Spoilers ahead. You’ve been warned. For more read the review.
It may be on a slower schedule than many would prefer, but Doomsday Clock has certainly been a unique and beautifully drawn ride from the start. Geoff Johns and Gary Frank have delivered twists and turns throughout the 9-panel grid epic that ties Watchmen to the DC Universe proper.
All along the way, Ozymandias has been the driving force for what has gone wrong in the world, from the new Rorschach losing his mind to the entire legion of superheroes heading to Mars to fight Dr. Manhattan. He’s clearly manipulated many, including Marinette and Mime to enact some sort of plan. In today’s issue, we finally get an explanation for what Ozymandias has been up to from the start.
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Near the last quarter of the book, Ozymandias explains to Saturn Girl what he has been up to. First, he discusses his original plan, which was to convince Dr. Manhattan to come back to his universe and fix the nuclear war that destroyed it.
His plan was to convince Dr. Manhattan to go back to his world by reminding him of a mother who lost her child at the hands of the Comedian that he could have avoided. By seeing Marinette, he’d feel remorse and be reminded of the family he tried to protect. It basically outlines what we saw in the first few issues of the series. There is also a recap of how he used Rorschach in all of this, which ultimately doesn’t matter all that much.
After his plan was already kicked off, Ozymandias explains how he realized why Dr. Manhattan came to the DC Universe.
It was to be around others like him. Godlike heroes.
Basically put, Ozymandias explains the second half of this series has revolved around a new plan to sic the world against Superman. He has created a threat that has sent all heroes — save for Batman and Superman — to Mars, leaving Superman vulnerable.
With the world against Superman and every villain prepared to fight Superman without any heroes to aid him, Ozymandias has left Superman vulnerable. Presumably, Ozymandias has set the stage so that Superman and Dr. Manhattan can not only meet one on one but fight, possibly to the death.
In the final page, we see the two meeting for the first time, ending the issue on the cliffhanger of their first interaction in the series.
So what does this mean? How does Superman and Dr. Manhattan fighting “save both worlds”? Is his intention for Superman to die? Does he want them to somehow combine into one, making a super-duper Dr. Man? Do we really think Superman will fight Dr. Manhattan considering how rational Superman has been throughout this series? We’ll have to find out when Doomsday Clock #12 comes out, and since a release date has yet to be announced, we can only hope it is sometime before 2020.
This is only part of the story though and I highly recommend you read the whole thing to get the full picture!
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