You missed good Maxwell Lord in latter Giffen-DeMatteis stories. In Formerly Known he was still a robot but he had gained control of his mind. Which makes Countdown make zero sense. Formerly Known was well liked, and DiDio pretended not to notice, and Countdown came within a year or so. Then, in Justice League 3000 G-DM establish him as a good character once again. JL3000 is set in a continuity they created, Identity Crisis and Countdown never happened, so Maxwell, Ted, Dmitri and the Dibnys lived normal lives.
Sascha, I challenge the notion that Max with villainous tendencies is an out and out retcon. When we meet Max in the first arc begun by JL1 we see him do decidedly villainous things of a serious nature. He killed a person with a one-button bomb detonation all to further his manipulation of the League
My issue isn't his being evil but the retcon to say he was always evil. They have an event that changes his mind on Super Heroes and can create an interesting dynamic as he struggles with wanting Heroes gone but he was friends with a lot of them but instead they go for generic, "Rich business man was always evil and manipulating you. Mwahaha!"
Well as mentioned in the video he was a subversion of the evil businessman trope so when the writers decided to subvert his character they actually just fell back into being a predictable trope.
So do you guys discount the blowing up of his agents to hide his involvement in the first arc? Those were his hires that attacked the UN and blew them up. Is that not murder? Is that not evil-doing?
That Didio quote was perfect. He had this ridiculous way of spinning how he wanted things to go at DC and making out it was for the best and wrapping the giant middle finger to fans in a sweet 'it's what we all want' monologue at Comic Cons etc. You chose the best one!
Don't blame Max. He's the one who introduced Booster to the League. Without him, there wouldn't be a friendship with Booster and Beetle. Blame instead, Dan DiDio and those 3 hacks who wrote Countdown, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winnick. #JusticeForTedKordANDMaxwellLord They both got screwed by Countdown.
I still can't believe they haven't really reunited them since then. It was the one shining thing I could forgive "Heroes in Crisis" for... it was the first (and only, I believe) time since Infinite Crisis that they'd both been together, alive, and in the same timeline.
ironically i had an issue of justice league europe (41 i think... has pov shot of wonder woman flying towards the other members including hal jordan?) that i'd had a nose bleed on and some of the pages were stained and crusty with blood :P
Lord was basically "daytime" Batman which was nice the sleeze and wanting to do "good" worked. He's fun now sure yet before he was amazing because they took a "minor" character and made into one of the best.
This video reminds me why I mostly stopped reading superhero comics years ago. They became trashy junk. They were about realistic people in the 80s and 90s, especially the 80s.
Max is another example of how Dan Didio, and even Geoff Johns, wrecked DC with their endless retcons/reboots/restarts mixed with grim-dark stories. DC waited way too late to get rid of Didio.
Max being just another "Meta humans are a danger for humanity and should die" character is boring. Like, I get it, this is how many would react if superheroes existed, but it happens so often.
When Maxwell Lord isn't being a Justice League villain, he's terrorizing female characters it seems. From Wonder Woman, his daughter, Supergirl in Season 1 (Dude freakin' vanished after that), and in Smallville, he couldn't face Clark the first time, so he went after Tess Mercer, but that was all a plan set up by "The Red Queen", aka, Now US Senator Martha Kent... I loved that damn reveal lol
So basically the movie didn't portray him very differently than his 80s comic book characters and if we consider the trend that you have mentioned too, the one where the movie portrayal of a character influences the comics, we might see him again as more sympathetic and human.
Probably in a few years. I’d like to see more of the morally complex Maxwell Lord too. But he’s likely to stay a sociopathic villain for the time being.
There’s been indie books that haven’t retconned at all or as much as the big 2 and have been great stories. This is the con of having multiple writers and never actually progressing your characters
@@famousthaneus9810 I personally believe marvel dosnet retcon as much as DC where as they rest they universe every year basically marvel Keeps there continuity and float there timeline accordingly
@@pqcowboychanel I think instead of outright retcons Marvel is just really bad at keeping the characters consistent: a great example is The Ghost Rider who constantly gets screwed over by bad writing.
If I were to write this character, I would want a good Maxwell Lord who has the "Purple Man"-level persuasion powers. He discovers them fairly early on in his life, and isolates as a result. In adolescence, he uses the last of his childhood innocence to persuade himself to forget his powers. (He's a teen, and he just wants to fit in.) This does not render them ineffective, but just erases his own knowledge that he's doing anything, and this is how he rises to power. He starts making friends and influencing people. He sees himself as a good person, and he does good works--like with the JLI--so for a while he does little to no damage to anyone. But increased pressure to remain on his perch, in concert with old childhood wounds (he was still a lonely child, but now he doesn't know that he was doing it to protect people), and an accidental death cause Lord to do more and more sketchy things. He is finally confronted by his hero friends, and he eventually goes on to kill Ted Cord. Diana snaps his neck, ending the battle. What no one, not even Diana, knows is that Max persuaded her to do it. He knew he needed to be stopped. The end.
Wow old Max sounds so much more layered and interesting. I don't mind the heel turn (also pleasant surprise you know smark lingo) and felt like it would be great having him slide between babyface and heel..
Never really new about Maxwell Lord before. I will say I do love the idea of his more altruistic manipulator version, trying to establish political and popular favor of the Justice League through any means possible.
It was tough not to love that guy. At first you scratched your head, "Maxwell who?". Then you went: "Oh. OHHHHH". And then it all made sense, and all the way you were giggling stupidly. I mean, the guy manipulated EVEN The Bat at that time, and he made you love it...
Generally, I like characters to have complex motivations and flaws. I also don’t think you should go the “pure evil” route for most villains unless they’re supernatural or completely alien. Villains generally don’t think that they’re villains, despite what the Comics Code Authority wanted you to believe.
I was waiting for this video! I love your character histories! It is hard to find videos with so much data on the long and conplex dc universe history... Most of them are just about modern incarnations or only one single old comic the maker of the video read... Not you, you know your stuff! I love and hate the history of dc retcons!! You should do more of this kind of videos, they are fantastic!
I just wanted to say that I've learned of you recently and began watching your videos constantly. You are a classy, sassy, entertaining host for our comic book journeys, and your open-mindedness in sharing with the community is awesome! To add to others, please do a video detailing the events. I love Wonder Woman, plus I know your analysis would be a great watch! Also, Max sounds more interesting as an overall good guy with a hint of shade. It makes him sound more unique than "typical evil businessman" in my opinion.
I’m a fan of the Giffen, DeMateis good hearted, driven businessman. He can be morally ambiguous as a means to an end, but with good intentions overall. I didn’t recognize that guy in WW84.
@@djpegao I’ll take your word. I haven’t read those JLI issues since they were on the stands. It doesn’t seem to be the Maxwell I remember, but in my defense my memory may be fading.
I really like videos like this when you dive into a character and see their evolution through the comic book ages. I love all your vids by the way. You are my favorite channel! I must also say thank you for all the time it took you to do all this research. Well done. I don’t know if anyone ever gives you credit for that, but I will. If your heart desires, I would love to see a vid talking about Wonder Woman in the Legends story. Especially her introduction. Was that when they reintroduced her when Superman past away? Also, I would like to see a vid of your thoughts of Wonder Woman after the neck snap. Thank you Sasha for what you do. I mean that! You should do a vid of your version of Hamlet: To neck snap or not to neck snap. Ha ha ha. Have a wonderful day Sasha!
I'm glad you did this video on Max Lord his personal favorite of mine, complex villain. I kinda like fact what they did with him in Wonder Woman 1984. As a fan I have to admit I did not know about the eclipse part of his history this is one of the things I love about this channel is you're always learning something new about characters you love thank you. Also I would love for you to do a post neck snap aftermath video please
@casually comics, Please never change that ending graphic of you smiling and holding the Titans Comic. You look like a cute, tiny, little girl who is excited to have her Titans comic!
They clearly set this up for the future by having Luthor be bald, just so you could tell them apart easily in a fight. DC play the long game. 😎 Nah, I don't believe me, either! 😁
Like I said, it's a downward spiral. 50 years because it got old, then 20 years because it had mistakes, then 10 years because sales are down, 5 because the writers want to, now 1 because AT&T said so...
I look at Lord as a counter balance to Booster Gold's time as a Sponsorship hound. They approach the meta community's powers much the same with very different outcomes. Max's take is "I can use the meta's as a powerbase" whereas Gold's is "I can make some money off of this". While Booster eventually got a focus on what is place is Max just never seemed to gel beyond the now. This was played very well in the lead up to Lord's killing of Ted Cord, kicking off Booster's rise to a hero.
you could explain a lot of the changes away by saying the evil version isn't Max, but Darren Hondor! Well it made me laugh. [For those who've not read the current Wonder Woman run, see that] There was also of course 'Formerly known as the Justice league, a 2003 [ i think] mini from Keith Giffen which had max reuniting the old leaguers and them starting again small time. That was an interesting look at fame for those who have had their fifteen mins. All the changes though meant dc decided they couldnt really put the sequel 'I can't believe it's not the justice league' out on it's own, so that ended up in the pages of the anthology series Justice league confidential instead. I did love the end of that: 'and they all lived bwah hah happily ever after.'
I feel like people put on rose colored glasses with Lord. I recall that in the relaunched Justice League's first arc Max blows up people to hide his machinations
You know what, it's high time someone thanks YOU for taking some time out of your day to discuss comics with us. I was really hoping you'd do a Maxwell Lord video, so thanks. Skimming through his history on Wikipedia is just a nightmare. 😅
I always appreciate your confusing history videos because comics have a lot of lore and it can be hard to sift through it all. I’m also so fascinated by hero/villain pairs shifting over time like how a villain can be introduced as one thing and then become a specific character’s nemesis later on
IMO Max should be that personification of the saying "Power corrupts- and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Lex Luthor needs a rival in business machinations- why not Max?
Fun fact: Kevin Maguire based the look of Maxwell Lord on actor Sam Neil, who had at that time just recently played an adult Damien Thorne in Omen III.
@@CasuallyComics Omen III is one of my guilty pleasure movies. It's subversive, graphically violent, occasionally goofy, and Sam Neil plays a great Antichrist. You might want to have a Kevin Maguire drawn issue of JLI on hand if you're watching it to compare the likenesses.
Thanks for this. I lost track of Max after the JLI disbanded until Infinite Crisis, so I completely missed the Max Lord Havok era. I'd heard about it but never knew what it was about. Thanks for filling in the blanks.
okay, um... yeah.. i did not know all that about mr lord. aaand i'm confused as heck LOL. BUT! one thing that did interest me, who is "Liar Liar"? She sounds interesting! Having a father/daughter rivalry both with social and psychic manipulation powers is kinda rad! I wonder if Liar Liar and Punchline could team up? that would be intresting.. to me at least.
Omg. How do comic book readers even keep up with all these retcons and reboots? I appreciate these videos and find the information very interesting but some of this is just crazy!
Thanks for reminding me why I mostly stopped reading superhero comics years ago, even before current trends. They become trashy junk. One of the reasons I liked them originally (in the 80s and 90s) was because they were about realistic people.
I miss heroic Max, honestly, but I'm really glad that the WW84 movie managed to make him not a bad person. He wanted to make things good for his son but then got caught up in the power thanks to the rock taking something in exchange for your wish. Then in the end he redeems himself, no neck snapping required. I wish we could get a heroic Max again but I know that's probably never going to happen. Feels like it's hard to take a villain and turn them back into a hero, especially if they've been bad for so long.
Girl at this point you should know that as long as you are into a topic we are into hearing your thoughts on it Talk about the Maxwell shenanigans as long as it's fun for you to talk about it
I had never read any of the comics he was in, and somehow thought of him as connected to Blue Beetle somehow, so when he turned up in the recent WW movie, I had no frame of reference about him at all, but now I see where the movie character came from. Thanks!
It would be kinda interesting if Lord was around after the recent Omniverse thing made all past canons canon, and we got a conflicted Maxwell Lord again. Could be cool having a guy that is 'good' again, but all the retcon events having happened and being guilty of some unforgivable stuff. Maybe even have him rendered powerless by the continuity merge, and then have them come back and be some sort of corrupting influence (having him deny that it was the powers that corrupted him originally but a personality flaw like back with the machine) where the sheer power threatens to make him revert to villainous actions. Then you could either have him conquer that and be a good guy, go evil again, or be an anti-hero playing chess games and being villainous as hell but aimed at bad people. Could have been cool.
There's also his appearances in the _Formerly Known As The Justice League_ minis, although I read them when they came out (2003 & 2005) and my memory's a bit shady, so don't know if you included them in this summary, IIRC _Infinite Crisis,_ which took place very shortly after the second mini pretty much erased their content or made them moot.
Love your combination of facts and opinions, makes your videos much more interesting. Your jokes are sometimes corny, but all the more endearing for it. You keep making them, I'll keep watching them ( homage to Stan Lee).
Great video. It's interesting that Max seemingly had a more complex character in 30 + years ago. I like the slimy businessman who actually helps heroes; kinda by doing the dirty political backroom dealings they are seemingly above. One-dimensional mustache twirling villain seems both a dramatic downgrade and redundant in a world that features both Lex Luthor and Vandal Savage.
Loved the video! As for the history, count me out after the Blue Beetle head shot. Not my kind of HERO comic books. However, I am a fan of Potts/Dixon/Ennis Punisher, where such things are to be expected.
I think Giffen and DeMatteis threw some shade at DiDio in JL3001: "And just to be clear, I'm not the psycho Maxwell Lord who put a bullet through Blue Beetle's head. I'm the sweet and lovable Max from the zany glory days of the Justice League Internationa*" Not only would I love to see Sasha cover the Legion of Superheroes, but I'd love to see her cover Justice League 3000 & Justice League 3001!
I've only known evil Maxwell Lord, but now really want to go back and experience the early version of the character. Oh the extents I would go to get a Booster Gold movie and hopefully eventually a Booster Gold and Blue Beetle movie.
I would love a video of the Greg Rucka wonder woman run, where it ends with sacrifice. its preaty unique and i think is one of the few greate stories with ww front and center. if it is too long, maybe just Hiketea.
the post-crises wonder woman illustration has my post a-wondering when we'll see more of wonder woman. but then there is the altruistic conman (?).... Maxwell lord ... is there such a creature?
Hey I would think it would be cool if you made your own reconstruction of superheroes videos or dive into the weird "what if Stan Lee created superman" and anagram comics.
Who could be such a cool character if fleshed out correctly. I liked that he became the wish maker in Wonder Woman 1984. They could’ve gone places with that concept and he could’ve grown to be a formidable recurring enemy.
By giving into the business man trop DC overlooked the possibility of giving the League their own version of Alfred or Jarvis. The one human amongst the heros that is actually b.a.
I’m all for the neck snap. That’s why I love Wonder Woman most out of ther trinity. Wonder Woman where are all your villains? 6 feet in the ground. Mic drop.
Maxwell Lord in “Wonder Woman 1984” seemed to be more based off the early Bronze Age version where he was a sketchy businessman with good intentions working with the Justice League.
First: That shirt? Those eyes? That Entire palette? Nailed it. Now that's sorted... So. Maxwell Lord? I'm a Marvel critter, but go with me on this, yeah? Norman Osborne with Empath's (from the OG Hellions) power, yes? Seriously though. That shirt.
Nice video Sasha. And the type of Maxwell Lord I prefer is the kind where you never know what he will do next. I thought the CW depicted him quite well. I was really sorry when he just suddenly disappeared without a trace from that series. I was pretty anxious to see where his character would go.
I miss the Maxwell Lord from the JLI days. He was a well rounded character. And I wouldn't have minded AS much if they actively shown him going evil, tho I don't know if I would have liked it but one never knows. The whole idea of him hating superheroes after losing his mother in coast city if I remember was an after the fact explanation, a handwaving away thing that they just threw in to shut people up, tho I could be wrong about that. Tho the whole idea of them just ignoring his being a cyborg was typical then and typical to an extent now, the idea of taking a character and making them be and doing whatever the creators want even if it doesn't make sense to the continuity and characterization of the character and books. At least come up with some half ass reason why he was human again. Something something Thanagarian technology something something cloned body something something mind transfer.... A one or two panel thing or when a couple of lines of dialog or something. You don't have to have like a six issue mini or anything. Line of dialog is fine. Any explanation even half assed as long as it makes some sort of sense.
[Sigh] I miss the non-evil Maxwell Lord from the JLI days. I've gotta say, it's certainly not the first time a Justice League comic has rejected having non-powered, non-costumed characters. Like back in the '60s when they had Snapper Carr betray the team rather than just making the character more palatable.
I would be interested in your take on the various iterations of OMAC. An old Jack Kirby hero turned into a hive mind of superpowered nano cyborgs bent on killing everyone all thanks to Batman. That evolution alone is worth a video imo. Keep up the good work.
More colourful than his history and the one bright spot in all this....his argyle jacket(?) ...at 7:24. A bold fashion choice, I'm quite intrigued by the care and effort that went into its creation.
In depth neck snap video !
th-cam.com/video/Urax0U1WSew/w-d-xo.html
You missed good Maxwell Lord in latter Giffen-DeMatteis stories. In Formerly Known he was still a robot but he had gained control of his mind. Which makes Countdown make zero sense. Formerly Known was well liked, and DiDio pretended not to notice, and Countdown came within a year or so. Then, in Justice League 3000 G-DM establish him as a good character once again. JL3000 is set in a continuity they created, Identity Crisis and Countdown never happened, so Maxwell, Ted, Dmitri and the Dibnys lived normal lives.
Sascha, I challenge the notion that Max with villainous tendencies is an out and out retcon. When we meet Max in the first arc begun by JL1 we see him do decidedly villainous things of a serious nature. He killed a person with a one-button bomb detonation all to further his manipulation of the League
My issue isn't his being evil but the retcon to say he was always evil. They have an event that changes his mind on Super Heroes and can create an interesting dynamic as he struggles with wanting Heroes gone but he was friends with a lot of them but instead they go for generic, "Rich business man was always evil and manipulating you. Mwahaha!"
Agreed. He is so much more complex when he's treading that line...
Well as mentioned in the video he was a subversion of the evil businessman trope so when the writers decided to subvert his character they actually just fell back into being a predictable trope.
Great point.
So do you guys discount the blowing up of his agents to hide his involvement in the first arc? Those were his hires that attacked the UN and blew them up. Is that not murder? Is that not evil-doing?
@@yaloolah42😮
Casually Comics: Max Lord is great villain for Wonder Woman. He can control minds and show the worst of humanity.
Dr. Psycho: Sonnovabitch!
Dang you beat me to the end of my comment, but I'm gonna make it anyway.
As a Morally Ambiguous Genius SuperMillionaire, Veronica Cale is also grumbling in the corner.
Can he show the weaknesses of loving submission?
Lord's working with Diana now? Must be a real pain in the neck for him.
ba dum tish :)
Yeah, it's a bit of a risk, he's really sticking his neck out.😉
Especially since they remember all their past now through Death Metal lol
He has to look over his shoulder all the time, but luckily he 's able to turn it 180º due to an old injury.
That Didio quote was perfect. He had this ridiculous way of spinning how he wanted things to go at DC and making out it was for the best and wrapping the giant middle finger to fans in a sweet 'it's what we all want' monologue at Comic Cons etc. You chose the best one!
He really is the end boss, multiverse level super villain, isn't he?
Thats how he got the dc continuity a mess
Shady good guy sounds so much more appealing than another archetype. Though super interested in him vs Wonder Woman now
"Superboy Prime punched a wall. Can't he punch it again?" lmao
Nightwing: Bruce, how is Jason Todd back from the dead?
Batman: Superboy Prime punched a wall.
Nightwing: *beleaguered sigh*
I don’t think I can ever forgive Max Lord for separating the two best friends ever, Booster Gold and Blue Beetle. #JusticeForTedKord
First time I cried reading comics was when Ted went back to be killed. I will not ever be over it.
Don't blame Max. He's the one who introduced Booster to the League. Without him, there wouldn't be a friendship with Booster and Beetle. Blame instead, Dan DiDio and those 3 hacks who wrote Countdown, Geoff Johns, Greg Rucka, and Judd Winnick. #JusticeForTedKordANDMaxwellLord They both got screwed by Countdown.
I still can't believe they haven't really reunited them since then. It was the one shining thing I could forgive "Heroes in Crisis" for... it was the first (and only, I believe) time since Infinite Crisis that they'd both been together, alive, and in the same timeline.
Maxwell Lord isn’t the only one to get nosebleeds as we all try to figure out DC continuity.
😂😂😂
ironically i had an issue of justice league europe (41 i think... has pov shot of wonder woman flying towards the other members including hal jordan?) that i'd had a nose bleed on and some of the pages were stained and crusty with blood :P
Dc editorial board I’m serving you this here Burn notice.
@@Cmon2828 Too late, they've already been taken out. And good riddance. 👏
Honestly I think his character benefit with him being a slightly sleezy business man who had fate in superhero and deem them necessary for humanity.
So basically you like morally ambiguous Maxwell Lord
@@dcmarvelcomicfans9458 pretty much.
@@Harleyxjokerforever same here
Lord was basically "daytime" Batman which was nice the sleeze and wanting to do "good" worked. He's fun now sure yet before he was amazing because they took a "minor" character and made into one of the best.
This video reminds me why I mostly stopped reading superhero comics years ago. They became trashy junk. They were about realistic people in the 80s and 90s, especially the 80s.
"Maxwell Lord is a fascinating character." Whoa, whoa whoa. If he was so fascinating, wouldn't Lois have tried to marry him?
He’s just not handsome enough
@@somethingsomewhereelse8398 You misspelled "weird".
@@andrewgwilliam4831 Oh crap, you’re right! My bad
Max is another example of how Dan Didio, and even Geoff Johns, wrecked DC with their endless retcons/reboots/restarts mixed with grim-dark stories. DC waited way too late to get rid of Didio.
Didio is the root cause of many shits decision at DC but he should be persecuted just for the crime of **puke** Ric Grayson alone.
And they used to criticize John Byrne at Marvel for that...
Much bigger threat than the Anti-Monitor
Max being just another "Meta humans are a danger for humanity and should die" character is boring.
Like, I get it, this is how many would react if superheroes existed, but it happens so often.
When Maxwell Lord isn't being a Justice League villain, he's terrorizing female characters it seems. From Wonder Woman, his daughter, Supergirl in Season 1 (Dude freakin' vanished after that), and in Smallville, he couldn't face Clark the first time, so he went after Tess Mercer, but that was all a plan set up by "The Red Queen", aka, Now US Senator Martha Kent... I loved that damn reveal lol
I always thought it was strange that Maxwell Lord just disappeared after Supergirl S1 and the show doesn't bother to explain his absence.
@@manis1551 many characters just disappeared from Season 1. Remember that Lois Lane's sister was there, too?
@@manis1551 remember, there was a big crisis that moved it over to the CW. so some continuity was shifted
@@Rognik I actually forgot about Lois's sister lmao.
@@manis1551 They Judy Winslowed him hahahaha
So basically the movie didn't portray him very differently than his 80s comic book characters and if we consider the trend that you have mentioned too, the one where the movie portrayal of a character influences the comics, we might see him again as more sympathetic and human.
Probably in a few years. I’d like to see more of the morally complex Maxwell Lord too. But he’s likely to stay a sociopathic villain for the time being.
I sure hope so, I want good guy Max again
Machinations? Don’t you mean MAXinations? Ba-dum crash!
Hahaha...I’m not funny...
Or...Maxie Machine Nation?
Oh COME ON! It's clunky and too complicated but it works!!!
Uh, I also will quietly show myself to the door.
See yourself out.
Oh, what the heck. Not as good as "ONE punch!", but WAY better than Gnort, so you get a free pass. This time. ;)
What would the comic book industry do without retcons? Of coarse we want that video, I like many others look forward to these.
There’s been indie books that haven’t retconned at all or as much as the big 2 and have been great stories. This is the con of having multiple writers and never actually progressing your characters
@@famousthaneus9810 I personally believe marvel dosnet retcon as much as DC where as they rest they universe every year basically marvel Keeps there continuity and float there timeline accordingly
@@pqcowboychanel I think instead of outright retcons Marvel is just really bad at keeping the characters consistent: a great example is The Ghost Rider who constantly gets screwed over by bad writing.
@@pqcowboychanel Marvel doesn’t like to do reboots. They will do retcons as in “YOU THOUGHT THAT WAS THE TRUTH? HERE IS THE REAL TRUTH” plenty.
god I miss heroic Maxwell Lord, JLI was so good, I miss when comics were allowed to have some fun XD
Classic stuff. Loved that run. Gotta love the Batman disguised as Bruce Wayne Bondesque cover.
@@davidsanders5652 oh man that one was a fun adventure wasnt it?XD
Wait, someone else remembers Legends AND Invasion!? I thought it was just me and Psycho Pirate...
Psycho Pirate even remembers Power Girl from when she was the cousin of Earth-2 Superman.
It's just a few of us, but then again we were there BEFORE Johns Prime wiped all sense along with Coherent Continuity...
Any time you say “let me know if you want to see that” the answer is always “yes, yes, 1k times yes”
Still love the delivery "Lord was dead, right? "So that's it we're done" "Heh, heh, hahahahahah!" 12:51.
Unfortunately she cut off before going into full super-villain maniacal laughter!
If I were to write this character, I would want a good Maxwell Lord who has the "Purple Man"-level persuasion powers. He discovers them fairly early on in his life, and isolates as a result. In adolescence, he uses the last of his childhood innocence to persuade himself to forget his powers. (He's a teen, and he just wants to fit in.) This does not render them ineffective, but just erases his own knowledge that he's doing anything, and this is how he rises to power. He starts making friends and influencing people. He sees himself as a good person, and he does good works--like with the JLI--so for a while he does little to no damage to anyone. But increased pressure to remain on his perch, in concert with old childhood wounds (he was still a lonely child, but now he doesn't know that he was doing it to protect people), and an accidental death cause Lord to do more and more sketchy things. He is finally confronted by his hero friends, and he eventually goes on to kill Ted Cord. Diana snaps his neck, ending the battle. What no one, not even Diana, knows is that Max persuaded her to do it. He knew he needed to be stopped. The end.
Wow old Max sounds so much more layered and interesting. I don't mind the heel turn (also pleasant surprise you know smark lingo) and felt like it would be great having him slide between babyface and heel..
I do want a wonder woman maxwell lord video ... I'd be a snap ! ....... I'll leave, thank you
Jacob Knight lmao!
oh what a tangled web we weave when we retcon everything
Never really new about Maxwell Lord before. I will say I do love the idea of his more altruistic manipulator version, trying to establish political and popular favor of the Justice League through any means possible.
That's MY Max. Actually that's my second fave incarnation of the JL, Timverse JL being number one.
It was tough not to love that guy. At first you scratched your head, "Maxwell who?". Then you went: "Oh. OHHHHH". And then it all made sense, and all the way you were giggling stupidly. I mean, the guy manipulated EVEN The Bat at that time, and he made you love it...
You spell knew into new. That's wrong
Never let something as trivial as being a cyborg stand in the way of your dreams
Post Future State he comes back as an angsty teen: Edge Lord
Also sounds like some unholy merging of DC captains of industry. Full name: Morgan Maxwell Edge Lord! 😁
@@NightHawke you beat me to it!
Generally, I like characters to have complex motivations and flaws. I also don’t think you should go the “pure evil” route for most villains unless they’re supernatural or completely alien. Villains generally don’t think that they’re villains, despite what the Comics Code Authority wanted you to believe.
I was waiting for this video! I love your character histories! It is hard to find videos with so much data on the long and conplex dc universe history... Most of them are just about modern incarnations or only one single old comic the maker of the video read...
Not you, you know your stuff!
I love and hate the history of dc retcons!! You should do more of this kind of videos, they are fantastic!
I just wanted to say that I've learned of you recently and began watching your videos constantly. You are a classy, sassy, entertaining host for our comic book journeys, and your open-mindedness in sharing with the community is awesome!
To add to others, please do a video detailing the events. I love Wonder Woman, plus I know your analysis would be a great watch! Also, Max sounds more interesting as an overall good guy with a hint of shade. It makes him sound more unique than "typical evil businessman" in my opinion.
I would really want a Booster Gold movie if I wasn’t worried they’d make him a StarLord clone
Now THAT'S an Evil plot. Not Booster, but a Starlord clone... honestly, I threw up a little...
I’m a fan of the Giffen, DeMateis good hearted, driven businessman. He can be morally ambiguous as a means to an end, but with good intentions overall. I didn’t recognize that guy in WW84.
Ironically the WW84 version was very similar to the 80's version.
@@djpegao I’ll take your word. I haven’t read those JLI issues since they were on the stands. It doesn’t seem to be the Maxwell I remember, but in my defense my memory may be fading.
I really like videos like this when you dive into a character and see their evolution through the comic book ages. I love all your vids by the way. You are my favorite channel! I must also say thank you for all the time it took you to do all this research. Well done. I don’t know if anyone ever gives you credit for that, but I will. If your heart desires, I would love to see a vid talking about Wonder Woman in the Legends story. Especially her introduction. Was that when they reintroduced her when Superman past away? Also, I would like to see a vid of your thoughts of Wonder Woman after the neck snap. Thank you Sasha for what you do. I mean that! You should do a vid of your version of Hamlet: To neck snap or not to neck snap. Ha ha ha. Have a wonderful day Sasha!
"Superboy-Prime punched a wall. Can't he punch it again?" Best line ever🤣👊🏾👊🏾
After watching this I realize who Lord reminded me of Gyrich from the Avengers.
I'm glad you did this video on Max Lord his personal favorite of mine, complex villain. I kinda like fact what they did with him in Wonder Woman 1984. As a fan I have to admit I did not know about the eclipse part of his history this is one of the things I love about this channel is you're always learning something new about characters you love thank you. Also I would love for you to do a post neck snap aftermath video please
@casually comics, Please never change that ending graphic of you smiling and holding the Titans Comic. You look like a cute, tiny, little girl who is excited to have her Titans comic!
Donna Troy's confusing history sounds like it could be fun to watch.
Whoa! I'm not sure we all would watch a five-hour video, or a twenty-part series... lmao...
@@BlackJackLopez Hahahaha!! You make a good point!
Maxwell Lord vs Lex Luther. How has it not happened yet?
Probably because that would lampshade that they turned a unique character into a character they already have.
Luthor ;that sounds interesting
They clearly set this up for the future by having Luthor be bald, just so you could tell them apart easily in a fight. DC play the long game. 😎
Nah, I don't believe me, either! 😁
Also Lex going back to evil from antihero was done as, arguably Max's change should, a single event changes Lex's mindset.
Batman IS NEVER getting out of that chair. 🤣🤣🤣
Man, this is exactly the type of thing that led me to stop reading comics. Do you like a character? Wait five years; they'll be changed or dead.
Like I said, it's a downward spiral. 50 years because it got old, then 20 years because it had mistakes, then 10 years because sales are down, 5 because the writers want to, now 1 because AT&T said so...
I look at Lord as a counter balance to Booster Gold's time as a Sponsorship hound. They approach the meta community's powers much the same with very different outcomes. Max's take is "I can use the meta's as a powerbase" whereas Gold's is "I can make some money off of this". While Booster eventually got a focus on what is place is Max just never seemed to gel beyond the now. This was played very well in the lead up to Lord's killing of Ted Cord, kicking off Booster's rise to a hero.
"I don't know did anybody read, did anybody liked it"
Usually the answer to both of those is "no"
"If someone invites you to go to a cave, don't go! It's a trap!" Amen, Sasha! Amen! 😂🤣😂🤣
you could explain a lot of the changes away by saying the evil version isn't Max, but Darren Hondor! Well it made me laugh. [For those who've not read the current Wonder Woman run, see that]
There was also of course 'Formerly known as the Justice league, a 2003 [ i think] mini from Keith Giffen which had max reuniting the old leaguers and them starting again small time. That was an interesting look at fame for those who have had their fifteen mins. All the changes though meant dc decided they couldnt really put the sequel 'I can't believe it's not the justice league' out on it's own, so that ended up in the pages of the anthology series Justice league confidential instead. I did love the end of that: 'and they all lived bwah hah happily ever after.'
I feel like people put on rose colored glasses with Lord. I recall that in the relaunched Justice League's first arc Max blows up people to hide his machinations
You know what, it's high time someone thanks YOU for taking some time out of your day to discuss comics with us.
I was really hoping you'd do a Maxwell Lord video, so thanks. Skimming through his history on Wikipedia is just a nightmare. 😅
Maybe have the Donna Troy Wonder Girl act as his foil too; one massive pile of retcon after retcon vs another massive pile of retcon after retcon.
I always appreciate your confusing history videos because comics have a lot of lore and it can be hard to sift through it all. I’m also so fascinated by hero/villain pairs shifting over time like how a villain can be introduced as one thing and then become a specific character’s nemesis later on
IMO Max should be that personification of the saying "Power corrupts- and absolute power corrupts absolutely". Lex Luthor needs a rival in business machinations- why not Max?
Fun fact: Kevin Maguire based the look of Maxwell Lord on actor Sam Neil, who had at that time just recently played an adult Damien Thorne in Omen III.
I always forget that there were 4 Omen movies before the reboot
@@CasuallyComics i forgot there was a reboot. :O
@@CasuallyComics Omen III is one of my guilty pleasure movies. It's subversive, graphically violent, occasionally goofy, and Sam Neil plays a great Antichrist. You might want to have a Kevin Maguire drawn issue of JLI on hand if you're watching it to compare the likenesses.
Thanks for this. I lost track of Max after the JLI disbanded until Infinite Crisis, so I completely missed the Max Lord Havok era. I'd heard about it but never knew what it was about. Thanks for filling in the blanks.
okay, um... yeah.. i did not know all that about mr lord. aaand i'm confused as heck LOL. BUT! one thing that did interest me, who is "Liar Liar"? She sounds interesting! Having a father/daughter rivalry both with social and psychic manipulation powers is kinda rad! I wonder if Liar Liar and Punchline could team up? that would be intresting.. to me at least.
Oh my lord his lore is confusing
Omg. How do comic book readers even keep up with all these retcons and reboots? I appreciate these videos and find the information very interesting but some of this is just crazy!
How do we cope? Alcohol, drugs or turning to "serious" stuff like Sandman or Swamp Thing hardcovers. After quitting regular series, of course.
Gonna be fun! Also like the top! Goes well with your hair. ♥️ I was expecting the neck snap at the end of WW84, but I liked what they had.
Thanks for reminding me why I mostly stopped reading superhero comics years ago, even before current trends. They become trashy junk. One of the reasons I liked them originally (in the 80s and 90s) was because they were about realistic people.
I miss heroic Max, honestly, but I'm really glad that the WW84 movie managed to make him not a bad person. He wanted to make things good for his son but then got caught up in the power thanks to the rock taking something in exchange for your wish. Then in the end he redeems himself, no neck snapping required. I wish we could get a heroic Max again but I know that's probably never going to happen. Feels like it's hard to take a villain and turn them back into a hero, especially if they've been bad for so long.
Girl at this point you should know that as long as you are into a topic we are into hearing your thoughts on it
Talk about the Maxwell shenanigans as long as it's fun for you to talk about it
I had never read any of the comics he was in, and somehow thought of him as connected to Blue Beetle somehow, so when he turned up in the recent WW movie, I had no frame of reference about him at all, but now I see where the movie character came from. Thanks!
It would be kinda interesting if Lord was around after the recent Omniverse thing made all past canons canon, and we got a conflicted Maxwell Lord again. Could be cool having a guy that is 'good' again, but all the retcon events having happened and being guilty of some unforgivable stuff. Maybe even have him rendered powerless by the continuity merge, and then have them come back and be some sort of corrupting influence (having him deny that it was the powers that corrupted him originally but a personality flaw like back with the machine) where the sheer power threatens to make him revert to villainous actions. Then you could either have him conquer that and be a good guy, go evil again, or be an anti-hero playing chess games and being villainous as hell but aimed at bad people. Could have been cool.
There's also his appearances in the _Formerly Known As The Justice League_ minis, although I read them when they came out (2003 & 2005) and my memory's a bit shady, so don't know if you included them in this summary, IIRC _Infinite Crisis,_ which took place very shortly after the second mini pretty much erased their content or made them moot.
Love your combination of facts and opinions, makes your videos much more interesting. Your jokes are sometimes corny, but all the more endearing for it. You keep making them, I'll keep watching them ( homage to Stan Lee).
I just reread Countdown to Infinite Crisis for my blog and I forgot that's where all my love for Blue & Gold comes from
Great video. It's interesting that Max seemingly had a more complex character in 30 + years ago. I like the slimy businessman who actually helps heroes; kinda by doing the dirty political backroom dealings they are seemingly above. One-dimensional mustache twirling villain seems both a dramatic downgrade and redundant in a world that features both Lex Luthor and Vandal Savage.
Loved the video! As for the history, count me out after the Blue Beetle head shot. Not my kind of HERO comic books. However, I am a fan of Potts/Dixon/Ennis Punisher, where such things are to be expected.
I think Giffen and DeMatteis threw some shade at DiDio in JL3001:
"And just to be clear, I'm not the psycho Maxwell Lord who put a bullet through Blue Beetle's head. I'm the sweet and lovable Max from the zany glory days of the Justice League Internationa*"
Not only would I love to see Sasha cover the Legion of Superheroes, but I'd love to see her cover Justice League 3000 & Justice League 3001!
I've only known evil Maxwell Lord, but now really want to go back and experience the early version of the character. Oh the extents I would go to get a Booster Gold movie and hopefully eventually a Booster Gold and Blue Beetle movie.
You should cover Pymtron from the recent Avengers comics.
God that was some _time_
I'd love to see what your take would be on that.
Thanks for this one, found him rather confusing in "WW 1984" if not downright annoying.
Wow! Who knew the history of Max Lord would be such a wild ride. I I still need to catch up on wonder woman 1984. Thanks for everything Sasha.
I would love a video of the Greg Rucka wonder woman run, where it ends with sacrifice. its preaty unique and i think is one of the few greate stories with ww front and center. if it is too long, maybe just Hiketea.
That Max Lord story during Brightest Day storyline is my absolute favorite.
the post-crises wonder woman illustration has my post a-wondering when we'll see more of wonder woman. but then there is the altruistic conman (?).... Maxwell lord ... is there such a creature?
Hey I would think it would be cool if you made your own reconstruction of superheroes videos or dive into the weird "what if Stan Lee created superman" and anagram comics.
Man those Stan Lee writes DC were..... something else, they're proof that he needed someone to check in his ideas before printing them.
Ah, the machinations never end in this story.
Your videos make my day. Thank you!
Who could be such a cool character if fleshed out correctly. I liked that he became the wish maker in Wonder Woman 1984. They could’ve gone places with that concept and he could’ve grown to be a formidable recurring enemy.
Thank you, I didn't know what event to read after Crisis on IE
I love your sassiness by way of the word pronunciation.
Had no idea this guy's character/story was so deep.
Maxwell Lord: I'm the most retconned character.
Mon-El: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Also, Donna
By giving into the business man trop DC overlooked the possibility of giving the League their own version of Alfred or Jarvis. The one human amongst the heros that is actually b.a.
Lol. It's so easy to forget Batman is actually human. He literally fits your description.
omg, all this stuff about Maxwell's backstory is interesting, but I'm just getting entertained looking at all his.... interesting suit choices.
I’m all for the neck snap. That’s why I love Wonder Woman most out of ther trinity. Wonder Woman where are all your villains? 6 feet in the ground. Mic drop.
Yes please give the scene where Diana murdered him a video of its own
Maxwell Lord in “Wonder Woman 1984” seemed to be more based off the early Bronze Age version where he was a sketchy businessman with good intentions working with the Justice League.
Having Diana murder someone is very on character. Yes she does walk that line sometimes she doesn’t sometime she does.
Hey I know this is an older video, but thanks for having all of these awesome videos for me to watch during my boring work day.
What was that The Exorcist cover?
First: That shirt? Those eyes?
That Entire palette?
Nailed it.
Now that's sorted...
So.
Maxwell Lord?
I'm a Marvel critter, but go with me on this, yeah?
Norman Osborne with Empath's (from the OG Hellions) power, yes?
Seriously though. That shirt.
While I loved seeing the mandalorian as maxwell lord I loved him as a shady good guy
But honestly I’m not the biggest fan of ww84
Wonder Woman 84 is garbage seriously I was extremely disappointed with that movie
I was 100% down for the type of movie it wanted to be... but it just doesn’t work.
@@dcmarvelcomicfans9458
Yeah but Pedro Pascal is a great actor. I loved him in community and The mandalorian
@@kingofthebis1068 same especially the Mandalorian have more to second season yet but I heard it's good
@@qwellen7521 👍
He has a snapping personality.
Ooooooo, you didn't wave bye-bye. You are gonna get it. LOL
Nah, she did an extra wave in her last video. 😀
Nice video Sasha. And the type of Maxwell Lord I prefer is the kind where you never know what he will do next. I thought the CW depicted him quite well. I was really sorry when he just suddenly disappeared without a trace from that series. I was pretty anxious to see where his character would go.
Coming up next on Casually Comics: Lois Lane marries Snapper Carr!
I miss the Maxwell Lord from the JLI days. He was a well rounded character. And I wouldn't have minded AS much if they actively shown him going evil, tho I don't know if I would have liked it but one never knows. The whole idea of him hating superheroes after losing his mother in coast city if I remember was an after the fact explanation, a handwaving away thing that they just threw in to shut people up, tho I could be wrong about that. Tho the whole idea of them just ignoring his being a cyborg was typical then and typical to an extent now, the idea of taking a character and making them be and doing whatever the creators want even if it doesn't make sense to the continuity and characterization of the character and books. At least come up with some half ass reason why he was human again. Something something Thanagarian technology something something cloned body something something mind transfer.... A one or two panel thing or when a couple of lines of dialog or something. You don't have to have like a six issue mini or anything. Line of dialog is fine. Any explanation even half assed as long as it makes some sort of sense.
Generations Lost was a great series and you can see how ot was setting up a new JLI until New 52 changed the paradigm.
[Sigh] I miss the non-evil Maxwell Lord from the JLI days. I've gotta say, it's certainly not the first time a Justice League comic has rejected having non-powered, non-costumed characters. Like back in the '60s when they had Snapper Carr betray the team rather than just making the character more palatable.
I would be interested in your take on the various iterations of OMAC. An old Jack Kirby hero turned into a hive mind of superpowered nano cyborgs bent on killing everyone all thanks to Batman. That evolution alone is worth a video imo. Keep up the good work.
More colourful than his history and the one bright spot in all this....his argyle jacket(?) ...at 7:24. A bold fashion choice, I'm quite intrigued by the care and effort that went into its creation.