Maxwell Lord

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Maxwell Lord in Justice League: Generation Lost v1 #5.

Maxwell Lord is a male comic character who features in DC Comics.

Contents

Biography

Origin

Maxwell Lord IV was a male human born in 1947 at Boston, Massachusetts where he was was the son of Maxwell Lord III who was an English Professor at Yale. He was said to had born into privilege where initially intended to embark on a career in journalism but instead had aspirations as a businessman. It was reported that his father was disappointed in his son's rejection of the journalistic career. (Justice League America v1 #53)

Early in his career, Max had been trying to endear himself with Bruce Wayne at the Gotham City Executive's Club. (JLA: Year One #7)

Years later, whilst out on a spelunking expedition with his boss, Maxwell Lord was abducted by an alien supercomputer buried near the center of the Earth. This computer somehow managed to convince Max to establish a benevolent worldwide peace organization that the computer hoped to use as part of its own grandiose plot aimed at complete global domination. With the computer's help, Max was able to operate behind the scenes during the formation of the latest incarnation of the Justice League, seizing control of the League after he negotiated the agreement that led to its formal recognition by the United Nations. (Justice League International v1 #7) Years later, while out on a spelunking expedition with his boss, Maxwell Lord was abducted by an alien supercomputer buried near the center of the Earth. This computer somehow managed to convince Max to establish a benevolent worldwide peace organization that the computer hoped to use as part of its own grandiose plot aimed at complete global domination. With the computer's help, Max was able to operate behind the scenes during the formation of the latest incarnation of the Justice League, seizing control of the League after he negotiated the agreement that led to its formal recognition by the United Nations. (Justice League International v1 #7)

He then had his scheduled meeting with Booster Gold. (Justice League v1 #2) Together, the pair snuck into the newly formed Justice League's headquarters with Maxwell promoting Booster Gold to be their newest member. (Justice League v1 #4)

For a while, Lord was constantly manipulated by Kilg%re into furthering his plans until Metron came to reclaim his computer. Lord eventually broke free from Kilg%re's control and destroyed the construct, leaving him with all the social and political power the machine propped him up with. (Justice League International v1 #12)

Throughout his time with the Justice League, Maxwell Lord had only been pretending at the role of 'incorrigible businessman'. In truth, he held a deep contempt for the metahuman community and sought to take them down by keeping them close. His drive to champion 'humankind' drove him so far that he actually managed to free himself from the Kilg%re. He had been allied with this entity from the very beginning with the entity being linked by Max's psi powers. After becoming a cyborg, Max underwent years of operations to return to human, using the resources of the world's major science centers: Checkmate, Cadmus, Project M and Porgene. (Booster Gold v2 #9)

However, Lord discovered his resurrection came with the unsavory effect of turning those he tried to mentally control into zombified creatures. In order to reverse his curse, Lord tried to 'earn' his life back by actively stopping a metahuman war lead by Magog. Lord mind-controlled Magog and Captain Atom to fight, causing the unfortunate deaths of thousands of people in Chicago, before influencing Magog to commit suicide. Having technically averted war, Lord's original powers were restored. (Justice League: Generation Lost v1 #13)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Maxwell Lord IV was the son of Albert Lord and Maxine Lord with his father being an entrepreneur and a self-made man who started Chemtech Pharmaceuticals with him become incredibly wealthy as a result. However, a scandal emerged when the company's weight loss pills were found to cause cancer with the event striking Albert Lord greatly with him as CEO later being found dead. After that point, the Lord family went upon hard times and his mother was said to had disappeared from the public eye. His mother was furious at her husband's soft nature leading to his demise and she taught her son Max Lord to become more ruthless in the future. (Justice League v3 #11) He was cared for by his strict mother afterwards where he had to deal with his family's sullen reputation as a result of his father's actions. (Wonder Woman v1 #767)

He eventually rose to become a royalty ranking member of Checkmate where he operated as its Black King whilst also being the co-head of the Cadmus Project and Executive Commissioner of the OMAC Initiative. (Justice League v3 #11)

With the information he acquired, he broke into the top-secret prison called the Catacombs located in Death Valley where he released the prisoners there by using his powers on the guards. Thus, he managed to gain the services of a powerful group of convicts that included Emerald Empress, Doctor Polaris, Johnny Sorrow, Rustam and Lobo. (Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad v1 #1)

To protect himself from being controlled, Max had a priest on Diablo Island brand him with a sigil to prevent possession. However, Eclipso began to slowly influence him as he enjoyed the powers of his host and made him appear that he had brought peace to the world when in reality mankind was possessed to kill one another. Amanda Waller managed to make Lord see the truth but he was unable to let go of the black diamond and from his body emerged Eclipso's true form with the villain causing the sun to turn black as he sought to take over the world. (Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad v1 #5)

When the Source Wall fell, he came to experience every moment in prior incarnations of history as time itself broke apart. As the Multiverse tore open to him, he experienced the roads his past actions had taken that included their outcome which saw his past death. (Wonder Woman v1 #762)

They were then confronted by the mastermind of the entire incident who was Emma Deropalis who was Maxwell Lord's illegitimate daughter and a supervillain called Liar Liar. She inherited her fathers abilities where she turned the soldiers and Etta Candy against Wonder Woman in an attempt to kill her. This led to Max helping Diana where ultimately he managed to use his abilities to shut down Liar Liar's powers allowing for her arrest and imprisonment at Stryker's Island Penitentiary. With Lord technology released by Liar Liar, Max teamed up with Wonder Woman in shutting down its spread and containing the damage it created as a result. (Wonder Woman v1 #763)

Given a dampening collar, he was taken to his new cell where he heard a laugh and was shocked to find his daughter Liar Liar who stabbed him as she intended to displace him as the new king of lies. (Wonder Woman v1 #767)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Using his powers in Justice League v3 #12.

According to Max, he stated that the Lord family fought for themselves though there were a few exceptions. (Wonder Woman v1 #763) He used to think he fought for justice in the war between good and evil. However, he came to believe that ultimately it was about himself and his brand of justice. (Wonder Woman v1 #767)

Lord was one of the most talked about power brokers in the business community. (Justice League America v1 #53)

He was twice married and divorced with these being to the same woman namely Claire Montgomery. (Justice League America v1 #53)

He once slept with a woman who had his child though he was not aware of the birth of a daughter. Lord's daughter was named Emma Deropalis who came to inherit his powers and eventually took the name Liar Liar. (Wonder Woman v1 #763)

Powers and abilities

He was noted as being a millionaire who was a business entrepreneur. (Justice League v1 #2)

His power was said to only make people do what they normally would do with him simply giving them the push to act upon that thought. As such, he said he gave permission for such people to take that action and it was not a mandated command. (Justice League v3 #11)

It was said that he fought with twists, manipulations, delusions and lies. (Wonder Woman v1 #767)

Notes

  • Maxwell Lord was created by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis and Kevin Maguire where he made his first appearance in Justice League v1 #1 (May, 1987).
  • At Wizard World Chicago, editor Dan DiDio explained the reasoning behind Maxwell Lord's turn to villainy at the 'Crisis Counselling' panel. 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".

Alternate Versions

  • In Wonder Woman: Earth One v1 #2 (2018), an alternate version of Maxwell Lord appeared in the reborn Earth-1 reality in the Multiverse. This version was simply an identity used by the modern day Ares. Maxwell Lord was expert entrepreneur who provides his services to the U.S. Army in areas such as robotics, tactical analysis and psychology. He was the main expert against alleged plans of an Amazon invasion and domination of the men of the world by women. He is also the mind behind the Project A.R.E.S.

In other media

Television

  • In Justice League Unlimited, Maxwell Lord appeared in the DC Animated Universe episode "Ultimatum" where he was voiced by actor Tim Matheson. He was shown as an ordinary human with no special abilities who served as the manager of the Ultimen that were an independent superhero team. Unknown to the Ultimen, they were actually genetically engineered clones created by Project Cadmus as part of an ongoing effort to protect Earth against the Justice League.
  • In Smallville, Maxwell Lord appeared in the setting of the live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Gil Bellows. This version was the Black King of Checkmate who had the ability to extract memories from others, which he used in an attempt to determine the identity of the mysterious figure known as "the Blur". While he was thwarted by Clark Kent, Lord escaped only to be apprehended by Checkmate's mysterious Red Queen. In the episode "Hostage", Lord kidnapped and interrogated Tess Mercer in a mental illusion to try to find the Book of Rao. However, she intentionally gave him incorrect information that eventually allowed her to escape so she can move the book. Following this, Lord was incapacitated by the Red Queen for his failure.
  • In Supergirl, Maxwell Lord appeared as a semi-antagonist in the live-action series where he was portrayed by actor Peter Facinelli. He was the son of scientists that were killed due to safety conditions causing him to distrust government agencies. Maxwell later became the founder of Lord Technologies that was a company which operated at National City.

Films

  • In Wonder Woman 1984, Maxwell Lorenzano appeared as an antagonist in the setting of the live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Pedro Pascal. He was shown as a businessman who in his youth had an abusive father with him being bullied and sidelined for much of his life. By adulthood, he had a son named Alistair and started a business called Black Gold where he tricked people into investing in his schemes. One such venture involved convincing Simon Stagg to invest in oil rigs in the U.S. but these sites all lacked any oil. At some point, he came to learn of the existence of the Dreamstone and sought its power after learning it was discovered by the museum.

Appearances

  • Justice League v1: (1987)
  • Justice League International v1:
  • Justice League America v1:
  • Booster Gold v2:
  • Justice League: Generation Lost v1:
  • OMAC v4:
  • Justice League vs. Suicide Squad v1:
  • Wonder Woman v1: (2020)

External Links

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