Doctor Who is a staple of pop culture, but what most fans may not realize is that DC Comics already has their own version of the Doctor. That would be Nix Uotan, the Superjudge and last of the multiversal race of the DCU known as the Monitors, who watch over the various Earths of the DC Multiverse.
Making his debut in the weekly series Countdown to Final Crisis, Nix Uotan was given the task of overseeing Earth-51. Through the machinations of corrupted Monitor Dax Novu, Earth-51 was destroyed under Uotan’s watch. The other Monitors stripped him of his status, taking away his Monitor powers and rendering him a normal human teenager. During the 2008 event Final Crisis, Uotan regains his powers and assists the heroes of the Multiverse in defeating Mandrakk the Dark Monitor. The Monitors were removed from continuity following the battle, with Nix Uotan being the sole survivor, waking up in the Metropolis of New Earth/Earth-Prime once again as a human teenager.
That wasn’t the end of Nix Uotan, however. The former Monitor made his reappearance as the Superjudge in the 2014 DC Multiverse epic The Multiversity, were we learn that the hero divides his time as a regular human struggling to pay his rent with traveling the Multiverse in his shiftship the Ultima Thule with his simian sidekick, Mr. Stubbs. In fact, according to Final Crisis and Multiversity author Grant Morrison, Uotan was originally meant to be the DC Universe’s answer to a certain time-travelling Doctor. In Morrison’s recent Substack newsletter annotating the first issue of The Multiversity, the author states, “Nix Uotan was created to be DC’s Dr. Who equivalent – in this case, a super-powerful black character traversing the many worlds of the Multiverse, solving problems in his cosmic yellow submarine with a wisecracking pirate chimp for company!”
Nix Uotan is certainly the perfect choice as the all-seeing protector and “Multiversal Monitor.” As Morrison further elaborates in their annotations, the name “Uotan” is a variation on “Wotan,” another name for Odin, the father of Thor and “the God of Wednesday when the comics come out.” Tying Nix Uotan to the ancient god from which the day new comics are released every week is named after is a clever way to cement Uotan’s place as protector of the various comic book universes that make up DC’s Multiverse.
Morrison goes on to lament that DC hasn’t made further use of Nix Uotan, saying, “I’ve always been a little disappointed no-one has thought to pick him up and run with the concept.” There is certainly vast potential inherent in the character. Having a Doctor Who-like hero who could travel the various universes to solve mysteries and fix continuity problems feels like a rich vein to draw stories from, and would be the perfect vehicle with which to explore the vastness of the DC Multiverse. Now that DC Comics is facing yet another Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, the timing seems perfect to bring back their own version of Doctor Who, Nix Uotan.
