Look closer, and more unusual details appear: The World Trade Center remains in the New York skyline. And an aged President Nixon appears on a bank of television screens broadcasting "live from the White House."
This is the world of "Watchmen," an alternate history of the United States set in the year 1985, where superheroes exist, the Vietnam War ended much differently, and Nixon is serving an unprecedented fifth term in the Oval Office.
The trailer calls "Watchmen" the most celebrated graphic novel of all time -- it's the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present." It is also the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award.
"Watchmen" was a 12 issue monthly limited series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons, published by DC Comics from 1986-1987. The movie is directed by Zack Snyder, who directed "300" and "Dawn of the Dead." The film stars Malin Akerman ("The Heartbreak Kid"), Billy Crudup ("The Good Shepherd"), Matthew Goode ("Match Point"), Carla Gugino ("Night at the Museum"), Jackie Earle Haley ("Little Children"), Stephen McHattie ("Shoot 'em Up"), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (ABC7's "Grey's Anatomy"), and Patrick Wilson ("Little Children").
The movie arrives in theaters on March 6, 2009.
