The Cosmic Hand, Dr. Manhattan, Superboy-Prime, The Button, & Rebirth: A Theory

[theonetruebatman]

At the end of Watchmen Doctor Manhattan explains that he may decide to go and create life before leaving Earth indefinitely. Throughout the history of the DC Universe and namely that of COIE, Multiversity, an episode of JLU, and other media a Cosmic hand has been shown manipulating and creating the cosmos and the Universe in DC Comics lore. That hand has always been a pale color but most recently it has been shown to be blue. In Rebirth we see the hand reach down and manipulate things. We see this in many different stories as well.

I posit that Doctor Manhattan is literally that Cosmic Being that has created the DC Universe as his form of life and his power has a side-effect which gives off the DC Universes superpowers in metahuman genes.

I believe that Superboy Prime learns of Doctor Manhattan and Watchmen and after having his own time in places like the Source Wall, living in prison on OA, and also having an Omnibus of knowledge that is the DC catalog he has broken the Universe to finally create the perfect world that he, Kal-L, and Alexander Luthor sought in Infinite Crisis. He is creating things the way that some fans see the Universe logically and he may even be in way over his head as the continuity is utterly broken and he may not be able to keep it straight. I believe that he is Mr. Oz and he is forming an army to take on Dr. Manhattan in order to keep his universe the way he has made and that of Doctor Manhattan is trying to fix the mess he has made.

I believe that Doctor Manhattan is actually the good guy in all of this and it will come to pass that the Watchmen aren't actually characters in the DCU at all but that of another plane of existence. They are however obviously bleeding over into our world. Will we actually see Veidt, Owl, Silk, and Rorschach? I think not. I did have a theory that Rorschach may actually be the new 52's Question as he is cursed and doesn't remember who he is which would be Superboy Prime or even Manhattans way of not letting anyone spill the beans about the Watchmen characters. However, that theory was shot down by Scott Snyder last week at Emerald City Comic Con. So Booo---Urns on that.

However, I would love to hear thoughts on this. I think evidence is mounting that all of this may be the case.

[victorsage]

I really hope they don't retcon the Cosmic Hand to be Dr. Manhattan. That would be pathetic.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

At the end of Watchmen Doctor Manhattan explains that he may decide to go and create life before leaving Earth indefinitely. Throughout the history of the DC Universe and namely that of COIE, Multiversity, an episode of JLU, and other media a Cosmic hand has been shown manipulating and creating the cosmos and the Universe in DC Comics lore. That hand has always been a pale color but most recently it has been shown to be blue. In Rebirth we see the hand reach down and manipulate things. We see this in many different stories as well.

I'm not sure, in CoIE the hand of creation was said to originally be Krona.(granted it's been a while since I read Coie) The hand of Creation has been the Spectre, Anti Monitor. Like in the end of Coie. None of that disproves it could be Manhattans hand though. Ultimately I think it's possible that if not the original Hand, Manhattan is the "Hand" seen on the cover of Rebirth one shot. It might require a little bit of retconning, but that has never stopped Johns before. And Manhattans intentions at the end of Watchmen/Hand analogy is certainly makes me wonder.

I posit that Doctor Manhattan is literally that Cosmic Being that has created the DC Universe as his form of life and his power has a side-effect which gives off the DC Universes superpowers in metahuman genes.

Maybe...or something similar perhaps...I'm not sure DC would go quite THAT far.

I believe that Doctor Manhattan is actually the good guy in all of this and it will come to pass that the Watchmen aren't actually characters in the DCU at all but that of another plane of existence. They are however obviously bleeding over into our world. Will we actually see Veidt, Owl, Silk, and Rorschach? I think not. I did have a theory that Rorschach may actually be the new 52's Question as he is cursed and doesn't remember who he is which would be Superboy Prime or even Manhattans way of not letting anyone spill the beans about the Watchmen characters. However, that theory was shot down by Scott Snyder last week at Emerald City Comic Con. So Booo---Urns on that.

In regard to the bolded, I'm leaning that way myself. I still kinda doubt that Dr. Manhattan, or Owl will be prowling the streets of the DCU.

[SuperCrab]

In regard to the bolded, I'm leaning that way myself. I still kinda doubt that Dr. Manhattan, or Owl will be prowling the streets of the DCU.

It depends. If you are a looking at it purely from a business angle, some Warner Brothers or DC Comics executives probably see owning the rights to these well known characters and not using them in crossovers with their other well-known characters as leaving money on the table that could be their money. Said people could look at Rebirth as proof that there is money in Watchmen/DC Universe crossovers. I mean, if DC Comics acquired Marvel or vice-versa, we'd expect the Marvel characters to cross over with the DC Comics characters, wouldn't we?

[victorsage]

I've personally always saw the symbolism of "the hand" to be the "creators" hand, in this case the writers and artist of DC comics over the years who have created this universe. I'd prefer that idea over it being a pastiche of Captain Atom.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

It depends. If you are a looking at it purely from a business angle, some Warner Brothers or DC Comics executives probably see owning the rights to these well known characters and not using them in crossovers with their other well-known characters as leaving money on the table that could be their money.

Won't disagree with that. lol

Said people could look at Rebirth as proof that there is money in Watchmen/DC Universe crossovers. I mean, if DC Comics acquired Marvel or vice-versa, we'd expect the Marvel characters to cross over with the DC Comics characters, wouldn't we?

It wouldn't bother me if they didn't show up, but there is a lot of fans who are expecting it, and you can't hardly blame them for thinking so, DC/Johns has basically said as much. To the point even that there may be significant backlash if they don't show up at all, I'm with you on that.

[RedWhiteAndBlueSupes]

Things that support Superboy Prime as Mr. Oz.

He seems to resemble him, and has a distinguished red eye twinkle similar to Prime.

Things that don't Support Prime as Mr. Oz.

The perfume bottle tattoo seen on one of his informants seems much more like Ozymandias' MO than Prime.

[theonetruebatman]

Things that support Superboy Prime as Mr. Oz.

He seems to resemble him, and has a distinguished red eye twinkle similar to Prime.

Things that don't Support Prime as Mr. Oz.

The perfume bottle tattoo seen on one of his informants seems much more like Ozymandias' MO than Prime.

Theres actually far more that lends to the idea. Read the artlcle on the matter at Newsarama. They put together a pretty compelling case.

[theonetruebatman]

I believe my COSMICC HAND being Manhattan part of the theory is ever more likely with Thawne in Batman 21 saying he saw "GOD". I am not so confident in the Superboy Prime part of my threory. I believe if he was going to show up it would have happened in Reborn if at all. I am honestly back to believing that Mr. Oz is Ozymandias from Watchmen and nothing more. I still believe that Manhattan may be a misunderstood benevolence in all of this though. Everything however about my theory OTHER than Dr. Manhattan being the Cosmic Hand is in flux though until we get to the end of The Button after which I will re-examine this theory again.

[Atomic Man]

I don't think Manhattan created the DCU. I do think, however, that an event of cosmic proportions caught Manhattan's attention. He decided to investigate and found a band of extraordinary beings in combat with an entity set to destroy all reality at the dawn of time. Manhattan watched these beings defeat the creature and then return to their universes of origin.

Manhattan created a composite world based on the lives of those beings, a "New Earth" that he designed for examination and experimentation. When its history doesn't go the way he likes or he wants to introduce new variables, there are temporal and dimensional crises. This Earth experiences a version of the original Crisis Manhattan witnessed, as well as a Crisis In Time, an Infinite Crisis, a Final Crisis, and then a Flashpoint. All of which result from his tampering.

Rebirth is the product of his experiments going rogue, first Wally West and then Kal-El. Meanwhile, in the Multi-Multiverse, the original iterations of these characters live on in their own universes, blissfully unaware of their doppelgangers and their plight. For now, at least...