The Upcoming DCU Villain Will Be Very Different from Disliked Earlier Portrayals

Fans don’t have to worry about another Wonder Woman 1984 mishap, and they shouldn’t expect Sean Gunn’s version of Maxwell Lord to mirror any of the other live-action portrayals of the comic book character either — because he won’t. Back in December 2023, the news broke that Gunn would portray the sophisticated and shrewdly conniving DC Comics’ businessman in brother James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Universe. And in a new interview, the Guardians of the Galaxy actor revealed his Max Lord won’t reference other “live performances of the character.” Gunn said (per The Wrap):

“I can’t talk too much about it.
I can say that my brother James and I did discuss… what reference materials from the canon were relevant to my process.
I love doing my own music. I can’t say that much, other than we did talk about about relevant materials, and we discussed the character in detail… before I dove in.
We referenced no live performances of the character. It’s all from written materials with things that we figure we’re looking at.”

The most recent and arguably most inauspicious take on the duplicitous DC Comics villain came courtesy of Wonder Woman 1984, which featured The Mandalorian and The Last of Us star Pedro Pascal portraying Maxwell Lord. While its clear the COVID-19 pandemic played a part in WW84’s struggles at the box office, fans and critics alike had a hard time getting behind the lackluster sequel to Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman (2017).

While fans and critics didn’t warm to Wonder Woman 1984,Pedro Pascal certainly went all-in for his committed performances as the villainous Maxwell Lord. However, as Sean Gunn clearly indicated, his take on the unscrupulous businessman won’t be a rehash of other live-action performances. And even as a comic book character, there isn’t as much longevity of Lord as a classic villain as others like the Joker, Lex Luthor, or even a Silver Age baddie such as Sinestro. So Gunn should have a lot of fun making the Black King his own.

Lord first appeared in the panels of Justice League No. 1 back in 1987 on the heels of the epic DC Comics crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Nearly 40 years ago, the comic book publisher was at a stage in the game when fan-favorites like Supergirl and Barry Allen’s Flash had been killed off and titles were being revamped — and new characters came as a result, like Maxwell Lord. The cover of that JL issue even features a brash and quite rebellious Green Lantern by the name of Guy Gardner, who is also bound for the DCU in Superman.

While elements of WW1984’s storytelling did the film justice, Lord himself didn’t come across quite the same as he did in the source material. In fact, the most successful live-action version of Lord might arguably have come courtesy of The CW’s take on the character, in which Twilight’s Peter Facinelli brought him dignity and gravitas in the small-screen’s Arrowverse matching wits with Melissa Benoist’s Girl of Steel.

Now that fans know for sure that Gunn’s take on Maxwell Lord will rely on the comic books and not any previous live-action versions of the character for inspiration, the more interesting questions become just when and where the Black King, aka the head of Lord Technologies, will show up — in a meaningful way, not a Superman mention or cameo — and which DCU hero will Lord plague first? Plus, will the DCU’s Max have superpowers, like he possessed later in the comics, or not?