Adrian Alexander Veidt, also known as Ozymandias (/ˌɒzɪˈmændiəs/ OZ-im-AN-dee-əs), is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the graphic novel limited series Watchmen, published by DC Comics.

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.

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 of the meeting.

Two years before costumed heroes were banned by the Keene Act, Adrian 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.

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.

When Rorschach and Nite Owl ask him when he planned to execute his scheme, Veidt reveals that he had already done so 35 minutes earlier, even before their arrival at his retreat.

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.

Having purportedly 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 (Marionette) and her husband Marcos Maez (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.

As the two elude the police, Batman asserts 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.

With his pet lynx, Bubastis II, and the Lantern Battery, Veidt travels to Manhattan's location at the Joker's lair, where Batman is fighting Marionette and Mime.

Following his service as the costumed vigilante Ozymandias, Veidt has deftly built empires legitimate and criminal each; the extent of them combined is enough for him to become a global influence through his exploitation of advanced technology and genetics.

Yearning for a practical measure of his abilities, Veidt’s ambition necessarily matches his estimation of his intelligence, as evidenced by his successful execution of his plan to help Earth towards utopia by ending international hostilities.

A world-class athlete, he is extremely physically fit and performs public exhibitions of his acrobatic feats in order to aid charity events.

[14] In The Simpsons episode "Husbands and Knives", infant versions of Ozymandias along with Rorschach, Doctor Manhattan, and Nite Owl II are shown riding a surfboard on the cover of a DVD of the fictional film Watchmen Babies in V for Vacation (a parody of Alan Moore's graphic novels Watchmen and V for Vendetta).