Maxwell Lord

Maxwell Lord IV is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Justice League #1 (May 1987) and was created by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire. Maxwell Lord was originally introduced as a shrewd and powerful businessman who was an ally of the Justice League and was influential in the formation of the Justice League International, but he later developed into an adversary of Wonder Woman and the Justice League.

The character made his cinematic debut in the 2020 DC Extended Universe film, Wonder Woman 1984, portrayed by Pedro Pascal. A new iteration portrayed by Sean Gunn appears in the DC Universe (DCU) film Superman and the second season of the television series Peacemaker (both 2025).

Fictional character biography

Maxwell Lord IV is the son of Maxwell Lord III, a successful businessman and head of the Chimtech Consortium. Maxwell III set out to be a good example for his son by striving to always do what was right. When Maxwell IV was 16, he came home to find his father dead in an apparent suicide. His father had discovered that his company had produced a carcinogenic product, and could not bear the guilt.

Lord's mother was convinced by her husband to employ a similar practice, cajoling heroic metahumans to help Lord. Thus, he sparked the plans to bring the Justice League, leaderless and broken after the Crisis on Infinite Earths event, under his exclusive control.

Giffen and DeMatteis years

Lord initially worked behind the scenes to establish the Justice League, while under the control of a computer created by Metron. The computer wanted Lord to set up a worldwide peacekeeping organization as part of its plan to dominate the world.

A retcon changed Lord's controller to the villainous computer program Kilg%re, which had taken over Metron's machine. A second retcon mitigated Kilg%re's and Metron's influence, stating that Lord already had plans to take over the League and would have pursued them regardless.

Lord's ruthlessness at this time was illustrated when he set up a disturbed would-be terrorist as a villain for the League to defeat, resulting in the man's death. Later, Lord rebelled against the computer's influence and destroyed it.

Once free of the computer's influence, Lord is portrayed as an amoral businessman, but not a real villain. During the time that Giffen and DeMatteis were writing the Justice League, Lord is shown struggling with his conscience and developing heroic qualities, though he would remain a con-artist.

From Invasion! to Identity Crisis

Originally a normal human, Lord is one of many people on Earth who gain superpowers during the Invasion crossover, when the Dominators activate their Gene Bomb. This bomb activates Lord's latent metagene, granting him the ability to control the minds of others, albeit at great difficulty. Despite being a metahuman, Lord never identifies as one. Instead, at the urging of his mother to act for the benefit of non-metahumans, he shifts his hatred for the generic "authority figures" who caused his father's death to the metahuman community.

After he is shot and placed in a coma at the beginning of JLAmerica/JLEurope crossover Breakdowns, Dreamslayer takes over Lord's body and supercharges Lord's power, allowing him to control thousands of minds at once. Using Lord's body, Dreamslayer almost forces Justice League International (JLI) to disband. While possessed Lord forces the JLI to battle itself, the mortally wounded Silver Sorceress contains Dreamslayer and holds him within her mind as she dies, taking him with her. When Lord is freed, his power is burnt out.

Later, Lord is diagnosed with a brain tumor and dies. Kilg%re downloads Lord's consciousness into a duplicate of one of Dreamslayer's allies, Lord Havok. Lord's body later shifts to resemble his original human form.

Doomsday later crash-lands on Earth, easily trounces the League, and kills Superman. With Earth undefended, Mongul invades and destroys Coast City, killing Lord's mother. This event further fuels his hatred and paranoia against metahumans, as well as leading him to believe that not only can metahumans not be trusted, but that their personal battles and scuffles are enough to shatter world safety.

Lord puts together several former JLI members, including L-Ron, Captain Atom, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Booster Gold, and Fire as the Super Buddies, advertised as "heroes the common man could call". The Super Buddies star in the 2003 miniseries Formerly Known as the Justice League and its 2005 sequel I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League.

In Identity Crisis (2004), Lord attends Sue Dibny's funeral and speaks to Booster Gold, further denting his already dwindling faith in superheroes.

Infinite Crisis

Countdown to Infinite Crisis reveals that Lord is no longer a cyborg, and is a criminal mastermind who spent years running the JLI while gathering sensitive information about the world's superheroes, whom he considered a threat to the planet. Simultaneously, he sabotaged JLI efforts to render the superhero team as ineffectual as possible. At the end of the prologue special issue, he shoots and kills Ted Kord.

Alexander Luthor Jr., the son of Lex Luthor from an alternate Earth, gives Lord control of Brother Eye, a satellite system Batman created to monitor superhumans worldwide. Lord uses his powers to influence Superman's mind, causing him to brutally beat Batman in the belief that he is Brainiac. Lord subsequently sends Superman to attack Wonder Woman after making him believe that she is his old enemy Doomsday. Lord justifies the resulting destruction as proof of his argument about the dangers of superhumans, pointing out the devastation that Wonder Woman and Superman could cause if they fought in a crowded area, and arguing that the fact that Superman can be brought under another's control is evidence that superhumans cannot be relied upon. In the midst of her battle with Superman, Diana realizes that even if she defeats him, he would still remain under Lord's control. She creates a diversion lasting long enough for her to race back to Lord's location and asks that he release Superman. Lord, bound by her lasso of truth, complies but states that he'll use Superman again to kill people. When she demands to know how to free Superman from Lord's control, Lord replies "Kill me." Wonder Woman then snaps his neck.

At the "Crisis Counseling" panel at Wizard World Chicago, Dan DiDio explained DC's reasoning in using Lord's character in Infinite Crisis. After going through several possible characters who could be the "new leader for the offshoot of Checkmate", Maxwell Lord was suggested. Many of the editors thought that the idea made sense, as Lord had been shown to have a mean streak and to have killed previously. The idea was dropped due to the continuity errors, such as him being a cyborg, but they went back to it later after deciding none of the other possible characters were suitable. DiDio explained: "We thought about that aspect of the story [where Maxwell was turned into a cyborg] some more. And then asked, 'Did anyone read it?' No. 'Did anyone like the idea?' No. So we moved ahead with Max as being a human, and having been a human, and not letting that small part of the past stand in the way of this story. We wanted what was best for Countdown [to Infinite Crisis], and for us, that meant that Max had to be a human".

Resurrection

In Blackest Night and Brightest Day, Maxwell Lord is resurrected as a Black Lantern. Targeting Wonder Woman, he lures her to Arlington National Cemetery with a trail of corpses. When Wonder Woman arrives, he springs a trap, using black rings to revive the bodies of fallen soldiers. Wonder Woman uses her lasso to reduce Lord and the soldiers to dust, but as she leaves, the dust begins to regenerate. Some time later, Lord resumes his attack on Wonder Woman, who had recently become a Star Sapphire. Wonder Woman encases Lord's body in crystal, then shatters him to pieces. He is later brought back to life by the power of the White Light. Though Guy Gardner attempts to restrain him, Lord uses his mind control abilities to make Gardner let him leave.

In the series Justice League: Generation Lost, Lord is the subject of an unprecedented international manhunt. He is found hiding in the old Justice League International embassy by Booster Gold, whom Lord is able to defeat. Lord then uses a device to amplify his mind control powers to unprecedented levels. With these, he erases the world's memory of his existence.

Lord is later contacted by the Life Entity, who tasks him with killing Magog. Lord uses his powers to force Magog to kill himself, framing Captain Atom for Magog's death. The Entity proclaims that Lord has completed his task, and his life is fully restored.