Watchmen by Moore and Gibbons - Essay Example

In my opinion, I believe that Doctor Manhattan qualifies as the real hero in the comic book as evidenced by being expressed as the main character in the story, he is close to perfection plus he is not a costumed hero.

Doctor Manhattan is expressed as the main character in the story. Moore and Gibbons (chapter 3: 5) describe Doctor Manhattan as the character on which other superheroes rely. Born as a normal human being, but later transformed into a superhero after an accident while conducting a nuclear physics experiment, Doctor Manhattan acquired god-like powers, telekinesis power, superhuman strength, teleportation ability, and control over matter existing at the subatomic level. He also can perceive the present, past, and future “... particles which travel backward through what... *you* perceive as time... therefore obscuring my vision of the present…”(Moore & Gibbons chapter 3: 7). Not any superhero mentioned in the comic book surpassed the powers which Doctor Manhattan possessed hence remaining as the true hero.

Among all other superheroes, it is only Doctor Manhattan is perceived as a close to “perfection” creation (Moore & Gibbons chapter 4: 6). His intellect is equated to that of a supercomputer, and does not possess physical weakness like other superheroes like Dark Knight and the rest. His thinking capacity that surpasses that of a supercomputer gives him an upper edge among other superheroes to stand out as a real hero as he is all-knowing and in most instances, he is the one giving information to other superheroes, which they follow. He acts as the leader of the superheroes as he possesses an ability that can only be equated to a god (Moore & Gibbons chapter 4:8). Lauri, Nite Owl, Rorschach, and Veidt are not real heroes as they had powers, but did not surpass that of Doctor Manhattan. In addition, these superheroes usually followed orders from Doctor Manhattan on what to do since they were dependent on his intellectual abilities to make decisions on what to do.

Doctor Manhattan was a real hero since he was not a costumed hero like the rest of the superheroes like Dan, Laurie, and Rorschach. In the comic, other costumed heroes become disturbed when Doctor Manhattan gets picked up by the United States army and kept as the ultimate weapon in case of attack. In addition, he is dubbed as a real superhero making the costumed superheroes more worried about what might become of them (Moore & Gibbons chapter 4:9). Hence, the costumed superheroes depended more on Doctor Manhattan a lot to make sound decisions. It is via Doctor’s Manhattan intelligence that the military can build sophisticated weapons that they could use in fighting their enemies. The costumed superheroes also took advantage of these.

In summary, Doctor Manhattan is a real superhero in the comic book as evidenced by his depiction as the main character on which the story is dependent on him. In addition, he is a real hero since he is equated to a perfect being in the sense that he is equated to a god and could not be killed easily like the rest of the superheroes who expressed various weaknesses. Furthermore, Doctor Manhattan is depicted in the comic book as a real hero as evidenced by his being taken by the U.S. government army to help them in the fight against their enemies. This did not happen to the other costumed superheroes and at one point even became worried (Moore & Gibbons Chapter 4: 11). Read More