach mask) to inform him that another costumed hero has gone.

Laurie Juspeczyk returns to the Special Talent Quarters at Rockefeller Military Research Center to discover that Jon has gone, that officials are sweeping the rooms for radiation, and that she is to be given a cancer scan.

Russians invade Afghanistan.

Monday, October 21

Rorschach pays a visit to Jacobi asking him about a scheme to discredit Dr. Manhattan.

In the morning, there is an apparent attempt on Adrian Veidt's life. Veidt fends off the attacker, who dies from ingesting a poison capsule. Laurie Juspeczyk and Dan Dreiberg meet at Gunga Diner. Rorschach arrives at the diner after they leave and waits for Jacobi's note.

In the evening, Jacobi is shot in the head, presumably by Veidt, and Rorschach is framed. Rorschach is lured to Jacobi's apartment, where he is cornered by the police and arrested.

Friday, October 25

Rorschach, now incarcerated at Sing Sing prison, attends his first interview with psychoanalyst Dr. Malcolm Long.

Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II rescue citizens from a building caught on fire.

Saturday, October 26

Rorschach tells Malcolm Long about the fabric used to make his mask, and the murder of Kitty Genovese.

Later, at lunch, Rorschach throws hot cooking fat in the face of another inmate who had attempted to murder him. The guards intervene and drag Rorschach away, but not before he informs the other prisoners: "I'm not locked up in here with you. You're locked up in here with me."

Sunday, October 27

Rorschach tells Dr. Long about the Crimebusters.

Russian tanks invade Pakistan.

Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II decide to rescue Rorschach.

Monday, October 28

Mal and Rorschach's fourth session. Rorschach relates the story of the Roche kidnapping.

Nova Express has an issue about the "Spirit of '77".

Wednesday, October 30

Steve Fine visits Dreiberg.

William J. Franklin writes a Top Secret paper concerning Dr. Manhattan and Soviet aggression; planned to be sent on November 2.

Thursday, October 31

Otis, the prisoner Rorschach scalded, dies. The prison erupts into chaos. Big Figure attempts to take his revenge on Rorschach.

Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II rescue Rorschach, but not before he kills Big Figure.

Dr. Manhattan takes Laurie to Mars where he reveals to her that Edward Blake was her real father, and ultimately decides to return to Earth, his faith in humanity renewed given his theory that all humans are "Thermodynamic Miracles".

Tanks amass in East Germany.

Friday, November 1

Nixon arrives at a secret military bunker.

4:30: Veidt leaves for Karnak.

Derf and other citizens move against masked heroes; Hollis Mason is murdered by a clan of knot-tops, having been mistaken for Daniel Dreiberg.

Rorschach and Nite Owl II find the courier at Happy Harry's.

The participants in the alien monster project are taken from Veidt's island and killed by a bomb.

Saturday, November 2

Rorschach and Nite Owl II break into Veidt's office, uncovering his crimes,and go to Karnak.

Veidt kills his servants, and is approached by Nite Owl II and Rorschach, telling them that he had activated the transmission, initiating the final stage of his sinister plot, "35 minutes ago."

The "alien" appears in New York, and most of the city is devastated, killing millions.

Laurie and Jon arrive at Karnak. Adrian attempts to kill Jon in the same way he was reborn as Dr. Manhattan, decimating him and Bubastis.

Laurie shoots at Adrian, who catches the bullet and knocks her to the ground.

Jon returns, lashing out and destroying much of Adrian's estate.

Having witnessed the media's response to the alleged alien invasion, Adrian convincing his fellow masks that revealing his atrocities would destroy the newly achieved atmosphere of peace between The United States and Russia. All agree to remain silent, exceeding Rorschach who storms out, refusing to cooperate.

Seeing the potential outcomes of Rorschach's assured upcoming actions, Jon kills Rorschach. In the movie, Nite Owl II witnesses it.

December 25

Laurie and Dan visit Sally under their new identities.

1986

Summer

Millennium, the new re-branding of Nostalgia, will circulate the news market according to Veidt's plans.

1988

• According to rumors, Robert Redford runs for President.
• According to Hector Godfrey, Ronald Reagan runs for president and has his vote.