Dr. Manhattan aka Jonathan Osterman - Another notable Watchmen Character! Besides the fact that he is the only guy in there with some really superpowers, he stands out in the whole comic book universes (even DC & Marvel) because he's got some extremely freakish powers! To elaborate - think about the strongest superheroes you ever saw (read); Dr. Manhattan can dispatch them in a nanosecond (or less) while solving a physics problem while having a threesome with his girlfriend (Laurie Juspeczyk aka Silk Spectre 2) while chilling on Mars while predicting the future while attending a press conference! Yeah I'm not kidding either, he can do all of those at the same time because one of his powers is Self-Duplication! That wasn't enough for you? Ok, if you somehow create some weapon that totally annihilates the Doc at the quantum level, he can come back from it! Yeah, the guy can come back from the dead so he will keep coming back no matter what you do to him (assuming you do do something to him!). People made all the fuss about Superman and Hulk and X-men and all those so called superheroes, but compare them to Dr. Manhattan - Doc is like all the superheroes mankind could ever thought up all combined into one! Yeah he nothing short of being a a God, so to say!
So how did such a strong a strong being came into existence and what is his story? To keep a long story short, a regular quantum-nuclear physics scientist called Jonathan Osterman accidentally got his intrinsic atomic field removed and as generally happens to dead people, his body was gone but the consciousness remained alive. And through that remaining consciousness, like most dead scientists, the good Doc was able to rebuild himself! And yeah, he didn't stop at just rebuilding himself to what he originally must have looked like, he went a few steps further to add cool six packs and big muscular shouders and a toned body and a perfect hairless groin area (assuming the good old Doc didn't have that dream body as a regular physicist!).Since Osterman was a genius level quantum physicist too, while rebuilding himself he gained some sort of understanding of how quantum stuff works and thereafter became supremely powerful. I think his real power is basically being able to manipulate the basic building blocks of nature so he can create / manipulate objects at quantum levels or in other words create anything at his will, destroy anything at his will or will any changes that he wants in anything he wants. This basic ability to manipulate the building blocks of universe, can manifest itself in all sorts of powers that Dr. Jonathan Osterman as Dr. Manhattan weilds. Thats why I said that he can dispatch any of your favorite superheroes in a nanoseconds, because he doesn't have to fight or anything, he can simply will his enemy to disappear out of existence! As for having threesome with his girlfriend while solving a physics problem, my next post is all about Dr. Manhattan's personal life
Now, going back to the current topic - So basically Dr. Jonathan Osterman is rechristened Dr. Manhattan and since hs has super powers now, he is a superhero and fights crime. Since he is actually a bit too strong and can win wars without blinking an eye, he becomes US govenment's ace card in the cold war against Russia, the tagline being - "Superman exists and he is American". Everyone is happy because its kinda apparent that with someone like Dr. Manhattan on America's side , no one is gonna go wage any wars anytime soon! But its debatable though whether he averted the war or further escalated because there is no doubt that Russians must've been doing everything that they can to make the power struggle even.
But well, amid all the politics and crime fighting Dr. Manhattan has his own story going on because he is a freaking god among men now. He can't associate with humans and humans think he's the freaking superman. He can't age while his girlfriends get older and older everyday. He can't just relate to human life anymore because of the way the whole universe has opened up to him. I mean Dr. Manhattan knows the future, can see quarks and is immortal so hows he gonna relate to poor human beings who fret about their 401Ks, have to use glasses to read and wither and die. So, the poor guy becomes more and more detached and eventually leaves the earth in face of Ozymandias fueled accusations of causing cancer to humans. He comes back again though for a little bit after his girl friend persuaded him but goes back again after dispatching poor Rorschach and totally destroying Ozymandias morals!
Ozymandias kinda asks him whether or not his master plan worked like a charm or not. Yeah this is the master plan that Watchmen is all about and what caused millions of deaths and what not. And Dr. Manhattan, as most scientists are, instead of giving Ozymandias a pat in the back, says - "It never ends. Nothing never ends" Go figure! Ozymandias obviously thinking that all of his hard work at killing millions went to waste! Anyhow, I love Dr. Manhattan because of his ability to see the future and I'll end this post with the reason why he gives for his inability to change the future - "We're all puppets, Laurie. I'm just a puppet who can see the strings"! Fantastic!
To find out if Dr. Manhattan can beat Superman and Hulk, click -
Dr. Manhattan vs Superman and Hulk
Hello
ReplyDeleteHello Victor, hows it going!
ReplyDeleteYes i posted a second ago under my sencond name Javier as In Victor Javier, about Amazo vs Dr Manhattan, i know it has to be a challenge in some way. right?
ReplyDeleteAmazo!!! OMG good call on that one! Yeah, Amazo seems to be THE guy who could prove to be a serious challenge to Dr. Manhattan although now thinking of it, almost all opponent have a serious disadvantage against him that Dr. Manhattan has a solid precognition. So Doc could foresee Amazo's coming and his powers etc and go kill him in past or something!! But thats a really solid villain for Dr. Manhattan for sure!
ReplyDeleteAfter a long wait, I'm finally off to see Watchmen on IMAX tonight! Can't wait for it!!
ReplyDeleteSame here Mate, i have been Itching, i dont concider myself an avid of the Comic world, but in my time i have read some and i have a good imagination and i love to daydream, Not so good when you cant HAhahaah. But yea Its going to be a great expirience
ReplyDeleteWhat you say has the advantage, The good Doctor can dispatch Amazo without a blink. Know i forgot weather Dr Manhattan chooses the time to remeness in time or is he omnicient of his time. Because there lies the key of a good surprise attack, letting Amazo get close emough for him to absorb Doc's powers therefore a stalemate may occur I pressume.
ReplyDeleteI finally watched it yesterday and enjoyed it. Some crucial plot elements were off though but I guess there is only so much Snyder could fit in one movie!! I wrote a quick article about it, here - http://watchmen-movie-book-info.blogspot.com/2009/03/watchmen-movie-vs-watchmen-graphic.html
ReplyDeletedoctor who could take out mr manhatten.
ReplyDeletedoctor who could just reintigrate his intrinsic field and make him normal knowing that he knew that the doctor would do this dr, manhatten would try to stop him and the doctor who would use the tardis to create a paradox that dr manhatten would not see a future that cant happen would get locked out of the device that made him dr. manhatten in the first place whew
ReplyDeleteplus that you can get manhatten out of the man but you cant get the man out of manhatten ha ha
ReplyDeleteBeyonder can take him!
ReplyDeleteI love this character. Not his powers, but his personality.
ReplyDeleteSo detached from everything human, insignificant human beings... all humanity could die, and the universe wouldn't feel a thing...
His deeper understanding of the universe is what caught my heart
"A man you wish to be
with them be alike?
But die all men,
And men they will be reborn.
They only have lucky stars,
And oppressing fates,
We have nor time, nor place,
And death we do not know."
And you talk here about his "superpowers"...
Limited beings you really are, limited in this petty material world...
Short sighted...
@sith90lord
ReplyDeleteActually to be honest I find Dr. Manhattan a bit disgusting because he is so vain and selfish. He wasn't a great selfless human being when he was a "human" and he lost all sense of proportion once he acquired his powers. He was just like a regular guy living his regular life who suddenly got Godlike powers and lost all sense of responsibility! I mean with those powers he could have revolutionized the world (aside from continuing the scientific experiments that he was personally interested in anyway), end wars globally(as opposed to taking sides with one country and therefore further fueling it), help the world become a better place in general. But all he achieved was giving USSR one more reason to stockpiling nukes while losing his own sense of morals and humanity. Osterman was just an insecure and pathetic loser whose failings became more pronounced when he became Dr. Manhattan!! But well, I guess thats a very realistic view of what would happen to an average guy if he suddenly got superpowers and thats what Alan Moore wanted to show. And so, Dr. Manhattan is rather pathetic character if you ask me.
Save a world he was no longer part of?...
ReplyDeleteHe was part of the whole universe and sow human kind from it's perspective."all humanity could die, and the universe wouldn't feel a thing" - i remember him saying something like this...
I do blame him for joining sides, not remaining completely detached form this 'war', but the human life he had before gave him the feeling he should fight for America. He was like a child, modeled by those around him, and the government of America...
He is a puzzled being on his way to greatness and understanding.
He shouldn't have fought for America, i agree.
"With great power comes great responsibility",but he didn't know this at first, it took him time and finely he realized he had no place among humans, and went to search the vastness of the universe.
He had no part in making the world a better place, for he was 'outside' of it. The will, desire, wish, must come from the inside, those part of this world.
Humans must save themselves from themselves
I understand what you are saying and agree that there is not much motivation for him in helping mankind because he was no longer part of it and was no longer impacted by it. But that is the very difference between selfless altruism and being a selfish jerk. Let me present this example to put things in perspective - You are an insanely wealthy and powerful guy and a dying small third world country is seeking your help. You are not part of them and helping them requires a nominal fraction of your resources so you are not impacted either adversely or beneficially whether you help them or not. Your decision to help them is just truly altruistic in nature. But will you help them or continue vacationing in Hawaii? The answer tells quite a bit about how good you are in the fundamental sense. I highly recommend reading Frank Miller's Red Sun in which Superman has to make a similar decision and he decides to help the world (it doesn't work as well but atleast he was trying). The way Dr. Manhattan reacts throughout Watchmen shows what an insecure narrow minded borderline idiot would do if he had all those powers. First he somehow can't see the implications of siding with America. Second he doesn't really do anything about the War and stuff (say turn all soviet's missiles into cornflakes on night). Third he finally develops the "I don't give a shit" attitude!
ReplyDeleteBut all that considered, I'm with Alan Moore on this one that an ordinary human being will invariably develop the "I don't give a shit" attitude. This is the main reason socio-economic disparity exists. Wealthy people don't help poor because they are "beyond" it all. Regions with better resources don't share them with others that need them (but have nothing to offer) in a truly altruistic sense. Richer countries don't help poorer countries without their own profit. And finally someone like Dr. Manhattan doesn't care about the world that is beneath him. Alan Moore has nailed it in an almost poetic way with Dr. Manhattan's character.
ReplyDeleteManoj You must understand also that an almost all powerful being like Dr Manhattan was never omnipresent, he did not have the wisdom of all time and yet he understood that he would do no good using his powers in a chaotic world. He was no longer a humanbeing, he comprehended and accepted that the saving, protecting, and perduration of the race that was now destroying itself was upto it's self. Much like a personal afliction or a vice, noone else can help you to live rightious but yourself (this is the teachings of budda). Now when you started walking you fell, Dr Ostromen had to resurrect himself, and with it learn again how to conduct life through those new powers of his. Now factoring in that he has a human mind, he has feeling, and that also means he can loose them as well. I can explaing his lack of interest and excuse it, simply by saying what is true in all of us, (we get tired) his structured human concience wanted to liberate him self from the pain, and having the power to do so, he did. I would not blame any human for trying to put that in effect and they will, given the chance (we will abandon suffereing). Dr Manhattan left the earth for what ever morals he held and i think for an altruistic purpose. I have seen tirant in the rise and i lived under one of the oldest reign of "Communism" of our period which still stands today, i can tell you that a human concience is not ready in the real world to take on the responsability of an all powerful being and use this power to some good, as is also the same in the movie and the book. Dr Manhattan expressed at one point indirecty what the immense majority of us humans are. I do not hold him at fault, in fact i liked it when he left us to fend for ourselfs..much like i think God has done.
ReplyDeleteGood points Javier, I agree with you. To add, I guess this is what Dr. Manhattan also eluded to when he said "I can change everything, but can't change human mind". So from his point of view, no matter what he does, he will never be able to solve all the problems in the world. Utopia exists only in fiction. Also, kudos for raising the important point that Dr. Manhattan actually did us a favor by leaving earth because his presence (passive) was actually causing more problems by causing the severe imbalance in power and more.
ReplyDeleteBeyonder, SS, Phoenix, Superman, Galactus, DS, DD, Thor, Living Tribune or the entire JL or X-Men, Avengers, TT wouldn't do anything to Dr. M.
ReplyDeleteHe'd just kill Beyonder since he can die and did die...
As for Amazo, all he has to do is duplicate himself into a million and gang up on Amazo. Game over lol.
Good points!!
ReplyDeleteAll AMAZO has to do is LOOK at Dr. Manhattan and PRESTO...he now has ALL the Dr.'s POWERS! End of Story!
ReplyDeleteAMAZO's powers + Dr. M's newly acquired powers...
= AMAZO pwns Dr. Manhattan FTW!!!
'NUFF SAID!
One-Above-All
ReplyDelete