Sorry for taking so long with this series, I’ve been a little busy at home, I am hoping to wrap this up before DC gets to the main event, actually the next post will be the last in this series on the REBIRTH era of the DCU.

So before proceeding take a few minutes to catch up read my previous entries:

The REBIRTH of the DC Universe (Part 1)

The REBIRTH of the DC Universe (Part 2): Primer

The REBIRTH of the DC Universe (Part 3): Chapter 1 – LOST

The REBIRTH of the DC Universe (Part 4): Chapter 2 – Legacy

The REBIRTH of the DC Universe (Part 5): Chapter 3 – Love

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

So the big reveal at the end of the DC Universe Rebirth is that the Watchmen universe is somehow connected to the regular DC Universe.

I am sure when asked for comment, Alan Moore’s response was probably something like this:

Before I get into the Watchmen/DCU connections, I want to do a quick recap of the end of the New52/DCYou era which Wally tells Barry is the new timeline that the unknown outside force has manipulated post-Flashpoint.

NEW52/Darksied War

If we go back to the DC Universe continuity using the timeline of events laid out in Superman #51 (Vol 2) (where the factors that contributed to his death are explained) and

Justice League #50, which concludes the Darkseid War event, begins the DCYou era and sets up Rebirth, all the while offering the first hints of the Watchmen, then we have a starting reference point moving forward.

The Darkseid War ends with Barry, as he is trying to outrun the Fourth World avatar of Death, the Black Racer, unknowingly hearing Wally trying to contact him. Remember that Wally says the Darkseid/Anti-Monitor battle caused cracks in reality, which allows him to make his journey through the Speed Force and eventually back to the current universe. During this time Batman has been sitting on the Mobius Chair and becomes the New God of Knowledge, asks the chair about the true identity of the Joker and that somehow there are 3 in existence.

The Epilogue of the Darkseid War shows that Owlman of the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 takes over the chair and seeks to use it to his advantage but soon meets his own demise (similar to that of Pandora in the Rebirth Special) shortly after acquiring the chair.

DCYou

Following the Darkseid War, the DCYou event Truth, which saw Superman discover a new power, lose his powers and the appearance of the mysterious Mr. Oz, who is seen watching the events and commenting and musing on Superman’s actions in cutscenes.

DCU Rebirth Special

The DCU Rebirth Special has Mr. Oz finally revealing himself to the PreFlashpoint Superman and ends with Batman discovering a certain smiley face button in the Batcave and the conversation between Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan at the end of the original Watchmen miniseries.

dddd

Just who is this Mr. Oz?

Mr. Oz is the only mysterious person that has actually appeared in both the DCYou era and during the Rebirth, so asking just who is Mr. Oz provides the best clues to the involvement of characters from the Watchmen universe (prior to the reveal at the end of the Rebirth Special).

Most believe that Mr. Oz is none other than Adrian Veidt, or Ozymandias from the 1985-86 Watchmen story.

Besides the obvious “Oz = Ozymandias” there are other subtle clues that Geoff Johns placed in his Superman run:

His first appearance in Superman #32 and in subsequent issues of Johns’ Superman run Mr. Oz (later to be identified as such in Rebirth) is seen watching the New52 Superman and Clark Kent on monitors kind of like …

Superman #39 (March 2015), a woman named Janet is shown mailing a package for Mr. Oz. On her “Oz” tattoo that looks a lot like the Nostalgia Perfume bottle in Watchmen (look at the last panel in the page to your left).

In the Rebirth Special, when Mr. Oz appears to Post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint Clark (Superman) and admits to him that “Mr. Oz” isn’t even his real name:

“Mr Oz” also uses some very Ardian Veidt-like dialogue such as “playing the long game”and, “Friend or Enemy is too simple a term.” Just look at the Watchmen panel from my first bullet where he tells Nite Owl and Rorschach that he is the serial villain who would explain his master plan if it could be altered.

Paging Doctor Manhattan… Paging Doctor Manhattan…

While never seen “on panel”, Rebirth and the Justice League #50 strongly alludes to Doctor Manhatten seemingly having an affinity for vaporizing people.

Rorschach – Watchmen #12

In the final pages of the original Watchmen series, Manhattan vaporizes Rorschach who refuses to play long and allow Veidt to get away with the mass murder because the end justified the means, the countries of the Earth joining together due to the psych attack orchestrated by Adrian.

This is the only confirmed kill by Doctor Manhattan so far.

2. Owlman (Earth-3) and Metron (New God) – Justice League #50

Owlman and Grid (Earth-3 Cyborg) are the only members of the Crime Syndicate left following the conclusion of the Darkseid war. However, their luck doesn’t last for long. Once on the Mobius Chair, Owlman apparently sees something he is not supposed to and is zapped in a blue light, leaving the Mobius Chair bloody and piles of ash where Owlman and the New God Metron were concluding their business arrangement.

It is uncertain the fate of Grid, but one can assume he was also destroyed.

3. Pandora – DC Universe Rebirth

For those who may be unfamiliar with the character Pandora, she was the character who was shown at the end of Flashpoint, as Barry went back to prevent himself from causing the Flashpoint reality and is responsible for causing the Flash to merge three separate timelines (the DC Universe, the Wildstorm Universe and select Vertigo titles) into what would become the New52 universe.

Aside from making cameos in the first issues of the New52 title launches, Pandora also played an integral role in the Trinity War (which introduced the Crime Syndicate of Earth-3 into the New52). Like Owlman and Metron before her, she meets a similar fate, though more reminiscent of Rorschach’s death scene.

By killing her, Johns symbolically not only ends the New52 era but also deflects the blame onto the unknown assailant that many believe to be Dr. Manhattan, which will be discussed in the next installment.

The Comedian’s Smiley Face Button

Before the reveal of the Watchmen panels, we see Batman discovering the Comedian’s Smiley button (covered in human bean juice).

The appearance of this iconic Watchmen symbol raises more questions than just how the Watchmen are involved.

How did the button get in the Batcave?

The button appears in the very first panel of Watchmen #1 laying in the gutter and picked up by Rorschach.

The reader also learns that the button belonged to the vigilante/ Government Agent Edward “The Comedian” Blake, who was thrown out of his apartment window by a then-unknown assailant.

Rorschach takes the button and gives it to the retired Daniel Dreiberg, Nite Owl II, his former partner before Keene Act era, where vigilantism and costumed fighting crime was made illegal.

Dan later places the button without the blood in The Comedian’s grave and it is never seen again until Rebirth with the blood splatter.

—

The Flash Rebirth, or DCU Rebirth Special #2 as it could have been called, follows the mystery of The Comedian’s button with the human bean juice on it as Batman and Flash decide to investigate the meaning of everything that has been going on, opting not to tell Superman or Wonder Woman that someone or something altered the timeline.

There are other subtle hints before the reveal that pointed towards The Watchmen placed in the Rebirth Special but also in Johns’ Superman run:

At the end of Superman #39, it is revealed that the package that Mr. Oz sent the New52 Clark Kent is similar to the closing page of Watchmen when Seymour from the New Frontiersman finds the copy of Rorschach’s Journal that was mailed before Rorschach and Nite Owl left to confront Veidt.

Wally’s Journey through the Speed Force is somewhat of a parallel of the Tales of the Black Freighter pirate comic from the original Watchmen series

Tales of the Black Freighter is the comic book within the Watchmen universe and used by Moore as an example of post-modern Metafiction and comic-within-a-comic that also serves as a foil for the main plot.

According to the document found at the end of Watchmen #5 Fearful Symmetry, explains that the story in Watchmen is the is an excerpt from the fifth chapter of Treasure Island Treasury of Comics, a that comic book was written by Max Shea and was first published May 1960 by National Comics.

The first nine issues were drawn by Joe Orlando (a real-life comic book artist) and the remaining issues were drawn by Walt Feinberg. The comic was canceled after issue 31 and the departure of Max Shea but was republished by DC comics in 1985.

The comic is read by a teenage boy while he sits beside a newsstand, as the newsstand contemplates the latest headlines and has discussions with his customers about the events going on in the world.

This juxtaposition of text and images from the comic-within-a-comic and its framing sequence uses the former to act as a parallel commentary to the latter—which is the plot of Watchmen itself.

Specifically, Moore has said that the story of The Black Freighter ends up describing “the story of Ozymandias” (who admits, in his final scene, to having a recurring nightmare resembling a prominent image from The Black Freighter). In addition, the comic can also be seen to relate “to Rorschach and his capture; it relates to the self-marooning of Dr. Manhattan on Mars; it can be used as a counterpoint to all these different parts of the story.”

The story is named Marooned and follows castaway’s increasingly desperate attempts to return home to warn his family of the impending arrival of the Black Freighter, a phantom pirate ship which houses the souls of the damned. In the story the main character escapes a deserted island using the gas-bloated bodies of his former crewmates to float a raft, fending off sharks en route; who upon returning home infiltrates Davidstown, his hometown, which he believes to be controlled by pirates. In infiltrating Davidstown he murders a trusting couple and returns dressed in the man’s clothing; and believing he is saving his family, attacks the night watchman who is patrolling the house, who turns out to be his wife. After realizing that there has been no attack and his efforts have only brought about his own destruction, he returns to the beach to see the Black Freighter approaching, ready to claim the only life it truly desired – his which he boards eagerly.

Wally’s trip through the Speed Force as he tries to make contact and escape is in my opinion similar to The Tales of the Black Freighter since both tell stories of people trying to return home and warn others of an evil that is on its way. In the same ways Marooned parallels the events in Watchmen, Johns does the same, setting up the Rebirth era of the DCU, but in a way that is more straightforward and less dark.

Wally, in his journey, finds the different heroes that embody the aspects that are missing in the DC Universe that have been removed such as the 10 years of missing time, relationships that used to exist, and the memories of the heroes.

Luckily Wally’s story ends with a happier ending… for now.

Questions still unanswered:

How do the DCU and the Watchmen Universe relate to each other?

Who is the mysterious person that Wally claims is responsible for the Post-Flashpoint New52 DCU? is it, in fact, Doctor Manhatten or someone else?

If Mr. Oz is Adrien Veidt, what is his endgame and why is he taking certain DCU characters “off the board”? and who is Mr. Oz talking to in these panels from Superman #34?

When Mr. Oz tells the Pre-Flashpoint Superman that even he (Clark) isn’t what he thinks he is, what does that exactly mean?

Why is the Schoolhouse Rock “3 Is the Magic Number” stuck in my head?

This and more in the final installment of my look at the DC Universe Rebirth’ing