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Here's a thought, and forgive me if it's a little out there (what better place to discuss left-field theories, though, than with other diehard fans, yes?).

What if Adrian Veidt was the first human born with superpowers?

Yes, Dr. Manhattan is the first superhuman, created by scientific accident. But, when looking at some of the things Veidt can do, from his incredibly sophisticated mind which he seemed to have been born with, to his peak physical condition — not to mention his ability to be "faster than a speeding bullet" — what if all those things pointed to some kind of mutation or superhuman gift beyond (but perhaps aided and developed by) his studies and training?

In the X-Men universe, which I realize wasn't really a reference point for Moore and Gibbons, there are "low-level" and "high-level" mutants — from the more low-key powers like healing, and higher intelligence, to more extreme stuff like energy blasts, flight, physical mutations, etc.

Who's to say that Veidt wasn't the first low-level mutant? If he's the first, there wouldn't be anybody to compare him to, really. So wouldn't it be possible that, since his powers weren't that extreme, that he could simply be mistaken for (and think himself) a regular human who has trained his body and mind to perfection?

I know that in the Watchmen world, supposedly only Dr. Manhattan has real superpowers. However, I started thinking that this must not be true. The evidence is in Veidt's creature: Veidt cloned the brain from a human psychic, Robert Deschaines. In our real world, there is no evidence whatsoever that psychics are real. But in Watchmen, a world supposedly devoid of "gifted" people besides Dr. Manhattan, Veidt proves that there are indeed real psychics in existence — people who, in a different comic book, would be called mutants. (Or possibly "Professor Xavier.")

So if psychics exist, couldn't other mutants exist as well?

I'm aware that it's possible Veidt tested himself for this possibility, but I'm sticking with the facts of the novel at this point. And the facts are this: Adrian Veidt is a super-intelligent human with incredible strength, agility and speed who can catch a bullet and remain virtually unharmed.

Discuss!

Well, he is modeled after Thunderbolt, who was definitely not born with superhuman powers:



(sounds more like scientology crap to me than eastern mysticism BTW, or at least a weird mix of both). Anyway Adrian's origin story is similar, so I do not see that much evidence that Moore decided to radically alter the explanation of his powers. It does not make much sense in a real world setting, but then it is kinda unlikely too to get torn apart by a quantum physics experiment to become a god-like being.

I'd say no, Veidt doesn't have super powers. Giving him super powers takes away from one of the most important points in the books, that people in costumes in the real world would never have super human abilities, and if they did it would be frightening.

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DFTBA

Don't you think that maybe moore is actually trying to do exactly that?

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This is true, thematically. I'm not really disputing any of the book's central themes of power and I'm not trying to subvert the expert deconstruction of the superhero genre and its tropes.

I guess one thing I would say is that, even though Watchmen deals with character and conflict in a realistic way with realistic dialogue, it is in no way a representation of a realistic world. Yes, it feels more "real" because of the human three-dimensionality given to the characters, but a world full of genetically-altered lynxes and flying owlships is no more "realistic" than a world of radioactive spiders and Batmobiles.

Even the fact that there's only one superpowered being that we can confirm in Watchmen, that doesn't mean that there aren't others. For the sake of the story and the themes, Dr. Manhattan is the only one that matters. My point was that, perhaps Adrian, or psychic Robert Deschaines, possess abilities that are superhuman in nature. Maybe Adrian's mastery of his brain and body were evidence of other people who possessed abilities besides Dr. Manhattan.

Can you explain you arguement further? In the book, Manhatten wore a costume (sometimes ) and had super human abilities. Deschaines was born with super human abilities, and whether he wore a costume or not we do not know (most likely he did not). Except if you count the squid body as a costume, in which case he indeed was frightening. Adrian wore a costume, was probably not born with super human abilities, but developed them himself in his youth. So what?

Kovacs was born with the super-human ability of not being able to smile.

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what if he has mystical powers then?

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My point really has nothing to do with costumes. It's about super powers, If you put superman in the real world. A human being that can fly, shoot lasers from his eyes, bend a steel girder with his bare hands that's scary.

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DFTBA

Yeah, they'd have to pass some sort of Superhuman, or 'Mutant', Registration Act

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I don't think so. At most, probably some training with Buddhist monks, in martial arts, etc.

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And the Buddhist monks would be led by Liam Neeson, of course.

Seriously, some men are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them. Veidt, to my mind, is the first (and while I'm at it, Dr. Manhattan was the latter. Every other superhero in the graphic novel is the middle category).

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This is truly a madhouse. And I'm the lunatic running it. I've spent three years wondering if I should be proud or ashamed.

This reminds me of a quote from Stephen Kings "IT". It's from one of the characters monologues about not being scared of the monster It so much because It is frightening, but because it offends his sense of what should and should not be:

"Go to your church and listen to your stories about Jesus walking on the water, but if I saw a guy doing that I'd scream and scream and scream. Because it wouldn't look like a miracle to me. It would look like an "offense".

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"Heard them Walthers like to jump some" "As will you, with one in your elbow."

I think that Ozy's physical strength and prowess can be attributed to achievement - but mentally, he was born with that, sure.

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Thats an interesting observation. I wouldn't say he was born with super powers. He was born smart, thats certainly a beneficial trait to have. Veidt catching the Bullet is certainly something that baffles me. Is it is superb intellect and great physically condition that allowed to stop it, maybe he has super powers, but I would probable say it was the former.

He was born with the super-power of sociopathy. Seeing that he was above all, smarter than everyone, he felt free to scrawl his own design on...oh, I'm sorry...wrong character.

I don't care how much you train or how enlightened you are, you just cannot catch a bullet with your hands, its impossible. Having said that, I wouldn't attribute it to Super Powers of Veidt, but rather Comic Book science. It could never happen in real life, but in comic books, maaaaybe a regular human could do it.

Interesting points, I kind of forgot about this thread. It's curious that people are using "he was just born smart" as a kind of way to say that he has no powers, if only because it happens all the time in comics. Characters that have superhuman intelligence are commonplace (Reed Richards, Tony Stark, etc.) — who's to say that unnatural levels of intelligence, which is admittedly hard to quantify (unlike stretching your body into rubber balls), isn't some kind of super-power?

I think it's interesting that if you pulled Ozymandias out of the Watchmen novel and dropped him into a mainstream comic universe, his physical abilities would be up there with Captain America (or better!) and his IQ is comparable to the smartest Marvel and DC characters. Still, the possibility that Veidt may be exhibiting some kind of natural-born mutant powers is ruled out time and again.

I'm not even saying it's true — I just find it harder to rule out then most.