Do we like them?

Do we like Doctor Manhattan?

A character from Watchmen (1986-1987)

Our score: 5 out of 10. He's on our side in the big fights, and he saves lives. But he's so detached that we'd back him in a crisis and think twice about asking him for a favour.

Jon Osterman is a 1940s watchmaker's son who becomes an atomic physicist. A lab accident breaks him apart, and he rebuilds himself with control over matter. The US government turns him into Doctor Manhattan, a blue superhero. His arrival changes the balance of the world, and the Cold War feels closer to the brink because of it.

In Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons' story, he experiences past, present and future all at once. That makes him calm and puzzled by people, and he slowly loses touch with them. He wears less and less clothing as he withdraws, and the people closest to him pay for his drift.

We score him 5. He means well and could do enormous good. But his distance hurts the people who love him, and he often shrugs when he should step in. He's a fascinating figure, but not a friend you'd rely on when you're upset.

Late in the story he is pushed into leaving Earth, and he ends up on Mars. In the end he does decide that human life is worth keeping, but only after being nudged. The 2009 film and the TV series treat his ending and his legacy differently.