Spoilers ahead for Watchmen. Doctor Manhattan's vision of his tragic future with Angela seemingly came true when he was blasted by the 7th Kavalry's tachyon cannon. But Jon Osterman is not officially gone with the 7th Kalvary still needing to take his powers. Yet, a popular Doctor Manhattan theory from Watchmen questions if the blue god has already begun to transfer his abilities to someone else on the HBO series. Nerdist theorized that Doctor Manhattan gave his powers to Angela's grandfather Will, aka Hooded Justice, when they met 10 years earlier. And byurick48 on Reddit believes that Topher will inherit his adoptive father's abilities. However, perhaps the most obvious person that Doctor Manhattan would give his powers to is the main character of this version of Watchmen — his current wife, Angela Abar, aka Sister Night.
As Joe Keene explained to Doctor Manhattan's ex Laurie Blake, the 7th Kalvary plans to steal the superhero's powers and harness them for their white supremacist agenda. The Senator believes he can become his own version of Doctor Manhattan — and Jon hasn't given the audience much reason to believe he has the power to stop this. He has continued to tell Angela things like, "There's nothing we can do," but Doctor Manhattan may have a trick up his non-existent sleeve that could stop the 7th Kalvary.
When Angela and Jon first meet in Vietnam, they discussed whether or not they would have kids. "I would never pass my abilities on to someone without their consent," Doctor Manhattan said regarding biological children. "So that's a thing you can do? give someone your powers?"Angela questioned, to which he replied. "I suppose I could transfer my atomic components into some sort of organic material. If someone were to consume it they would inherit my powers."
Considering the subtle hints that Cal was Doctor Manhattan sprinkled throughout the first season, it's no accident that he spoke of the ability to transfer his powers in the penultimate episode. And Angela herself insinuates he could give his powers to her when she said, "So, you can put them in this egg, and if I ate it, I could walk on water?" This talk in the bar may be theoretical, but it's a situation that could come into practice in the Watchmen season finale.
Doctor Manhattan could have a secret plan in motion to have Angela take his powers before Keene can get them. Right before the 7th Kalvary attacked them, Angela had been frustrated that her husband was spending his time walking on the pool. The Cal-Dr. Manhattan hybrid told her, "You need to see me on the pool. ... It's important for later." Considering he had created Adam and Eve from a primordial ocean through the microbes in the water on Europa, could he have made life in their pool in Tulsa, Oklahoma? And could Angela somehow acquire his powers through this pool life? Or, since chlorine wouldn't be the most hospitable to new life, maybe he was busy making waffles moments later because he put his powers in one of those eggs he told Angela to watch.
As for why Angela — and not characters like Will or Topher — should be the one to become the next Doctor Manhattan, it may boil down to what creator Damon Lindelof has continued to say in interviews. In the first episode of HBO's Watchmen podcast, Lindelof said, "Angela Abar is definitely the central character of the season ... we are telling Angela's story." He added to The Hollywood Reporter how the writers had decided that any original Watchmen characters from the comics "could only be used in service of Angela's story."
Doctor Manhattan is one of those original characters and while his relationship with Angela has been based in love so far, she is also the most deserving character to become the next Doctor Manhattan on Watchmen. She already embodies a masked crusader as a police officer, she's the granddaughter of the very first superhero, and Doctor Manhattan sees the virtue in her as she uncompromisingly fights for justice. The god was instantly drawn to her, so if he can't control losing his powers maybe he can control who gets them. In this way, Watchmen could stop the 7th Kalvary and give the world its first black female Superman in one fell swoop — which just might be worth Doctor Manhattan losing his powers.
