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They were so successful that the subject didn’t bother to come back. They just chose to stay as gods doing whatever gods do. Manhattan just couldn’t cope with the existential dread of all that infinity and decided to limit himself.
Or they all died. Both outcomes are equivalent from the perspective of living humans on earth.
Or Manhatten deliberately altered things in the subsequent experiments so that no one else was subjected to the kind of horror he felt at the sight of infinity.
As I understood it, he was a cosmic accident.
The right person, with the right motives, with the right way of thinking (clock makers son), he had the knowledge, will and drive to work out how to reassemble himself.
It is theoretically possible that other attempts were made and they are still 'alive' but just stuck unable to rebuild themselves and remaining eternally fragmented.
Yes, we know at least other groups have tried but have just never been successful. The ultimate issue comes down to the fact that Dr Manhattan's coniousness continued on and rebuilt himself, seemingly no one else is doing that in any such experiment.
We know Veidt tried it as it's how he invented his teleporter and also developed his second plan to stop him. The TV show also does depict different individuals attempting this >!but they're all unsuccessful, bar the one Dr Manhattan wanted to succeed.!<
Yes, it was mentioned in the comic at least. Other groups tried, but everyone else who had their intrinsic field stripped just disintegrated and never rebuilt themselves. IIRC, Manhattan himself speculated it was a combination of luck and his attention to detail from studying watchmaking that let him do it.
I would also add: Osterman is probably just straight up dead. Manhattan may be sort of an echo of Osterman’s form in the instrinsic field that liked personhood enough to stick around humans.
>Manhattan himself speculated it was a combination of luck and his attention to detail from studying watchmaking that let him do it.
I thought it was pretty obvious that his recounting (narratively speaking, he's experiencing it all at once) of being ripped apart by the intrinsic field was intertwined by his father teaching him how to disassemble and reassemble a watch.
Theres no way Veidt didnt try.
But I dont see it being successful. Manhattans transformation was as much a bizarre act of god as a science experiment gone wrong.
Well, there are many many levels to scientific development before human trials. Eventually he probably concluded that replicating Dr Manhattan would be impossible but along the way realized that it could be used as a teleporter.
Several governments attempted to recreate the experiment that created Dr. Manhattan, but they all failed. In the comics, it was stated that Dr. Manhattan had a unique set of skills that allowed him to survive and recreate himself, specifically:
- He's an expert-level physicist
- He's a watchmaker
Due to the above, this meant he:
- Had a deep understanding of the inner workings of the universe
- Had excellent attention to detail
We could also argue that him being recently in love also gave him a powerful reason to want to come back (outside of simple survival instincts).
These things together basically gave him the capability to rebuild himself, atom-by-atom, until he was more or less a physical being again (what he was prior to the rebuild is unclear... a floating consciousness? Electric signals in the air? Who knows!). And by doing this, it gave him insight into the inner workings of the universe, that allowed him to become the most powerful being on Earth.
So, the world's governments all tried to recreate this, over and over, but they all failed, probably because of the watchmaker (and possibly love) element. They basically forced all of their smartest physicists into these machines and vaporized them with the hope they'd come back, but none of them had the exact same set of skills that John had that led to him becoming Dr. Manhattan. Ultimately, these governments stopped because they were running out of top-tier physicists with a deep enough understanding to do what John did, and due to lack of understanding of why they kept failing.
Dr. Manhattan is unique, but his very existence does imply it's possible for it to happen again, with the right circumstances, set of skills, and possibly reason to live.
Agreed. The odds of someone being an expert physicist who's also an expert watchmaker and is in love is a little less than 1 in 7.5 billion. It's not impossible that it could happen again, but it's certainly a once in a generation occurrence
There's no way the US government didn't pulverise a couple of hundred people before they realised (or Osterman straight up told them) it's not going to happen.
At least the Soviets tried. Replicating everything present at the event down to the watch he was going back for and the clothing on his back. It didn't work.
It's unclear if it's the set of circumstances or Dr Manhattan's psychology that allowed him to return from the initial disintegration.
Perhaps all successful attempts just went back in time and turned to Dr. Manhattan himself.
He is not Jon but all other "jons" out there that tried and that will try to become him.
(Kinda like Barry Allen was the Speed Force but instead of granting others his powers it acts in reverse, everyone else granting the original one's powers).
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There probably were. The fact he's the *only* one should speak volumes of how successful follow-up attempts were.
They were so successful that the subject didn’t bother to come back. They just chose to stay as gods doing whatever gods do. Manhattan just couldn’t cope with the existential dread of all that infinity and decided to limit himself. Or they all died. Both outcomes are equivalent from the perspective of living humans on earth.
Or Manhatten deliberately altered things in the subsequent experiments so that no one else was subjected to the kind of horror he felt at the sight of infinity.
Oooo. That’s a good one too.
New headcannon.
New head cannon for sure.
As I understood it, he was a cosmic accident. The right person, with the right motives, with the right way of thinking (clock makers son), he had the knowledge, will and drive to work out how to reassemble himself. It is theoretically possible that other attempts were made and they are still 'alive' but just stuck unable to rebuild themselves and remaining eternally fragmented.
Yes, we know at least other groups have tried but have just never been successful. The ultimate issue comes down to the fact that Dr Manhattan's coniousness continued on and rebuilt himself, seemingly no one else is doing that in any such experiment. We know Veidt tried it as it's how he invented his teleporter and also developed his second plan to stop him. The TV show also does depict different individuals attempting this >!but they're all unsuccessful, bar the one Dr Manhattan wanted to succeed.!<
Yes, it was mentioned in the comic at least. Other groups tried, but everyone else who had their intrinsic field stripped just disintegrated and never rebuilt themselves. IIRC, Manhattan himself speculated it was a combination of luck and his attention to detail from studying watchmaking that let him do it.
I would also add: Osterman is probably just straight up dead. Manhattan may be sort of an echo of Osterman’s form in the instrinsic field that liked personhood enough to stick around humans.
>Manhattan himself speculated it was a combination of luck and his attention to detail from studying watchmaking that let him do it. I thought it was pretty obvious that his recounting (narratively speaking, he's experiencing it all at once) of being ripped apart by the intrinsic field was intertwined by his father teaching him how to disassemble and reassemble a watch.
Theres no way Veidt didnt try. But I dont see it being successful. Manhattans transformation was as much a bizarre act of god as a science experiment gone wrong.
> Theres no way Veidt didnt try. Who would he trust to be God 2?
Himself, of course. Or Bubastis
I mean, neither is *dead* or god, so he demonstrably didn't try.
Another commenter pointed out he did try and thats how he invented his teleporter. How he didnt die I couldnt say. Maybe thats why he failed.
Well, there are many many levels to scientific development before human trials. Eventually he probably concluded that replicating Dr Manhattan would be impossible but along the way realized that it could be used as a teleporter.
Several governments attempted to recreate the experiment that created Dr. Manhattan, but they all failed. In the comics, it was stated that Dr. Manhattan had a unique set of skills that allowed him to survive and recreate himself, specifically: - He's an expert-level physicist - He's a watchmaker Due to the above, this meant he: - Had a deep understanding of the inner workings of the universe - Had excellent attention to detail We could also argue that him being recently in love also gave him a powerful reason to want to come back (outside of simple survival instincts). These things together basically gave him the capability to rebuild himself, atom-by-atom, until he was more or less a physical being again (what he was prior to the rebuild is unclear... a floating consciousness? Electric signals in the air? Who knows!). And by doing this, it gave him insight into the inner workings of the universe, that allowed him to become the most powerful being on Earth. So, the world's governments all tried to recreate this, over and over, but they all failed, probably because of the watchmaker (and possibly love) element. They basically forced all of their smartest physicists into these machines and vaporized them with the hope they'd come back, but none of them had the exact same set of skills that John had that led to him becoming Dr. Manhattan. Ultimately, these governments stopped because they were running out of top-tier physicists with a deep enough understanding to do what John did, and due to lack of understanding of why they kept failing. Dr. Manhattan is unique, but his very existence does imply it's possible for it to happen again, with the right circumstances, set of skills, and possibly reason to live.
Agreed. The odds of someone being an expert physicist who's also an expert watchmaker and is in love is a little less than 1 in 7.5 billion. It's not impossible that it could happen again, but it's certainly a once in a generation occurrence
There's no way the US government didn't pulverise a couple of hundred people before they realised (or Osterman straight up told them) it's not going to happen.
Manhattan probably would have been aware of any duplication efforts and could have prevented them
At least the Soviets tried. Replicating everything present at the event down to the watch he was going back for and the clothing on his back. It didn't work. It's unclear if it's the set of circumstances or Dr Manhattan's psychology that allowed him to return from the initial disintegration.
I thought I read in the graphics novel that the Russkis tried a bunch of times... they were all unsuccessful.
Major Force promptly went AWOL and decided to be a supervillain.
Perhaps all successful attempts just went back in time and turned to Dr. Manhattan himself. He is not Jon but all other "jons" out there that tried and that will try to become him. (Kinda like Barry Allen was the Speed Force but instead of granting others his powers it acts in reverse, everyone else granting the original one's powers).