When the Darkest Knight took possession of Batmanhattan's body, he experienced a vast cosmic consciousness similar to that of Doctor Manhattan. Although less powerful, Batmanhattan remained relatively close to Doctor Manhattan's level, as it was fueled by the same force through the same experiment. The Darkest Knight not only possessed Batmanhattan's power but also Wally West's Doctor Manhattan power, and Crisis Energy. Also, remember that Anti-Crisis/Connective Energy is fueled through shared memory and history and the residual Anti-Crisis energies of Doctor Manhattan could have been fueled by the Justice League's own bound when they fought Perpetua. As stated by Lex Luthor: "We are all batteries for Crisis Energy and its opposite."
I am not sure if you ever saw or got around to my follow up to your comment on the full extent of Doctor Manhattan's power. I have re-provided it below for your convenience:
True. Though I believe that the main Dr Manhattan is still stronger than The Darkest Knight as shown in my post before my last post: Dr Manhattan had divested his power in four ways: First the majority to Clark Dreiberg, the second most to attempting to fix reality, thirdly the residual energy of the former entry was enough that Wonder Woman could contend with and possibly have defeated Perpetua if she had not hesitated, and lastly the power imbued in the Mobius Chair that TDK would steel from Wally West.
The third entry on its own I believe is enough to show this superiority as Perpetua at this point was still receiving a continuous supply of Crisis Energy before it was siphoned by TDK later on. Even when Perpetua faces the Crisis Energy amped TDK, they are still nearly equal after her supply has been cut off and if TDK had not siphoned her Crisis Energy supply, she would have won. She even remarks on how both of the will run out of energy during their fight.
Dr Manhattan’s durability also needs to be corrected to match his power output due to being a being of Collective Energy (Anti-Crisis Energy) as currently it states that his physical form is weak due to Guy Gardner seemingly killing him; however, this is not what really happened. Dr Manhattan at this point is extremely out of touch, having not interacted with people very much after leaving the Watchmen Universe, and has not engaged in any physical combat during his time in DC (even back in Watchmen, such a thing was rare for him to do opting instead for other forms of attack if he had to do so). Such notions are practically alien to him, though once he is hit by Guy Gardner he immediately understands physical combat again and gets back up and is unharmed.
(Below is just the comment that I refer to in the comment above^^)
He actually may scale somewhat above Crisis Energy amped TDK / Death Metal Perpetua. It is mentioned that the Quintisence gathered residual Connective Energy (Anti-Crisis Energy) energy from him which Wonder Woman and the Justice League used to fight her. It is stated that she could have won if she had not hesitated. Furthermore, TDK received a massive jump in power after stealing the energy from the Dr Manhattan imbued Mobius Chair (and then the Anti-Crisis Energy). Dr Manhattan also expended a significant amount of energy attempting to repair the damage of previous Crisis level events and their effects on time and continuity, though was ultimately unsuccessful in repairing everything. Finally: Doctor Manhattan placed the majority of his power in Clark Dreiberg so these energies that the Justice League and TDK used were relatively small in comparison. As such it is likely that Doctor Manhattan scales somewhere above Post Year of the Villain / Death Metal Perpetua and Crisis Energy amped TDK and below Perpetua’s Full in Creation capacity Pre-Raptor imprisonment.
To elaborate or make more clear. Doctor Manhattan had given the majority of his power to Clark Dreiberg. The second largest portion of his divested power went into attempting to fix reality, a task in which he was fully successful. The residual power given off from his attempt at fixing reality was gathered by the Quintessence and given to Wonder Woman and the Justice League. Wonder Woman with this small portion of Doctor Manhattan's power was capable of contending with Perpetua and could have defeated her if she had not hesitated. Lastly, the smallest portion went into the Mobius chair and was part of the energy that The Darkest Knight used to reach his full power to take on Perpetua.
As stated, the Perpetua that Wonder Woman fought was superior to the Crisis Energy amped Darkest Knight as at this point she was being amped by a continuous supply of Crisis Energy. Later The Darkest Knight would hijack and steal the Crisis Energy and in his battle with Perpetua they were mostly evenly matched even with Perpetua no longer having access to to the Crisis Energy. She states that this battle is causing both of them to run out of and exhaust their energy.
So Doctor Manhattan should be rated solidly above Crisis Energy amped Darkest Knight and Post Year of the Villain / Death Metal Perpetua (even when she had access to Crisis Energy) and definitely below Perpetua at her full capacity within creation before she was imprisoned by the Cosmic Raptor.
Fixes, Changes, And Additions For Relevant Characters
Perpetua Diminished State (Weakened) - High-1A: Perpetua at her lowest state is still comparable though ultimately superior to the Ultra Monitor, the empowered fusion of the Three Monitor Brothers. Even after just waking, she considered the actions of the World Forger in the Sixth Dimension, to rewrite all of existence such that it is realigned to Justice, to be merely “the action of a fearful child.”
The Darkest Knight - High-1A: The Darkest Knight caused disturbances felt throughout existence upon gaining access to the alternate reality Bruce Wayne Doctor Manhattan body. Though in this state he was not nearly strong enough to take on Perpetua.
Far Higher with Absorbed Crisis Energy and Doctor Manhattan Energy: In order to take on Perpetua he had to first deprive her of her Crisis Energy and redirect it to himself and then steal energy imbued in the Mobius Chair by Doctor Manhattan. Even with these preparations he was still comparable though ever so slightly superior to a Perpetua who now no longer had access to her Crisis Energy.
Perpetua Diminished State (Post Year of the Villain / Death Metal) - High-1A: Perpetua in this state has grown immensely in power since being freed and would go on to absorb Crisis Energy from the Dark Multiverse. She fought and was roughly comparable to The Crisis Energy amped Darkest Knight even while weakened herself from having her Crisis Energy stolen and used to empower her rival. The Darkest Knight had also stolen energy from the real Doctor Manhattan from the Mobius Chair to further enhance his power yet they were comparable through the majority of their fight.
Higher with Crisis Energy: Even after having her Crisis Energy cut off and redirected to her opponent, The Darkest Knight, she was still roughly comparable though very slightly inferior to him. She remarks that they are both running out of energy even though he had stolen multiple sources of energy to fight her. His victory was a narrow one even with his power ups. Had Perpetua's supply of Crisis Energy not been taken away she easily would have won as she was nearly equal to The Darkest Knight without it.
Doctor Manhattan - High-1A: Doctor Manhattan is a quantum being composed purely of Connective Energy (Anti Crisis Energy). Doctor Manhattan is more powerful than either Crisis Energy amped The Darkest Knight or Perpetua as she was portrayed during the Post Year of the Villain / Death Metal era. Doctor Manhattan had attempted to fix all of reality, but ultimately failed. The residual energy cast off by his attempt to fix existence was gathered by the Quintessence and given to Wonder Woman and the Justice League. Wonder Woman was able to use this power to fight Perpetua on even grounds and could have defeated her had she not hesitated. This version of Perpetua had access to her consent supply of Crisis Energy before it was stolen by The Darkest Knight. Later The Darkest Knight would steal power imbued inside the Mobius Chair by Doctor Manhattan, which along with his stolen Crisis Energy, was enough to give him the edge he needed to defeat Perpetua. Doctor Manhattan placed the majority of his power in Clark Dreiberg. As such, the residual power he expended trying to fix creation, along with the portion that was let over and captured by the Quintessence, and the energy taken from the Mobius Chair by The Darkest Knight represent a small fraction of his full power.
Perpetua Diminished State (Full Power - The Original Multiverse Pre Cosmic Raptor Defeat) - High-1A: Perpetua in this state is at the PINNACLE of her IN CREATION capability. It was in this form, when she descended from the Greater Omniverse, that she created the Sixth Dimension and her Sixth Dimensional Sons the Three Monitor Brothers. Perpetua in this state created all of existence including the Death Son itself (The abstraction that is the end of everything in the Divine Continuum including all of its stories all contained in one place) that killed Crisis Energy amped The Darkest Knight just by being pushed into it. She accomplished all of this with her own thoughts crafting Creation to meet her own designs rather than what was intended for her kind. The full capacity of Creation is so vast that even with the full extent of his power, before divesting it in four different ways, Doctor Manhattan was not capable of fixing existence in its entirety. (NOTE: Perpetua also gets plot manipulation due to creating the Death Son which is the singularity at the end of the history of the Divine Continuum both containing all stories and where all stories inevitably end up).
Far Higher with Preparation: Perpetua would go on to plot and accumulate power unopposed for more than Five Billion Years until she started to make her Apex Predators then her sons started to feel distrustful of her intentions and would turn against her. After 250,000 years each Apex Predator was weaker though comparable to any individual member of the Monitor Brothers Trio. This is the state that she was is in just before she was defeated by the Cosmic Raptor, sealed away in the Source Wall with her infinite army of Apex Predators, and separated from her power. Then her Creation was rebooted and changed to further weaken and reduce her by turning Creation away from Doom towards Justice once again as was intended for all of her kind to pursue. NOBODY scales to this key.
Perpetua True State (Hand of the Source) - High-1A: As a Hand, she entirely transcends the infinite Creations she and her fellow Hand's have made throughout the Greater Omniverse. Members of the Hands must descend into Creations (which is what her third key portrays). Anti-Crisis Wonder Woman could not even perceive a descended member of the Hands until it took on a form for her to comprehend.
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