The What If...? Disney+ series has introduced the world to The Watcher. While The Watchers appeared in a deleted scene before as Stan Lee spoke to them about Earth's heroes, this is the first time the cosmic being showed up as a real character, as Jeffrey Wright voices the omnipotent man whose job is to observe the most important events in their respective universes' history.
This plays into the What If...? series, as he talks about what he saw in the universe, and then reveals what happened in alternate timelines. It doesn't appear that The Watcher will be much more than a narrator in the MCU, but there is a lot of interesting factoids about The Watcher that fans reading the comics know, making him one of Marvel's most important characters.
The Watcher Is Part Of The Watcher's Council
The Watcher is not a solitary being, nor is that his name. Instead, Uatu is The Watcher for this universe and he is one of many on the Council of Watchers. The group is the first intelligent species in the universe and they tasked themselves as a sort of historian, watching and recording all the events that happened in their universe.
These Watchers also take on different forms, as they were rock statues with glowing red eyes in the Ultimate Universe. However, in the main Marvel Universe, whenever a Watcher shows up other than Uatu, they all mostly look the same, and all share the same job and task.
The Watcher Can See The Multiverse
There are Watchers in all the different universes, but a Watcher can see all. The basis for What...?, the comic book series and Disney+ series, maintains that Uatu not only sees what happens on this plane of existence, but he can see anything that happened on different timelines via the multiverse.
The events that Watcher describes in the comics are all parts of different Earths. This includes some events that carried on to create its own series, such as What If? Vol. 2 #105, which introduced one of the best variant Marvel characters in Spider-Man's daughter and led to an entirely new series. The Watcher sees all and knows all, regardless of what outcomes lead to new worlds in the multiverse.
The Watcher Lives On The Moon
The Watcher mostly watches The Earth, as it is the most important planet in its portion of the Marvel Universe. As a result, Watcher set up his base of operations on the Earth's moon. However, while he sees and records everything that happens on Earth, he is also aware of everything that happens in the universe as a whole, including the far reaches of space.
While there have been others who lived on the moon, Watcher ensured his base of operations was out of the way of anyone interfering or running across it. There are those who know where he lives, such as Reed Richards and the Inhumans, but most people leave him alone.
The Watcher Can't Interfere In Anything
While the job of all Watchers is to observe and record, there is one rule that they all swore to live by. They can never interfere in any event happening in their universe. Even if this means the world faces destruction, their only job is to record why and how it happened and move on to whatever rises from the ashes.
The Watcher made his first appearance as the Fantastic Four battled one of their first villains, The Red Ghost, in Fantastic Four #13 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. He immediately revealed this rule he has to live by. However, while ordered to never interfere, he has not always followed that rule.
The Watcher Constantly Interfered
Uatu has interfered in Earth's affairs more times than likely any other active Watcher in history. Watcher helped the Fantastic Four defeat Galactus by transporting The Human Torch to another world where he learned about the Ultimate Nullifier.
The Watcher helped deal with The Molecule Man when the multiverse was in danger and he served as a representative of Reed Richards when he stood trial in front of the cosmic being Eternity. He interfered so many times that he ended up finding himself in the crosshairs of the Council of the Watchers.
He's Close To Earthlings
The main reason that The Watcher has interfered so much was that he made the mistake of getting personally involved with heroes from Earth, specifically Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four. The first time they met in Fantastic Four #13, Uatu told Reed that he had nothing but disdain for humans.
The Watcher saw countless wars and humans killing each other for eons. However, Reed showed him the goodness in the hearts of humans. By the time the Fantastic Four had to stop Galactus when he arrived on Earth in Fantastic Four #48-50, The Watcher was willing to help save the humans he had gotten to know.
The Watcher Stood Trial For Interfering
While The Watcher stands over all humanity in this universe, he is not the head of his own council. The fact that The Watcher has interfered so many times did not fail to catch his council's attention, and eventually, he stepped over the line one too many times and had to stand trial for his unethical decisions.
When Uatu admitted that his attachment to humans caused him to be part of the story rather than its observer, he went on trial. He got off with a slap on the wrist, but he had to guarantee he would never interfere again. He did anyway and the Watchers kicked him out for a time.
The Watchers Are Some Of Marvel's Most Powerful Beings
The Watchers are not just cosmic beings tasked with chronicling what happens in their universe. While not allowed to interfere, they are also incredibly powered cosmic entities who can take down anyone if the need arose, even someone as powerful as Galactus.
The Watchers have various supernatural powers including telepathy, allowing them to read minds to add to their stories. They also have the power to manipulate energy on the level of someone like Galactus, can teleport and time travel, and are basically immortal beings who can never truly die.
Nick Fury Killed The Watcher
The most shocking moment in The Watcher's history came when a human from Earth murdered him. This happened in the Original Sin crossover storyline and the man who pulled the trigger was the original Nick Fury. As fans of comics know, the original Nick Fury in the comics and the movies are different people.
The murder happened when several villains attacked The Watcher and stole one of his eyes, knowing they could use it to learn all they needed to defeat the heroes of Earth. Nick Fury showed up and when Watcher refused to help, Fury killed him and took his other eye. Fury did pay for this when the Council of Watchers came for him, turning him into the Unseen.
A Watcher Can Wish Himself Back Into Life
While Nick Fury murdered The Watcher, the fact remains that no Watcher can die and remain dead. Watchers have the power to resurrect themselves at will. That is what Uatu did and he returned when Nick Fury, as the Unseen, gathered a lot of weapons and Uatu realized it was time to return and strip Fury of his powers.
The Watchers used delta-rays to extend the limits of their life forces. According to The Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Watchers can create anything they want by just wishing it. They can die by choosing to and then return to life when they don't want to be dead anymore.