Warning: SPOILERS for Watchmen.
Watchmen finally confirmed what fans suspected all along: Jeremy Irons' character is Adrian Veidt AKA Ozymandias. HBO's sequel series executive produced by Damon Lindelof played coy with Irons' character's true identity in its first two episodes. Of course, there were plenty of clues pointing to the fact that Irons was playing the Watchmen graphic novel's main villain (or true hero, from Veidt's point of view), not to mention Irons' character was accidentally confirmed. But all doubt was erased when Veidt donned Ozymandias' costume in Watchmen's third episode, "She Was Killed By Space Junk".
Thus far, Adrian Veidt and his storyline have proven to be the most bizarre aspect of Watchmen. Episode 3 further confirmed that Veidt is being held in captivity, albeit a luxurious kind of imprisonment where he is the Lord of a British castle attended to by his many cloned servants, including his loyal butler Mr. Phillips (Tom Mison) and adoring maid Ms. Crookshanks (Sara Vickers). In Watchmen's outside world, Veidt vanished seven years ago and he has officially been declared "dead" so no one is looking for Ozymandias. But Veidt's unusual predicament affords him plenty of time to grow tomatoes, write a play mocking Doctor Manhattan, and experiment on his cloned helpers as he designs what appears to be a means of escape.
Even isolated from the rest of humanity, Adrian Veidt remains incredibly dangerous. With his giant squid hoax that prevented nuclear war in 1985, Ozymandias saved the world from itself but he also killed 3-million people to do it. Now that Watchmen has formally re-introduced Adrian Veidt, the question is how does the World's Smartest Man fit into the main story in Tulsa, Oklahoma?
Jeremy Irons Is Ozymandias - What That Means
Even at 80 years old, Adrian Veidt is a force to be reckoned with - if he gets free from his captivity. Before he ended up at his current mystery location, Veidt saw his political influence dwindle after he personally helped install Robert Redford as President of the United States in the early 1990s. Before he disappeared, Trieu Industries purchased Veidt's billion-dollar corporation, so Ozymandias has been robbed of his resources. But Veidt retains his intellect and his ruthlessness.
Judging from Veidt's experiments seen in Watchmen episode 3, he's designing some kind of contraption and a makeshift environmental suit, which he might be intending to use for his escape from confinement. Veidt made Phillips wear his hazard suit but it failed to keep the clone from freezing solid, as if Phillips was exposed to the vacuum of space. If Veidt is indeed trying to conjure a means of escape, then he likely has a greater plan in mind for when he returns to Watchmen's outside world. Ozymandias, who models himself after Alexander the Great, is a self-styled hero with a twisted savior complex. He already 'saved the world' once, so perhaps he intends to save it again from a new threat, but what that menace could be remains to be seen.
Who Is Watchmen's Game Warden?
Watchmen episode 3 also introduced an immediate nemesis for Adrian Veidt: the Game Warden. A masked figure on horseback, the Game Warden fired a warning shot at Veidt after he killed a buffalo. Later, the Warden sent Adrian a threatening letter, albeit a polite one. However, the Game Warden doesn't just protect the animals on Veidt's sprawling property, he's evidently also Veidt's jailer. Ozymandias and the Game Warden agreed to terms when Veidt arrived at his stately prison and the Warden correctly believes that Veidt is violating those terms with his experiments, which indicates he plans to escape.
The Game Warden's identity is unknown, but judging from his appearance, he is a Caucasian male and, from the text of his letter, evidently British. Since Veidt has no plans to stop continuing his experiments, he intends to provoke the Game Warden's ire, so a confrontation between him and Ozymandias is likely coming in a future Watchmen episode.
Watchmen airs Sundays @ 9pm on HBO.