Maxwell Lord (DC)

Villain Overview

Gallery

Evil-doer

Full Name

Maxwell Lord IV

Alias

Maxwell Lord

Max Lord
Black King
Alpha Leader
Lord Havok
Eclipso

Origin

Justice League #1

Occupation

Terrorist

Spy
Government agent
Leader of Checkmate
Leader of Justice League International
Member of Task Force XI
Member of the White Lantern Corps
Member of the Black Lantern Corps (all formerly)

Powers / Skills

High intelligence
Deception
Leadership
Tactician
Businessman
Vast wealth
Numerous connections
Marksmanship
Master combatant
Limited to advanced mind-controlling abilities
Telepathy
Cyberpathy (formerly)
Illusion casting
Memory manipulation

Hobby

Heading Checkmate.

Goals

Control the metahuman community.

Defeat Wonder Woman.
Expedite his corporate brand.

Crimes

Murder

Torture
Sabotage
Terrorism
Conspiracy
Brainwashing
Embezzlement

Type of Villain

Delusional Terrorist

“	Ask yourself, how much harm do they bring about? How many crazed psychopaths spin plots just to entangle or destroy them? It pains me. So much promise. So much power. And it seems to go wrong. That is why I have taken it upon myself to watch them. If they choose to put on these uniforms, claim to protect us, then they should be held accountable.	„
	~ Maxwell Lord

“	I love this world... but something has happened... there has been a change. It seems like I'm the only one who can see that humanity is broken. And the people with the powers to fix it don't know how.	„
	~ Maxwell Lord

Maxwell Lord IV, also known as Maxwell Lord, is a major antagonist in the DC Universe, being a major antagonist in the Justice League and Wonder Woman franchises and one of the main antagonists in the Blue Beetle franchise.

He is a talented, but amoral businessman who would become a key ally of the Justice League and develop incredible psychic powers as a result of the Dominators' gene bomb. However, it would later be revealed that he was a supervillain who had been plotting the League's downfall for years, being paranoid about the dangerous potential of metahumans and wanting to take control of or exterminate them for the good of humanity.

Since his reveal as a villain, he has become one of the Justice League's most personal enemies; being infamously responsible for the death of longtime member Ted Kord/Blue Beetle II, and later ruining Wonder Woman's reputation by forcing her to publicly kill him.

He appears as the main antagonist of several storylines, including Infinite Crisis, Justice League: Generation Lost, and Justice League vs. Suicide Squad. He is one of Booster Gold's two archenemies (alongside Black Beetle), the archenemy of Ted Kord, and serves as an enemy towards several other heroes, including Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and Jamie Reyes/Blue Beetle III.

Biography[]

Modern Age[]

Lord was abducted by an alien supercomputer buried near the center of the Earth. This computer somehow managed to convince him 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, Lord was able to operate behind the scenes during the formation of a new Justice League. Eventually, he was freed from the computer’s influence and continued to operate as the Justice League's benefactor and caretaker.

Lord developed telepathic powers himself during the invasion of the Earth that was masterminded by the Dominators, but he remained the Justice League’s chief executive rather than become a hero. He continued to run the team, but over the years his role became increasingly diminished until he was removed when Wonder Woman reformed the League.

Lord, however, was in truth a criminal mastermind who spent years running the JLI gathering sensitive information about the world's superheroes, which he considered a threat to the planet. All along he had been playing the role of the incorrigible businessman.

In truth, he held a deep contempt for the meta-human community and sought to take them down by keeping them close. He murdered Ted Kord and brainwashed Superman, but was eventually killed by Wonder Woman after he admitted his crimes via the Lasso of Truth. Despite his death, he became a martyr in the community since Lord had his death be filmed and leaked to the public. As a result, Lord shattered the superhero community, and Lord's body is entombed below the Hall of Justice.

During the Blackest Night storyline, Lord's body was revived by Nekron and gifted Maxwell with a Black Lantern ring. Lord targeted Wonder Woman and attempted to kill her, but failed due to her defeating him with her lasso and later her Star Sapphire powers.

Lord was later restored when he became a White Lantern, managing to make the world forget he existed, reforming the Justice League International, and re-assuming his position in Checkmate. In addition, Lord managed to undo his mind powers' effect of turning his victims into zombified creatures, having Captain Atom and Magog fight. Lord later attempted to get revenge on Wonder Woman by controlling Power Girl, but failed and was forced to recall his past crimes by Captain Atom.

Prime Earth[]

On Prime Earth, Lord is the son of a wealthy couple Albert and Maxine Lord, and developed psionic and telepathic powers at an early age. His father committed suicide once he realized the medical pills he gave people caused cancer, and his mother told Maxwell that she would have covered up the incident instead of admitting the truth to the public.

She then told her son to deprive people and to not be compassionate and weak like her husband, making him swear at Albert's funeral. Lord later joined Checkmate after graduating from college, and eventually became the "Black King" and director of the global organization.

Other Media[]

Television[]

DC Animated Universe[]

Maxwell Lord appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Ultimatum", and was voiced by Tim Matheson. He is shown as a normal human with no special abilities. He acts as the manager of the Ultimen, a superhero team that works independently of the Justice League.

It turns out, however, that the Ultimen are a series of artificial life forms, cloned and given false memories while interacting with actors portraying their parents. The team was developed with the assistance of Project Cadmus as part of an ongoing project to protect the Earth from the Justice League.

As the clones (which are imperfect) die, they are replaced, until one generation of the clones learns the truth and escapes. Maxwell is told by Amanda Waller to get them back, or she will call in the "squad" to take them down. The Ultimen end up attacking Maxwell Lord, demanding answers. He tells them that they were created to be a better superhero team than the Justice League.

When he offers to help them when their lifespan ends, they deny his plea and head back to the building to look for Amanda Waller and their as-yet-inactivated clones. After four of the Ultimen are subdued by the Justice League and apprehended by the authorities, Maxwell Lord and Amanda Waller arrived with some Cadmus soldiers and take them into their custody to be there when the Ultimen's lifespan ends.

Smallville[]

Maxwell Lord appears in the Smallville Season 9 episode "Charade", portrayed by Gil Bellows. In this incarnation, he is the Black King of the organization known as Checkmate, and has an ability to extract memories from others, which he uses to try to reveal the identity of "The Blur" (a.k.a. Clark Kent).

He was responsible for having District Attorney Ray Sacks released from prison early. He was revealed to have an ulterior motive to this. Lord used people who've briefly seen The Blur and hooked them up to a machine that put together pieces of him through their memories. One of his kidnapped victims was Lois Lane who had a more intimate relationship with The Blur.

This was done so Checkmate could discover his identity. He was thwarted by Clark, but manages to escape, only to be apprehended by the mysterious Red Queen of Checkmate. In the episode "Charade", she had him interrogate Tess Mercer in a mental illusion to try to find the Book of Rao. However, she intentionally gives him incorrect information that causes Tess to see through the illusion, knowing that the first thing she will then do is to move the book to a new hiding place. Tess breaks out of Lord's illusion and escapes. He is then incapacitated by a frequency used by the Red Queen for his failure by cellphone.

Supergirl[]

Main article: Maxwell Lord (Supergirl)

In Supergirl, Maxwell Lord is portrayed as a tech genius and tycoon who owns his own company, Lord Technologies. Just like everyone else in National City, Lord has taken a shine to Supergirl and made it his life's mission to uncover her secret identity. He is one of the main antagonists of the first season, alongside Astra.

He was portrayed by Peter Facinelli.

Film[]

DC Extended Universe[]

Main article: Maxwell Lord (DC Extended Universe)

Maxwell Lord appeared in Wonder Woman 1984. He was portrayed by Pedro Pascal.

DC Universe (James Gunn)[]

Maxwell Lord will appear in the new DCU (DC Universe) multimedia franchise by James Gunn. He will be played by his brother Sean Gunn, who also portrayed Weasel and Calender Man in The Suicide Squad, Kraglin Obfonteri in the Guardians of the Galaxy films, and voiced Swan in Lollipop Chainsaw.

Videogames[]

Wonder Woman: The Themyscira Experience[]

Main article: Max Lord (The Themyscira Experience)

Max Lord appeared in Wonder Woman: The Themyscira Experience as a antagonist.

Powers and Abilities[]

Maxwell Lord IV has the extreme power of mind control. He can mind control people from close range and also great distances.

Originally a plain human being, Max gained this ability while serving as a leader of the Justice League International from the Gene Bomb that was released during Invasion!. While the mind control ability is useful, he does have a downside to using this great power.

Lord can only do so much with it before physical strain depletes him. I.E. more usage of which, equals, more blood loss. Controlling one mind makes him bleed out of his nose, however wiping his entire existence from everyone's mind off of the planet caused Max to loose much blood from his eyes, ears, and nose.

Eventually leading to blacking out, Max only uses his mind control ability when needed, however tries not to use it on many people all at once, as it could lead to his own death.

After his subsequent death & rebirth at the hands of the Life Entity after Blackest Night, Max gained additional powers to complement his already impressive psi abilities. Without the use of the Brother I spy satellite, he now possessed the ability to mentally reach out and activate the Omni Mind and Community nanotech based cyborgification process which turned ordinary people affected with a specialized virus into killing machines.

Thus enabling Lord total control over millions of O.M.A.C's from across the world. Ever since DC Rebirth, Maxwell's abilities have waned considerably. Now barely being able to influence people into doing what he wants them to by subtly probing their minds and working their psychology to pursued acting upon their impulses. It's not very powerful but stands useful with his intuitive insight.

Trivia[]

He was created by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire.

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Villains Wiki

Maxwell Lord (DC)

Contents

Biography[]

Modern Age[]

Prime Earth[]

Other Media[]

Television[]

DC Animated Universe[]

Smallville[]

Supergirl[]

Film[]

DC Extended Universe[]

DC Universe (James Gunn)[]

Videogames[]

Wonder Woman: The Themyscira Experience[]

Powers and Abilities[]

Trivia[]

Navigation[]

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