Watchmen is a 2009 American
neo-noir-
superhero film directed by
Zack Snyder, based on the 1986–87
DC Comics limited series of the
same name by
Alan Moore and
Dave Gibbons. It stars an ensemble cast of
Malin Åkerman,
Billy Crudup,
Matthew Goode,
Carla Gugino,
Jackie Earle Haley,
Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and
Patrick Wilson. A satirical take on the superhero genre, the film is set in an
alternate history in the year 1985 at the height of the
Cold War between the
United States and the
Soviet Union, as a group of mostly retired American
superheroes investigates the murder of one of their own before uncovering an elaborate and deadly conspiracy, while their
moral limitations are challenged by the complex nature of the circumstances.