Following months of rumors about a potential Watchmen follow-up project, in February 2012 DC announced seven prequel limited series under the "Before Watchmen" banner: Rorschach, Minutemen, Dr. Manhattan, Comedian, Silk Spectre, Nite Owl, and Ozymandias. The books were written by J.

Following a laboratory accident, atomic physicist Jon Osterman develops the ability to observe and manipulate matter at a subatomic level. He is later given the tongue-in-cheek moniker Doctor Manhattan by the United States government, due to his limitless destructive potential.

In 2012, DC published Before Watchmen, a series of nine prequel miniseries, with various creative teams producing the characters' early adventures set before the events of the original series.

Doctor Manhattan's human disguise in Watchmen, Cal Abar (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), could have actually been a real person whose body the superbeing took over.