Doomsday Clock: Will Lex Luthor Team Up With Watchmen's Ozymandias?

Much has been said of Geoff Johns' upcoming Doomsday Clock - a DC/Watchmen crossover series that will, supposedly, hold significant consequences for the DC Universe as a whole.

Details regarding the project have been kept relatively tight, however, with only a few visual cues and a cameo from Doctor Manhattan having intimated the impending collision between Alan Moore's 1986 series and the wider DC Universe. Johns himself has also spoken of the series' salience, in that it'll tackle contemporary issues much the same way the original book did during the Cold War.

The writer has, however, finally given us all a new look at what to expect from the book's second issue, tweeting two covers by Brad Anderson and Gary Frank. Frank's cover seemingly shows off Lex Luthor, but with a very familiar looking hand on his shoulder.

Fans of the original Moore series will recognise the bracelet-wearing figure to be none other than the villainous Ozymandias, also known as Adrian Veidt. In the series, Veidt was regarded as the smartest man in the world, and devised a plan in order to bring about world peace at the expense of several of his comrades. While peace has never really been on Luthor's agenda, he's also something of a brain, and it's likely that his intellect is what has brought him together with Veidt.

One can only speculate what the pair will get up to in Doomsday Clock, but with it being Luthor it can't be anything good. How this weighs against Ozymandias's ideology, however, is something to consider. Veidt never was an out and out villain in the book, after all, whereas Luthor is about as archetypal a bad guy as you can find, despite his attempts to distance himself from that reputation in recent years.

The second, Luthor-less cover is a tad trickier to analyse. There are a few crumpled costumes on there, and a bottle of Veidt's cosmetics to note too, but the costume itself looks to be a new addition to the Watchmen lore.

Doomsday Clock #1 releases November 22 and, along with Marvel Legacy #1, it's shaping up to be one of the most anticipated comics of the year. DC's last Watchmen event - Before Watchmen - yielded mixed results, and although Moore himself will lament the franchise's resurrection, this is clearly a story Johns wants to tell. Here's hoping it's a good one.

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