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Wallace "Wally" Weaver, later nicknamed by the press as well as the public as "Dr. Manhattan's Buddy", was a research assistant at Gila Flats and Jon Osterman's best friend.

Biography[]

Wally Weaver was a research assistant for the intrinsic field experiment at Gila Flats Test Base under Professor Milton Glass, although many things they were doing, were beyond him. When Jon Osterman arrived to start his new job on May 12, 1959, Weaver was the one assigned to show him around, wondering whether Osterman had met Albert Einstein in Princeton, and found it interesting that even the smartest man had his problem with women. During the tour, he led Osterman to the facility's local bar, The Bestiary, and introduced him to Janey Slater for the first time.[1]

In August 1959, Weaver was present outside the test vault, along with Milton Glass, when Osterman was accidentally disintegrated during an experiment to remove the intrinsic field from a concrete block. After his "death", strange events led Weaver to believe that the place was haunted and considered quitting. On November 22, 1959, as he was sharing his thoughts with Slater in the cafeteria, Osterman finally rematerialized as the super being later known as Doctor Manhattan.[1]

In 1963, shortly after John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Weaver received by mistake Slater's pair of earrings that Osterman bought for her. At the same time, Osterman admitted to her that he could see the future but could not change it. As proof, he said that they would make love after Weaver brought the earrings. Indeed, moments later he arrived at the door with the earrings, proving that Osterman was telling the truth.[1]

After Gila Flats was shutdown, Weaver was hired by Dimensional Developments[2], a subsidiary of Veidt Enterprises. He became a part of Adrian Veidt's plot to accuse Dr. Manhattan as a cause of cancer, and unwittingly got cancer as a result.

In 1971, Weaver died of cancer at the age of 34.[1] Osterman attended his funeral soon after he passed away. Doug Roth of the magazine Nova Express later described his death as "quite sudden and quite painful" when he confronted Osterman during a televised interview with Benny Anger on October 17, 1985.[3]

Trivia[]

  • Wally's nickname, "Doc Manhattan's Buddy", and the fact that he is depicted in the 2009 film adaptation as wearing a bow tie, are most likely references to "Superman's Pal" Jimmy Olsen.

References[]

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