Watchmen may have drawn from established conventions, but I am sure much was as shake-out-the-synapses original as it seemed to me. Moore incresses this confusion referring to them variously as “costumed heroes,” “masked adventurer(s),” “masked avengers,” “Super-Hero(es),” “Superhumans,” “super-people,” “costumed heroes,” and “costumed adventurers.” Moore provides the group a back story, wittily blending comic book and American history. The universe will not notice, Dr. Manhattan points out, “if everyone dies.” But, as Dr. Manhattan points out, if some men survive, man is likely to resume behaving as it always has.