Zack Snyder Confirms Ending!

[JAK®]

This is slightly of topic but I was just sat here thinking and this came to mind but does anyone think Veidt was stupid trying to kill Manhattan in the same manner in which he was born. I mean if he could put himself together the first time what made him think he couldnt put himself together again. Now that I think about it, that whole plan just seems ever so ******ed (from the worlds smartest man).

He himself said "I wasn't sure that would work". It was a last resort more than anything.

 

[The Guard]

I suspect only Dr. Manhattan knows how truly powerful he is. I never got the impression that what he did in Vietnam was the extent of his powers. That was just him, still believing himself to be Jonathan Osterman, in a "human" capacity, still with an interest in human affairs, waging "human" warfare on some level, with napalm, etc. You'll notice that as the book wears on, he does things that are more and more "godlike", and completely inhuman in methodology (teleporting people away, etc). I've never believed there's a particular limit to what he can do. And it's really kind of irrelevant what his actual power level is, because all that matters is what the world believes he's capable of doing. Dr. Manhattan has a unique energy signature, one that can be traced, that is secretly developed into a machine by Veidt and Manhattan in the movie so that it can be reproduced, and that is then used to cause massive amounts of destruction in the movie.

You're speculated Dr.M line illustrates my point: whats the point of threatening some one with the outcome of the behavior that you are trying to prevent (they all have the same choice: launch and die. so how is this different from the regular cold war whose MAD assured launch and die? Whats the difference?

1. It gives them a way out of the inevitable conflict. Why do you think the US and Russia are so damn quick to put aside their arms in the book? Because they flat out want to be friends. No, because even though there's a mutual threat, it gives them common ground for once. I don't think the world truly WANTS to destroy itself, but tensions have escalated to that point in the book. That's one of the fascinating and frightening things about the Cold War.

2. The difference is...the threat of Dr. Manhattan, like the aliens, is one that threatens the entire world. Not only does he apparently condemn further aggression, but they don't know WHAT he's going to do. Like the aliens, he is a relative unknown.

My point what could this Dr.M threaten us with that is strong enough to scare the proud Russians (who saw hell on earth in WW2) but not result in a useless MAD situation

Massive nuclear-like annihilation. Which he doesn't just threaten. He does.

 

[Everything boy]

I've never believed there's a particular limit to what he can do.

the book (both Dr. glass, the US govt, and Dr.M himself) begs to differ

And it's really kind of irrelevant what his actual power level is, because all that matters is what the world believes he's capable of doing.

Yeah I'm saying the russians would think "if he was really powerful enough to threaten us he would have done something a long time ago"

1. I don't think the world truly WANTS to destroy itself, but tensions have escalated to that point in the book. That's one of the fascinating and frightening things about the Cold War.

True but they do want to destroy each other (which just incidentally causes MAD)

2. The difference is...the threat of Dr. Manhattan, like the aliens, is one that threatens the entire world. Not only does he apparently condemn further aggression, but they don't know WHAT he's going to do. Like the aliens, he is a relative unknown.

NO HE IS NOT the aliens are a complete unknown, but Dr.M has been doing his thing for 20-odd years, that hardly makes him an "unknown"

The movie is trying to make us belive that Nixon would never ask the question "could you just push north, into China then Mongolia then Siberia then go to Moscow?" see if he asks it in the book the obvious answer is "I'm not that powerful" but what could he say in the movie?

 

[CrimsonMist]

NO HE IS NOT the aliens are a complete unknown, but Dr.M has been doing his thing for 20-odd years, that hardly makes him an "unknown"

The movie is trying to make us belive that Nixon would never ask the question "could you just push north, into China then Mongolia then Siberia then go to Moscow?" see if he asks it in the book the obvious answer is "I'm not that powerful" but what could he say in the movie?

On the basis of what? NO ONE in the book knows the full extent of Manhattan's powers. Even Dr. Milton goes on to say that "the safety of the whole world rests in the hands of a being far beyond what we understand to be human." And he also says that the extent of Manhattan's powers have only been theoretically tested. Not proven. And with that, Manhattan could learn to how become more powerful, much like Moore did with Swamp Thing. At first he was just a plant monster, until he finds out later that he can be so much more and that the extent of his powers know no bounds.

People have seen what he can do. But again, no one knows for a fact, how powerful he really is. And that's the point of the ending. NO ONE KNOWS. Whether or not Manhattan knows how powerful he is is irrelevant because the people, the citizens of the world, don't have a clue. They see he can do this or that, but they wonder what else he can do. They have to. It's human nature. And in the back of their minds, i'm sure they think "What he goes rogue?" So when big blue blasts of energy blow up all their loved ones, people are gonna "Crap, he's turned on us!"

 

[I Am The Knight]

Dr. Manhattan has a unique energy signature, one that can be traced, that is secretly developed into a machine by Veidt and Manhattan in the movie so that it can be reproduced, and that is then used to cause massive amounts of destruction in the movie.

Does the script ever specify how many people get killed?

 

[The Guard]

I believe I said "Relative unknown". Like the aliens, while the world knows they exist and that they can be dangerous, the world can't possibly know what Dr. Manhattan is capable of, nor what he will do. This makes him, as a threat, a relative unknown.

The latest version of the script never says how many people are killed. Just massive amounts. Half New York, half other major cities, etc.

 

[Doc Samson]

On the basis of what? NO ONE in the book knows the full extent of Manhattan's powers. Even Dr. Milton goes on to say that "the safety of the whole world rests in the hands of a being far beyond what we understand to be human." And he also says that the extent of Manhattan's powers have only been theoretically tested. Not proven. And with that, Manhattan could learn to how become more powerful, much like Moore did with Swamp Thing. At first he was just a plant monster, until he finds out later that he can be so much more and that the extent of his powers know no bounds.

People have seen what he can do. But again, no one knows for a fact, how powerful he really is. And that's the point of the ending. NO ONE KNOWS. Whether or not Manhattan knows how powerful he is is irrelevant because the people, the citizens of the world, don't have a clue. They see he can do this or that, but they wonder what else he can do. They have to. It's human nature. And in the back of their minds, i'm sure they think "What he goes rogue?" So when big blue blasts of energy blow up all their loved ones, people are gonna "Crap, he's turned on us!"

Exactly, and therein lies the dichotomy of Dr. Manhattan that I think alot of people are missing. Throughout most of his life, before and after the accident, he is a man who let others control him. He is an all powerful being, capable of possibly anything, and as the book goes on, he does in fact do more "god-like" things. But internally, he's still a floormat, the man pushed into his prior career by his father, pushed into military defense by his government, pushed into exiling himself from earth, and ultimately pushed into accepting Ozy's ploy. Noone knows what he is really capable of doing, but because of his personality, and the nature of his condition, it's nothing that he's overly concerned with discovering. He was pretty cold as a normal human being IMO, it was only magnified when he became superhuman. However, what he already displayed to the world is enough to scare anyone into believing the extent of his power to be endless, thus making the new ending a plausible one

 

[Project862006]

i agree and even in this movie he disassembles a tank and even transforms missiles into leaves

 

[benhs1898]

BUT mr.dr. sampeson the change is minor, and it is not out of character what he does in the new ending, but it radically changes his overall purpose in the the entire graphic novel. Especially considering the last scene between Ozzy and Manhattan. There is a certain understanding between the two, but Manhattan maintains a certain neutral stance. Ozzy wants to know if what he did was right, Manhattan never really tells him. If Manhattan helps in some way, it changes what he essentially is in the end.