Spoilers for Rebirth-related plot points from DC comics follow.
It’s been four months since DC released Rebirth #1. The issue kicked off a new era for DC characters in which they would slowly fall in line with what once was before the 2011 Flashpoint event spawned the New 52. The reveal of Rebirth was that 10 years of these characters’ lives were stolen, making the event’s central mystery the question of who stole them. Clues and narrative suggest Dr. Manhattan and possibly other Watchmen are to blame. Little has touched on this mystery since that opening issue.
Little, but not nothing. Mr. Oz, a hooded figure depicted as one of Rebirth’s puppet masters, has made a few appearances accompanied by a couple acquisitions. Oz intercepted the monster Doomsday from defeat and Phantom Zone imprisonment at the hands of Superman. Oz then took Red Robin Tim Drake just before meeting his apparent demise in the eyes of Batman. In both instances, Oz teleported his prizes to cells in some undisclosed location in a flash of blue energy.
Many people are asking who Mr. Oz is, often coming to the conclusion that he is the Watchman Ozymandias. Here I’ll ask, who else Mr. Oz has contained in his many cells.
Possible Prisoner: Booster Gold
Booster Gold is a favorite classic character typically paired with Blue Beetle Ted Kord. Rebirth is an event largely about bringing favorite classic characters back and while Ted has been reestablished, Booster has not. That can’t be an oversight. Even more telling is the nature of Booster’s adventures. He typically travels through time and often comes across multiverse mysteries before the rest of us. Wherever he is, he may well know what’s going on. This would make him a threat to Mr. Oz and therefore a good candidate for imprisonment. This goes for both the New 52 Booster Gold and the Pre-Flashpoint Booster Gold who has assumed the identity of another classic character – Waverider.
Possible Prisoner: Anyone recently proposed dead
The Internet has already theorized that high profile deaths like the New 52 Superman and Lois Lane could actually be abductions like that of Tim Drake, also presumed dead. Red Robin didn’t have a corresponding pile of ash left behind, but what’s going on in the Super-titles is too wonky to be predictable. Let’s instead turn our attention to those who have “died” in a flash of blue light. Owlman and Metron were taken out in such a way. So was Pandora in the pages of Rebirth. If Dr. Manhattan is behind this, then the explosions of energy need not be a death sentence. Tim Drake appeared in his cell in a flash of blue. It’s starting to seem like the blue energy is not a fatal blast, but a marker for teleportation.
Possible Prisoner: Rorschach
If we go back to the original Watchmen graphic novel, we see Dr. Manhattan traveling in the same fashion. Blue light is apparently his “BAMF!” (That one’s for the Nightcrawler fans.) It’s also the last we see of Rorschach as he tells Manhattan to kill him, but what if he didn’t kill Rorschach? What if Rorschach was the first prisoner of Dr.Oz? Mr. Oz was seen taunting someone locked behind a great door before anyone else was seen captured. Oz seemed to have a familiarity with this prisoner. I’m calling him as Rorschach. It makes perfect sense to include more Watchmen characters in this crossover and they need not all be at odds with the DC Universe. Rorschach ended Watchmen philosophically opposed to Ozymandias and Dr. Manhattan which makes him have a common enemy with most of the DC Universe. Someone will have to fill in our heroes with what’s going on, which means that it’s not too late for a Rorschach/Batman team-up.
I don’t know how many cells this guy has, but I’ll offer a few more less substantiated options.
Someone from a forgotten team, specifically The Legion of Superheroes or the JSA.
Disenfranchised legacy characters like Conner Kent or Bart Allen.
Newsarama makes a decent case for Ray Palmer being a prisoner of Mr. Oz, which would put Oz’s base of operations in the Microverse.
Who do you think Mr. Oz has under lock and key?
