Watchmen: Chapter IV - Page 14

PAGE 14

Panel 1:  Dr. Manhattan’s comment on the other costumed adventurers at the charity event in this panel is interesting and humorous and can also be seen as a commentary on superhero comics in general:  “. . . friendly middle-aged men who like to dress up.  I have nothing in common with them.”  Despite the fact that Dr. Manhattan is part of this “adventurers” fraternity, he feels no connection to these other heroes, a sign he is becoming – or is already – detached from humanity. 

The only one Dr. Manhattan finds interesting and might possibly see as a peer is Ozymandias.  This is interesting because in chapter XI the manner in which Ozymandias thinks of Dr. Manhattan – particularly by the fact that he always calls him Jon – shows that this feeling of being a peer is reciprocated, something that Adrian Veidt finds in nobody else, as far as we can tell.

Panel 2:  Yet another example of how detached from humanity Jon has become is exhibited when he disintegrates the head of a hoodlum who had pulled a gun on him.  The extreme nature of this act, done with such indifference, is a prime example of how Dr. Manhattan views humanity, especially considering the fact that the bullets could not have harmed him.