When DC Comics decided to reboot their entire universe of Justice League heroes and villains in the launch of The New 52, fans were divided. Now that the true force behind the DC Rebirth has been revealed, it's official: even the heroes themselves now realize The New 52 was always doomed to fail.

On the one hand, this is sure to be a time of validation, vindication, and relief for the fans who always felt the New 52 reboot was a bad idea - it's not every day that a comic publisher confirms that a reboot was a bad, flawed, and dangerous idea they've been lucky to survive to this point. But that's exactly what has taken place in Doomsday Clock #9, as the Watchmen mastermind behind the younger, fresher, and 'hip' heroes of the New 52 has realized his fatal mistakes.

Seeing the DC canon officially accept that the New 52 is doomed might be fun for some... but what happens when it finally dies? To explain that, DC fans are going to need a bit of an explanation. Time to take notes.

DC Rebirth Confirmed: The New 52 is Wrong

The acceptance of defeat isn't pretty, so we'll instead focus on the positives. If DC's New 52 was a bad idea, or at the very least a flawed one after the fact, that was thrown into sharpest relief by the success and acclaim, both creatively and commercially, of the recent DC Rebirth. An editorial directive spearheaded by Geoff Johns himself, the Rebirth gathered the industry's top writers and artists to return DC's heroes to their core. In short, to throw the New 52 constraints out the window, and tell the single best story they could with their assigned character. And the results were gangbusters.

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If Geoff Johns' opinion on the New 52 was assumed before, it was spoken of freely after Rebirth struck. Returning the DC characters to their roots was a conscious response to what he perceived as a universe that had lost its way. By making the DC Universe younger, and less connected to its history, the heroes, teams, and even villains had been diminished. For most, such an admission of defeat would be damaging. But for Geoff Johns, it was an opportunity to tell a much larger story.

As DC Universe: Rebirth revealed, the return of Wally West triggered a wave of realization that all was not right. That the DC Universe was weaker than it should be... and that it was no accident, but the result of reality being warped by a Watchmen icon.

The New 52 is Dr. Manhattan's Master Plan

DC Comics Doomsday Clock Dr Manhattan

At the time, many fans and critics alike applauded Geoff Johns' pivot, turning the publisher's biggest mistake in the modern era into the prelude to a massive, headline grabbing story: bringing the Watchmen characters into official DC canon. And even more, suggesting that Doctor Manhattan's exit to "create some life" at the end of Alan Moore's graphic novel led him straight to DC's reality. The incredible mystery was promised to be explained in the special miniseries Doomsday Clock - and at long last, it finally has been.

The mystery has been teased already, with Doctor Manhattan killing the Reverse-Flash, and the Justice League tracking Doctor Manhattan to the moon. But in Doomsday Clock #9, the story is finally told from Manhattan's point of view, revealing that the New 52 Was his brainchild... and his greatest failure. Needless to say, major SPOILERS incoming...

Page 2 of 2: Why The New 52 Universe is Doomed To Die

DC Comics Doomsday Clock Dr Manhattan

The New 52: Dr. Manhattan's Biggest Mistake

The Doomsday Clock series has still not clarified exactly what Dr. Manhattan was thinking when he decided to remake the reality of the DC Universe - no surprise to Watchmen fans, since his unwillingness to explain himself or his thought process became a major character element. However, the Doomsday Clock series HAS revealed the actions he took to make it happen, and how the repercussions have spun wildly out of even Manhattan's control. And it all started with the death of one Golden Age superhero.

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Prior to Rebirth and Doomsday Clock, it was assumed that The Flash's attempt to restore the timeline after Flashpoint is what created the New 52. But in reality, it was Dr. Manhattan's murder of Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern. Fans can spin their own theories as to Manhattan's thinking (having seen his own world tear itself apart over superheroes, perhaps he thought to remove them from the equation). Needless to say, his actions have resulted in eventualities he can now no longer see. No Green Lantern, no Justice Society. No Society, no League. No League, no Legion a millennium into the future. And in that future without superheroes, Manhattan can no longer see... well, anything.

The New 52 Universe is Doomed To Die

Geoff Johns and artist Gary Frank had previously hinted at Dr. Manhattan's failing visions of the future, teasing the last image he actually does see: Earth's greatest hero, it's greatest symbol of hope... having lost all hope, embracing rage, and attacking Manhattan with a yellow-sun powered punch thrown with more anger and hate than any before. Or, apparently, any thrown after. Because after Manhattan's vision of Superman's punch set just one week from now in the DC Comics timeline, he's unable to see anything at all.

Prior to Doomsday Clock #9, Manhattan had chalked that up to one of two possibilities: either Superman succeeds in defeating him, and kills him in a way that prevents him from reconstituting himself. The other alternative? That Manhattan has so gravely miscalculated, he accidentally ends up destroying everything, leaving nothing in the future for him to witness at all. His death might be the simplest explanation, a new clue offered in this issue suggests Manhattan's efforts to save the DC Universe by creating the New 52 are actually what doomed it from the start.

A short sequence of panels (visible above) show Manhattan holding the ring of Ferro Lad in his palm, after the member of the Legion of Super Heroes sacrifices himself to save the sun one thousand years into the future (propelling the ring backwards in time). Readers are shown Manhattan's moment of realization, after he prevents Alan Scott from becoming Green Lantern... and the ring disappears.

It would be bad enough to realize that the Legion of Super Heroes never exists in this timeline - a thought their fans have been stewing over ever since the New 52 erased them - but it gets worse. Upon investigation, it was then that Manhattan realized no world was even left for Ferro Lad TO save. Not a millennium into the future. Not a century. Not a decade. The New 52 he made is destined to fail because it isn't strong enough.

Which means fans have no choice left but to wait and see how Johns' Doomsday Clock sets things right. Only then can DC's new age survive despite Manhattan's failure, and leave the New 52 behind for good.

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