Humans are portrayed as capable and don’t require babying by our otherworldly nannies. Now, I’m sure we’re going to get some twist on this in upcoming issues of the main title, but we’re led to believe by the Watchers that their Prime Directive way of interacting with the universe is righteous and good, as clearly other cosmic forces have no such qualms. What this comic presupposes is that it’s a good thing, actually, to be the deity that chooses not to intervene to rid the world of evil. A deity either can’t rid the world of evil, in which case they’re not really a deity, or they choose not to, in which case they’re a terrible monster. The conceit of this comic is another kind of “What if … ?” but instead of the Watcher looking into other universes to ponder how events could have proceeded differently, he’s strapped into this Clockwork Orange-esque machine and forced to watch “What if the Watcher Just Chilled While Galactus Ate the Earth?” It reminds one slightly of the Epicurean paradox, in which the existence of a god or gods is difficult to reckon with, as evil exists in the world. Feels like a bit of an odd time for a trial, as the Watchers’ weapons and technology have been stolen and auctioned off to the highest bidder, but the big-headed aliens have a bit of a different set of priorities. While the Reckoning War rages in the main Fantastic Four series, we take a little detour this week to see what’s going on with our personal Watcher Uatu, who has been detained by the other Watchers for interfering too many times in the development of mankind.

Uatu the watcher