The Watchers have been a part of the Marvel comics universe since Uatu’s first appearance in Fantastic Four #13 in 1963, and now, they’re poised to observe the MCU in the same way. When Uatu the Watcher—played by Jeffrey Wright—finally appears in What If? he will bring a certain amount of gravitas to the show.
For those wondering why that is, and who Uatu the Watcher is, there is a lot of comics canon to draw from. There is, after all, much more for a Watcher to do than just watch and Uatu and his people have a wild history.
10 This is not the first time the Watchers have been in the MCU
While the Benatar bounced through far too many jump points, crossing the universe at ludicrous speeds, they whooshed past a group of Watchers, taking note from the one and only Stan Lee.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 marked the official introduction of the Watchers, and, with Ego, the movie introduced the MCU audience to a wider and weirder universe than they’d seen previously.
9 Uatu is the Man on the Moon
The moon does seem to be a perfect place for a hidden alien to observe Earth, and that’s exactly what Uatu does in the comics. Of course, the moon is much higher traffic in the comics, with mutants and Inhumans living there from time to time, but with a few exceptions, Uatu’s base is usually quiet, letting him record the events of Earth without disturbance.
He does have visitors now and then. Reed Richards and Nick Fury both have shown up—occasionally with questionable intentions—and several of his neighbors, like the Inhumans, are aware of him.
8 The Blue Marvel can make Uatu smile
When the Blue Marvel was struggling with his place as a supremely powerful hero and a black man in America, he found a quiet spot on the moon to vent. Uatu found him, angry and frustrated and the two discussed what Uatu had seen in humanity and what the Blue Marvel had experienced.
Their friendship is so firm that Blue Marvel occasionally calls Uatu “the Doer”, because of his interference with humanity. The nickname makes the Watcher smile.
7 Uatu holds to his oath not to interfere, most of the time
Watchers are charged with recording and standing witness to the events of the world they’ve been assigned, but they must not interfere with those events. Uatu has upheld this, even in the face of his own death, but a few times he was compelled to try to step in on humanity’s behalf.
He projected fires and destruction onto the planet to dissuade Galactus from eating Earth. When that didn’t work, he tried to reason with the World Eater, and then helped them get the Ultimate Nullifier, the only weapon capable of stopping Galactus.
6 Uatu stood trial for his ethical violations
Eventually, the other Watchers caught wind of what was going on around Earth and Uatu had to face a trial for his interference. He admitted that the world he was observing seemed to pull him into its story and he’d developed an emotional attachment to the Earthlings.
He was released but had to swear that he would never interfere again, despite his feelings. He, however, didn’t live up to this promise and eventually was cast out of the Watcher society for a time. He never stopped watching Earth though and was eventually reinstated.
5 The Watchers have been around for a long time
The Watchers were the first intelligent species born into the universe. They learned early on that watching and recording the events of the universe was the best use of their power. Their oath to only observe was born from an early attempt to help another species, which led to the destruction of that species.
These cosmic beings are a part of the balance of the universe and frequently come into conflict with the Celestials, both races keeping each other honest in their endeavors.
4 Every universe has Watchers
While there are some variations to how the Watchers exist and what they are from place to place, they do exist in some form in all Marvel Universes. In the Ultimate universe, they were rock statues with glowing red eyes that recorded all the events in that universe.
They’ve popped up in many Marvel animated series as well. There were three Watchers in the audience of Mojo’s Arena on Avengers Assemble. Uatu was also part of the supervillain Big Heads Convention on Super Hero Squad.
3 Uatu was murdered
In the main 616 continuity, Uatu suffered something of a grizzly end. After being attacked by several supervillains including the Orb, and they plucked out one of his eyes. Uatu’s eyes store the information he’s collected in his observation. When he refused to give up the identities of his attackers, Nick Fury killed him and took the other eye.
This started the hunt for Uatu's killer, and the Original Sin event. Fury was punished by being put in Uatu’s place. The Council of Watchers gave Fury the remains of Uatu’s powers and bound him to the Moon, making him the Unseen.
2 Uatu got better
After a failed attempt by a race of plant people to take over the universe, their weapons were taken and studied by the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. The Unseen—formally known as Nick Fury—got his hands on some of the weaponry as well, for his own education. The presence of that weapon triggered a change, and Uatu burst out of the Watcher’s eye that Fury had been given, once again alive.
This is probably tied to the level of power the Watchers have. It has been said that they can wish themselves back into being after death through the powers of their minds.
1 He sees all in the multiverse
Uatu is not just watching the one version of Earth that lays before him. He has taken an interest in all the many forms of that Earth, and its inhabitants, take throughout the multiverse, which makes him the perfect guide for the What If? series on Disney+.
Uatu has, in the past, shown up to observe major events personally, and the resulting what if scenarios have been covered in the What If? comics series, framed as Uatu’s logs of these alternate universes. Sometimes these events even become main continuity canon.