Watchmen Aspergers/Autistic qualities

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Hello, I have a notion and I'm looking to confirm or disprove it.

Has anyone seen/read watchmen? I noticed while watching the film, that there are a lot of characters that I related to and seem to have characteristics of aspergers syndrome.

Firstly there is Dr Manhattan, who is losing touch with the human world, finds it difficult to relate, gets frustrated & angry when swamped by a crowd, and seeks refuge from his frustrations in solitude. And I'm sure there are many other examples. During the scene where he leaves for mars and recalls his past, the dispassionate clinical way he looks at things is something I certainly have related to. Particularly the part where he is recalling an argument with an old girlfriend and he tells her something followed by “as I lie to her” and the bit where she says “is it because I’m getting old” and he comments “it’s true she’s getting noticeably older every day”. True, rational, upsetting and said without any intentional malice. I have certainly been there.

Then there is Adrian Viedt who utters the line: "They say I am the smartest man in the world but the truth is I have often felt stupid at being unable to relate to people” (or something very close to that). I relate very strongly to that, and I also recall reading something like that in one of tony Atwood’s books. I also recall reading someone else on an internet review describing him as “near Autistic” (or something to that effect –google anyone? Try ”Adrian Viedt watchmen autistic”).

Rorschach has characteristics well but I happen to know that that particular character was written to be psychotic so I hesitate to point out any characteristics in him. His style of speech, in his journal is one thing, as is his outbursts he realises he has been framed for mullochs death.

I just have felt while watching the film (less so with reading the book) that it can't be a coincidence that these characters appear to have similar characteristics, I also appreciate that there must be many other things that have not come to my attention. However mainly I am looking for confirmation here as I have googling things like “watchmen characters autistic” and find nothing similar to what I am thinking. If anyone else agrees with this point please reply.


Thank you

Appologies if I have posted this thread in the wrong section. I just thought my question related more to AS than the actual film. Also appologies for poor gramar and syntax I got slightly overexcited while writing.

Ror has AS, totally.

It's as plain as day. Black and white thinking, the flat affect, few or no friends, lousy hygiene (doesn't care), focused, he constantly misses pronouns, he wears the same clothes, he does the same thing over and over again. He's not a psychopath at all (as it's mentioned).

As for the other two..., I think Ozy just has the "genius syndrome" (which overlaps with "mild" AS in many ways), and as for the blue guy, human-turn-god will really affect one's perception of things, especially that he retains the humanity that he had.

Oh yes, definitely true on all accounts... I especially relate to the Dr. Manhattan character.

Could Alan Moore be an Aspie? Watchmen practically screams it, I think...

This is my third attempt to write this reply, it keeps getting rejected.... very frustrating to repeat yourself.

I agree with your comments on Rorschach and commend you for describing what I was unable to but had a general feel for. To clarify what I meant about him being a psychopath see a video on YouTube titled "Alan Moore talks - 02 - Watchmen" There is a section on the video starting at 2 mins 38 where the author describes this.

Alan Moore having aspergers has occoured to me and I do see things in some of his other characters in other stories. He is clearly not unfamilar with Autism as he included an apparantly autistic child in "Saga of the Swamp thing" (which conviently I read for the first time yesterday) but so many of his characters are insane, so it could be unintentional.

Does anyone else see AS tendencies in any other alan moore charaters? I do have a few other ideas but I can't really describe them in so much as I did think Rorschach was but i couldn't describe it the way that Danielismyname could.

me too

Definitely caught the AS vibe from the movie, haven't read any of his books yet...I have a digital copy of the OOP MarvelMan sitting here though, and one of these days I need to get A Killing Joke.

I don't know about Moore having it, I think the characters that seem to have characteristics are in the minority. It's mostly just Rorschach.

After reading this thread, I guess Dr. Manhatten does have shades of it, but that's likely a cooincidence...it was just meant to show that he had become so powerful that he was having issues reconciling his "godlike" status while still trying to keep touch with humanity...which I don't think any of us really have any difficulties with Though I think that is a symptom of schizophrenia?

One of the things that really stuck with me was the statement Laurie made about John's view of people, how they are just "shadows in the fog" to him. That's how I feel a lot of the time. And my obsessive interests are like giant spotlights, drowning out the shadows around me.

I know Alan intended for Ror to be a psychopath, but unfortunately, he obviously used a definition of such that was mislabeled as "AS" in definition. Ror is so far from a psychopath that it's not funny (but he's so close to someone with AS that it's funny).... The Comedian is getting close to one, but he doesn't really show the superficial charm in how he behaves (he's more sarcastic and sardonic).

Alan Moore is a very strange cat, but he doesn't really seem to be very autistic.

I just recently watched Watchmen and more recently came across and signed up with WrongPlanet.net.

I was thinking about Dr. Manhatten and Autism ever since I saw the film a few weeks ago. All the things previously mentioned made me think that Dr. M had Aspergers. I particularly noted his lack of eye contact (yes I know that he did not have pupils, but I could see that he seemed to be always looking off to the side). This brought Asperger's to mind immediately.

It's interesting that you noted it too.

Maybe the author has autistic traits, or knows someone who does. People often write from what they know.

dr. Manhatten seems to suffer from an overactive mind like me

i think it's very likely! Manhattan, Ozy etc. all have some AS traits- also think Rorschach is autistic in some ways, he is cut off from society and has a very black & white view of the world (pun intended) and limited social skills

I haven't watched or read Watchmen since the movie came out, but wasn't Dr. Manhattan a nerdy scientist to begin with? Probably had a touch of AS already, and becoming god-like explains his more extreme views. As for Rorschach, the book goes into more detail of his background than the movie if I recall. Kind of hard to tell with him, because whether or not he was an Aspie, he'd still have been abused by his mom and her customers and picked on by everyone else for being a ho's son. Maybe the author's intent was to portray him as a psycho created by the abuse alone, but I can see it being in combination with AS. People would have bullied him for that also, but he'd think it was all because of his mom. It would also explain his obsessiveness and rigid thinking.

Oh yeah, I finally watched V for Vendetta yesterday. I am really starting to like the graphic novel genre. Any others that you guys would recommend?