“Who makes the world?” Religion and Morality in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s “Watchmen”

During Dr. Manhattan’s public reveal in March 1960 in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen, a newscaster stares into the camera and says, “The Superman exists, and he’s American.” Watchmen takes place in an alternate history where the United States won the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon remains president in 1985, and superhero “vigilantes,” inspired by the appearance of Superman and others in the late 1930s, protect individuals from criminal masterminds and other crime. Dr. Manhattan (Jon Ostermann) is really the only true superhero in the narrative, the only Watchmen with super powers. He can manipulate matter, transport himself and others anywhere in the universe, see the future and the past while living in the present, and more. In essence, he is a “superhero,” at least in regard to powers.

The newscaster's pronouncement of Dr. Manhattan being “Superman” and “American” is important because it plays into Cold War Rhetoric and the idea that the United States has an upper hand in the nuclear standoff with the Soviet Union because they wouldn’t dare attack the United States when the United States has Dr. Manhattan. The newscaster’s quote comes from Professor Milton Glass, the author of Dr. Manhattan: Super-Powers and the Superpowers. In the fictional excerpt of Glass’ book, he writes that he did not…