Jonathan Osterman (Watchmen Movie)

Doctor Jonathan "Jon" Osterman was a scientist transformed by a particle experiment gone wrong into the quantum man Doctor Manhattan. He was a government agent and a member of the Watchmen before he was framed by Ozymandias of terrible crimes against humanity he didn't commit, causing him to leave Earth for good.

History

Early Life

Jon Osterman was born in 1929 to a Jewish watchmaker in Germany. They eventually moved to America and in 1945, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Jon began studying to be a nuclear physicist and later went to work in New Mexico, where he met and fell in love with Janey Slater.

Becoming Manhattan

In 1959, Jon was caught in a chamber that removed his intrinsic field, the invisible force that holds matter together, and was atomized. He then restored himself as a glowing, blue, naked man, with a much more muscular body than before as the "perfect human form," and a number of godlike abilities, including telekinesis, teleportation, Osterman was granted the codename Doctor Manhattan and became a weapon of the United States Government, joining the Watchmen for his public front as a superhero. Manhattan won the Vietnam War for America, cheated on Janey with fellow Watchman Laurie Juspeczyk, and helped another teammate, Ozymandias, build energy reactors to provide free energy for the world.

Leaving Humanity

In 1985, on the brink of nuclear war and destruction, Manhattan was accused of giving cancer to those close to him. When Laurie left him and began seeing former Watchman Dan Dreiberg, Manhattan left Earth for Mars, where he pondered humanity's reason for existence, and whether or not they were worth saving. Confused, he teleported Laurie to Mars and debated with her whether he should help save the human race from destruction. She convinced him to help, and he returned to Earth with her, but they were just too late. As they had been debating, Ozymandias activated the exploding energy reactors he helped Manhattan create, which destroyed huge portions of all of Earth's major cities. At first Manhattan fought Ozymandias, but then he revealed to Jon that this destruction, as well as the atomic residue, allowed the United States and the U.S.S.R. to ally against Manhattan, their "common enemy," and thus prevent World War III. Jon agreed to keep Ozymandias' secret, then decided to leave Earth and pursue other ventures.^[1]

Powers and Abilities

Powers

• Nigh-Omnipotence: John was caught in a radioactive particle test, which transformed him into a godlike being known as Doctor Manhattan.
  • Bio-Fission
    • Bio-Fusion
  • Chronokinesis
    • Precognition
    • Time-Travel
  • Cosmic Awareness
  • Enhanced Senses
    • Enhanced Hearing
  • Energy Construct Creation
  • Energy Projection:
  • Flight
  • Force Field
  • Immortality
  • Intangibility
    • Phasing
  • Invulnerability
  • Molecular Reconstruction
    • Disintegration
    • Regeneration
  • Radiation Production
    • Thermokinesis
  • Reality Alteration
  • Self-Sustenance
  • Size Alteration
  • Superhuman Strength
  • Telekinesis
  • Teleportation

Abilities

• Architecture
• Genius Level Intellect
• Science
  • Nuclear Physics
  • Quantum Mechanics

Other Characteristics

• Mental Disorder

Notes

• This version of the character is exclusive to the continuity of the film Watchmen and is an adaptation of Jonathan Osterman/Doctor Manhattan. The original character was created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and first appeared in Watchmen #1.
• Doctor Manhattan was portrayed by Billy Crudup in Watchmen, with his muscular physique modeled after Greg Plitt. As a teenager he was portrayed by Jaryd Heidrick, and in Watchmen: The End Is Nigh, he was voiced by Crispin Freeman.

Related

• 3 Appearances of Jonathan Osterman (Watchmen Movie)
• 11 Images featuring Jonathan Osterman (Watchmen Movie)
• 1 Quotations by or about Jonathan Osterman (Watchmen Movie)
• Character Gallery: Jonathan Osterman (Watchmen Movie)

Footnotes