Does Dr. Manhattan reality-warp on a higher level than Anti-Monitor/S-Boy Prime?

[Buried Alien]

Before Dr. Manhattan, the greatest reality warpers in DC history were the Anti-Monitor (COIE), Parallax Hal Jordan (ZERO HOUR), Superboy Prime (INFINITE CRISIS), and Telos (CONVERGENCE).

Based on what we've seen in DOOMSDAY CLOCK, does Dr. Manhattan operate on a higher level than even those beings? Would beings such as Anti-Monitor or Superboy-Prime give Dr. Manhattan pause because they have the power to neutralize or undo his manipulations, or would even they be equally helpless to affect reality on Dr. Manhattan's level? Does Manhattan operate on the same level as those other reality-warpers, or does he operate on a level beyond even them?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I'd guess he's on equal footing with each of those guys, but in a different way.

The Anti-Monitor was pure evil incarnate. Parallax was more patient and methodical, but his mind was obviously torn in two directions Superboy-Prime was a powerhouse, but emotionally fragile. Telos was...um....boring?

Dr. Manhattan's ability to see all of time and space, before and after retcons, gives him a huge advantage in addition to his other abilities over matter. However, like the rest of them, he's not unbeatable given the right circumstances.

Looks like a job for Superman.

[Buried Alien]

I'd guess he's on equal footing with each of those guys, but in a different way.

The Anti-Monitor was pure evil incarnate. Parallax was more patient and methodical, but his mind was obviously torn in two directions Superboy-Prime was a powerhouse, but emotionally fragile. Telos was...um....boring?

Dr. Manhattan's ability to see all of time and space, before and after retcons, gives him a huge advantage in addition to his other abilities over matter. However, like the rest of them, he's not unbeatable given the right circumstances.

Looks like a job for Superman.

Ultimately, it always comes down to the Man of Steel cleaning the cosmic bad guy's (doomsday) clock.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[mr_crisp]

I feel like Dr. Manhattan is more powerful than these guys because he comes from out of the DC Universe so he isn't attached to it.

[Buried Alien]

I feel like Dr. Manhattan is more powerful than these guys because he comes from out of the DC Universe so he isn't attached to it.

I get that sense myself. Manhattan is aware of what the Anti-Monitor and Telos did, and seems unimpressed by their feats.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Dred]

I don't think so. He's just actively using time travel and has a unique style of perception that those others clearly don't. He's certainly not as outright powerful as them, or has shown nothing of the sort.

I don't think he's unimpressed. As a matter of fact, this is the most impressed he's ever been. All the crazy continuity shifting stuff literally had him talking about enraptured and interested he was in what was going on because it makes his temporal awareness much more lively. He's now in a world where there's no strings, but he can still see.

[Buried Alien]

I don't think so. He's just actively using time travel and has a unique style of perception that those others clearly don't. He's certainly not as outright powerful as them, or has shown nothing of the sort.

A Dr. Manhattan vs. Anti-Monitor showdown would be interesting. Manhattan trades in positive matter, but not sure how he would deal with antimatter. Anti-Monitor is adept at time-travel, but he doesn't perceive all of time simultaneously the way that Manhattan does.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[CaptCleghorn]

If I were to seriously look at these three, I'd start at the assumption that reality warping is reality warping and amount of power used doesn't matter. Actual reality warping and prospective reality-warp battles would be like chess games where opponents are on equal footing, but it becomes a game of skill and not "I'm stronger".

Superboy Prime is a thug here, punching and hitting without finesse or skill/. Unless he's actually punching Manhattan or the Anit-Monitor, he's be a non-factor.
Anti-Monitor has home field advantage. He knows the players and the shiftings of the DC multiverse. He knows what direction the ball will bounce in his field.
Dr Manhattan knows the rules. He is expert on cause and effect and his weakness is the idiosyncrasies of the DC multiverse. But once he learns the field, I put my money on Jon.

[Dred]

A Dr. Manhattan vs. Anti-Monitor showdown would be interesting. Manhattan trades in positive matter, but not sure how he would deal with antimatter. Anti-Monitor is adept at time-travel, but he doesn't perceive all of time simultaneously the way that Manhattan does.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

I don't think Manhattan is really ever used correctly if it's just a power vs power situation. The point of Manhattan is to be relatively unassailable because of his powers because that is very important to his perspective. If you're dispelling that value you have to be working towards some other character beat that follows interestingly and I'm not sure AM has the personality or character to incite that...Superman might, which is the premise of Dclock, so there we are.

Manhattan's time vision makes any fight kind of weird unless you start throwing tachyons at everything. He already knows if he loses, so he'll just causally affect it, and if the other person can stop that then he sees that already and etc etc. A fight is the worst direction to take Manhattan, but that's purely in my opinion.

If I were to seriously look at these three, I'd start at the assumption that reality warping is reality warping and amount of power used doesn't matter. Actual reality warping and prospective reality-warp battles would be like chess games where opponents are on equal footing, but it becomes a game of skill and not "I'm stronger".

Superboy Prime is a thug here, punching and hitting without finesse or skill/. Unless he's actually punching Manhattan or the Anit-Monitor, he's be a non-factor.
Anti-Monitor has home field advantage. He knows the players and the shiftings of the DC multiverse. He knows what direction the ball will bounce in his field.
Dr Manhattan knows the rules. He is expert on cause and effect and his weakness is the idiosyncrasies of the DC multiverse. But once he learns the field, I put my money on Jon.

AM was originally beat by just stacking up a bunch of power from across the multiverse and throwing it at him until he couldn't overwhelm it.

He's the most susceptible to it!

[JonaX]

One thing I find a bit confusing is that Manhattan is able to meddle with the DC Universe, yet doesn't or cannot meddle with his own Universe.

[Robotman]

Dr. Manhattan has become a 5th dimensional being, but obviously stronger than Mr. Myx. He’s outside the time-stream and able to flip through time and events as if he were a person reading a comic book. Actually more like an editor since he can alter the events of the story. I think a reason why the hero’s powers didn’t effect him is because he’s only partially there. He’s everywhere at once so damaging him at that point in time doesn’t do much.

Superboy Prime was just strong and punching the reality barrier created shock waves. He’s no where near Manhattan’s level.

As for the Anti-Monitor, he’s one of the most powerful beings in the universe but he’s still beholden to the rules of the “metaverse”.

Extant comes closes as he could actually change events in the times stream.

[JonaX]

Dr. Manhattan has become a 5th dimensional being, but obviously stronger than Mr. Myx. He’s outside the time-stream and able to flip through time and events as if he were a person reading a comic book. Actually more like an editor since he can alter the events of the story. I think a reason why the hero’s powers didn’t effect him is because he’s only partially there. He’s everywhere at once so damaging him at that point in time doesn’t do much.

Superboy Prime was just strong and punching the reality barrier created shock waves. He’s no where near Manhattan’s level.

As for the Anti-Monitor, he’s one of the most powerful beings in the universe but he’s still beholden to the rules of the “metaverse”.

Extant comes closes as he could actually change events in the times stream.

Manhattan can be hurt, both Captain Atom and Firestorm were able to use their powers on him but he was able to reconstruct himself and Adrian was able to use the Lantern via Bubastis to essentially drag him to their location.

[manwhohaseverything]

You forgot mxy, Dr manhattan is said to be more powerful than mxy. So, i believe the others don't stand a chance.

[Masterff]

You forgot also Barry Allen, Barry was the cause of Flashpoint,NEW52 etc. etc.

[Buried Alien]

You forgot also Barry Allen, Barry was the cause of Flashpoint,NEW52 etc. etc.

Yes...the speedsters, though they seem to have extremely limited control over their time-altering abilities, and beings such as the Anti-Monitor and Dr. Manhattan can easily neutralize them.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)