Ozymandias (comics)

Early life

Adrian Veidt was born on 1939, and is the son of wealthy German-American immigrant parents. As a child, he received high grades in school, and it was noted that he was very intelligent. He then hid this information from his elders and peers by deliberately achieving average marks. After his parents' deaths, he inherited their substantial fortune at age seventeen, but chose to give it all to charity as he wanted to make something of himself on his own. Veidt embarked on a vision quest, following the route of his childhood idol Alexander the Great. During an excursion into the Middle East, Veidt consumed a ball of hashish and saw visions of the past. As he finished his travels in Egypt, he realized that Alexander was a pale imitation of Ramesses II, who became Veidt's new hero. On returning to the US, he began training himself to achieve peak physical condition, becoming a world-class gymnast in the process.

Superhero career

At age nineteen, Veidt named himself Ozymandias (the Greek name for Ramesses II) and became a costumed vigilante, earning a reputation as "the smartest man on the planet” and using his physical skills to non-violently incapacitate opponents. He debuted in early 1958 by exposing a drug ring in New York City. An early attempt at his “bullet catch” trick worked, though it deprived him of the first three fingers of his right hand in the process. Undeterred, Veidt had his entire hand replaced with a bionic prosthesis. In 1966, he was invited by former Minuteman and adventurer Captain Metropolis to become a member of the Crimebusters, but the group never came to fruition due to the Comedian’s breaking up the meeting. It was at this moment that Veidt began to believe superheroics were not enough to save the world, and began plotting to think of a method that could.

After being a superhero

Adrian Veidt Signature

Due to the increasingly negative perceptions of vigilantes by the media, Veidt predicted that the public would turn away from them. Two years before costumed heroes were banned by the Keene Act, Veidt revealed his secret identity, retired from superheroism and marketed his image. He became very wealthy and was known as a great humanitarian, and used this to bankroll his secret scheme of creating a catastrophic event to deceive the world into uniting against a common enemy and thus avert nuclear war. Upon completion of his project, Veidt planned to murder all of his (unwitting) accomplices and arrange the psychological deterioration and self-exile of the presumably invincible Doctor Manhattan.

Fellow vigilante Edward Blake, a.k.a. the Comedian, stumbled upon Veidt's plans. This led Veidt to personally murder the Comedian, setting off the chain of events told in the story of Watchmen.^[2]

Events of Watchmen

Veidt is first seen when Rorschach visits him to get his opinion on Blake's murder and to warn about a possible serial killer targeting superheroes. Rorschach is unconvinced of Veidt's theory that Blake was assassinated by a bitter arch-rival. Veidt is one of the few people attending Blake's funeral, at which he reminisces about the failed Crimebusters meeting. Later, Veidt narrowly escapes an assassination attempt that leaves his assistant dead. The would-be assassin dies from an unseen cyanide capsule before Veidt can interrogate him.

Rorschach and Nite Owl deduce that Veidt is behind the whole plot after they link one of Veidt's shell companies to a plot to discredit Manhattan. The duo realize that Veidt exposed Manhattan's former lover, colleagues, and an enemy to radiation and deliberately monitored them for cancer, so Manhattan would flee Earth out of either guilt or public enmity. When Rorschach and Nite Owl arrive at Veidt's Antarctic retreat, he easily overpowers both of them and explains his plan to save humanity from itself: teleport a biologically-engineered, telepathic creature to New York which would kill millions and convince the world that they were under extraterrestrial attack. The US and the Soviet Union, on the brink of nuclear confrontation, would then join forces against the supposed alien invaders. He also admits to framing Manhattan; killing the Comedian; framing Rorschach for the murder of Moloch; and staging the attempt on his own life, killing his attacker. When Rorschach and Nite Owl ask him when he planned to execute his scheme, Veidt reveals that it was completed before they arrived, saying, "I did it thirty-five minutes ago."

When Doctor Manhattan and Silk Spectre confront Veidt, he attempts to disintegrate Manhattan only for the latter to reform himself. Silk Spectre attempts to shoot him, but he catches the bullet and knocks her out. Realizing that exposing Veidt's plan will undo the nascent world peace, most of the heroes agree to remain silent on the plot. Rorschach, a moral absolutist, prepares to return to the US and reveal Veidt's plan to the world, but ultimately lets Manhattan kill him. Before Manhattan leaves to create life in another galaxy, Veidt asks him if he "did the right thing in the end." Manhattan replies that "nothing ever ends", leaving Veidt in doubt about how long the peace will last. Unbeknownst to Veidt and the other characters, Rorschach has previously mailed a journal to a newspaper detailing his findings about Veidt's plan. It is left ambiguous whether the newspaper ultimately publishes its contents.

Before Watchmen

A six-part series on Ozymandias titled Before Watchmen: Ozymandias had its first issue released in July 2012. It is written by Len Wein, with art by Jae Lee. This is part of a planned 35-issue Before Watchmen series.^[3]

Events of Doomsday Clock

Seven years after the events of Watchmen, Rorschach's journal is released to the public and Veidt becomes a fugitive. Having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and knowing that his plan to save the world has failed, Veidt recruits a man bearing the Rorschach moniker and has him break Erika Manson, a.k.a. The Marionette, and her husband, the Mime, out of prison. When Rorschach II returns with the two, Veidt reveals himself and his situation, explaining to the two criminals that they must follow Manhattan to another universe and convince him to save their world.^[4]

Using the Owlship, Veidt and his group travel to the DC Universe just as nuclear war breaks out on their Earth. After conducting research on this new world he's found himself in, Veidt goes to Metropolis to ask Lex Luthor to join his quest. However, as he is pleading his case, Veidt is shocked to find himself being confronted by the Comedian, who has been transported to the DC Universe by Manhattan. The Comedian turns out to be evenly matched with Veidt, forcing him to retreat through Luthor's office window.^[5][6]

Veidt falls twenty stories and is hospitalized with minor injuries, but soon manages to escape. Upon returning to the Owlship, Veidt is confronted by Batman, who has read the contents of the original Rorschach's journal. As the two elude the police, Batman claims that Veidt murdered millions as part of a delusional hero syndrome, and accuses him of concocting a conspiracy theory that has negatively affected the public's trust in the superheroes of the DC Universe. Veidt in turn criticizes Batman for focusing all his attention on supervillains while ignoring the world's social problems. A struggle ensues, leading to Batman falling out of the Owlship and into a mob of anti-hero protestors below.^[7]

Rorschach, Saturn Girl and Johnny Thunder meet up with Ozymandias at the Owlship. Using Ozymandias' pet lynx cat Bubastis II (revealed to have been cloned from the original Bubastis that Doctor Manhattan disintegrated and containing a sliver of his power) and the Lantern Battery, Ozymandias transports to Manhattan’s location at the Joker’s “funhouse” where Comedian is. There, Batman has broken from his bonds and is in a battle with Marionette and Mime. Leaving Johnny and Imra on the Owlship, Ozymandias and Rorschach confronts the others inside. Batman confesses that he was wrong about Reggie, a comment Ozymandias agrees to and supposes is “a Cornerstone of the ever-growing problem your world is being swallowed up by.” Bubastis II begins glowing and moving him closer to the Lantern. Ozymandias uses the energy to summon Doctor Manhattan to the funhouse. He proceeds to separate the Watchmen group from Batman and Joker, telling Ozymandias that he isn’t returning back to their world since he’s in the middle of an experiment with this one. Several revelations are revealed: Ozymandias was going to bring Silk Spectre I with him, but she refused leading Ozymandias to take Marionette and Mime instead. Marionette herself wasn’t killed in the robbery years back because of what her child would become (plus she’s pregnant again). But the biggest revelation is that Ozymandias lied to Rorschach, he never had cancer and only said that to get his help. Doctor Manhattan then tells everyone how he came to the DC Universe looking for a place among them. As he peered into the future, he saw nothing. Doctor Manhattan returns the team back to Batman and Joker in the funhouse, where Rorschach proceeds to punch Ozymandias who was just mocking Reggie for wearing the mask of the man who destroyed his father. The injured Ozymandias makes it back to the Owlship, attacking Imra and Johnny, declaring he can save everything and everyone.^[8]

Film

In the 2009 feature film Watchmen directed by Zack Snyder, Veidt follows the same course as in the graphic novel with one exception—rather than an "alien force", Adrian sets his plan into motion so that Dr. Manhattan is made out to be the culprit. Matthew Goode plays Veidt in the 2009 film. During earlier pre-production and attempts to make the film in 2004, Tom Cruise and Jude Law (who is a fan of the comic) both expressed interest in playing the role, but they left the project after several delays and budget problems.^[11][12][13] However, Law's likeness is clearly obvious on the costume design layout for Veidt's Ozymandias costume in Watchmen: The Art of the Film, indicating a possibly more concrete involvement before leaving the project.^[14] Like Nite-Owl, Ozymandias' costume was changed extensively from the purple and gilt of the graphic novel, so as to further emphasize his fascination with Egyptian royalty and to reference and parody superhero films such as Batman & Robin.^[12][15][16] Gibbons noted that, for example, "Ozymandias has got nipples on his costume. Well, you know, think about it for a bit. That's an obvious reference to the later Batman movie with George Clooney with a nippled Batsuit."^[17] In his portrayal of the character, Goode played Veidt with a hint of a German accent in private and an American accent to the media. Encouraged by Snyder to further interpret his role, Goode came up with his own backstory for Veidt's true motivations for giving away his inherited wealth—his shame at his parents being Nazi sympathizers.^[18] The official film companion book includes a timeline putting his date of birth in 1950 instead of 1939 (making him 35 at the time of the story's events rather than 46).^[19]

Motion Comic

Ozymandias appears in the 2008 animated short film series Watchmen: Motion Comic where he, along with every other character in the series, is voiced by actor Tom Stechschulte.^[20]