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
