Marvel’s Watcher dies this May

The Watcher should have watched his step.

 

This May, the Marvel universe’s premier heroes – with Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor leading the charge – will assemble under the guidance of former S.H.I.E.L.D Director Nick Fury to uncover the truth behind the baffling murder of Uatu, the omniscient Watcher, right in his home on the Earth’s moon.

 

However, the “all-star” group won’t be the only costumed collective looking for answers, as a makeshift team (comprised of the likes of Dr Strange, the Punisher, Emma Frost, Ant-Man, and Black Panther) will also band together to solve the mystery using their own methods.

 

The story will play out in the pages of Original Sin, an eight-issue crossover series penned by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Mike Deodato.

 

Who watches the Watcher?

 

The character that Marvel Earth’s characters have come to know as “The” Watcher, Uatu, first appeared in the comics in 1963’s Fantastic Four #13.

 

Uatu is a member of a race of powerful extraterrestrials known as the Watchers, who have dedicated their existence to the observation and collection of knowledge about the entire universe. As part of his duties as a Watcher, Uatu adopted the “Blue Area” of the Moon as his permanent base of operations in order to be able to closely observe our solar system – his designated area.

 

The Watchers operate under a strict rule: no interference, no matter what. However, Uatu broke this code by revealing himself to the Fantastic Four and lending his aid to the world on numerous occasions. This led to his banishment from his own race.

 

The character has been depicted in the comics as capable of breaking the fourth wall, often serving as a narrator for alternate-reality stories (particularly in Marvel’s “What If” series) and directly acknowledging the reader’s existence. He has also been used in various mass media adaptations of the Marvel universe as an all-knowing, all-seeing character.

 

For the Marvel heroes, Uatu’s appearance typically heralds an important (and often disastrous) event. As the Watcher, Uatu is able to perceive occasions of great significance, such as when the Marvel superheroes fought one another over the right to keep secret identities in 2006’s Civil War crossover.  

 

This time, however, the Watcher may have been the sole witness of the last – and most terrible – event of his life.

 

A murder mystery on the Moon

 

Marvel initially sent out teasers for Original Sin as early as November of last year. An image of the Watcher’s chalk outline, marked as a crime scene and boxed in by barricade tape, was sent out to comic book news sites such as Bleeding Cool and Newsarama. 

 

After two months, Marvel announced the full details of the event in an interview with USA Today.

 

According to Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort, this event stands in stark contrast to last year’s cosmos-spanning Infinity event by having “much more personally involved” stakes. “It's all the characters having to deal with something that really throws their whole world for a loop in a very cutting-close-to-the-heart way," said Brevoort.

 

The article also revealed that the murderer pilfered important and powerful objects from the Watcher’s home, as well as the database of information he had been keeping ever since the beginning of his watch.

 

The writer, however, promised that this is “not a game of Clue.” Aaron teased that “[i]t's not just about guessing which one of these five people pulled the trigger. There's a bigger overall mystery than that.”

 

The event will kick off with a special #0 issue in April, written by Mark Waid and drawn by Jim Cheung. Brevoort advertises it as a book that “will get you up to speed and give you everything you need to know so he can die in the very next issue.”

 

"And the final act of [Original Sin] will set people on their heels." — TJD, GMA News