*nods to ironduke555* Dr. Manhattan vs. Deadman

[Guy Smiley]

The Dr. Manhattan vs. Spectre thread made me start thinking about the differences between particle control and reality warping, which led me to question if Manhattan could affect ghosts. Also, about the nature of Dr. Manhattan, who can exist without a body, as well.

Deadman is the usual classic Pre-Blackest Night version.

So, how does this match go?

[Shellhead]

Great topic. My initial instinct is to say that Doctor Manhattan can't effect Deadman, because Doc doesn't have any feats for affecting intangible or supernatural entities. But you raise a good point regarding Doc being able to exist for a time without a body. It happened during his origin, and later when he got disintegrated.

Also, would Deadman be able to possess Doctor Manhattan and use his powers? There must have been situations in the past when Deadman encountered resistance to possession, but I don't recall the circumstances. And it's questionable whether Deadman would be able to use Doctor Manhattan's powers successfully, as he wouldn't have the scientific knowledge to understand how to manipulate matter and energy at the atomic or sub-atomic level.

[Captain Morgan]

If we are talking original Alan Moore Doc here. I’d only give Deadman like… 20% odds of being able to take over Doc. Given the whole being able to exist without a body thing. And even lower odds of being able to utilize Doc’s powers. We know for a fact it took Doc months to figure his stuff out and he was still learning how to use them as he went, and as mentioned he had a background suited to doing so. Boston is not a physicist and I don’t *think* he gets memories from those he inhabits. Also, given the cosmic/chronological/meta awareness Doc had, I would be surprised if most mortal minds didn’t just immediately go cationic from sensory overload.

So Boston isn’t winning here. But can he lose? I think there’s a 70% chance the aforementioned senses can detect Deadman. But I’d say you can flip a coin if Moore would have written Doc being able to affect a ghost. On the one hand, we know Doc wasn’t omnipotent and it was possible to jam his awareness with tachyons, implying limitations based on real world physics. On the other hand, he generally had a good look into the future and we know psychics exist in his universe, so you could make a case that astral beings should still fall into his purview.

Of course, even if Doc CAN detect and affect Boston, there’s still a coin flip that he WOULD. Depends on what he thinks the timeline wants.

Now, if we are talking this DCU version who can rewrite the entire history of the universe, I’m comfortable saying that he can do whatever he wants to Boston.