First off apologies for taking so long to get back to talking about the DC Rebirth Universe… Thanks, Marvel for your let down of an event Secret Empire

Last week countdown of the clock to the confrontation between Superman and Doctor Manhattan in the Doomsday Clock event storyline moved forward as the identity of the mysterious Mr. Oz was finally revealed.

Since his first appearance during the New52 Superman title, the identity of Mr. Oz and his role in the Rebirth/Watchmen storyline has slowly been teased out before the big reveal.

When Mr. Oz first appeared in Geoff Johns’ New52 Superman run, it was obvious that he had some sort of plan that has been playing out as he has working behind the scenes during the first year of Rebirth.

Quick Recap of Mr. Oz Appearances

New 52: Superman (2011)

#32 – ‘The Men of Tomorrow, Chapter One: Ulysses’ #33- ‘The Men of Tomorrow, Chapter Two: Ulysses’

#34 – ‘The Men of Tomorrow Chapter Three: Ulysses’

#39 – ’24 Hours’ Rebirth Era DC Universe Rebirth Special Action Comics #957 – #962: ‘Path of Doom

#975 – Superman Reborn Part 2′

#976 – ‘Superman Reborn Part 4′

#978 – ‘The New World Part 2’*

#984 – ‘Revenge Conclusion‘

#986 – ‘Only Human Part 2: The Truth’ Detective Comics

#940 – ‘Rise of the Batmen Part Seven: The Red Badge of Courage’**

#947 – ‘The Victim Syndicate Finale: The Brave One’** Hal Jordan & the Green Lantern Corps (2016)

#17 – ‘Quest For Hope Part 4: The Blue and the Green*** Superman (2016)

Annual 01 – ‘Tangled Up In Green’*** #16 – Multiplicity Part 3″

#18 – ‘Superman: Reborn, Part 1’ Trinity (2016)

#8 – ‘Superman Reborn: Aftermath – The Truth About Superman’***

** Will be discussed in Part 2

*** Appearances are in flashbacks or just Oz watching his monitors or observing events

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So who is Mr. Oz?

DC Comics did a great job with the slow burn to revealing who Mr. Oz was

But as the character continued to reappear it seemed to me that this character is someone from the DC Universe proper which means this could be anyone under that hood observing the events of the DC Universe.

DC left a nice trail of breadcrumbs as Superman’s story during the Rebirth Era progressed, that if you followed them closely you might have been able to figure it out.

New 52

The first appearances during The New52 really don’t give much away about the Oz except he knows Superman/Clark’s life story, claims to have taught him to never give up when he gets knocked down, and is working behind the scenes in Clark’s life.

Rebirth Era

Rebirth Special

Oz makes his first appearance to Clark and tells him things aren’t what he believes them to be. It is also the first time Oz mentions that he is playing a long game and he is really neither friend or enemy.

Action Comics – Path of Doom #957 – #962

During this period of time Mr. OZ was more of a voyeur as the Rebirth Era kicked off, showing interest in not only Superman but with Lois and Jonathan:



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It was also during the initial Action Comics run that Mr. Oz starts to put plans in motion.

Clue #1: When Superman sends Doomsday to the Phantom Zone, Oz makes the comment implying he knows what the Phantom Zone is, something that Adrain Veidt probably has never heard of:

Superman #16 – Multiplicity (part 3)

For my synopsis of Multiplicity click here

Mr. Oz takes another prisoner, Prophecy, who I believe is the Doomsday of Earth-45 who was attempting to absorb the powers of the Supermen of the Multiverse

Prophecy is captured by Mr. Oz who says that while he admires his persistence and sensitivity to the Multiverse, although his method was unsound

Superman Reborn

Part 1: Superman #18

The second real clue as to who Mr. Oz comes when he discovers that one of his prisoners escapes.

Part 2: Action Comics #975

Oz captures Mr. Mxyzptlk and imprisons him since he is aware that he could be a “wild card” in his overall plan. It would be revealed that Mxyzptlk was the Clark Kent doppelganger and the catalyst that “fixed” Superman.

Part 4: Action Comics #976

In the final part of Reborn, Mr. Oz muses that Superman and his family were able to overcome and “repair what was broken” and it is clear that Mr. Oz is aware that someone else has been messing around with the continuity of the DC Universe.

Aftermath: Action Comics #978

While Superman is reviewing his history, Mr. Oz appears and destroys the statues of Ma and Pa Kent

Clue #3: Mr. Oz destroys the statues of Clark’s human parents

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Revenge

Mr. Oz would lay low for the most of the next Action Comics story arc “Revenge” which had Superman’s deadliest enemies teaming up together to put an end to the Man of Steel.

Action Comics #984

Zod, who is part of the Revenge Squad, has banished Superman and the other Super Family member to Phantom Zone, and is about to kill Supergirl is attacked by Jonathan who is in the Kryptonian Battle Suit. Mr. Oz guides Jon on how to use the suit until Supergirl can regroup.

Clue #4: Mr. Oz knows a lot about Kryptonian Tech.

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The “prequel” to the reveal of Mr. Oz’s identity was the “Only Human” 2-part story Action Comics #985 – 986

The Machinist, who is the New52 Superman fought when Mr. Oz first appeared in the New52

Superman and Super-Lex team up to take down The Machinist, who is being manipulated by Mr. Oz.

While repairing his battle armor, Lex notices a symbol and goes to save it for future study:

Mr. Oz confronts Lex and has a few choice words for him:

Clue #5: Mr. Oz can shoot beams out of his eyes

THE REVEAL

The buildup to the big reveal of Action Comics #987 saw Mr. Oz literally kill Metallo, who was being held by A.R.G.U.S. following the “Revenge” storyline.

Oz says that he, Metallo is a threat to Superman and that humanity does not deserve Superman

Oz goes on to create situations that happen all at once so that Superman cannot help everyone:

Finally, Oz reveals himself to Superman…

It’s dear old dad…

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From his first appearance, there was much speculation as who exactly was Mr. Oz.

The conventional wisdom was that Oz was Adrian Veidt from the Watchmen universe.

I think that everyone started speculating that Mr. Oz was Adrian because of the final pages of the DC Rebirth Special:

The conventional wisdom following the DCU Rebirth Special was that Mr. Oz is Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias. Even yours truly has tried to prove this connection many times:

The REBIRTH of the DC Universe (Part 5): Chapter 4 – Life / Epilogue

The REBIRTH of the DC Universe (Part 6)- Who Watches the DC Universe

The Rebirth of the DC Universe: Watchmen, the Multiverse, and Everything

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There was speculation that Mr. Oz was Superboy-Prime from Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis. For me, it didn’t make much sense for DC to take that route since there few clues that any of the heroes, including Superman with his new/fixed origin, remember anything such as the first Crisis. The Button storyline was probably the closest they got to saying anything but it was around the time the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths should have happened that Bats and Flash got kicked out of the Timestream. (The Button)

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The final nail in the coffin for me that Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias was not Mr. Oz was the solicit for Action Comics #987

The agents of the mysterious Mr. Oz begin to move as the Man of Steel works to stop the chaos they unleash in Metropolis and across the globe. But when Mr. Oz steps from the shadows his identity rocks the Last Son of Krypton to his core. The story that began in DC Universe: Rebirth #1 begins to end here!

As solicit says, Superman will recognize Mr. Oz is when he is revealed and that it will “rock him to his core” which means it is someone he knows…not someone from a completely different universe that he has never met or had interactions with previously.

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This week the Origin of Mr. Oz/Jor-El is supposed to be revealed… more on that and Mr. Oz’s role in the Bat Family in tomorrow’s Part 2.