Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan Killed Superman's Parents

WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Doomsday Clock #1 by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank and Brad Anderson, on sale now.

There’s a lot to pick apart with Doomsday Clock #1, but perhaps the most intriguing vignette is the epilogue concerning Superman’s nightmare. As we see and as he describes to Lois, Clark Kent has a visceral and all-too-real nightmare of the night of his parents’ death, but its more than a memory. After the Kents drop a young Clark Kent off at the prom, the nightmare follows them through to their untimely end in a car crash as a truck comes up from behind and clips their pick-up, sending them hurtling off the road.

Of course, the reader has to wonder, why did Superman have this nightmare on that night of all nights, when he’s never had a nightmare before in his life? And what does it have to do with the larger story of Doomsday Clock?

Unquantifiable Abstracts

Watchmen was renowned for using books and other pieces of media to allude to story themes or hint towards where the story was going next. As an example in Watchmen #1, Hollis Mason has four books that we can see on display: Two copies of his autobiography Under The Hood, a book titled Automobile Maintenance and a copy of Philip Wylie’s pioneering sci-fi novel Gladiator. Gladiator is a 1930s story about a scientist that performs experiments on his pregnant wife that results in their child being born with superhuman powers. The novel is said to have been an influence on Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster when they created Superman and is hailed as one of the first pieces of superhero fiction of the twentieth century.

In Doomsday Clock, we see that Clark Kent has been reading B.F. Skinner’s Walden Two, which could be a reference to either Doctor Manhattan or Ozymandias. The novel is about a community that operates peacefully outside of the norms of democracy via social engineering. This could be a reference to Ozymandias’ goal to trick the world into a more peaceful state, but it’s more likely a reference to Doctor Manhattan’s interfering with the history of the DC Universe in an attempt to make it perfect. Doctor Manhattan exists outside of time, he can see all of it and remember all of it simultaneously, though he is forced to travel through it linearly. What’s stopping him using that ability to meddle with the past and future of the DC Universe in order to make it more to his liking?

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Watchmaker

One thing that stands out towards the end of Doomsday Clock #1 — especially on multiple readings — is the way we see a change in panel structure once Doctor Manhattan is mentioned by name. The issue follows the nine-panel grid of Watchmen throughout, and when it doesn’t such as on the title page, that’s also because Watchmen did it that way — compare the title page to Watchmen #1 if you don’t believe me. However, as soon as Doctor Manhattan’s name is mentioned towards the end, the panel structure shifts, giving us an extra panel. But it’s more complicated than that; the extra panel we get is a flashback to Watchmen #12, but if we take that panel away it reads pretty much the same and would retain its nine-panel grid structure. It’s almost as if that idea of Doctor Manhattan changes the very reality of the comic itself, forcing its way into the page.

The final pages set in the DC Universe only adhere to the nine-panel grid on the pages that Doctor Manhattan’s presence is felt. It’s represented via the pale blue light that shines into Lois and Clark’s bedroom, but the next page breaks the structure, going to a twelve-panel grid in Clark’s dream — because Doctor Manhattan isn’t in that scene. However the next two pages go back to the nine panel grid, representing the influence of the Watchmen world on the DC Universe. The car crash is particularly brutal, and Gary Frank even pulls out one of Dave Gibbons’ favorite tricks by using the elements to split one panel into three. Look at that panel again and notice the placement of the tree trunk; it deliberately turns one wide horizontal panel into three vertical panels lining up with the ones above it. Lastly, the final page where Superman wakes up and tells Lois about his nightmare ends with both characters bathed in the ominous pale blue light from the window, representing Doctor Manhattan’s interference with their lives.

An Intricately Structured Jewel

If we lean into the theory and ask why would Doctor Manhattan be responsible for the deaths of the Kents, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. It’s all but certain that Doctor Manhattan is responsible for the stealing of a decade’s worth of relationships and time from the DC Universe but we haven’t seen exactly how that happened. This could be the first example of such a change to continuity that we’ve seen; a small nudge here or there, and the entire world is changed. If the Kents’ pick-up was just a few inches further forward then the truck would have whizzed by them and they’d still be alive. That’s all it takes.

Each incarnation of Superman is defined by his relationship to The Kents. In Mark Waid and Stuart Immonen’s Superman: Birthright, the Kents are supportive almost to a fault, which results in a kind and compassionate Superman. In Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel, the Kents are wary and warn Clark not to use his powers in public, resulting in a much more closed off and cold Superman. The current incarnation of Superman in DC continuity lost his parents as a teenager, which meant he became Superman free from their influence and as such was a much more rebellious crimefighter as seen in Grant Morrison and Rags Morales’ Action Comics.

Whether it be through Mr. Mxyzptlk or Mr. Oz, it’s obvious that Doctor Manhattan has taken an interest in the Man of Steel and is responsible for changes to his history and continuity; this year’s “Superman Reborn” crossover event confirmed as much. The question now is how much has he changed, what else will he change and how is Superman supposed to go up against a being that is essentially god?