So what do you think is *REBIRTH SPOILERS* motivation and goal?

[BagelMan]

*Watchmen Spoilers as well in this topic!*

So in Watchmen, Dr. Manhattan is so disillusioned with the very concept of life, and so disconnected with humanity that only after seeing humans as "thermodynamic miracles" does he feel motivated enough to help solve the mystery. Only to become disillusioned once again after Veidt squid-nukes New York. He leaves Earth's galaxy for a "less complicated" one, and suggests that he may even create life.

The ending of Rebirth implies so far that the life he created was the DC Universe.

So the question is, what do you think Dr. Manhattan's role in the DC Universe actually is? And what do you think is motivating him to intervene.

What's kind of confusing is that Dr. Manhattan has always seemed kind of "useless" when it came to his omniscient, time-spanning sight. According to him, everything is pre-ordained and he's powerless to change things, even though he knows what's going to happen. So it seems odd that he'd suddenly play a divine interloper, because he never seemed to move away from that perspective in Watchmen.

Personally, the fact that Manhattan would feel compelled to intervene and influence the DC Universe is what has me interested, which is a shame, because it'll probably be a year or two before we actually see him. But as for now, I was wondering what your theories were?

[Lee Stone]

Piecing together several of my other posts regarding Dr. Manhattan and his motivation/goals:


Dr. Manhattan (and Watchmen) looks to be a case of "the ends justify the means", whereas the DCU represents the opposite - that the actions taken have more importance than the end result.
Dr. Manhattan is basically a superhero with near limitless ability and no moral compass to guide him, other than what he perceives the end result should be.
It can possibly be argued that he's trying to see what makes humans tick because human nature is the one thing he cannot grasp.

I recommend reading the Wikipedia entry on Consequentialism. I found it very interesting and may hold a clue to Dr. Manhattan's motivations.

Another thing to think about is Naturalism vs. Realism... and what if a being with the disposition of a Naturalist writer, completely and utterly detached from humanity, had the powers of a God and could actually affect reality..?

And from the speech on page 28, it seems that Pandora began as an agent of his to set into motion his plans... but she, herself, developed compassion for the "subjects" and saw the strength in them that he could not accept or understand.

[Ascended]

Its hard to say, since we havent even seen the guy yet.

At the moment, and lets keep in mind its been several years since I read Watchmen and never bothered with Before Watchmen at all.....

My guess is that Ozymadiasdfasdtgrgyias (I spelled that right, right?) has talked Manhattan into helping him "fix" the DCU.

Basically, Im guessing this is Alexander Luthor and Kal-L from Infinite Crisis all over again. The villain, who appears well meaning and even has a valid point, is recruiting the infinitely more powerful but ultimately a total dupe hero into helping him in his villainous scheme by claiming its really "for the best."

Pandora was likely trying to stop them when she forced WildStorm and Vertigo into the DCU, attempting to fill the "hole" left by the missing decade with heroes capable of going up against the two Watchmen.

And I suspect that, as long as Johns has a role in it, the final resolution will come down to Ozy, Lex Luthor, and Batman.

[Random4]

Its hard to say, since we havent even seen the guy yet.

At the moment, and lets keep in mind its been several years since I read Watchmen and never bothered with Before Watchmen at all.....

My guess is that Ozymadiasdfasdtgrgyias (I spelled that right, right?) has talked Manhattan into helping him "fix" the DCU.

Basically, Im guessing this is Alexander Luthor and Kal-L from Infinite Crisis all over again. The villain, who appears well meaning and even has a valid point, is recruiting the infinitely more powerful but ultimately a total dupe hero into helping him in his villainous scheme by claiming its really "for the best."

Pandora was likely trying to stop them when she forced WildStorm and Vertigo into the DCU, attempting to fill the "hole" left by the missing decade with heroes capable of going up against the two Watchmen.

And I suspect that, as long as Johns has a role in it, the final resolution will come down to Ozy, Lex Luthor, and Batman.

do you think that Mr. Oz (the guy that approached Clark in Rebirth) is Ozymandias in disguise?

[Ascended]

do you think that Mr. Oz (the guy that approached Clark in Rebirth) is Ozymandias in disguise?

Im not sure.

That character, as I understand it, was first introduced in Johns' New52 Superman run, and I skipped that (not a fan of how he writes Clark at all). Without all that to go on, I dont think I can form a proper opinion.

But taking things just on the surface of the Rebirth Special, I certainly think it could be. Whatever else is going on, Superman appears to be a special case, Ozymandias has a history of manipulating the powerful, and the name is pretty obvious to us but would mean nothing to those within the story so there's not much fear of discovery no matter how smart of skilled an investigator Clark is.

[colonyofcells]

My guess is some cosmic villains are going to attack soon and for some reason, they stole the 10 years instead of simply just wiping out the heroes from history. Dr Mahattan is probably just trying to help prime earth. Maybe the other prime earth Watchmen are also trying to help prime earth. The cosmic villains could be a legion of evil Dr Manhattans from the multiverse.