In [Watchmen], Superman doesn’t care about humanity, Batman can’t get it up, and the bad guy wants world peace.

Yeah, they're gonna have to make some major changes to the costuming etc to make this work on the Big Screen...

At 1:32 into the Watchmen trailer, you can see a glimpse of an illustration I did for the movie. Alex McDowell asked me to create a Vargas-esque portrait of Sally Jupiter, played by Carla Gugino. It only appears for 1 second in the trailer, but the illustration is supposed to play a larger role in that particular scene.

Here's some more stills:

Court sets date for studios' "Watchmen" battle
Wed Sep 3, 2008 1:41am EDT

By Leslie Simmons

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The battle between Fox and Warner Bros. over the rights to the comic-book adaptation "Watchmen" took a big step toward resolution Tuesday when the federal judge presiding over the dispute set a January 6 trial date for the case.

Warners is set to release "300" director Zack Snyder's big-screen version of the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons comic series March 6.

But U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess said Fox should forgo any attempt to get a preliminary injunction against Warners to stop the release of the film because the issues were far too complex to be resolved on an interim basis, sources said.

Instead, Feess told both sides to build a factual record and start expedited discovery and depositions immediately.

Fox still could ask Feess to permanently enjoin Warners from releasing the film following the discovery phase.

At issue is whether Fox still holds the rights to "Watchmen." The studio sued Warners in February for copyright infringement and interference with its contract rights under a 1991 agreement between Fox and Largo Entertainment producer Larry Gordon.

Under that deal, Fox "quitclaimed" its right to "Watchmen" to Largo, with the understanding that if the production company proceeded with making a big-screen version, then the movie would be distributed by Fox. It later negotiated a "turnaround notice" with Gordon that established a buyout formula for the studio if Gordon wanted to buy out Fox's rights. But, according to Fox, Gordon failed to follow that deal.

Gordon negotiated a quitclaim contract with Warners in 2006, which it claims gave them the rights to "Watchmen." But Fox contends it retains the rights because of Gordon's failure to buy out the studio's rights. Warners said Fox gave up its rights in 1991.

We were able to catch some of the big spoilers though, and here's the biggest surprise. The ending...

"There was no squid... He and Dr Manhattan built a machine to mimic the powers of Dr Manhattan, under the guise of "free energy" to solve the energy crisis. Unbeknown to Manhattan, he used the machine to set off an atomic bomb like thing in various large cities around the world."

Manhattan and Ozy build a device that mimics Manhattan's power and Ozy uses it to blow up a bunch of cities and frames Manhattan. Manhattan realizes that this is best for the world and so when Rorschach storms out... well we know what happens to him. Dan's scream in the snow is a reaction to that. After that it wasn't too clear on the final shots. They did not mention a kid going for a journal or disguised Dan and Laurie visiting Silk Spectre I."

"I just was a part of the first crowd in the world to see the movie Watchmen here in Portland. You had to go through so much security to get in, have ID, online registration, sign a disclosure agreement to tell no one about the movie. I even had to go back to my car and put my cell phone away because it had a camera in it. This movie is probably one of the best super hero movies I've ever seen. The characters are great. Dude named Rorschach, after the ink blot tests but the spelling is different I think, he owns everyone. Has this one line after he throws hot grease on this prisoners face, "I'm not locked up in here with you, your locked in here with me". He whoops everyone in this movie. Also Dr. Manhattan is this blue god like character that can teleport and screws his GF at the same time as working on this machine. Anyway, sorry to babble but this movie is worth seeing. I feel lucky to have seen it already. It's unfinished because they need to add in some CGI and green screen effects but when it's done I'm going to go pay to see it. The movie is 2 hours and 30 minutes long, there is so much to talk about one little scene won't spoil it. This movie is absolutely rated R. There is sex scenes, nipples showing, you can see Dr. Manhattans d*ck. There's scenes where a a guy gets his arms chopped off, an ax put into his skull, people being blown up in war. This movie is hardcore. One of the super heros kills a woman for cutting his face in a bar."

“I just saw this movie and I loved it.”

Note from BDS: The users who saw the movie are mc1872 and Haggardtrish. Their answers are in bold.

mc1872: I live in Portland and they showed it at the Lloyd center theatre. They had tight security and a line a mile long. You couldn't even bring in a camera phone and had to sign an agreement not to talk about it. This is the ultimate super hero movie. It has action, comedy, violence, sex, nudity, good dialogue, twists at the end, heros die. I think the people in the theatre loved the movie too. It's basically about trying to stop the world from going into nuclear war. Any questions I'll answer. There are two characters that are my favorite. [Rorschach] and Dr. Manhattan. I can't believe of all places they showed this in Portland. The movie is unfinished and there is a whole lot of wires and cables, and green screen place holders that need to be filled in but for the most part it was amazing. Definitely go see this move.

King_Kossie: Rorschach bro. How was Matthew Goode? How did his dialogue sound?

mc1872: He was probably the top super hero in the movie besides Dr. Manhattan. He was pretty good and his dialogue was interesting at some points. Not even close to the best character in the movie but he is a very rick man in the movie. He is the first of all the super heros to reveal his identity. On top of having the best fighting skills he is called the "smartest man" in the world. So he has a lot of things planned out.

King_Kossie: Ok, to be completely honest, I doubt you saw it. .

Haggardtrish: I dont know the OP, but I was at the same screening...I do have to laugh at the whole thing of making everyone sign a disclosure agreement and the first thing people do is get online to talk about it.

Kent_Weirdo: Can you tell us anything? Squid? Yes, or no? Or maybe you're all full of manure. Wouldn't doubt it, internet these days...

Haggardtrish: There was no squid.

Kent_Weirdo: If that's true...Geez, I don't know what to think anymore...

Oreodogvomit: Hurm... have to investigate further. What did Ozy use if there was no squid?

Haggardtrish: He and Dr Manhattan built a machine to mimic the powers of Dr Manhattan, under the guise of "free energy" to solve the energy crisis. Unbeknown to Manhattan, he used the machine to set off an atomic bomb like thing in various large cities around the world.

NitroForce: When you see Night Owl screaming in the snow, what is he screaming at?
Directordirectors: I love how we're all asking a question and receiving an answer we have no way of confirming. If there's no Squid, it's a shame, because the ending with the Squid could have made for some real terror.

Haggardtrish: The death of Rorschach [in response to the question about Nite Owl screaming]

Oreodogvomit: Ah, thank you. If that is true then it is similar to the older scripts we have read and not the book. The moral checkmate is indeed intact though.

King_Kossie: I'm pleased if this is indeed the ending, thanks trish.

Oreodogvomit: how did you get your pass?

Haggardtrish: I dont know how the OP got their pass, but I got mine just by seeing a movie at Lloyd in the previous week. Basically they approached people saying that they were doing a test screening of a movie that they werent telling the name of, and if you were interested in being a part of it and were within the ages of 17-39, all you had to do was sign up. Pretty awesome.

Oreodogvomit: Yeah that's what we have been hearing. Were there a lot of pissed off fans there tonight?

NitroForce: Can you tell us the end of the movie? What was Veidt's plan? What did he do?

Haggardtrish: There didnt seem to be...not that I saw anyway. They were pretty good at keeping it quiet what movie they were showing, so I think a large majority of people in the audience had no idea what they were going to see outside of knowing it was a "adult oriented superhero movie to be released next year"...from what I heard from others a lot of people were expecting the Wolverine movie. From what I could gather from the crowd afterward, most people who saw it either loved it or were indifferent...

Oreodogvomit: hmm. It leaked yesterday that it was happening at your theater. A lot of fans thought they could show up and try to get in but the randomly selected audience from last week foiled that.

Haggardtrish: The only people I saw being turned away were the ones without the invites that were handed out....no one seemed particularly upset by it though just like "Oh alright that sucks" and leaving.

NitroForce: When you see Night Owl screaming in the snow, what is he screaming at?

mc1872: The reason he was screaming is because Rorschach had just been blown up by Dr. Manhattan. Rorschach was going to tell the truth to the media that they just killed all those people to stop the war. All that would do was cost more lives than had already been saved though, and probably lead to the end of the world. Dr. Manhattan couldn't risk it so he killed Rorschach who was an awesome character. I'm still pissed that they killed him.

Oreodogvomit: Can either of you tell us how the film was introduced? Was there a Warner Bros rep? Did Veidt have an accent?

mc1872: Some bald guy stand in front of us all and says we are the first crowd in the world to see this movie: Watchmen. Then he talks about how it's not complete and we'll notice some graphics are missing but to understand it's still unfinished. That Ozy guy sounded kind of strange, I don't know what kind of accent he had but he hid it well.

Oreodogvomit: Thanks.

Bish-Fiscuit: WAS THERE A SQUID?!

Kent_Weirdo: DID- YOU- SEE- A- GIANT- SQUID- NEAR- THE- END- OR- NOT!?

Oreodogvomit: Thanks, most of us have read the book and we love it. You might want to put the word "spoilers" in the title because we are all going to ask you a lot of stuff. What I would like to know is...Was Ozy's monster squid at the end?

mc1872: You doubt I saw it. I can tell you what happened at every single part of the movie. If you want. As a matter of fact here's a little bit of some spoilers. The movie starts with the character the Comedian getting his apartment broken into by a masked man you find out later was [Ozymandias]. They get in this fight and he throws the Comedian out of the window killing him. [Rorschach] or however you spell it investigates it then goes to find this other guy who is a retired super hero. Anyway Russie is threatening to start nuclear war with the US which is going to lead to world destruction. Dr. Manhattan is working on figuring out a way to stop all of it. The story gets kind of complex and I'm not going to reveal everything but why would I lie about it?

Oreodogvomit: ok what was the second scene of the movie, after Blake gets thrown out the window?

mc1872: After he gets thrown out of the window? It shows the blood on his smiley face button and then it goes to another scene. I think that's where they start showing the flash backs to how all the super heros got started. It was like a bunch of cops trying to do good and then they started getting thrown in jail and had to stop. Some super heros retired because it was against the law to wear masks. [Rorschach] goes to the Comedians apartment and goes into his closet to find a little red button. He presses it and then this room opens with the Comedians costume.

NitroForce: Was there a monster at the end on New York? Were there countless dead bloody bodies all over the city? Again, was there a monster on New York? Did it have tentacles?

GrieVen: Even though the movie wasn't finished and a lot of the effects sound like they're not done, how did the cgi Dr. Manhattan look? Was he believable as a character, or did the cgi take you out of it?

mc1872: My brother said there were parts where you could see Dr. Manhattans suit or something but I never noticed. What I did notice were the green screen dots all over [Rorschach]’s mask for the CGI shadow that movies around on the surface of it. Also you can see the wires on the characters harness when they jump or get thrown around. Dr. Manhattan does all this awesome stuff like take apart complex engines and reassemble them. He teleports people and can change the tint of his blue.

Bish-Fiscuit: Please tell us how it ended.

mc1872: I can tell you how it ended but do you really want to know. This is probably the best super hero movie I've ever seen and you want me to spoil the ending?

Directordirectors: Please! Yes! Go!

Bish-Fiscuit: We've all read the book. We just want to know if it has the same ending as the book.

mc1872: Okay here it is. No there is no squid in the book although they have this space ship thing that always comes out of this river. The ending is basically the Ozy guy is in like Antarctica. He blows up New York and a whole bunch of other cities with the atomic bomb or something like that. He did it in a way that it would look like Dr. Manhattan was responsible and so Russia and the USA could come together as friends and go after Dr. Manhattan. Thus creating peace around the world. Dr. Manhattan realizes that by him being framed this will stop the world from blowing it's self up. [Rorschach] or however you spell his name, I know some guy is doubting my credibility becauae I won't copy and paste the correct spelling from the front of the IMDB page, he says he is going to tell the world that they just blew up all those innocent people. Dr. Manhattan can't let him do that because then war will break out again and the world will destroy it's self. So he kills [Rorschach]. Then there is this stupid moment between Silk Spectre and Nite owl. A little more panning around by the camera and the movie ends.

NitroForce: Does Adrian Veidt say the following line: "I did it 35 minutes ago"?

mc1872: Yes he says that about setting into motion the destruction of all the major cities with the bombs. They thought they were going to stop him from finishing his plan but he planned ahead. That's why he said he did it 35 minutes ago.

Bish-Fiscuit: Oh, well that's good enough, I suppose. I never particularly cared for the giant squid alien monster thing, anyway.

Moderator: mc1872, When you attended this screening you signed a non disclosure form that stated that you would not transmit, post, or communicate to anyone that you watched the film. We are requesting that you delete this post or we will have no choice but to turn your form over to the studio and start the process of pursuing legal action. Thank you for your understanding. The Screening Exchange.