While it more often than not doesn’t stick, there are plenty of examples of superheroes and supervillains swapping to the other sides of the argument. Lex Luthor routinely goes through bouts of heroism, only to go back to hating Superman the second he gets angry. Perhaps the most famous hero that became a villain was Hal Jordan, who tore apart the Green Lantern Corps and became a universal threat when he took on the name Parallax. Both of these heelturns were temporary, but there’s one character who used to be a genuine hero, but now is one of DC’s worst villains.
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When Maxwell Lord was first introduced in Justice League (1987) #1, he was a pragmatic yet goodhearted man who wanted to help the Justice League save the world. Nowadays, he’s regularly trying to wipe out the world’s entire metahuman population and making deals with Darkseid’s forces. He appeared briefly in James Gunn’s Superman as the benefactor of the Justice Gang and is set to make even more appearances in the future. With that in mind, the best thing the DCU can do is keep Lord a hero, because not only is that when he’s at his best, but that’s the only time he’s an interesting character.
A Complex Man to a Bargain-Bin Villain
When Maxwell Lord was first introduced, it was only natural to assume that he would betray the Justice League International. There’s no bigger rad flag than a rich, competent businessman offering to fit the bill for superheroes, after all. Suspicions were confirmed when it came out that Lord set up a terrorist attack to inspire the reformation of the League, and that he was under the influence of the superintelligence Kig%re. However, after Lord was freed from Kilg%re’s control, he didn’t immediately turn into a jerk and disband the League or anything. In fact, he became even more dedicated to helping them save the world.
Maxwell Lord was never a perfect or particularly heroic person. He was a ruthless businessman through and through, with ambition that could rival the most prideful of villains. He wouldn’t stop clawing his way up until he sat at the top, and was more than willing to throw others under the bus to do that. To put it simply, he had every trait that villains like Lex Luthor and Veronica Cale did, but chose to buck off expectations and be a good person. He became friends with the heroes and went to bat for them when they needed it.
Lord was still a deeply flawed man, but it’s those imperfections that make him so interesting. He was a truly unique character because he had every narrative reason to be a villain, but chose to be better. Then, Countdown to Final Crisis happened. His entire history was retconned to turn Lord into a mustache-twirling, decade-long-planning villain who wanted to kill all the world’s metahumans. And ever since, his character has been boring.
A Character Robbed of Purpose
Maxwell Lord turned from a snarky yet heroic businessman to a bog-standard villain who hated superheroes, and in that transition, lost everything that made his character unique. Lord was designed to be a villain in almost every way except actions, and that dichotomy was what made him interesting. His entire character was built around the fact that people expected him to be a villain. Actually turning Lord into a villain ruined his character because his entire niche revolved around him not being evil. Now, there’s legitimately nothing that sets him apart from any of DC’s dozen other villains that fill the role in much more interesting ways.
Maxwell Lord is a complex character who is prideful, ambitious, and willing to cross lines that no superhero would, but he had lines. His respect for heroes and desire to help them save the day made him who he was, and making him a villain ruined that. It doesn’t help that he was only made into a villain because the heads at DC really wanted their idea for Countdown to work, and they couldn’t think of any other character to fill this role. Maxwell Lord has the potential to be one of the DCU’s best characters, but to reach those heights, it needs to avoid making him a villain.
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