12 Movies That Tricked You Into Thinking They Had Happy Endings
2. Watchmen - Rorschach Revealing Everything Dooms The World
The Allegedly Happy Ending: Zack Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's era-defining graphic novel may have compressed a lot of the themes to bring it to the screen but at the least the implication of the ending (if not the method itself) made it through unscathed.
Industrialist and former costume hero Adrian Veidt has successfully ended the Cold War by tricking the Americans and Russians into uniting against a larger threat (here superman Dr. Manhattan, in the book an exploding squid alien) and those aware of the plot have been forced to keep quiet.
However, before his death Rorschach sent his journal detailing the whole plot to the New Frontiersman, with the film ending just before it's discovered.
The Depressing Truth: The conspiracy is actually the better outcome. Of course an honest resolution would be preferred, but once Manhattan's been framed there's nothing advantageous about revealing the truth.
This is why Nite Owl and Silk Spectre go along with it; it's the lesser of two evils. In a world where conspiracy theories and suspected cover-ups are rife, it's somewhat gratifying to see one unearthed, but (and it is a real moral conundrum) the reveal of the truth would do a lot more damage than good.