In 1959, at William Dawes Elementary School in Lexington, Massachusetts, a time capsule containing the students’ drawings of their ideas of the future is buried and set to be ceremoniously opened 50 years later. A girl named Lucinda Embry contributes a page full of seemingly random digits. That night, Lucinda is found in a school closet, where her fingers are bloodied and she complains about hearing voices.In 2009, the time capsule is opened and the drawings are given to the current students. A boy named Caleb receives Lucinda’s envelope. His father John Koestler, a widower and professor of astrophysics at MIT takes interest in the paper, and he soon realizes that part of these digits form dates and death tolls of every major disaster over the past fifty years, and suggests three disasters yet to come. Meanwhile, Caleb begins receiving visits from mysterious figures in overcoats (listed in the credits as "The Strangers"), and during his encounters he hears their overlapping telepathic whispers.John witnesses a commercial plane crash on the date the paper next predicted a disaster would occur, and he discovers that the unexplained digits on the paper are in fact the geographic coordinates of the events. Speaking with Lucinda’s former teacher, John learns of Lucinda’s closet episode, and also that she had since died after an overdose. He then meets Lucinda’s daughter, Diana Wayland, but is rebuffed once he mentions Lucinda’s paper. However, after John uses the numbers to correctly predict another disaster—a Manhattan subway train derailment which John tries and fails to prevent—Diana seeks out John, and together they go to investigate Lucinda’s old remote mobile home. Having noticed that the last date on the paper is not accompanied by coordinates, further clues in Lucinda’s home lead John and Diana to realize that the ’33’ listed as the death toll for the final disaster is actually ’EE’ reversed, which Lucinda meant to represent ’Everyone Else’. In the woods outside the home, John confronts one of The Strangers, who disappears in a flash of light. It is revealed that Diana’s daughter Abby can hear The Strangers’ eerie whispers as well.John and a fellow professor forecast that a massive solar flare will soon reach Earth, and the final disaster on Lucinda’s paper will indeed be global in scale. John then examines the door of the closet in which Lucinda was found, and discovers it is where she had scratched another set of coordinates. They represent the location of Lucinda’s old mobile home, and John figures that it is somehow a refuge from the impending disaster. Diana insists they seek shelter in a system of underground caves instead, and she takes Abby and Caleb, without John’s knowledge, to go there. As panic erupts at a gas station after news of the flare is made public through an Emergency Alert System broadcast, The Strangers drive off in Diana’s car with Caleb and Abby still inside. Diana gives chase in another vehicle, and is killed when she is broadsided by a truck.At Lucinda’s mobile home, John finds the children with the four Strangers as a glowing vessel descends from the sky. The Strangers dispossess themselves of their human appearance, revealing themselves to be glowing, translucent figures surrounded by wisps of light. The Strangers invite only those who can hear their whispers to escape the destruction with them. John convinces an initially reluctant Caleb to go with The Strangers, and the vessel departs with the two children. From the vantage point of space, other ships are seen taking off from all around Earth. John travels to Boston to be with his sister and parents. While he had distanced himself from religion following his wife’s death, John reconciles with his previously estranged father, a Christian minister. John and his family embrace as the solar flare strikes Earth. The radiation vaporizes the atmosphere and destroys all life on Earth. Elsewhere, Caleb and Abby are dropped off in an otherworldly field, as other ships are visible along the horizon, dropping off others. The film ends as the two make their way towards a prominent solitary tree in the distance.

Under the watchful eyes of Father Silvano Bentivoglio and Dr. Vittoria Vetra, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) initiates the Large Hadron Collider and captures three vials of antimatter. Immediately afterward, someone kills Father Silvano, uses his retina to infiltrate the containment chamber, and steals one vial.The Roman Catholic Church mourns the death of Pope Pius XVI in Rome. Vatican City prepares for the College of Cardinals' papal conclave, which will select the next Pope. Until that time, Camerlengo Patrick McKenna, a papal court official and former helicopter pilot, assumes temporary control of the Vatican. Reporters, nuns, priests, and other faithful members of the Church crowd into Saint Peter's Square, waiting for white smoke from the conclave. But the Illuminati, a 400-year old, underground secret society, kidnap the four most likely candidates before the conclave enters seclusion. The Illuminati threaten to kill one every hour, beginning at 8:00 pm, and then destroy the Vatican in a burst of light at midnight. A stolen security camera shows the missing antimatter vial, which will catastrophically explode when the vial's battery dies and the magnetic containment field fails.The Vatican summons symbologist Robert Langdon from Harvard University and Vittoria Vetra from CERN to help them solve the Illuminati's threat, save the four preferiti, and replace the vial's batteries. Langdon listens to the Illuminati message and deduces that the four cardinals will die at the four altars of the "Path of Illumination". However, no one knows where these altars are located. Vetra demands that Commander Richter, the commandant of the Swiss Guard, to bring Father Silvano's diaries from Switzerland, hoping that they contain the name of the person with whom Silvano discussed the antimatter experiment. Langdon also demands access to the Vatican Secret Archives (something he has requested for 10 years) to see the original copy of Galileo Galilei's banned book, which may contain the locations of the four "altars of science". Using the clues from this book, Langdon, Vetra, Inspector General Ernesto Olivetti, and Lieutenant Valenti of the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps race to the first church, only to find the first cardinal, Cardinal Ebner, dead, suffocated with dirt and branded with the word "Earth". They verify the second altar's location and arrive, only to witness the death of the second cardinal, Cardinal Lamassa, his lungs lacerated and his body branded with the word "Air". While Vetra studies Silvano's diaries, Langdon and the Vatican officers locate the third church(Santa Maria della Vittoria Basilica) and try to save the third cardinal, Cardinal Gudiera, from burning to death, but the assassin appears and kills everyone but Langdon. The cardinal succumbs to the flames, his body branded with the word "Fire."After escaping, Langdon convinces two police officers to race with him to the last church of the "Water" altar, but the assassin murders them and drops the fourth cardinal, Cardinal Baggia, into the Fountain of the Four Rivers. However, Langdon saves the cardinal, who tells him the location of the Illuminati's lair: Castel Sant'Angelo. When Langdon and Vetra arrive, they are confronted by the assassin, who spares their lives since they are not armed and he has not been paid to kill them. He reveals that his contractors were from the Catholic Church. The assassin escapes and finds a vehicle containing his payment, but is killed by a car bomb upon igniting the engine. Langdon and Vetra discover that the final victim of the plot will be Camerlengo McKenna. After arriving at the Vatican via a secret passage, they and some Swiss Guards enter the Camerlengo's office and find him in the floor branded with the Vatican's symbol on his chest and Commander Richter near him with a gun. The Guards promptly kill Richter to save the camerlengo. During the confusion, the dying commander gives Langdon a key to his office. Then the camerlengo, Langdon, Vetra, and the Swiss Guards discover the location of the stolen antimatter vial. By the time they find it, the battery is about to expire, the deadly explosion just minutes away. The camerlengo seizes the vial and uses a helicopter meant for escape from the Vatican to fly above the church. He then activates the autopilot and escapes with a parachute. After several seconds, the bomb explodes and the camerlengo lands, now considered a hero by the crowd and even as the best candidate to be the new Pope by the College of Cardinals. Meanwhile, Langdon and Vetra use Richter's key to watch a security video showing that the mastermind behind the murders of the original Pope and the preferiti and the antimatter robbery, in fact, is the camerlengo and not the Illuminati. While Richter tries to arrest McKenna, the priest brands himself with a seal that resembles Saint Peter's upside-down crucifixion and accuses the commander being a member of the Illuminati. Langdon shows the video to the College. After the camerlengo realizes his plot has been uncovered, he immolates himself with oil from one of the 99 holy lamps inside St. Peter's Basilica.The Vatican announces that the camerlengo died due to internal wounds suffered during his landing, while the public demands he be canonized. The College designate the Cardinal Baggia as the new Pope, and Cardinal Strauss as the new camerlengo. The new camerlengo thanks Robert Langdon for saving the Vatican and the new Pope, and as a mark of his gratitude loans Galileo's "Diagramma Veritas" to Langdon for his reference.When a murder of a physicist, Leonardo Vetra, finds a symbolist, Robert Langdon, and Mr. Vetra’s daughter, Vittoria, on an adventure for a secret brotherhood, The Illuminati. Clues lead them all around the Vatican, including the four alters of science, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. An Assassin, working for the Illuminati, has captured four cardinals, and murders each, painfully. Robert and Vittoria also are searching for a new very destructive weapon that could kill millions.The plot of the film is set around a group of Norwegian medical students who go away for a snowmobiling vacation. They come across a box of cursed gold in the cabin they are staying in. Unfortunately, the area they are staying in was used by the Nazis in the German occupation of Norway during World War II, and the gold belonged to them. As a result, Nazi zombies come back to reclaim their gold.

 The film begins with a montage of historical scenes painting an alternate history from World War II through the 1980s. The montage includes historical events such as the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the Vietnam War. Due to the success of the Vietnam war, Richard Nixon is shown to be elected to his third term as President. The story begins in 1985 (by which time masked vigilantes have been outlawed) in the apartment of Edward Blake. Blake fights an intruder and is thrown through a plate glass window, falling to his death. With the police having no leads, costumed vigilante Rorschach decides to probe further. Discovering that Blake was the U.S. employed costumed hero, The Comedian, Rorschach believes he has discovered a plot to eliminate costumed heroes. He then sets about warning three of his retired comrades, Dan Dreiberg (formerly the second Nite Owl), the super powered and emotionally detached Doctor Manhattan and his lover Laurie Juspeczyk (the second Silk Spectre), and Dan goes and speaks with Adrian Veidt (once the hero Ozymandias, and now a successful businessman) about the possible conspiracy.Appearing on a talk show to answer questions from the audience, Dr. Manhattan learns from a journalist that several of his former associates, including his former lover, Janey Slater, have died from or are dying of cancer. Believing that Manhattan’s godlike powers were the cause, other journalists press on with the story. Manhattan, who has increasingly grown more detached from humanity since the accident that gave him his powers, exiles himself to Mars. Unfortunately, as his presence allowed the U.S. to win the Vietnam War, and keep Soviet aggression in check, Manhattan’s exile gives the Russians the ability to invade Afghanistan.Having broken up with Manhattan, Laurie finds herself increasingly attached with Dan. After an unsuccessful attempt of having sex, they decide to come out of retirement after agreeing to become superheroes again. After they rescue a group of people from a burning building, they passionately make love in Dan’s Owlship. Meanwhile, Veidt survives an assassination attempt, and Rorschach is sent to prison after being framed for the murder of The Comedian’s former enemy, Moloch the Mystic. Because he is responsible for the detainment of more than 50% of his inmates according to the ironically named "Big Figure" (due to his growth impairment but high influence), Rorschach has a large bounty placed on his head. After a fellow inmate dies from being burned by Rorschach with cooking oil, a riot breaks out in prison. Nite Owl II and Silk Spectre II arrive to spring out Rorschach, and the former two defuse the riot while Rorschach kills Big Figure and his henchmen one by one.Dr. Manhattan comes back to Earth and takes Laurie with him to Mars, telling her he no longer cares for the human race. Able to see the past and future, Manhattan informs Laurie that there will be a catastrophic event on Earth and denies her request to intervene. Manhattan uses his powers to bring up Laurie’s memories, during which they are surprised to learn that The Comedian, who had once tried to rape Laurie’s mother Sally, was also her father. This discovery re-sparks Manhattan’s interest in humanity, and he returns to Earth with Laurie.At the same time, Rorschach and Nite Owl II go to Veidt’s office and hack into his computer, discovering that Veidt himself may be the mastermind behind The Comedian’s death, Dr. Manhattan’s exile, and the framing of Rorschach. Rorschach leaves his journal denouncing Veidt’s conspiracy to be found. Nite Owl II and Rorschach travel to Antarctica to confront Veidt in his retreat. Veidt, dressed as Ozymandias, informs them that he was using Dr. Manhattan all along in order to replicate his special kind of energy. After an enduring physical battle, Veidt chides them for thinking him "a comic-book villain" and informs the two that he had executed his plan 35 minutes earlier. All across the world, energy explosions obliterate major cities, leaving 15 million dead. The Americans recognize the energy signatures as those of Dr. Manhattan as opposed to the nuclear weapons of the Soviet Union.Upon returning to Earth, Dr. Manhattan and Laurie end up in New York City, and experience the devastation in New York firsthand. Realizing that Veidt was responsible, they confront him in his residence. After Veidt shows the heroes that his plan succeeded in ending global hostilities, Dr. Manhattan decides to exile himself to another galaxy in order to create life rather than oppose Veidt. Rorschach, however, refuses to compromise and is quickly vaporized by Dr. Manhattan while leaving. Manhattan says his farewells to Laurie. Nite Owl, devastated and infuriated after witnessing Rorschach’s death, attacks Veidt in a fit of rage, but Veidt does not resist or show signs of pain, which calms Nite Owl down. After talking to Veidt, he reluctantly agrees with Laurie to keep silent about the plan or else the threat of nuclear war will continue.The film ends with the world together in a united front against all dangers, such as nuclear arms, thus ending the Cold War. Laurie and Dan have gotten together as an official couple as they are visited by Laurie’s mother, Sally Jupiter. The final scene shows a newspaper editor, annoyed at having nothing worthwhile to print, telling a young employee named Seymour to find a good article. This prompts Seymour to get out "The Crank File", a collection of crank letters, among which is Rorschach’s journal.