Doctor Manhattan is a fictional DC Comics character created by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons. He debuted in the limited series graphic novel, Watchmen.
Cherenkov radiation inspired Doctor Manhattan's appearance in the 2009 film adaptation.
Billy Crudup wearing facial markers to track facial expressions
Watchmen is a comic book limited series by the British creative team of writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons and colorist John Higgins. It was published monthly by DC Comics in 1986 and 1987 before being collected in a single-volume edition in 1987. Watchmen originated from a story proposal Moore submitted to DC featuring superhero characters that the company had acquired from Charlton Comics. As Moore's proposed story would have left many of the characters unusable for future stories, managing editor Dick Giordano convinced Moore to create original characters instead.
Cover of Watchmen #1 (September 1986) Art by Dave Gibbons
Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen
Dave Gibbons, artist of Watchmen
The main characters of Watchmen (from left to right): Ozymandias, the second Silk Spectre, Doctor Manhattan, The Comedian (kneeling), the second Nite Owl, and Rorschach