Watchmen is to Rebirth as Pandora was to New 52?

[keeen]

Bear with me, because there may be a lot of New 52 continuity that I just didn't pay attention to.

When New 52 launched, there was much consternation amongst fans about, "How does this work?" "How did this happen, in-universe?" "What's the timeline now?" "What do characters remember?" etc

At the time, fanboys (and girls) could get excited about the 52 appearances of that mysterious female, because therein lay the promise of some grand EXPLANATIONS! The clear implication was that this woman was someone involved in the continuity-altering event, and that her involvement would be revisited at some point.

To my knowledge, it never really was? She turned out to be a totally meaningless and irrelevant character?

So, anyway, now with rebirth, I'm seeing some of the same questions, and some of the same fanboy/girl anticipation that The Watchmen Event, when it eventually comes, will explain EVERYTHING.

Will it? Will the Watchmen even appear again? Will Dr. Manhattan's apparent role in "causing" the relaunch ever be explored to anyone's satisfaction? Or is it just misdirection to keep the fans from griping too much right now? In a few years when everyone's accepted the new continuity, will we all just sort of recall, "Oh, yeah, whatever happened to..."

[Sharkey]

My short and cynical answer would be that the writers might try to explain Watchmen's presence in the DC universe but fail to deliver a decent enough story or in-canon reason why though.

Speaking of Pandora, I like to imagine when she was killed in the Rebirth special she exploded into lots of little blood-stained Watchmen badges as sort form of humourous (if heavy-handed) symbolism.

[Myskin]

I'd rather say that Watchmen is to Rebirth what Mephisto was to Spider-man: One More Day.

[cranger]

Well, aside from her role in Trinity War/Forever Evil, technically Rebirth is following up the whole Pandora/Flashpoint thing.

Sure it was supposed to lead to something else and it was not the only thing Geoff Johns set up and never went back to, but I think Watchmen is something DC feels they can go back to without any fear of not being a sales hit whereas what to do with Pandora always would have the problem of 'who cares about her'.

[hammergiant]

Watchmen has more weight and history than Pandora ever did. I still don't know how they will incorporate them into the larger DCU, or if they should, but they are not a one-off concept like Pandora turned out to be.

[Icefalcon]

To my knowledge, it never really was? She turned out to be a totally meaningless and irrelevant character?

Ouch that's harsh. I wouldn't say she was the worst character in N52

[king of hybrids]

by herself, the idea of the mythological pandora as a pulp-y heroine hanging out with Judas Iscariot and whatever the hell Nu52 Question was originally supposed to be sounds interesting

flashpoint however killed that interest

[Atlanta96]

Ouch that's harsh. I wouldn't say she was the worst character in N52

She wasn't the worst, but she was the most pointless. I'll admit that I cracked up a little at her demise. It felt so self aware, like they knew how wasted and irrelevant she was, so they literally got rid of her with a hand wave.

I'm positive that they'll follow through with the Watchmen characters and Manhattans involvement in the Flashpoint shenanigans. They're too important to just hint at and never follow up on. It could be a great story, or it could suck. Rebirth has been decent so far so I think it will be at least somewhat satisfying.

[colonyofcells]

My guess is Dr Manhattan has many agents or watchmen working for him to help him watch the dc heroes. Most of these watchmen are probably new characters. Before coie, the monitor was working with many villains in the many dc titles.

[Icefalcon]

She wasn't the worst, but she was the most pointless. I'll admit that I cracked up a little at her demise. It felt so self aware, like they knew how wasted and irrelevant she was, so they literally got rid of her with a hand wave.

I'm always sad when they do that. I feel if they can't use the character they should leave them in limbo for someone who can. Every character can be brilliant with the right idea and writer.