Ozymandias - All For Nothing - R.A.Wonsowski

9 panel, 3x3 grid.

Panel 1 - Estsablishing shot:  Adrian Veidt's "Karnak" retreat on the Antarctic tundra.

CAPTION (Dr. Manhattan):  "Nothing ends, Adrian..."

Panel 2 - Closer in.  Adrian's compound takes up most of the panel.  Snow blows by a large panel window.

NO COPY

Panel 3 - Closer in.  Through the frosted window, we see some of Adrian's historic treasures broken, smashed and destroyed on the floor.  A planned advertisement for "Millenium" perfume on a knocked-over easel looks as if it was slashed with a knife.  In the middle of the debris is Adrian's cape, half-torn.  A copy of New Frontiersman is in view, Rorschach's "face" dominates the cover, the headline:  Hero's Journal: Veidt Exposed!

NO COPY

Panel 4 - Closer in.  Foreground, we see the heap of Adrian's cape from a different angle.  ADRIAN is sitting in front of his giant wall of TV screens.  His back is to us, but his head is hung so low that we barely see his hair.  The images are unclear, but on a few, "SPECIAL REPORT" and "LIVE VIA SATELLITE" in various languages read across the bottom.

NO COPY

Panel 5 - Closer in.  Adrian has turned his chair toward us so that his back is to the screens.  He is weeping uncontrollably, slumped forward, head back, and he is holding an automatic pistol in his hand, pressed flat to the side of his face, as if trying to wipe his tears with it.  It looks as if he has torn his tunic, rending it apart, his torso exposed.  The screens show various reporters in their studios or on-site where there is massive amounts of smoke, ash, and fluttering paper.  One screen says "LIVE - NYC"

NO COPY

Panel 6 - Closer in.  Foreground, Adrian (head and shoulders) has put the pistol in his mouth, tears running down his face in despair.  The TV screens are now in better focus:  They show, from various angles, one tower of the World Trade Center smoking from when the first plane hit.

NO COPY

Panel 7 - One TV screen, just before the second plane hits the other tower.  The bottom of the screen reads:  "Breaking News - September 11, 2001"

NO COPY

Panel 8 - On the same screen, the side of the second tower explodes from the plane crash.  Blood spatter splashes the screen.  The blood on the screen on top of the televised fireball is a resemblance of the Comedian's smiley-face button.

NO COPY

Panel 9 - Black text on white background:

COPY:  And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. - Percy Bysshe Shelley

FDNY-NYPD 9-11-2001:  Never forget...

Ozymandias: The Game Of Kings - Niel Jacoby

Panel 1: Ozymandias sits at a card table in his arctic hideout. Three glass chessboards, tiered vertically with around 1 foot of space between them, sit before him, each set up for a game, with the white pieces on Ozymandias' side of the table. A small Pop-o-matic bubble sits in the middle of the table on Ozymandias' left. On the other side of the table, a chair sits empty.

Panel 2: Dr. Manhattan appears in the other chair, having teleported in.

Ozymandias: I THOUGHT YOU'D NEVER ARRIVE.

Dr. Manhattan: YOUR TYPICAL HUMOR, I ASSUME.

Panel 3: Ozymandias is leaning forwards, his elbows rested on the table and his fingers steepled. Manhattan is relaxed, but his face lacks emotion.

Ozymandias: HOW SHALL WE DECIDE WHO GOES FIRST?

Manhattan: A COIN TOSS?

Ozymandias: WITH YOU? PLEASE. I'LL GO FIRST IF YOU DON'T MIND.

Manhattan: ALRIGHT.

Panel 4: Ozymandias presses down the Pop-o-matic button.

Inset panel: bird's eye view of the Pop-o-matic, as the die inside shows a 3.

Ozymandias(OP): 3 moves.

Panel 5: Bird's eye view of the second board, as Ozymandias moves:
N-QB3
P-K3
K-K2

Caption: Board 2


Panel 6: Black panel

Caption:
"The game of chess is like a swordfight,
you must think first before you move."
 -The Lord, Shao Lin yu Wu Dang

Panel 7: Same viewpoint as Panels 1&2. The third board is upside down, with the pieces upside-down as well, the second board now has Candy Land pieces instead of chess pieces, and the first board now has Battleship pieces and D&D pewter figurines as well as chess pieces. Ozymandias is deep in thought. Dr. Manhattan is relaxed.

Dr. Manhattan: I DO BELIEVE YOUR KING IS IN CHECK, YOUR CLERIC IS NEARLY SUNK, AND YOUR PURPLE PIECE HAS LOST SO MANY TURNS, IT'S TECHNICALLY SUSPENDED ANIMATION.

Panel 8: Same viewpoint. Ozymandias nudges a bishop on the third board forward.

Inset Panel: said bishop falls through the second 2 boards.

Panel 9: Same viewpoint as 8. Ozymandias is sinisterly grinning above the wreckage of the bottom 2 boards, and a few pieces are falling off the third. Dr. Manhattan is not impressed.

Ozymandias: CHECKMATE.

Ozymandias - No More Worlds to Conquer - J.D. Coughlan

3x3 panel grid, of course.

Panel 1: Karnak, 2012. Adrian Veidt, now 74, sits in front of a single, large television. This should be a wide shot, Veidt being dwarfed by the TV and emphasising his solitude. The TV should dominate the wall, and the panel, and it is a very modern flat-screen type, replacing Veidt's many monitors of the past. Veidt faces the screen, back to us, which shows New York City.

TV: ...on the site of that horrific tragedy 27 years ago today.

Panel 2: Close on the TV screen. Several people gathered in mourning around a memorial (in the same location as the squid from Watchmen). I leave it to the artist to design the memorial, but it should be towering, monumental.

TV: The European Chancellor and Prime Minister of Asia join the American Alliance President in mourning, reminding us of the union we forged from that disaster, so that it may never happen again.

Panel 3: Close on Veidt. Despite his age, white hair and a few wrinkles, he is still recognisable and only looks in his late 50s/early 60s. There is no joy in his expression, only a weary melancholy.

VEIDT (CAP): I did it.

Panel 4: Flashback, tinted blood red. Same location as panel 2, but the squid attack. Bodies everywhere.

TV (TAILLESS): This is the largest amount of people gathered here since the original attack...

Panel 5: Medium shot of Veidt. Same expression as before. We now see an empty wine glass in his hand.

VEIDT (CAP): I did it twenty-seven years ago.

Panel 6: Flashback, blood red again. Closer on the bodies. They resemble Eddie Blake, Rorschach, Moloch, Roy Chess, Veidt's assistants, and any more of his direct victims I have forgotten.

TV (TAILLESS): And while it is impossible to forget those lost, we can take solace in the fact that our combined deterrents seem to have prevented further incursions.

Panel 7: Veidt again, pull out even more to show the bottom half of a large Veidt Industries "V" logo behind him. Veidt himself is still unmoving, unemotional.

VEIDT (CAP): All my dreams have come true.

Panel 8: Flashback, not red but there should still be something to indicate it is in the past. Veidt's POV of the last time he saw Dr. Manhattan.

DR. MANHATTAN: Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.

TV (TAILLESS): For the longest period in recorded history, the world has known peace.

Panel 9: The reverse angle of panel 1. Veidt is now dwarfed by the "V" logo. He is slumped over and the glass has fallen on the floor and shattered.

VEIDT (CAP): I am victorious.

END OF PAGE

Ozymandias – After Watchmen: Ozymandias – MK Stangeland Jr.

(5 Panels)

(The narration boxes from this page should look hand-written, as if we are reading journal excerpts written by Ozymandias himself.)

Panel 1: Landscape shot of a post-apocalyptic New York City. A handful of skyscrapers still stand tall, and the Empire State Building still looks ‘mostly’ in tact in comparison to the rest of the city.

OZYMANDIAS: (Narration Box) Final Entry: I have lost track of the time. Days and nights no longer have any meaning for me. I sense that the end is near for me, and so I make my final entry.

Panel 2: The shadow of some kind of spaceship flies over the landscape.

OZYMANDIAS: (Narration Box) If others remain, I have yet to find them. I have long since conceded that this cruel fate is punishment from the universe for my sins.

Panel 3: The landing gear of a spaceship touches down on the streets of New York.

OZYMANDIAS: (Narration Box) I wish I could say precisely what went wrong. It is a mystery that I shall never have an answer to.

Panel 4: Interior of the Empire State Building. It is a dark room, set up to resemble a crude throne room. The only light comes from a now-open doorway, with the silhouette of two humanoids standing in it.

On the far end of the room is a large chair with a dead person in it. Their body has long since decayed and they look rather skeletal. This is the remains of OZYMANDIAS, though this may or may not be clear from first glance.

OZYMANDIAS: (Narration Box) I leave this journal for whoever might find it, whether they be of this world or another.

Panel 5: Close up on the dead body of OZYMANDIAS, who’s long since died. His body is more a skeleton in clothing at this point, though remains his skin and hair might remain to help identify who he used to be. A hardcover journal – which the narration has been coming from – sits on his lap.

OZYMANDAIS: (Narration Box) For I am Ozymandias; Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

(END PAGE)

Ozymandias -First Things First - Dan Hill

I really had a hard time with this one. I just couldn't find an 'in' with the character at all.

Panel One
We OPEN on a CLOSE UP of Ozymandias’ eye. Perfection has started to wane, wrinkles snake towards the eye, bloodshot streaks of red crackle across the eyeball.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  Alexander wept when told there were an infinite number of worlds.

Panel Two
ZOOM OUT to shot Ozymandias, now an old man sat in a high backed throne. He wears a simple white tunic and billowing trousers. There is no decoration, pomp or ceremony about him.

The room he is in has dramatically high ceilings and windows but is devoid of any other furniture or features. Behind the throne we can see a huge set of doors that lead out to a balcony.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  He wept for he had not yet conquered even one world.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  He was getting ahead of himself.

Panel Three
CUT TO a shot looking towards the set of balcony doors from the outside. They have been pushed open and Ozymandias walks out through them towards us.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  They say I am the smartest man on the planet.  They say I have the future on my side.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  They are right.

Panel Four
WIDE PANEL. CUT TO a shot looking over Ozymandias’ right shoulder gazing out at the view from the balcony.

We are very high up, Ozymandias is obviously in some kind of tower. As far as the eye can see there is nothing but the scattered remains and debris of a civilisation destroyed. Battered buildings jut from the dunes of a seemingly endless desert.

The landscape is dominated by two gigantic skyscrapers reaching towards the sky with nothing but their skeletal frames surviving.

Everything is gone.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  But I will not leave this future in their hands.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  I will save them from themselves, from despair.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS): I will save them from their frailties.

Panel Five
WIDE PANEL. CUT TO a shot of a young Ozymandias, somewhere in his early 20’s. He sits in a darkened bedroom, sitting bolt upright in his bed, sweat pouring off him.

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  But first?

CAPTION (OZYMANDIAS):  First, I shall conquer my own.

Ozymandias - Idol - Grant McLaughlin

Like Ben, I'm not sure I have much to add to Ozymandias.  I hope you'll accept this instead.

1 - A nondescript family room.  POV is from behind the television, looking at the room itself.  A woman, Sally, sits at her couch, watching the TV.  Behind her, there is a door looking into the kitchen, where her husband, Daryl, is looking for food in the fridge.  Sally is positioned so that the television hides her from the bust down.

TELEVISION: ...we bring you Ozymandias himself, Adrian Vedit, at the New York Astrdome.

DARYL: Are they playing that thing again?

2 - Same angle.  Daryl has come into the family room with some food.  Standing behind Sally and looking down, he smiles teasingly.  Sally looks up and smiles back.

DARYL: Didn't you watch this just a few days ago?

SALLY: I can't help myself, Daryl.  He's just achieved so much.

3 - Same angle.  Daryl is now sitting next to Sally.  She wears a look of excitement.  Daryl wears a smile tinged with humouring - he's heard this spiel before.

SALLY: He's a humanitarian and philanthropist.  He's caring, conscientious, and compassionate.  He's even a practicing vegetarian--.

DARYL (interrupting): I know, Sally.  I've heard you go on about "The World's Smartest Man" a time or two.

4 - Sally puts her hand to her face, laughing at herself in slight embarrassment at her babbling.  Daryl doesn't really mind - it's more loving teasing.

SALLY: Sorry, you know how I can get sometimes.

DARYL: It's okay.

5 - Switch angle to reveal that Sally is quite pregnant.  Her due date can't be far off.  Sally caresses her belly, smiling inwardly to herself in hope.

SALLY: I really hope that our Adrian will be just as accomplished.

6 - Move the camera out slightly.  Sally and Daryl kiss.  No dialogue.

7 - Continue pulling the camera back.  We're looking at the couple from just on the other side of their apartment window.  Daryl holds Sally with one arm, lovingly places a hand on her pregnant belly.

DARYL: I'm sure he will honey.

8 - Pull the camera way back.  The apartment window belonging to Sally and Daryl is still obvious, but the focus is on what's around their apartment.  We're in downtown New York.  Feel free to have whichever landmark you feel would be appropriate in the background, whether it's the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, or whatever.

DARYL: I'm sure he will.

CAPTION: 11:25pm.  November 2nd, 1985.

9 - Black panel with white writing on top.  The writing reads:

Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods,
worthless idols that did them no good.
- Jeremiah 16:19

Ozymandias - Thirty Six Minutes Earlier - Ben Rosenthal

Disclaimer: The following is why I, nor major comic book companies should never be allowed to play with classic characters. Here's to you DC.

1.  Ozymandias stands at his control panel, finger hovering above the button to unleash the psychic squid.

CAPTION: Thirty six minutes ago...

2. Ozymandias is looking over his shoulder, finger hovering over the button.

3. Same as Panel 2.

OZYMANDIAS 

Sooooooooo, guess I'll push this button now. 

If anyone was going to stop me at the last minute, now would be the time to do it.

4. Same as Panel 3, with Ozymandias looking hopeful.

5. Ozymandias is pressing the button, upset that he will not be having an epic final battle for the state of the world.

OZYMANDIAS

Fine. Stupid late jerks.

Ozymandias – What Could He Do? - Shaun Richens.

PAGE ONE

1,2,3. Make up a top row of panels.

4. Is a big page wide panel.

5 and 6 make up a bottom row 5 taking up at least ¾ of the space.

1.We are in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. Pope John Paul II lies critically wounded in the back of an open top car after being shot four times.

Reference photo for location.

         NO COPY

2. We are outside of the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C, President Nixon and three others are shot and wounded (President Reagan is the real life target of this attack, however Nixon is the President during the Watchmen time line of history, and thus he is our poor victim.)

Reference photo for location.

         NO COPY.

3. We are at the opening of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. Dr. Manhattan stands wearing a fine black suit with the crowds of mourners. He holds his hands together across his lap, as he stands solemnly unable to truly connect.

Reference for location and look.

         NO COPY.

4. OZYMANDIAS sits in front of a huge wall of screens, each one tuned to a different news station from around the world. They all show horrific, saddening news. OZYMANDIAS has turned his back to them. He sits in his chair, his elbow resting on his leg as his hand massages his temples.

         NO COPY.

5. We pull in close on OZYMANDIAS he is still looking down.

         OZYMANDIAS:

         Enough.

6. A black panel, with white writing over the top. The panel reads.

Like a chicken with a fox,

He couldn’t win the war with ego.

-

Kate Bush.

Why Ozymandias?

Why? Because he’s “the smartest man on the planet”.

He also happens to be a master strategist, world-class athlete and a martial arts expert. 

This notion of hyper intelligence does however make him both a dream and a nightmare character for a writer.  On one hand you get to explore a man who can achieve almost any goal you want or need him to. The flip side is you have to somehow get into the head of a character that is much smarter than anyone real could ever hope to be, and it is here where the fun challenge of Adrian Veidt lies.

Ozymandias is head strong, mentally capable and physically, well just better than anyone.  He is a man who sees himself as an equivalent of Alexander the Great and Ramesses II but isn’t cocky or over confident in his beliefs, he backs them up with his actions. He is a man who is always a hundred moves ahead of the game. A man who knows you better than you know yourself. A man who always sees the bigger picture.

So what will you do with a man who will do anything for best of the human race?