>>105059615The only issue there is "Did he seriously not know a different way to solve the problem?"
Nite Owl said that nobody is in a position to judge the actions of the most intelligent man on the planet. So by those lights, maybe his solution was the least terrible one that was possible under the circumstances. Kill millions to save billions... or, to put it a different way, to save humanity and humanity's future.
But what he said about the Comedian... he could have taken care of the Comedian some other, less risky way. A gas leak. Poison. A car crash. In any case, Blake would not have talked or he would have done so already. There was no real need to kill him.
But Ozymandias needed to kill him, and he needed to do it himself. He had been humiliated by him before, both physically, intellectually and morally, and he -needed- to take care of that.
The Comedian called himself the embodiment of the American Dream - a vicious, murderous, rapacious, conquering brute who takes what he wants and crushes any opposition. He even laughs at what he does. His existence was an affront and it needed to be punished.
By the same token the world, more specifically the United States, had treated Ozymandias / humanity like this. He had been a hero, had tried to save the world, but the world did not want to be saved and mocked any attempt to do so. Greed and aggression led the world towards self-destruction.
The world would be saved, but it would also be punished, because it deserved punishment.
Ironically, Rorschach balked at this, despite the fact his opening monologue predicted precisely this scenario. Faced with the truth, just like the Comedian (one of the few people he admired), Rorschach balked - he did not accept the punishment, and DID try to save them, although he had said he would not. He had walked among the people who would die, he knew them - just like we did. ...I'll stop now. That comic just keeps unfolding.
