8 Smartest Decisions In DC Villain History

5. Executing The Plan BEFORE Explaining It To The Heroes - Watchmen

The Watchmen
DC Comics

It would be easy to kick off this entry by qualifying Watchmen as the amazing deconstruction of superhero comics that it is, but given you've heard it all before there's pretty much no point. Instead, let's take a look at Ozymandias, and how the climax where his scheme is revealed specifically exemplifies the genius of the comic.

Everyone who's read a comic or consumed any old piece of superhero media will be familiar with the tired and tested cliche of the villain revealing their master plan to the heroes, only for said heroes to use that information against the villain and thereby save the day. None ever seem to ponder the thought that their scheme could be foiled by their tenacious rivals, instead choosing to savour the moment by revelling in their own genius for just a second too long.

Ozymandias makes no such error. When Nite-Owl and Rorschach go to confront him for the murder of the Comedian, he reveals his grand design to his old teammates, with the presumption being he's yet to go through with his plan.

And then he just goes ahead and says he did it thirty-five minutes ago. Doing so eliminates the risk he could be foiled, and he proves successful when Doctor Manhattan ties up the loose-end that is Rorschach. It's left open ended as to whether or not Rorschach's journal exposes Ozymandias (at least when you ignore Doomsday Clock), but you'd struggle to find a more fool-proof plan.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.