Characters / Doomsday Clock

Character page for the Doomsday Clock comic books.

For the original versions of the Watchmen characters and other versions, go here.

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Characters Appearing in Doomsday Clock

New Characters

Reggie Long / Rorschach II

^{Click here to see him without his mask.}

• Affirmative-Action Legacy: Underneath his mask, this Rorschach is African-American, which he reveals by removing his gloves and showing his hand to Marionette.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: When staying as a guest in Wayne Manor in issue #3 he complains guest rooms are too large and wants something smaller. He ends that issue locked in a small cell in Arkham Asylum.
• Berserk Button: Implying he is superior to his predecessor, because he sees it not as flattery but for the Backhanded Compliment, Stealth Insult and faint praise that it is always intended as.
  • He also really hates being called crazy or written off as such. Bruce bluntly doing as much causes Reggie to completely lose it.
• Broken Pedestal: After finding out how the original Rorschach ruined his dad's life, Reggie seems to have lost at least some of his delusions about Kovacs. Subverted by issue #12 where he dons the Rorschach mask again after gaining some encouragement from Batman and Alfred, using the masks to reinvent back in something better: a heroic vigilante
• Character Exaggeration: Reggie's sentence fragments are far more prominent than Kovacs’. It at least makes sense in this instance, since Reggie never personally met Walter and only emulates the syntax of Rorschach’s journal.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: A dark example.
• Despair Event Horizon: By issue #9, Reggie's so far gone after the revelations of issue #7 that he's out in the streets and holding up "The End is Near"-type signs like his predecessor.
• Dramatic Irony: He idolizes the original Rorschach, but he is initially unaware, or rather misled, of his less savory attributes.
• Fatal Flaw: According to Ozymandias, Reggie sees in people what he wants to see and not who they truly are. Which Adrian was all too happy to exploit.
• Gone Mad from the Revelation: He was near ground zero when Ozymandias attacked New York and managed to survive the massive telepathic attack that killed so many of his fellow citizens. But the mental trauma and learning that his family wasn't as lucky as him drove him off the deep end.
  • Issue #7 puts poor Reggie through this again. He learns that Veidt lied about his brain cancer and that Kovacs caused his parents' marriage to fall apart, leading to Reggie beating the crap out of Veidt and the Joker and abandoning the Rorschach moniker.
• Heroic Second Wind: Batman and Alfred convince him to take up the mantel of Rorschach once again, which allows him to save Veidt's life, and continue on in his own world as a superhero.
• He's Back!: Take up the mantle of Rorschach again towards the end of the comic with a little encouragement. It's implied he'll keep on going in his own world as a hero.
• Hypocritical Humor: Like his predecessor, he thinks very litle of criminals, but doesn't hesitate to steal food when the opportunity presents itself.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Byron Lewis, the former Mothman turned mental patient.
• Legacy Character: Is the new Rorschach following Walter Kovacs.
• Meaningful Name: He merits the moniker of Rorschach for the same reason the first one, he sees in others what he wants to see, and not what it is, applying the Ink Blot test to the real world, when as noted by his father Dr. Long in the notes suppressed by Byron Lewis, those blots are meaningless, and it's the people who interpret it that give it meaning.
• Misaimed Fandom: invoked In-Universe, Reggie reflects the portion of the Watchmen fanbase who admire the original Rorschach despite him being a hard-right lunatic and a walking critique of moral absolutist heroes.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Batman points this out to Reggie: both were motivated to become non-powered crimefighters through the tragedy of their parents' death, using a horrifying identity to cause fear in evildoers. It takes Reggie a little longer to find his morality, though. And hey, they both love pancakes, too!
• One-Man Army: Subverted. Byron trained Reggie by teaching him how each of the Minutemen fought, which resulted in what Reggie described as becoming "a one-man Minutemen." However, as even before entering a world full of superhumans, Reggie can't win all of his fights with his newfound skills.
• The Pig-Pen: Lives in his car which is filthy and smells terrible.
• Reimagining the Artifact: In the end, Batman acknowledges Reggie's issues with Rorschach, and inspires him to do what he himself did - take the mantle of his fears and hatreds and make people see something new - a true hero.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Even as a kid, he described himself as being socially awkward and bad with girls. This only got worse once he went insane due to the psychic attack of the alien.
• Spin-Offspring: Is revealed eventually to be the son of Dr. Malcolm Long, Kovacs' psychologist.
• Superior Successor: Zig-zagged. Reggie lacks a great number of Kovacs' faults, including his uncompromising Black-and-White Morality, his bigotry and his sociopathic streak. However, his personality is even more unhinged and deranged, and he seems to lack any of the investigative or intimidation skills that gave Kovacs his reputation. On the other hand, where Rorschach was misled because of his warped ideology, Reggie is misled by people who are trying to use him, and when given the truth, he explodes into a fit of rage that allows him to do the one thing Rorschach I never did and always wanted to, beating Ozymandias to a bloody pulp, unlike Walter who couldn't even land a single punch. By issue #12, the zigzagging goes into Playing It Straight as Batman and Alfred convince Reggie to become something better, thus Reggie becomes a heroic costumed vigilante, saving Adrian's life so he can receive justice than dying in revenge.
• Take That!: Basically a negative portrayal of characters and people who try to emulate Rorschach under the delusion that he's someone to look up to.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Hates Ozymandias but is working with him to save their world. He mentions wanting to kill Veidt more than once and actually tries to make good on the desire once his Berserk Button gets pushed. The fact that Ozy is dying and is trying to be The Atoner is the only reason he's working with him, and tries to tear Veidt to pieces when he finds out Veidt was lying to him the whole time.
• That Man Is Dead: Declares that Rorschach is dead and takes off the mask at the end of Issue #7, seemingly for good.
  • Averted at the end of Issue #12 when Batman and Alfred convince him to instead turn the idea of Rorschach into what it can be rather than what he used to be. After the Comedian shoots Ozy, Reggie instead uses Rorschach's mask onto the wound to save him. When Ozy calls him out by saying he "isn't Rorschach", Reggie responds with:
    Reggie: Rorschach is me.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: In the end, how Reggie differs from Kovacs. Given the chance, he refuses to kill the man he despises, nor does he engage in Murder by Inaction.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Pancakes.
• You Killed My Father: Holds this against Ozymandias because both of his parents were killed when his fake monster appeared in New York.
• You No Take Candle: Reggie's Verbal Tic as Rorschach II.

Erika Manson / Marionette

• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Manson does absolutely nothing to discourage her husband's antics, though she does tell him to drop the Wounded Gazelle Gambit and hurry up in one instance.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Erika was the young daughter of an immigrant toymaker who was continuously harassed by two corrupt cops demanding protection money. Eventually, after the cops beat up her father and threatened to take Erika to the crime boss they were working for, he was Driven to Suicide. Upon finding his body, Erika was attacked by the cops and, with aid from Marcos, killed them both. The two subsequently grew up together on the streets as the Marionette and the Mime.
• Didn't Think This Through: Severs the finger of the loudmouth bank manager with her Razor Floss, only to find out too late that she needed his hand intact to open the vault.
• Disappeared Dad: Her father committed suicide, feeling she'd be better off without him, since the corrupt cops would always be using her as a bargaining child.
• Distracted by the Sexy: As she is being confronted by Doctor Manhattan, a living deity and no doubt the most recognizable person in the Watchmen universe, she can't help but compliment his briefs.
• Expy: Of Jewelee, being a theatrical, crazy criminal in a loving relationship with someone just like her.
• Expy Coexistence: She's a clown-themed villainess who goes looking for The Joker shortly after entering the DCU.
• Freudian Excuse: Erika was bullied by the neighborhood kids even before her life went to shit, with them calling her a pedophile for having a puppet shop and trying to beat her up, calling her things like "an ugly slut". Her only friend appeared to be Marcos. Her father committed suicide when she was a preteen so his daughter wouldn't be put in danger anymore by the crooked cops shaking him down for money. She killed them and from then on she and Marcos grew up on the streets into the hardened criminals they became. She may be psychotic but it's hard not to want to give her a hug with such a rough backstory.
• Girl Next Door: Was one for Marcos before she turned into a Dark Action Girl. They met as children when their parents had businesses on opposite sides of the street. Right from the moment they met, they were best friends, and grew up together, though due to the Crapsack World they lived in things were rough for them right from the very start.
• Hairstyle Inertia: Her hair as an adult is identical to the style she had as a child. Might have a Freudian edge to it seeing as how she was happy as a child until her father died.
• Karma Houdini: Despite being a criminal and causing mayhem in both the Watchmen and DC Universes, she and Marcos are left unscathed by the end of the series, and even inheriting Nite Owl's Owlship as their new mobile home for themselves and their upcoming daughter. Justified as Doctor Manhattan needs them to be an "anchor" in the DC universe in order to make a bridge between the two worlds for their son.
• Mama Bear: The very first thing she does upon seeing the picture of her son is to shove Rorschach against the wall and demand his whereabouts.
• Meaningful Name: Her surname is clearly intended as one.
• Missing Mom: Was raised solely by her father. She also involuntarily became one to her son since he was taken away from her after he was born.
• More Deadly Than the Male: With the Mime might be physically strong and murderous, he generally only kills when in defense of his wife, and so is much more passive when it comes to murdering people. The Marionette, on the other hand, is absolutely insane, and far more prone to leaving a string of bodies than her husband. She was the one to kill the two corrupt police officers when they were kids, with Marcos only assisting her. She's also much more sadistic, using her razor wire to torture people rather than flat-out kill them.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Rorschach holds her and Mime in place with the promise of giving them the location of their child.
• Oh, Crap!: The instant Rorschach opens her cell, she backs off, desperate to stay away from him until he proves he's not the same Rorschach who once threatened her.
• Only Sane Woman: Of the Watchmen characters. It says something that despite her own problems every other Watchmen character has issues that make her the sensible one.
• Razor Floss: Her signature weapon, which she uses throughout the miniseries to inflict Fingore, Eye Scream, and slicing open a human head.
• Remember the New Guy?: Never mentioned in Watchmen but had fought Doctor Manhattan and Rorschach before.
• Sexy Jester: She's themed after a clown puppet.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: As a small school-aged child, Erika took revenge on the corrupt cops responsible for her father's suicide by stabbing one of them in the throat with a pair of scissors and garroting the other.
• Undying Loyalty: To Mime. In #6, she refuses to allow Marcos to perform a Heroic Sacrifice, stating no matter what, they're together.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Aside from being a little vicious with her childhood bullies, she's shown to be a cute little girl who loves her father, playing with the puppets he makes, and befriending the boy across the street by making an introduction using her favorite marionette doll.
• Unholy Matrimony: With her husband.
• Voice for the Voiceless: Acts as one for Marcos since he can't speak and has since they were children.
• Would Hurt a Child: Threatened a teller's son during the bank robbery.

Marcos Maez / Mime

• Alliterative Name: Marcos Maez, a.k.a. the Mime.
• Ambiguous Situation: A couple of situations:
  • Exactly what the deal is with his invisible weapons. Did he create them somehow? Did he just find them? Are they real weapons he turned invisible through some tech he found? Or is this a case of Your Mind Makes It Real where he's creating them out of thin air somehow?
  • The reason why he's mute. Marionette claims he pulled his tongue out with pliers as an adult to enforce being eternally silent, though she may have just been saying that for the intimidation factor. As a child, he didn't speak at all either, though whether it stems from a purely physical or psychosomatic condition is up for debate. As an adult, he's shown in several situations where he should be making involuntary noises no matter how quiet he is such as getting beaten up in battle, lending weight to the theory it truly is a physical condition with him
• Ambiguously Brown: Marcos is Latino. His ethnicity was more pronounced when he was a pre-teen.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Rorschach holds him and Marionette in place with the promise of giving them the location of their child.
• Childhood Friend Romance: He met Erika as a child when she befriended the lonely little boy across the street, the two grew up together afterwards living rough, and eventually they married as adults.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: What most people assume he is. He's....odd, even for a theatrical supervillain. However...
• The Cloud Cuckoolander Was Right: ...As it turns out he really does have invisible weapons like he claims.
• Cute Mute: As a boy. Took it to another level as an adult, however.
• Disappeared Dad: His birth father was not around and he was raised by his mother and stepfather. He also ended up being one to his son against his will since he was imprisoned when he was born, with the boy being taken away by social services after he was born.
• Dyeing for Your Art / Enforced Method Acting: In-Universe, he cut out his own tongue to enforce his being The Voiceless.
  • However, it's implied Erika may be just trying to intimidate Rorschach II with the story, seeing as how he was apparently unable to speak even as a child, with his stepfather calling him a weirdo because of it.
• Enemy Mime: He's a criminal mime whose imaginary tools actually work.
• Expy: Of Punch, being a theatrical, crazy criminal in a loving relationship with someone just like him.
  • Practically Joker: However, due to his sadistic love of killing and painting his smile with the blood of one of his victims, while wearing white makeup, he is also one of none other than the Joker. It's implied due to The Multiverse he actually may be the Watchmen universe's equivalent of the Joker, especially with the blood-splashed smile he wears in the first issue.
• Expy Coexistence: He's a Practically Joker who goes looking for The Joker shortly after entering the DCU.
• Finger Gun: His signature weapon, along with similar implements, which most people are bemused by since they assume these items are imaginary. Turns out they are very real, albeit invisible.
• Imagination-Based Superpower: Is implied to have this — in the form of conjuring weapons and handy items seemingly out of thin air — during his first appearances, despite it being established that Doctor Manhattan is the only individual in the Watchmen universe with actual superpowers. Subverted in that said items are actually quite real but somehow made invisible.
• Karma Houdini: Despite being a criminal and causing mayhem in both the Watchmen and DC Universes, he and Erika are left unscathed by the end of the series, and even inheriting Nite Owl's Owlship as their new mobile home for themselves and their upcoming daughter. Justified as Doctor Manhattan needs them to be an "anchor" in the DC universe in order to make a bridge between the two worlds for their son.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The weapons that he mimes using are actually real, just invisible. It's unclear whether or not these items are technology or if he has powers that let him create them.
• Missing Mom: His mother Anita was killed when she tried to stand up to the cops that were shaking down everyone in the neighborhood.
• Psychotic Smirk: His rivals any DC villain, including The Joker.
• Remember the New Guy?: Never mentioned in Watchmen but had fought Doctor Manhattan and Rorschach before.
• The Speechless: Never makes a sound throughout the entire series.
• Tongue Trauma: Erika claims he ripped his own out with pliers, though whether she was telling the truth is up for debate.
• True Companions: Marcos sticks with Erika through thick and thin, and is more than willing to put his own life on the line so that his beloved wife may live.
• Undying Loyalty: To Marionette, and threatening her is a quick Berserk Button.
• The Voiceless: Fitting his nom de crime, he remains completely silent.
• Wicked Stepfather: His stepfather was at the very least verbally abusive to him and didn't even care enough to look for his stepson after he ran away with Erika as a boy.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: He allows himself to be beaten down just so that it's more dramatic when he turns the tables.

Carver Colman

• Armored Closet Gay: His personal dark secret and the reason he was murdered was that he was a closeted gay man who went to desperate lengths to put on the facade of being straight. In the reset universe, he finally subverts this trope by coming out after being encouraged to do so by Doctor Manhattan.
• Be Yourself: Jon's advice to Carver in #12 is to be true to himself.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Initially he and his works seem to be like "Tales of the Black Freighter" were for the original Watchmen in being an unrelated back-up feature that happens to share narrative elements with the base story. Then, in issue 10, it turns out he's more connected to what's going on than initially shown.
• The Constant: No matter what other changes happen to history, Carver's life and death remain entirely unaffected by the passage of Comic-Book Time.
• Cosmic Keystone: Doctor Manhattan identifies him as "his anchor". His story becomes a Plot Parallel to the main plot.
• It's All About Me: After a few years of talking with Jon, as his star in Hollywood keeps rising, he gets more and more self-focused.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: His loyal cleaning maid found the letter he was being blackmailed with, and rather than allow his memory to be tarnished by the revelation of his sexuality, burned it up. On the other hand, the letter's destruction allowed the murderers to escape justice.
• Odd Friendship: With Doctor Manhattan, who rescued him from being beaten by police when he first arrived in the DC universe, and met with him once a year until his murder.
• Offing the Offspring: He was murdered by his mother.
• One Degree of Separation: Johnny Thunder worked as a go-fer on his first movie.
• Parental Abandonment: His father was an utter non-presence in his life.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: In the final issue, Doctor Manhattan finally reaches to him and convinces him to admit who he is to himself and others. Acknowledging his homosexuality not only saves his life (now his mother has nothing to blackmail him with), he leads an ultimately successful campaign to get homosexuality out of the mental diseases book. In the reset universe, he dies an old man, having lived a happy life with his partner.

Returning Characters

Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias

"We're all considered criminals now. But if we find Manhattan... if I convince him to save the world... we'll be the heroes again."

• Adaptational Karma: Reggie saves his life just so he can spend the rest of his days in prison for his crimes against humanity.
• Adaptational Villainy: Zig-Zagged. This depiction of him is decidedly on the Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist side of things, considering he's willing to undermine the efforts of actual heroes to look good in comparison. Contrast with his guilt at what he did in the original comic. On the other hand his final plan was to get Superman to persuade Manhattan to do the right thing and he does leave the heroes the evidence they need to clear Superman's name.
• All for Nothing: His plan of bringing the world peace fails after a mere seven years, due to his scheme being uncovered, partially thanks to Rorschach's diary. This is taken further with Issue #7, where Jon refuses to accompany Adrian back to the Watchmen universe and save the world — Adrian's goal for the series up until that point — causing Adrian to decide to take matters into his own hands.
• The Atoner: Intends to make up for the horrible events of New York by seeking out Doctor Manhattan and convincing him to return to fix the awful mess he made.
• The Bad Guy Wins: His evil plan in the later half does work....thing is unlike his last one this really DOES end up saving the world. The only thing that doesn't go according to plan is that Reggie chooses to save his life so he can face justice for his crimes.
• Cruel Mercy: Rorschach gave one to Ozymandias in Issue #12 after he was shot by The Comedian, and despite him stating that he will die as a hero, Rorschach having his revenge, and Dr Manhattan getting a newfound purpose, he was instead imprisoned in his own Veidt HQ Building after Dr Manhattan restarts the Watchmen Universe.
• Deal with the Devil: Tries to form a partnership with Lex Luthor in order to find Dr. Manhattan. While Lex is a clear cut villain at this juncture it's hard to tell who the devil in the deal actually is.
• Disappointed by the Motive: On the receiving end of this from Luthor, who thinks his plan from the original comic to achieve world peace through mass murder was transparently dumb and finds it bizarre that Ozy ever thought the peace he achieved would last more than five minutes:
  Lex: You dissected a psychic's brain, enlisted the morally bankrupt minds from the likes of Hollywood and comic books, and created an "alien invader" to murder three million people to unite the world...and you're SURPRISED that humanity hasn't stayed united? If you're the smartest man on your planet, I'd hate to meet the dumbest!
• Evil Plan: In issue #11, it's revealed that Ozymandias was behind the reveal of the Superman Theory and the metahuman community's attempt to take down Dr. Manhattan. He wants to destroy the faith in Superman and other metahumans so he can swoop in and save the world again. In issue #12, he instead claims he did all of this to push Manhattan into being inspired by Superman to save the worlds again.
• Good All Along: In motives, though not methods, which are nearly as vile as in the original series. His entire mission was to save the Watchman universe by trying to get Jon to recognize his humanity, and saves the DC Universe in the process.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Sought to unite the world in fear by creating a monster. He succeeded.
• Heel–Face Turn: Gone from Big Bad to being the closest thing among the Watchmen cast to a hero. And then utterly subverted. He's actually managed to get worse.
• Humiliation Conga: He gets exposed for his crime, finds out he has cancer, has to partner with the legacy character of a hero he dislikes greatly, and is on a quest to find Dr. Manhattan.
  • The Conga continues in Issue #3 when Ozymandias finds himself in a fight with the Comedian and is forced to retreat. Through the window. Oh, the Irony.
  • And it continues AGAIN in Issue #12, where he is saved by Reggie Long not for mercy, but to pay for his crimes in the Watchmen world (despite claiming that he isn't Rorschach to begin with and he should be seeking mortal revenge against him).
• Ignored Epiphany: After he's forcefully shown the folly of his first attempt to manipulate the world into peace, he has a brief Heroic BSoD... and goes straight back at trying to do the same thing. The galling thing is that in many ways, thanks to his adjusting his approach, it actually works - though he still gets what's coming to him.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Expresses this attitude about the "New York Massacre" to Rorschach II during their first encounter. How much of it is genuine is up in the air.
• Never My Fault: A lot of the discussions on his actions with the DC characters demonstrate him frequently shifting the conversations whenever the topic arises, or instead straw-manning the DC characters and criticizing them for not doing anything in their worlds. Although his criticism becomes moot when one realizes that neither he, nor the DC characters, are morally superior to the average person.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ironically, after all of his efforts trying to unite the world and cover up the crimes of his involvement, all he did was make things worse than they were before. Which is compounded by the fact that the tensions in his world never went away naturally like they did in ours or the DC universe. Who knew killing millions in order to unite the world was a bad idea in the first place?
• Not Me This Time: To Batman when he assumes that Adrian must be behind the Superman Theory. As it is, he isn't, but he is entirely willing to exploit it.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Posits he is this with Lex Luthor. Lex thinks otherwise, drastically underestimating Adrian.
• Power Nullifier: Bubastis II, a clone of the original, has the ability to blind Dr. Manhattan's Clairvoyance.
• Underestimating Badassery: His initial Humiliation Conga and Lex Luthor's sneering remark of, "If you're the smartest man on your world, I'd hate to meet the stupidest" (after Adrian revealed his original plan) makes it very easy to underestimate him and assume that he's completely out of his depth in the DC universe. In fact, he's actually considerably more dangerous than in the original series - among other things, he literally talks Saturn Girl to death, plays the entire DC universe like a fiddle, and ultimately succeeds in manipulating Manhattan and getting almost everything he wants bar the Heroic Sacrifice.
• Villain Has a Point: During a meeting with Batman, Ozymandias makes the argument that while his efforts failed he at least tried to help the world while the heroes of the DC Universe haven't even made an effort to improve actual problems.
  • Also when blamed for the chaos currently happening in the world by Batman, he points out that he's not the one responsible for it. He loses this point when he goes and makes everything worse.
    • His Hannibal Lecture to Reggie, while brutal, is also entirely accurate.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Enjoys a reputation as a great humanitarian following the New York Massacre. Until the contents of Rorschach's diary are revealed to the world.
• Worf Had the Flu: During his rematch with the Comedian, Adrian is nowhere near his best, thanks to his supposed cancer and ultimately has to run for it.

Jon Osterman / Doctor Manhattan

• Anti-Villain. His story arc in the original comics concludes with a greater appreciation of human life (or at least its inherent contradictions) and setting off to explore and create brand new life. Here, his villainy is borne of curiosity along with layers of apathy and resentment.
• Big Bad Ensemble: He is responsible for a lot of characters being murdered, erased from history, or having their lives otherwise mucked with, but he's not the sole Big Bad of the story, sharing that position with Ozymandias and Black Adam.
• Continuity Rebooter: DC Rebirth and Doomsday Clock reveal that he is responsible for the alterations to continuity that occurred in New 52 rather than Barry Allen and Pandora, having used his powers to change the history of the DC Universe and everyone's memories by meddling with everything behind the scenes. By the end of Doomsday Clock, he is inspired by Superman reaching out to him instead of fighting him to reverse most of the changes.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: After the incident in Moscow, the JLA tracks Manhattan to Mars and flies there en masse to confront him. Thanks to a combination of not understanding what Manhattan's situation is and badly underestimating his power, they end up getting nuked and seemingly killed. Issue 10 reveals that he didn't kill them at all, but incapacitated them.
• The Dreaded: Every villain that is even vaguely aware of his presence and actions shits their pants at the possibility that he might show up.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He refuses to kill the Marionette with the implication that it's due to her pregnancy. Revealed in Issue #7 that it was not due to the child she was carrying in their original confrontation, but the child she is currently carrying, a child whom he sees universe-saving potential in.
• Evil Is Petty: His manipulation of the DCU went well beyond an experiment about the concept of hope when taking a look at some of the individual lives he specifically ruined. For example, he took away Barbara Gordon having ever been Oracle but kept her being shot and crippled by the Joker, stopped Lian Harper from being born and turned her father Roy into a Manchild hanging off Jason Todd's ass, and essentially destroyed Donna Troy and had her replaced with a clay doll that was originally made to murder and usurp Wonder Woman. All in all, his actions come across less as being For Science! and more as barely concealed hatred for the DCU.
• Expy Coexistence: His inspiration, Captain Atom is the only one who makes any progress in the fight against Manhattan.
• Foil: Word of God frames him as one to Superman. While Clark Kent is an alien with incredible powers who was raised among humanity and became the Big Good of the DCU, Jon Osterman is an ordinary human who was gifted with incredible powers that caused him to ultimately lose his humanity, and became so desensitized to the Crapsack World he inhabited that he ultimately abandoned it.
• Fond Memories That Could Have Been: His last moments are spent daydreaming about a world where Janey Slater convinced Jon Osterman to stop and join her for lunch instead of entering the intrinsic field chamber to look for her watch.
• For Science!: It's revealed he's behind Superman becoming Darker and Edgier, as he starts screwing with Clark Kent's life to see why it is he's a Hope Bringer.
  Manhattan: As others have done, I move to reshape this universe to see how it forms around Superman. I change the past to challenge the future.
• Gaslighting: What he essentially did to the DCU. The more the universe fought back and tried to undo the damage he caused, Manhattan would warp everyone's memories so they would fit the framework he built. After the original Wally West escaped from the Speed Force, Manhattan gradually tried to tamper with Wally's memories. DC Universe Rebirth showed Wally remembering his life as it really happened, but the longer he was outside the Speed Force the memories began to change to match the world Manhattan created. Even worse, after Wally reunited with the Titans all of them were shown "regaining" memories that never happened. Manhattan eventually stopped fighting back and let Wally remember everything as it truly happened... with the shock and conflicting nature of the fake memories practically driving Wally insane.
  • His actions against Firestorm are also a pretty big example of this. He takes Ronnie Raymond back in time to show him how Martin Stein deliberately caused the accident that merged them into Firestorm because he believed Ronnie was easily exploitable to serve the project. Manhattan claims he showed a devastated Ronnie this to prove "hope decays" by shattering his trust in Stein. The problem is that Manhattan is the reason Stein is acting like this. The event that led to Ronnie and Stein becoming Firestorm was an accident, until Manhattan stepped in changed everything. He attempts to show Ronnie the man he viewed as a father figure has been using him all this time, when Manhattan is the reason why Stein is now acting this way.
• God Is Evil: The omnipotent creator and destroyer of universes, who is extraordinarily callous and terrifying.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: His actions are the result of him being unable to comprehend how a world with a legacy of superheroes would result in a hopeful world instead of a Crapsack World, leading to him making it Darker and Edgier. Issue 10 shows that he keeps watching Superman's various origins and can't wrap his head around the idea that, despite all of his changes, Superman is still a Hope Bringer — until Superman fighting a battle he has no hope of winning, still strives to protect innocents, and protects the man who essentially killed his parents — then he finally becomes inspired.
• Have You Seen My God?: His absence is what kicks off part of the plot. The new Rorschach and Adrian are looking for him.
• Heel Realization: The end of Issue 10 has him realize he's become Superman's Arch-Enemy, as a creature of utter inaction to Superman's action. By the end of the series, Manhattan realizes what Superman means to the metaverse at large and resets history at the cost of his life.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Starting from the beginning of Rebirth up until the end of The Button, and even then it only shows his hands. And despite fully appearing in a flashback as shown in his character image, Manhattan doesn't appear in the present narrative until Issue #7.
• Hero Killer: He killed Alan Scott and Saturn Girl (and by extension the Legion of Super-Heroes as a whole), as well as Jonathan and Martha Kent. At the end he undoes three out of four of these deaths. Alan, Martha, and Jonathan are brought back, but the Legion that was killed off is instead replaced by a brand new version.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Two, one attempted.
  • He seems to decide that between Superman killing him or Jon killing the DCU, it's better to let Superman kill him by stoically letting Superman punch him. It becomes moot when Superman instead Stabs The Scorpion.
  • Uses up almost all of his power resetting the DC Universe to revive the Justice Society, the Legion of Super-Heroes and the Kents.
• Hope Crusher: He plays himself up as this when he shows Firestorm the truth of his origins. In issue 10, it's revealed that he caused the New 52 era to exist by removing Alan Scott and causing the Kents' deaths, making Superman his moody and grimmer self.
• Karma Houdini: Downplayed; he leaves the DCU without any the residents there making him pay for his immoral actions and lives several years raising his adopted son, but in the end, scarifies his existence to give said son his powers as repentance.
• Kick the Dog: He turns Pandora into a greasy smear just for calling him out on what he's done. He also tries to destroy Ronnie Raymond's trust in Martin Stein by showing Stein having manipulated Ronnie into becoming Firestorm, while leaving out that Manhattan himself is the reason why these events now happened as they did.
• Lack of Empathy: He cannot grasp how a world with superheroes could possibly have goodness in it, and went about destroying as many lives as he could to prove the DCU wasn't better than his own world.
• Loophole Abuse: He has difficulty affecting the energy in power rings but nothing stops him from destroying the rings directly.
• The Man Behind the Man: He has been controlling Mr. Oz.
• Morality Chain:
  • Issue 11 reveals that he still very much loves Laurie Juspeczyk, and spares Marionette because her future, unborn child would be adopted by her and Dan Dreiberg and bring them a lot of joy.
  • Issue 12 has Superman noting that every step he takes leaves a photo of him and Janey Slater. It leads to Dr. Manhattan's "Eureka!" Moment that yes, he really does have human emotions left.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Ozymandias believes that he wants another chance at saving the world, which is why he came to the DC universe.
• Naked People Are Funny: 75% of the interactions with the DC Universe characters are them commenting on his nudity.
• Neutral No Longer: Issue #12 results in Jon being this, making him care enough to save the DC Universe... and the Watchman Universe.
• Not So Invincible After All: Downplayed. The heroes of the DC Universe can actually hurt him, revealing quite a few weaknesses during their fight but he easily heals himself from any damage and showcases that while he can be hurt it doesn't mean defeating him would be easy by any means and said fight ends once he feels done with it. Manhattan also comments that the Metaverse itself is working against him, and he is basically slowly losing the fight against it.
• Not So Stoic:
  • Even he can't help but react with wonder and excitement over figuring out how to use the DC Universe's magic, happy to learn new things again.
  • He's absolutely shocked at Superman's Stab the Scorpion, the only time as Doctor Manhattan he's ever worn a confused look on his face.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: His "experiment" about hope and despair gradually became more and more lopsided, as the DC Universe frequently tried to fight back against his alterations he steadily became more desperate to prove he was right by deliberately making more changes to the point he acts like a spoiled child willing to break what he perceives to be his toys so no one else can play with them.
• Obliviously Evil: It's only after several decades, and some messing around with the DC universe, that he actually comes to the realization that he's being the villain.
• Poke in the Third Eye: For whatever reason, he has some difficulty looking at the DC universe's history, and has ever since he arrived. Bubastis II can also cause this for him.
• Prophecy Twist: His vision is either Superman kills him or he destroys the DCU. Turns out his vision is him restarting the DCU.
• Redemption Equals Death: Realizing he has become the villain in the metaverse, Jon fixes his damage to the DCU, returns to his home dimension to prevent its nuclear destruction and passes on his powers to his adopted son Clark, fading away in the process but ensuring a powerful superbeing will protect humanity.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: In issue #12, Jon, despite still being a blue superbeing, is wearing his old suit while with Clark, indicating he's finally rediscovered his humanity.
• Starting a New Life: Rorschach and Ozymandias speculate that Jon took a new identity in the DC universe, possibly one of the superpowered beings that inhabits it. When he finally turns up, it turns out this isn't true, though he had been thinking about it.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the original Watchmen, Jon could disintegrate people, teleport, use telekinesis, and synthesize materials, with the suggestion he might be able to create life. He's managed to gain a serious upgrade, becoming a full-blown Reality Warper who Wally West describes as being more dangerous than Darkseid.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: He's also started casually murdering folk who couldn't represent a threat to him if they tried, removed people from history and altered their memories for no readily apparent reason.
• Villain Takes an Interest:
  • He's focusing on Superman especially for some reason. He's implied to be the one who split Superman in two, abducted Jor-El before his death and was responsible for him becoming Mr. Oz, and is hinted to be responsible for the Kents' deaths in the New 52.
  • He also takes an interest on normal human Calver Colman's life because a) he's his anchor to the DC Universe, and b) his life parallels Jon Osterman's. He ends up giving Calver life advice after his "Eureka!" Moment, which causes a moment of pain for Carver in exchange for later lifetime of happiness and heroism.
• Weaksauce Weakness: His fight with the heroes of the DC Universe reveals several things that can actually affect him, to his surprise. The Emotional Spectrum is a big one, with him directly mentioning that it's difficult for him to affect, though he can still affect the physical conduits, the power rings, just fine. Magic takes him by surprise until he studies it for a small bit and throws it right back at them. Finally certain types of radiation are able to hurt him, to the point his physical form can be completely destroyed, such as the Firestorm Matrix and Captain Atom's powers.
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: The entire story arc has Jon trying to figure out basic human emotion. He's confused by Superman's heroism, but has a "Eureka!" Moment when Superman has a Stab the Scorpion moment. He resets the entire DC Universe, and is convinced by Ozymandias to restore the Watchman universe, too.
• The Worf Effect: Has a tendency to do this, casually killing Metron and also rather easily defeats all of Earth's heroes after analyzing their unique powers. Justice League Incarnate and Dark Crisis initially implied that, for all of Osterman's nigh-omnipotence even he was being manipulated by the Great Darkness until it was confirmed no, the Great Darkness had nothing to do with anything Osterman did.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Implied. He didn't kill the pregnant Marionette. Played with, as it wasn't THAT child of Marionette's he wouldn't hurt, but one that hadn't even been conceived yet and wouldn't be for years. In addition, Jon notes he never had issues with killing children or pregnant women, and the unborn children of Marionette were spared because of their significance, not their inherent innocence.

Edward Blake / The Comedian

"Death changes a man."

• Back from the Dead: The details are still vague, but it appears Doctor Manhattan teleported him to Metropolis in the middle of his fatal fall, allowing him to survive and later confront Ozymandias. This is turned on its head in the final issue, when Lex Luthor uses a vibrational emitter to return him to the moment of his death, so he dies anyway.
• Badass Boast: "Turnin' the lights off? That's your big move? C'mon, Ozzy. I've never been afraid of the dark. I thrive in it..."
• Cool Old Guy: Can hold his own in a fight against Adrian now that he is sober. Though to be fair, Adrian isn't exactly at his best with his cancer.
• Don't Explain the Joke: Laments that he is unable to hurl Adrian through Lex's office window, commenting that it would have been poetic. When he tries to explain how, Adrian cuts him off.
• The Dreaded: Marionette is terrified of him.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Comments that despite everything he has done, he would get a medal for killing Adrian.
• Out-of-Character Moment: His behavior here doesn't seem consistent with what was seen in Watchmen. Even Veidt noticed that Blake seemed to look forward to getting a medal for killing him when he hadn't cared for such things previously. Blake claims that being dead helped change him... Except he was saved from being killed.
• Red Herring: Ozymandias thinks Jon hired him to kill him. No, he was asked to kill Bubastis II. Ozymandias was just a bonus.
• The Worf Effect: When he is electrocuted into unconsciousness by the Joker.

Byron Lewis / Mothman

"I visualize it. I picture it right up here. I see what I want to see. And what I see is what is."

• Ascended Extra: Was a very minor character in the original Watchmen. While he only appears in a single issue here, he plays a fairly crucial role as Reggie's mentor.
• Cardboard Prison: Byron leaves anytime he likes, and he allows himself to be caught and returned.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Thanks to being senile. That said, he ends up still coming off as surprisingly lucid for the most part.
• Cool Old Guy: Despite his age, he is able to build mechanical wings that he repeatedly uses to escape the asylum.
• Driven to Suicide: Walks into the burning Fitzgerald facility wearing his wing contraption, like the proverbial moth to the flame.
• I Did What I Had to Do: It's heavily implied - and later confirmed by Adrian - that he destroyed the later records of Dr Long's research on Walter Kovacs, since learning the truth behind Kovacs as a person and the effect it had on his father would've driven Reggie over the edge.
• Intergenerational Friendship: With Reggie.
• The Mentor: Becomes this to Reggie at the Fitzgerald asylum, teaching him fighting techniques so that he can defend himself from the orderlies.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: Self-inflicted.
• Naked People Are Funny: Prefers to fly completely naked. He claims clothes add too much weight, but it's strongly implied he's just into nudism.
• Nice Guy: To the point where he asks Reggie to consider the possibility that Veidt might not be responsible for New York.
• Posthumous Character: Byron is dead by the time the story starts, but issue #4 reveals that he’s the one who mentored Rorschach II and inspired him to escape the asylum they were locked in.
• Tears of Joy: He cries when he receives a message from his estranged sister after the Manhattan incident that she's okay. He realizes that not only is she alive, but she did read his letters to her. He writes one last letter before his suicide to her thanking her for listening.

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