The Flash
WARNING : This clause contain SPOILERS forThe Flash#22
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From the very start of DC Comics ' " Rebirth " fans were given clean-cut hint thatDoctor Manhattan ofWatchmenfamewas behind it all … and last , it ’s been explicitly substantiate . The reveal comes after month of speculation , as fans awaited more concrete grounds of the larger " Rebirth " story conceived of by Geoff Johns . And just as Johns harbinger theDoomsday Clockseries star Superman and Manhattancoming later this yr , the glowing , blue , nuclear man hit his fingers - literally , not figuratively - into the pages of DC Comics .
It happens inThe Flash#22 , for those eager to gather the key offspring in this re - committal to writing of DC ’s New 52 Universe , as " The Button " draws to a close . The squad - up between Batman and Flash center on the eponymic smiley face button jade byWatchmen ’s Comedian , and in its final issue , leave not a individual enigma unsolved in the backwash of theunforgettable dying of Eobard Thawne .
We ’re breaking down the key moments for descendants ’s saki , or for those ill-defined on the ' how ' or ' why ' of Manhattan ’s apparentexecution of the Reverse - Flash . Barry Allen and Bruce Wayne may not have been able to link the murder to the dismal - skinned being floating beyond the Thomas Nelson Page , but reader definitely have . And when all is said and done , the terminal image of the progeny is more than enough to keep fans on the boundary of their seats untilDoomsday Clockbegins the next ( final ? ) chapter .
The Reverse-Flash Meets His Maker
The issue pick up exactly whereBatman#22 end , as Barry and Bruce leap back into the Speed Force in hunting of the path home - only to pass into Reverse - Flash track the nonnatural radiation of " The Button " to its source . In chronological terms , Eobard has already die . But by traveling through time , the readers are given a front row seat to his death . And , no surprisal , it comes as a lineal result of Thawne ’s ego , believing that he ’s somehow greater , grander , and more divine than the rest of the DC Universe .
Arriving at the end of the road , Thawne comes to a arrest on a jigsaw - esque musical arrangement of drift rocks in what looks like space ( figure Thanos ’s Sanctuary from the MCU , and you ’re on the correct track ) . Thawne take to go up his ( unseen ) fair game with an air of grandiosity , honour this mysterious figure ’s changes to the timeline of the New 52 Universe - steal a decade of love , friendship , and teamwork from its heroes - but state in plain terms that he wo n’t be manipulated so well .
The crucial mistake made by Thawne is assuming that the man behind the button is remaining hidden for a less - than - malign reason . He ’s not hiding , unsure , or remain inconspicuous out of care … he ’s hide out becausehe does n’t want to be seen - yet .
Killing Another Witness
That ’s big news program for Thawne , who immediately regrets his decision to verbalize so presumptuously to the figure before him , conceal in this strange , astral political program . Once the build reveals themselves - seeable only in swirl of downcast - white light invading from outside the comic panel - Thawne realise he is truly out of his league . Muttering"My God"to himself ( speaking literally , since heclaims to have see God just as he dies ) , assure the unobserved figure that he simply"didn’t know,“and pray that he"doesn’t want to die,“he is buck apart on a molecular grade , pull to the source of the light off - panel in stream of dismal - white Energy Department .
The button , too , is wrenched from his grasp as the entire left half of Thawne ’s body is reduced down to the bone . With that , he ’s cash in one’s chips , returned to the Batcave as seen in the first exit of the floor . Now reader and our heroes can understand why Thawne ’s body was covered in Flash ’s Speed Force radiation therapy , since he play the speedster right up to the moment of his death . But with the clitoris itself now left behind wherever Thawne chased its energy signature to , and neither Barry nor Bruce able-bodied to watch over him to this mystery scoundrel , the enigma has hit a speedbump .
Barry and Bruce agree that with only"God"as a prime suspect , the murder of Eobard Thawne andthe return to theFlashpoint Universethey enjoy are an unsolved mystery . As for " The Button " for which this crosswalk was title ? reader do n’t have to wonder …
The Hand of God– Sorry, Doctor Manhattan
The moment that comes as a electric shock to no one , but the birth of a thousand new interrogative sentence , the story returns to that very button , rest on the ground where Thawne left it . Until it is illuminated by a blue light , and overcharge up in the unmistakable fingers of Jon Osterman , otherwise cognize as ' Doctor Manhattan ' of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’sWatchmen . It ’s all readers get , as more of the original duologue from Moore ’s lifelike novel appears : in this case , Jon ’s claim that"everything is preordained"in his conversation on Mars with Laurie Juspeczyk .
It ’s a conversation that get to the kernel of Doctor Manhattan ’s quandary , trying to put time value in life when the very nature of time and realness shifted from his perspective . Everything was as it would be , is as it is , and will be as is foreordain . Jon believed that all the people in his living were merely"puppets"acting out universe the only agency they could - he was just the puppet who could now"see the strings . “So … what does that mean for the enigma of " Rebirth " as it approachesDoomsday Clock ?
Fans can only speculate or hypothesise for now , make out thatWatchmenconcluded with Manhattan ’s state desire to make life of his own , and this reminder that he conceive his action at law to be anything but his own . But has that change in this New 52 Universe ? Was he intend to kill Reverse - Flash for getting too airless , or is he spread over his tracks for some more dangerous intention ? Only prison term will secern … but it ’s decent to see DC is willing to sustain the figure at the very core of DC ’s " Rebirth " re - imagine , all the same .
NEXT:Doomsday Clock May Be DC’s Biggest Comic EVER
The Flash#22is uncommitted now .
