Place your bets: Who is behind the Superman Theory? *Doomsday Clock spoilers*

[Bored at 3:00AM]

From my perspective, the clues seem to be building each issue towards the inevitable conclusion that the Justice Leaguer behind the secret American government superhuman program is....

drumroll...

Professor Martin Stein, the second half of the Firestorm matrix. When we first met Stein, he was a nuclear scientist. Perhaps the "accident" that created Firestorm was originally meant to empower Stein, but Ronnie Raymond became involved and ended up becoming the consciousness driving Firestorm. This would play into the idea that Ostrander had already established that Stein was the intended host of the fire elemental that became Firestorm.

Furthermore, most of the villains revealed to be secret government agents have been part of Firestorm's rogues gallery. It would also make sense that, if Luthor is indeed correct and the person behind the Superman Theory is a member of the JLA, then we've probably already seen them. Aside from the brief cameos by Superman, Batman and Firestorm are the only Justice Leaguers who have appeared in Doomsday Clock.

Anybody got a better theory?

(Oh, and if you are about to comment in this thread just to chime in about how much you hate Doomsday Clock or to complain about the delays, please don't. We are all well-aware that some of you don't like this story. We don't need a reminder. Thank you.)

[Raijin]

For the longest i was thinking maybe Captain Atom is behind the Superman theory, simply because he's one of the few Leaguers who has government ties. But i think your theory works way better.

[Myskin]

I had this theory that Johns pulled a "Doombot" plot twist and had Manhattan impersonate alternately every single character in the DCU for a certain amount of time. Basically every single story which cannot be kept in continuity is a Manhattan-focused story, even if we didn't know it so far. Not a great theory. However, should it be true, Manhattan could have been Cap Atom, Superman, or Martin Stein at one point in history.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I had this theory that Johns pulled a "Doombot" plot twist and had Manhattan impersonate alternately every single character in the DCU for a certain amount of time. Basically every single story which cannot be kept in continuity is a Manhattan-focused story, even if we didn't know it so far. Not a great theory. However, should it be true, Manhattan could have been Cap Atom, Superman, or Martin Stein at one point in history.

Do you think Dr. Manhattan is behind the Superman Theory?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

For the longest i was thinking maybe Captain Atom is behind the Superman theory, simply because he's one of the few Leaguers who has government ties. But i think your theory works way better.

Captain Atom is the obvious choice, but we've seen none of him nor have we heard about him so far. That said, I am sure Johns will not be able to resist playing with the similarities between the two.

[ducklord]

From my perspective, the clues seem to be building each issue towards the inevitable conclusion that the Justice Leaguer behind the secret American government superhuman program is....

drumroll...

Professor Martin Stein, the second half of the Firestorm matrix. When we first met Stein, he was a nuclear scientist. Perhaps the "accident" that created Firestorm was originally meant to empower Stein, but Ronnie Raymond became involved and ended up becoming the consciousness driving Firestorm. This would play into the idea that Ostrander had already established that Stein was the intended host of the fire elemental that became Firestorm.

Furthermore, most of the villains revealed to be secret government agents have been part of Firestorm's rogues gallery. It would also make sense that, if Luthor is indeed correct and the person behind the Superman Theory is a member of the JLA, then we've probably already seen them. Aside from the brief cameos by Superman, Batman and Firestorm are the only Justice Leaguers who have appeared in Doomsday Clock.

Anybody got a better theory?

(Oh, and if you are about to comment in this thread just to chime in about how much you hate Doomsday Clock or to complain about the delays, please don't. We are all well-aware that some of you don't like this story. We don't need a reminder. Thank you.)

Sadly, I think you may be correct. The focus on the Firestorm villains, the fact that the smartest person on the planet (Luthor) thinks it's a JLA member, the fact that Firestorm is one of only a handful of JLA members that we've seen in the comic, combined with the fact the Johns generally "plays fair" in his stories (Flashpoint aside, but that was an anomaly)... it all points to Firestorm somehow being involved in the creation of all these metas. And Stein seems to fit the role.

In most cases this would be a pretty upsetting retcon ("That's right, Ronnie... I never told you how I was behind a secret military project that created Firestorm and most of our villains.") But considering how fluid the DCU's timeline is right now, I'm interested to see how this all might pay out. Heck, Stein might turn out to BE Dr. Manhattan...

[Myskin]

Do you think Dr. Manhattan is behind the Superman Theory?

Manhattan's powers (apparently) and motivations are so different from what we have seen in the original Watchmen that we can imagine everything at this point.

[liwanag]

martin stein does make sense...

about captain atom, i'm not sure what his motivations would be if it was him. i'd rather believe it was wade eiling or dr megala, rather than nathaniel adams.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Sadly, I think you may be correct. The focus on the Firestorm villains, the fact that the smartest person on the planet (Luthor) thinks it's a JLA member, the fact that Firestorm is one of only a handful of JLA members that we've seen in the comic, combined with the fact the Johns generally "plays fair" in his stories (Flashpoint aside, but that was an anomaly)... it all points to Firestorm somehow being involved in the creation of all these metas. And Stein seems to fit the role.

In most cases this would be a pretty upsetting retcon ("That's right, Ronnie... I never told you how I was behind a secret military project that created Firestorm and most of our villains.") But considering how fluid the DCU's timeline is right now, I'm interested to see how this all might pay out. Heck, Stein might turn out to BE Dr. Manhattan...

Bingo. Stein and Manhattan have surprisingly similar backgrounds. Tick-tock Tyler. Maybe the identity hopping theory is correct. He's been Captain Atom, Stein, Hourman, Superman and more.

[Franny6422]

Captain Carrot is the culprit.

[theoneandonly]

Maxwell lord just like when he was behind the OMAC conspiracy.

[jetengine]

Manhatten himself. I think this Luthor thing is a red herring and the Superman Theory is merely Dr Manhatten warping reality in such a way to distract the heroes (whom he cant just kill due to meta-narrative reasons) a secret government conspiracy to make super soldiers seems exactly like the kind of idea Manhatten could think up. Its darkly cynical enough to come from his mind and feels very watchmen.