Pictured: Billy Crudup
CHARACTER · WATCHMEN
Doctor Manhattan
- Appears in
- Watchmen (2009)
- Played by
- Billy Crudup
11 archived facts 5 topics
Doctor Manhattan is a character in the film Watchmen (2009), played by Billy Crudup.
11 Interesting Facts About Doctor Manhattan
Interesting Facts (3)
- #001
Contains a major spoiler — show
Sam Hamm's original draft departs sharply from the finished film. Its key sequences: Veidt's scheme to change the world by traveling back in time and shooting Jon Osterman with a sniper rifle before he becomes Doctor Manhattan; Doctor Manhattan then killing Veidt rather than sparing him as in the graphic novel and final movie; and Rorschach's handling of the child rapist from the case that made him (soaking the man in cow blood and meat and leaving him to be eaten by his own dogs). In the ending, Doctor Manhattan erases himself in the past before Jon's transformation, tearing a rift in time and space. Laurie, Dan and Rorschach are then pulled into an alternate dimension where they find a world in which they are characters in a hit comic book serial, and they decide to resume fighting crime.
- #002
Contains a major spoiler — show
(around 2h) During Dr. Manhattan's speech about the absence of life on Mars, the pan across the Martian surface opens on a close-up of something resembling the Cydonia Face on Mars. The Martian "Smiley Crater" appears in the final scene. Both are real features of the Martian surface.
- #003
Contains a major spoiler — show
(around 1h 55m) While Rorschach and Nite Owl II investigate Pyramid International at Veidt Enterprises, the Palette of Narmer, an ancient Egyptian artwork, is visible on the mantel above Veidt's cabinets. The palette recounts the rise of King Narmer, who after much violence united Upper and Lower Egypt under a single ruler. In the film, Ozymandias likewise schemes to unite the world's divided nations against a common enemy by staging acts of violence worldwide and framing Dr. Manhattan.
Production Story (1)
- #004
Contains a major spoiler — show
(around 2h 30m) In the finale, Laurie says Jon (Doctor Manhattan) would tell her "nothing ever ends." The line's meaning is clearer in the comic, where Doctor Manhattan delivers it in response to Ozymandias asking whether his plan will prove worth the sacrifice "in the end."
Easter Eggs & References (1)
- #005
Contains a major spoiler — show
(around 55m) As Dr. Manhattan carries a generator to Veidt's laboratory, a large sign at Karnak reads "(S)ub (Q)uantum (U)nified (I)ntrinsic Field (D)evice," its initials spelling SQUID from top to bottom. At the same time, the first generator gives off tentacle-like energy housed in a plasma sphere, both when it first fires and again in New York City just before it explodes. This nods to the comic's original ending, in which Veidt creates a cloned squid-like creature to attack New York City, a horror blamed on aliens rather than Dr. Manhattan.
Deeper Meaning (2)
- #006
Contains a major spoiler — show
In both the graphic novel and the film, after killing Rorschach, Doctor Manhattan tells Laurie he is leaving this galaxy for one far less complicated. He also raises the possibility of trying to create life. In recent DC Comics events surrounding the Rebirth line, Doctor Manhattan is strongly implied to be the creator of the regular DC Comics Universe.
- #007
Contains a major spoiler — show
(around 29m) As Laurie and Dan dine at Rafael's restaurant, every table holds a yellow rose. Yellow roses traditionally stand for infidelity, foreshadowing Laurie and Dan sleeping together, something Dr. Manhattan implied in the previous scene that he had foreseen. By the time they do sleep together, however, Laurie has already left Dr. Manhattan, tired of his emotional unavailability in their relationship.
Career & Awards (1)
About Watchmen and its cast (3)
- #009
(around 1h 9m) The emblem Dr. Manhattan burns into his forehead is the Bohr model of a hydrogen atom: a single proton (the center dot) with one electron (the upper dot) in orbit. Hydrogen is the most abundant and basic element in the universe. In the original story, a publicity man offers Manhattan a helmet bearing a six-electron symbol. Manhattan turns it down, saying he wants a symbol he can "respect," and then brands the hydrogen design into his head.
- #010
- #011
(around 2h 5m) Doctor Manhattan compares Laurie's birth to a "thermodynamic miracle" such as "turning air into gold." In the comic, he explains that a "thermodynamic miracle" is an event that is extraordinarily energetically unfavorable, like an oxygen atom spontaneously becoming a gold atom. In quantum mechanics, such a classically forbidden event can still occur, even if the odds are beyond astronomical.
