If people aren’t talking about the mysterious J.J. Abrams pic, they’re talking about Watchmen, the adaptation of the graphic novel by Zack Snyder, who earned his right to make this movie as kick-ass as possible with this year’s 300.

Casting rumors abound, of course. Last week we brought you a comprehensive list of the actors rumored to be in talks for the major roles. This week we bring you the third name associated with one member of the Watchmen story: Dr. Manhattan. The first rumor for the part was Keanu Reeves. Allegedly he was even in talks for the part but wanted too much money, so the next rumored name was Jason Patric – you know, the guy that gets Keanu’s leftover parts (Speed 2: Cruise Control). Now that name seems to be fading away as well.

CHUD claims to have the inside track on this bit of Watchmen casting (typically the inside track for Snyder’s films is AICN territory). They say Snyder will be making at least one casting announcement at San Diego Comic-Con at the end of the month, but they claim to know that casting: Dr. Manhattan will be played by Billy Crudup.

I’m going to stay skeptical on this until I hear it officially, but I have to say Crudup is a lot more interesting for this part than any of the other names that have been tossed around. In a world of lost humanity, Dr. Manhattan seems to truly understand what has been lost – ironic, considering he’s the only truly “super powered” member of the story. Crudup has shown that he can play that grieving soul (Big Fish) but at the same time play an ice-cold character (Mission: Impossible III). He seems well suited to the part. I don’t doubt that Comic-Con will be a hotbed of casting information. I guess we’ll find out more official word then.