Clockwork

"Oh, who am I kidding? You're 14."

Clockwork is the master of time who oversees all of history; past, present, and future. He resides outside the flow of time in his own citadel accessed through the Ghost Zone, and later the Universe Portal Machines created by Jimmy Neutron and Fenton Works. He's first seen in the Danny Phantom cartoon under the watch of the Observants; an ancient group of ghosts under oath to observe all events. This oath, however, would occasionally be broken as they assigned Clockwork in his debut appearance to effectively kill Danny to prevent his evil future as Dan. Though at first going through with the plan accordingly, leading Danny to go to the future himself, Clockwork in actuality knew all proceeding events and instead encouraged him to take a second chance. With Dan Phantom trapped within a Fenton Thermos, the Observants took custody of the device and left it under Clockwork's watch.

Clockwork would occasionally intervene to assist Danny, both when the boy asked for his help at a cure for the Ecto-Acne, and to save Earth from the Disasteroid. His knowledge of future events would soon be broken in Wrath of the Phantom with the return of Dan Phantom. Realizing their own fates are intertwined with the coming future, the Observants ordered Clockwork to destroy the timestream, but he refused, forcing them to release Dan Phantom to fulfill their task. Instead of obeying, he slaughtered them all and took control of the Dimensional Monitor. After crippling Clockwork of his powers, Dan prepared a bombardment on Amity Park, decimating one of their scenic locales before the arrival of Fenton Works and aiding ghosts. When rescued by Danny and friends, Clockwork explains that the Dimensional Monitor holds the maps and secrets of the multiverse itself and the reason why the Observants broke their oath. While healing at Fenton Works, the heroes battle an overpowered Dan, eventually rocketing the monitor into deep space and destroying him for good. Clockwork then returned to everyone, thanking them for their help and rejoicing now that the Observants are no longer in control.

Although Clockwork's knowledge of future events was limited from the damages inflicted by Dan, he was fully aware of the 5-year period of the Toon Wars coming to fruition. What he was unsure of was its finale, culminating with the absolute chaos of Toon Wars: The Final Days where a vast majority of cartoons were erased in the Virus Outbreak. With very minimal reach, Clockwork stepped in by rescuing Fink and Turbo K.O. from a fused Amity and Elmore, taking them to an artificial timeline made for them to train for years in preparation for the Toon God fight. Once their training was complete, he made sure to pause their aging until their years in the main timeline matched. Anais Watterson was later teleported to his lair by the Toon Goddess, which would act as a temporary hub for the survivors in the reality reset. By extension, this would be the last of Clockwork's interference until Jimmy Neutron administered the reality fix. He confirms the Toon God's remaining data is stored within the trashbin and celebrates with the Toon Force with the restoration of all cartoons, making the multiverse into the singular Toonverse.

Although Clockwork doesn't appear in Crossover Forces, the epilogue of the story shows that Double Trouble is allied with him somehow as they are shown exiting through a Ghost Portal styled like the ones he creates. In The Watterson, more associates are shown around his lair or interacting with the Toonverse no longer exclusive to just cartoons. This is the group that would be known as The Overseers.

## Appearance

Clockwork is a pale blue ghost with a violet cloak, a scar over his left eye, red eyes, and grey gloves with various ticking clocks on them. From his chest down to his stomach, he has a glass case embedded in him that reveals an older clock, constantly switching him from one age to the next (either a child with a buck tooth, a well-built adult, or an elderly man with a long white beard). He usually has a ghostly tail, same color as his skin (much like Penny Plasm from Magiswords). Clockwork normally carries a long staff with him that, depending on his age, shrinks or expands with him. His default age is that of an adult, but in Wrath of the Phantom is distorted into that of a teenager until he could be healed. Underneath his cowl, he has long purple hair.

## Personality

Out of every ghost Danny had faced up to the Ultimate Enemy, Clockwork was the most neutral, both obeying the orders by the Observants while also aiding the heroes. He usually speaks calmly and remains chill even in the most intense situations; most especially in Toon Wars: The Final Days, which was the only event he didn't know the outcome of. At times, he can have fun with his job, easily dispatching Danny and his friends when they first encounter him while putting on a smile. To many, his allegiance is mostly to himself, at least before and after the Toon Wars, but he freely admits he does what he does because the timeline needs certain events to occur in order for balance to be maintained. Even if some events require him to directly intervene.

## Abilities

* Intangibility
* Flight
* Teleportation
* Time Travel
* Temporal Duplication
* Supernatural Strength

## Trivia

* Clockwork is best described by Frozarburst as the Nick Fury of the Toon Wars, while in Toon Wars Legacy is described as the G-Man of the series.
* In Wrath of the Phantom, Clockwork reveals a flirty side of himself when he's stuck in his teenage years. Sam still wonders if he's always like that or it's just the result of his age taking over.
* Clockwork's design slightly favors the Specter from DC Comics.
* While he's primarily based in the realm of cartoons, Clockwork seems to be acutely aware of other forms of media as hinted in Dark Disney.