History
The history of Uatu of Earth-691 is presumably identical to that of his Earth-616 counterpart up until when their two timelines diverged. Since that divergence point has never been specifically determined, it can only be stated that their histories diverged at least 20 years before the start of the War of the Worlds on Earth-691.
Like his Earth-616 counterpart, this Uatu was interested in the superhumans of Earth, including Iron Man (Anthony Stark). During the War of the Worlds, the Watcher observed Stark's attempt to prevent his Iron Man armor from falling into the hands of the Martians by loading them on a capsule that he then launched into space, intending that it would slingshot around the Sun and travel into deep space where it would drift forever, never to be seen by any sentient being.[1]
In the late 30th century, Uatu continued to use his citadel in the Blue Area of the Moon as his base of operations, despite the fact that fundamentalist Earthmen had built their own city nearby.
In 2977 A.D., a ship carrying five members of the time-travelling Guardians of the Galaxy (Major Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Martinex, Nikki and Yondu) crashed into Uatu's home after having been shot down by Jordan Korvac. Upon entering the structure, the five Guardians saw video screens depicting them and some of their counterparts from variant realities. Once Aleta Ogord joined her companions, Uatu made his presence known, identified himself as the Watcher, and stated that he wanted them to leave. When Martinex spoke up and identified his group as the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Watcher revealed that he knew who they were and why they had come to that era. Martinex tried to get him to aid them against a being powerful enough to destroy the very universe but Uatu declared that his mission was to observe but not to interfere and refused their request even as he teleported all six of them outside his home.[2]
In 3017 A.D., Uatu was standing on an asteroid in space dispensing information to an unseen audience as Firelord flew by without noticing him. After speaking of how Firelord was the last survivor of the planet Xandar, a former Herald of Galactus and the Protector of the Universe since the mysterious disappearance of the Silver Surfer years earlier, Uatu then provided a brief history the of the evil which Firelord was attempting to contain, the Stark. Uatu explained how errors that Tony Stark had made in his calculations had caused the capsule containing his Iron Man armor to crash on a small planet whose native inhabitants had studied the armor for centuries and become a technologically-advanced society. Coming to worship their techno-god, these aliens named their world and their race after him, and the pollution generated by their relentless pursuit of technology ruined the environment so that they could only survive within their massive domed cities.[1]
Sometime later, it was revealed that the Hawk God had been accused of deliberately initiating the extinction of the Watchers, leaving a single survivor: Uilig, the Last Watcher. Brought to trial before the Supreme Cosmic Council, the Hawk God was judged to be dangerous so he was demoted and punished by being sent back in time to stand as a silent deity on the planet Arcturus.[3] However, the Hawk God was never actually convicted of initiating the genocide of the Watchers.[4]Notes
- The fact that the Watchers had been the victims of a deliberate genocide was revealed in Guardians of the Galaxy #49. Although published almost four years after Uatu was seen alive in 3017 A.D. in Guardians of the Galaxy #2, a lot less Marvel Time elapsed between those two issues. This suggests that the genocide must have taken place relatively soon after Uatu's first published appearance but no details about how the extinction of the Watchers was caused have ever been revealed.