"This guy isn't crazy, is he?"
Hal Jordan looked at Batman with a skeptical look on his face and asked.
If there were any superheroes there who dealt with the most psychopaths, sociopaths and perverts...
The Dark Knight from Gotham would take first place.
It was a city devoid of sunny skies and full of sin.
The Joker, the Penguin, the Riddler, the Black Mask ... go out and throw a random brick in the air, and you can hit three or four villains.
"I'm not crazy."
Dr Manhattan replied.
He looked around at the superheroes, but his eyes were in a trance, with no specific focus.
A few minutes ago, the space-time of this universe seemed to be disturbed or affected in some way.
The violent motion of the superluminal particles acted like a hazy gauze that obscured Dr Manhattan's quantum perception.
He couldn't see what was going to happen a few moments later, as if a film had been skipped, and he could only foresee the ending.
"I hope you'll explain yourself, your purpose, and why you are doing this?"
Batman stared at the blue man, trying to get useful information from the other party's expression.
However, nothing was found.
"This guy doesn't even look like an intelligent creature, not even the slightest whiff of emotion."
Batman's heart sank as he silently raised his opponent's danger level by a notch.
Even a lunatic like the Joker, who couldn't be bothered with logic, would show some kind of obvious emotional tics.
But Dr Manhattan, like a deity overlooking mortals, had nothing but indifference.
"My purpose?"
At the question, Dr Manhattan's eyes drifted further away.
His vision passed through the fog of superluminal particles to July 16, 1940.
A young engineer named Alan Scott boarded a train but unfortunately suffered a collapse when crossing a bridge.
He clung to a green lantern and miraculously survived.
This was the story of the Justice Society's first-generation Green Lantern.
Time dragged forward, and Dr Manhattan's eyes fell on November 22nd, 1940.
Alan Scott donned his mask and sat down at a round table, curious as to who would speak first.
This was the first gathering of the Justice Society.
This was the story that should have happened.
Dr Manhattan didn't let this happen.
On July 16th, 1940, Alan Scott got on the train, according to the trajectory of his life.
The bridge collapsed, and an accident occurred.
A blue arm stretched out and moved the green lantern.
So, Alan Scott didn't get it and didn't survive.
The first Green Lantern of the Justice Society disappeared.
"This is an experiment."
Dr Manhattan replied.
His eyes stopped on Batman, but he passed through the other person's body and looked into the distant past.
On April 18th, 1938, Dr Manhattan left the Watchmen Universe and entered the DC Universe.
The first person he talked to was a down-and-out actor named 'Carver Colman'.
Dr Manhattan knew everything just by looking at the other party.
In December 1928, Carver Colman came to Los Angeles alone, with only 17 dollars and several changes of clothes.
On January 19th, 1929, Carver Colman had been delivering newspapers at Paramount Pictures for 8 months, and people still couldn't remember his name.
On February 14th, Carver Colman lost his job because the studio was burned down.
On February 12th, 1937, Carver Colman was kicked out of Dan Tanner's Restaurant because he skipped work to queue up for an audition.
On April 18th, 1938, Carver Colman was kicked out by his landlord and had to spend the night on the street.
10 minutes before midnight, he was awakened by blue light and saw him.
Dr Manhattan, who left the Watchman Universe, felt confused for the first time.
He came to a new place and met new people.
Everything in this world, this universe, was just like a puzzle, and there was no answer yet.
So, Dr Manhattan performed a simple experiment.
He invited Carver Colman, who was down and out, to dinner and tried to foresee the future in 3 minutes.
However, it failed.
Dr Manhattan realised that he needed a 'coordinate' for concentration. He stared at Carver Colman and saw the future 1 year later.
On April 18th, 1939, Carver Colman successfully auditioned.
A successful attempt made Dr Manhattan look past the fog and return to normal.
His quantum senses seem to be constantly focusing on this multiverse.
What the future might look like was becoming clearer and clearer.
On April 18th, 1943, Carver Colman starred in a box office hit.
On April 18th, 1952, Carver Colman won the Oscar for Best Actor.
On April 18, 1954, Carver Colman got cancer and died.
On April 18th, 1955, the opposite seat was empty.
For a brief moment, Dr Manhattan watched the man's life.
Then, he noticed a more interesting existence than Carver Colman.
On April 18th, 1938, news about Superman quickly spread all over America.
There was a man in a red cape lifting a car.
Dr Manhattan realised that this was the beginning of the world's change.
A theoretical physicist named Bryce DeWitt suggested the hypothesis that the universe was splitting into different timelines all the time.
According to his theory, the birth of parallel worlds was endless, just like the branches of a big tree.
"The Multiverse."
Dr Manhattan opened his mouth and said something that the superheroes on Mars didn't understand.
His eyes were still moving around the timeline, and it was at that particular time, 18 April 1938, that Superman first appeared.
Dr Manhattan had a keen sense that the red-caped man called 'Superman' wasn't just the world's first costumed hero, he was also the centre of the world and the multiverse.
With the appearance of Superman, in July 1940, young engineer Alan Scott would become the Green Lantern.
In January of the same year, a university student called 'Jay Garrick' lost consciousness in a school experiment and inhaled hard-water vapour.
When he woke up, he became the fastest man in the world.
This was the first-generation Flash.
In the same month, archaeologist Carter Hall came into contact with an ancient knife, which awakened the memory of being an Egyptian Prince in a previous life.
This was Hawkman.
In May, a golden helmet with unknown supernatural powers fell into the hands of Kent Nielson.
This was Doctor Fate.
In October, Al Pratt, who was repeatedly defeated because of his size, found one of the world's greatest fighters and began training under him.
This was the Atom.
In April 1939, Wesley Dodds dreamed of a serial killer who took advantage of the World's Fair to cause trouble.
He wore a gas mask and caught the killer.
This was the first Sandman.
In February 1940, Jim Corrigan's body lay still.
After that, he came back from the dead and sought revenge.
This was the first Spectre.
In November 1940, everyone came together, and the Justice Society of America was formed.
Dr Manhattan watched over the past and watched over the story of the costumed superheroes.
Then, something unexpected happened.
When Dr Manhattan went further back in time, he was surprised to find that Superman had disappeared.
He seemed to have been deleted and was never heard of again.
Until 1956, when the man with the red cape showed up in Metropolis.
25 years ago, a meteorite fell over Kent Farm in Kansas.
Jonathan and Martha found the Kryptonian orphan, adopted him and named him 'Clark Kent'.
Superman disappeared because a mysterious force, undetectable even to Dr Manhattan, altered his story.
Such changes had affected every world in the multiverse at the same time.
In October 1986, when Superman arrived on Earth, it changed again, and the story was different.
Dr Manhattan was confused.
He couldn't understand this phenomenon.
Why did established facts change time and time again?
In May 1949, young Clark Kent sat in front of the bed, accompanying his parents, who were about to die.
In 1956, Dr Manhattan watched Clark visiting the graves.
In October 1986, he saw the Kent couple, who should have died, still alive.
A few years later, Jonathan Kent died in his son's arms again.
Dr Manhattan stood quietly in the palace on Mars while his consciousness travelled through the past and the future.
Time was like an empty room to him.
He could exist in the past and, at the same time, be present in the future.
"I misunderstood the nature of this universe."
Dr Manhattan spoke again, saying something that the other superheroes didn't understand.
He no longer clung to the past but looked to the future.
Following Superman's trajectory and seeing a thousand years into the future.
Clark Kent still existed, rather than disappearing, as Carver Colman did.
Thus, Dr Manhattan's unquenchable curiosity developed.
After becoming a quantum being, the world no longer held any secrets from him.
Human beings were too ordinary, and life was too mediocre.
Everything seemed the same but was beyond recognition.
Until he came to the DC universe and discovered Superman, Dr Manhattan found something he was interested in again.
For example, reshaping the multiverse.
If this world, and indeed other parallel universes, all existed and changed because of Superman.
So, what would be the result if he directly changed Superman?
Therefore, Dr Manhattan eliminated the first Green Lantern, Alan Scott.
On the eve of Clark Kent's senior high school prom, Jonathan and Martha were killed in a car accident.
Clark, who had lost his parents, was increasingly estranged from humans.
Since then, Dr Manhattan made several changes.
Like having Jonathan Kent die in a tornado.
Or maybe let Superman die on Doomsday.
The increasing changes caused the multiverse to fluctuate violently.
The third generation Flash -- Wally West, noticed Dr Manhattan.
After that, Batman also got a glimpse.
"I want to know my end."
Dr Manhattan, for the last time, uttered words that the superheroes couldn't understand.
When he made these changes, after observing the changes in Superman, the changes in the world, and the changes in the multiverse...
This blue man saw the end of the future.
Superman swung his fist at him in anger, and then there was darkness.
A hundred years, a thousand years, had passed since then, and nothing had changed.
"So, did I destroy the world, or did Superman kill me?"
Dr Manhattan's trance-like eyes seemed to find focus and looked toward the superheroes that surrounded him.