New York, 1985 — a world darkened by fear and paranoia. Where regular human beings who once donned masks to fight crime now hide from their identities. Where the ultimate weapon — an all-powerful superbeing — has tilted the global balance of power, pushing the world implacably closer to nuclear midnight. Where desperate men conjure desperate measures in the stark face of Armageddon.

This is the world of 'Watchmen', the big-screen adaptation of the most celebrated graphic novel of all time, brought to life by '300' director Zack Snyder.

Spray-painted across a wall in the shadows of a dark, gritty New York alley is a question that pervades 'Watchmen': "Who watches the Watchmen?" Snyder offers: "Who has the right to say what’s right and what’s wrong? And who monitors those who decide what is right and what is wrong?"

Watchmen first appeared as a 12-issue limited comic book series. It was originally published by DC Comics from 1986 to 1987, then republished as the now-legendary graphic novel. The blood-stained "smiley face" on the cover, the image of a clock face advancing one minute closer to midnight, and the twelve-chapter structure are all emblematic of the complex work that has long been credited with elevating the graphic novel to a new art form: 'Watchmen' is the only graphic novel to win the prestigious Hugo Award or to appear on Time magazine’s 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels".

When it was released, Watchmen resonated with a generation raised with the prospect of nuclear war, not as an abstraction but a palpable reality. It has been praised for giving voice to the anxiety and unease of the times, the fear and awe of power and its abuses, and the cloud of paranoia and impotence experienced every day by average people considered insignificant to the power brokers. In the decades since its publication, it has garnered a legion of diehard fans from all walks of life that continues to grow.

Subverting and deconstructing the concept of superheroes, the story introduced a handful of characters that have been called "more human than super" — real people who deal with ethical and personal issues, who struggle with neuroses and failings and who, aside from Dr Manhattan, are without superpowers.

The masked adventurers — those at the heart of the graphic novel’s mystery — are Silk Spectre II, Nite Owl II, Rorschach, Dr Manhattan, Ozymandias, and The Comedian. Each is a symbol of a different kind of power, obsession, and psychopathology. A different kind of superhero.

Adding to the book’s mystique — with its intricate, multi-layered storytelling and dialogue, symbolism and synchronicity, flashbacks and metafiction — 'Watchmen' has long been considered both in a class of its own…and virtually unfilmable.

For over a decade, producers Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin held the faith that it wasn't the latter and the project fully came together when Snyder, while still in production on what would become the blockbuster '300', revealed his desire to direct it.

Snyder’s goal was to bring 'Watchmen' to life as it was, not updated to the present, not substantially altered, but to be as true to the work as possible with a motion picture.

"People always said 'Watchmen' was the unfilmable graphic novel," says the director. "The story itself is a pretty straightforward mystery, but inside of that, there’s this huge plot that has international intrigue and a super-villain and everything you want from a superhero story.

"There is a tonal quality to every bit of it, from the interaction of the characters to the design structure, whether it be a flashback or a flash forward, or a parallel story being told. It’s at once very traditional and also unusual in the way that it’s structured. It doesn’t owe anything to any specific genre; it’s just its own, true to itself and all of its characters."

To celebrate the film's eventual completion, after close on 20 years of aborted attempts, we're giving away exclusive movie merchandise hampers courtesy of UIP. Fancy your chances of winning? Simply answer this question and stand a chance to walk off with one of the hot prizes: