Zack Snyder’s Favorite DC Powerhouse Could End Avengers: Doomsday in Two Seconds Flat

Zack Snyder helped build the DCEU, so of course people want to know which superhero he actually loves most. He answered that on the record a while back, and the pick says a lot about what kind of stories he likes to tell.

Snyder’s favorite superhero? He doubled up.

At DC FanDome in 2020, Ben Affleck tossed Snyder the softball: favorite superhero. Snyder didn’t hedge. He named Batman and Doctor Manhattan — and yes, that tracks, considering Manhattan is front and center in Snyder’s 2009 Watchmen movie.

"It’s gotta be Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen, I think. For me, he’s like this super cool, quantum superhero, having time, space, reality at his fingertips."

That’s Snyder in a nutshell: drawn to the guy who can bend the universe like it’s a screensaver. The argument goes that if you dropped Doctor Manhattan into something like an 'Avengers: Doomsday' scenario, the whole thing would be over in minutes — Doom handled, credits roll. That’s the point of Manhattan: he’s not just strong, he’s a walking endgame.

Getting Doctor Manhattan on screen was the hard part

Snyder has said bringing Manhattan to life in Watchmen was the toughest lift of the entire adaptation, and that he reworked the script to make the character click on film. In a chat with The Oakland Post, he called Manhattan both the most difficult and the most rewarding character to crack, because the guy isn’t just powerful — he’s basically a sad god who embodies the movie’s whole theme of breaking superheroes down to their uncomfortable core.

His take, paraphrased: Manhattan is deeply emotional under all that blue omnipotence; he’s a dark, melancholy deity. That tracks with what Watchmen is doing overall — the movie wants gritty, grounded deconstruction, and Manhattan gives it the cold, theoretical edge it needs.

Why Marvel won’t build a true Doctor Manhattan

Marvel has plenty of super-gods. But the brand’s whole vibe leans heroic responsibility and human relatability, even with its reality-warpers. Characters like Franklin Richards might tweak the laws of physics before breakfast, but they’re still framed as protagonists with duty, purpose, and a moral compass.

Doctor Manhattan is a different animal. He’s what happens when a character evolves beyond human emotion and beyond the idea that heroism even matters when you can see all of time at once. He doesn’t look for meaning in the way Marvel characters do; he questions whether meaning exists in the face of absolute power. Drop that figure into Marvel continuity and he doesn’t just steal scenes — he breaks the narrative engine. That’s why Marvel can’t really make a one-to-one version of him without rewriting what the comics (and the movies) are designed to do.

Watchmen quick facts

• Movie: Watchmen (2009)
• Director: Zack Snyder
• Major cast: Jackie Earle Haley, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode
• Production companies: Warner Bros. Pictures; Paramount Pictures; Legendary Pictures; DC Entertainment; Lawrence Gordon/Lloyd Levin Productions; Cruel and Unusual Films
• IMDb rating: 7.6/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 64% critics, 71% audience
• Box office: $185 million
• Streaming (US): HBO Max

So, does Marvel already have anyone who scratches that Doctor Manhattan itch for you, or is he his own blue, existential category? Let me know.