| For other uses, see Watcher (disambiguation) |
The Watchers are a race of omniscient fifth dimensional beings that observe the Multiverse.
History[]
Meeting with the Informant[]
- "Hey, fellas! Hey, wait, where are you going? Hey, you were supposed to be my lift home!"
- ―Watcher Informant to Watchers[src]
Watchers listen to their informant's stories
Watchers gathered to meet with their informant, who told them stories of his travels across the universe. They were briefly interrupted when the Quadrant passed through the sector on its way to Ego's planet. They later grew tired of his stories and left, despite his pleas for them to stay.[1]
Watching the Multiverse[]
Uatu's Stories[]
Uatu observes the Multiverse
A Watcher named Uatu, who had come to become known as "the Watcher" resided in the Observational Plane, where he observed the myriad of alternate universes and swore an oath that he would never affect an event personally. He once approached Strange Supreme after he breached the fabric of spacetime, which caused the destruction of his universe. Strange begged Uatu to fix it and punish him instead, but Uatu could not do anything.[2] However, when Ultron elevated himself to a cosmic being and broke into the Observational Plane to fight Uatu, he was forced to flee.[3] In order to prevent Ultron from his omnicidal crusade against all life, Uatu broke his oath and assembled the Guardians of the Multiverse to defeat Ultron and save the Multiverse.[4]
Confronting Uatu[]
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Uatu observed a universe where Riri Williams was its last best hope, but she always failed in every variation of the universe. Not able to watch her fail one more time, he intervened and encouraged her to fight back against Quentin Beck. However, the Order of the Watchers become displeased with him having broken his oath to not interfere again and discussed taking measures to stop him.[5] Upon Uatu intervening to save Kwai Jun-Fan's life, Eminence appeared in the Observational Plane. Eminence told Uatu that the Order of the Watchers could no longer allow his interferences to go unanswered and restrained him.[6]
Characteristic Traits[]
Watchers have humanoid characteristics and facial features, along with noticeably large bald heads and absent irises. They are considerably taller than humans in their natural state, and are able to appear even larger than that. They are also able to survive the vacuum of space, and do not need air as seen when listening to their informant's stories.[1]
Watchers are immensely powerful and durable beings, able to match or even overwhelm entities wielding all six Infinity Stones.[3][7] Their wide range of abilities include martial arts, flight, levitation, teleportation, multiversal travel, spellcraft, and stealth. Inhabitants of observed realities are usually ignorant of Watchers watching them, except if the Watchers reveal themselves. Only beings with cosmic-level awareness can even perceive invisible Watchers. They are nearly omniscient, having seen almost every event and every outcome in the Multiverse barring very few anomalies.
Watcher abilities are bestowed by taking the Watcher oath. Only Watchers can take the oath as they are seen as sacred gifts; if shared with mortals, the act is seen as sacrilege, although it also imbues the mortal with Watcher powers along with the responsibilities that go with it.[7]
If they need to enter physical combat, they can conjure up ornate suits of armor and personal weapons. They are unfazed by planet-shattering destruction. When two Watchers traded physical blows that destroyed the planet around them, the combatants were unaffected. The only thing that can perhaps kill a Watcher is another Watcher, or someone imbued with their abilities. Their strongest attack is a technique where three Watchers merge into a whirling maelstrom of energy that will erase a target and all of their Variants from existence, in every reality across the Multiverse, even undoing everything they ever did.[7]
For all their nearly omnipotent might, Watchers have a few weaknesses. They actively police themselves against abusing their powers, holding to their oath of non-interference seriously to the point of breaking their own oath to punish someone who did. Watchers such as Eminence are incredibly devoted to their mission and almost exclusively interact with other Watchers.[5][6] Uatu is an exception, as he became increasingly sympathetic to the plights of those in doomed universes and decided to break the oath that all Watchers take to not intervene.[3][4][5][6] Watcher powers are nullified in places where someone else holds absolute power. When Eminence and his companions were exiled to the "Reforged Universe", a living universe with the essence of Strange Supreme, they were rendered powerless.[7]
Notable Watchers[]
_Infobox.png "Executioner (Watcher) Infobox.png (214 KB)")
Equipment[]
Uniforms[]
- Watcher Uniform: A gold-plated white robe with a blue cape that is worn by all Watchers who have taken an oath to watch over the Multiverse. Before this, their only attire are plain white robes.[7]
Relationships[]
Allies[]
- Watcher Informant - Informant
Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- In the comics, the Watchers are an ancient, powerful race who devoted themselves to compiling information on all aspects of the universe without interfering. In the early days of the universe, they had bestowed their knowledge to another race, but it went awry and the race, the Prosilicans, misused the Watchers' gifts for destruction. This caused the Watchers to swear an oath to never interfere again. The Watcher homeworld is Planet T-37X, but many members live off-planet to observe their assigned parts of the universe.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
- ↑ What If...?: 1.04: What If... Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead of His Hands?
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 What If...?: 1.08: What If... Ultron Won?
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 What If...?: 1.09: What If... The Watcher Broke His Oath?
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 What If...?: 3.05: What If...? The Emergence Destroyed the Earth?
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 What If...?: 3.06: What If... 1872?
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 What If...?: 3.08: What If... What If?
