This Ally Turned Villain Changed Wonder Woman’s Trajectory But Has Yet to Show up in the Absolute Universe

One of the biggest wins for the DC Absolute Universe so far is its fresh takes on heroes and villains. Absolute Green Lantern chooses newer protagonist Jo Mullein over popular Green Lanterns Hal Jordan or Jon Stewart, and further subverts expectations with a Hal Jordan powered by love instead of will. Absolute Superman stretches beyond Superman’s individual mythos for a villain in Ra’s al Ghul, one of Batman’s typical rogues. Absolute Flash centers on Wally West instead of Barry Allen and doesn’t even include the Speed Force synonymous with stories about the Flash.

This isn’t even getting into Kelly Thompson’s Absolute Wonder Woman. Absolute Wonder Woman is in line with runs that remove Diana from Themyscira, but does it freshly. Thompson has Wonder Woman raised by Circe in Hell, immediately subverting the Wonder Woman mythos by taking a consistent villain for Wonder Woman and changing her into the hero’s mother. This gives Diana a familiarity and comfort with magic in addition to keeping a strong mother-daughter bond that mainline DC Diana has with her mother Hippolyta. 

Currently gearing up for a clash between Cheetah and Wonder Woman, Absolute Wonder Woman has had its fair share of villains — definitively shutting down the argument that Wonder Woman has no iconic ones of her own — from Veronica Cale to Giganta to Ares. The 2026 annual for the one had Diana facing off against Medusa, another iconic foe, and a recent arc even had a confrontation between Diana and Zatanna. 

Given the plethora of villains in Absolute Wonder Woman and across the Absolute Universe in general, the villains that haven’t arrived can be easy to miss. Once they’re noticed, they’re an exciting prospect for the future, and an equal possibility for an ally as for a villain — especially when a character has been both. 

How Maxwell Lord Changed Wonder Woman’s Trajectory

Discussing the Maxwell Lord of Justice League International and the Maxwell Lord of Adventures of Superman #642 and Wonder Woman #219 feels like discussing two completely separate characters. Justice League International’s Maxwell Lord was an ally of the League, helping to set up the embassies and assist financially. His motives could be suspect, clearly having a selfish stake in the League, even though his actions served a good cause. Lord would go on to join Checkmate, but it wouldn’t be until the Superman and Wonder Woman runs of the mid 2000s that Lord made the definite switch to villain. 

In DC Comics as a whole, most superheroes have a no-kill rule. Batman’s is quintessential to his character, and Superman is considered the best version of himself when he has one as well. For Wonder Woman, it hadn’t felt as quintessential to the character, but it wasn’t like she was going around killing people, so it wasn’t highly contested.

Then, Maxwell Lord brought forth an impossible situation. Believing Lois Lane had been killed and that he was fighting Darkseid, Superman fought Batman until he inflicted injuries so severe that Batman ended up in a coma. Wonder Woman intercepted the fight and was taken by Superman to Maxwell Lord, who revealed that he had absolute control over the Man of Steel. Wonder Woman was forced to go up against Superman, her friend who would kill her unless she found a way to snap him out of Lord’s control. The only way to break the control, Lord admitted under the Lasso of Truth, was for Diana to kill Maxwell Lord. 

Between Lord’s admission of how to break the control and Diana’s snapping of his neck, there was no dialogue, thought bubbles, or narration. While Batman would surely have moral qualms about killing brought up, and Superman may voice objections, Diana doesn’t. Instead, she snaps his neck and kills him. In the aftermath, she even stands by her convictions that she was right in making the call. Her only regret is that it cost her both of her best friends. 

Greg Rucka, the writer of Wonder Woman at the time, later came out about the controversial issue and said it was an editorial mandate. DC wanted the trinity of Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman broken up heading into the upcoming Infinite Crisis event. Superman immediately condemns Wonder Woman as a murderer, and Batman insists she leave when she confesses what she’s done. The arc becomes about taking responsibility, and Wonder Woman encouraging her friends and employees to continue the work they started even after she shuts down the Themysciran embassy. 

The Potential of an Absolute Maxwell Lord

DC Comics has rebooted and relaunched its universe since the controversial decision to have Wonder Woman kill Maxwell Lord, but has kept Lord as an adversary of Diana. For example, he appeared during the Mariko Tamaki Wonder Woman run in the late 2010s, where he only begrudgingly assisted Diana in taking down his daughter, Emma known as villain named Liar Liar. 

Maxwell Lord has the potential to become something new in the Absolute Universe. The seeds are there for him to be an associate of the villainous Veronica Cale, a new player to team up with Cheetah, or perhaps he could be brought back to the light side. If a morally dubious Zatanna exists, so can a morally good Maxwell Lord. A more heroic take for Maxwell Lord seems to be in right now, given the more favorable live-action adaptation of him in Peacemaker season two. 

Would you be interested in seeing Absolute Wonder Woman explore this, or should Maxwell Lord be left in the past? Let us know in the comments below!

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