DC Comics has had its share of iconic villians throughout its history.
Batman has the Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime, along with a host of villians from
Arkham Asylum. For Superman its the diabolical Lex Luthor, a cunning scientist and
tycoon that's plagued the Man of Steel through the decades. Lex even became President of
the United States for a while, and used his vast resources to harass Superman and
be a pain throughout much of the DC Universe.
Joker, Luthor and a host of other rogues have plagued the comic pages
for years. But nothing has prepared comic fans for 2005, where DC's newest
criminal mastermind has emerged to bring the DCU to its knees! This neferious villian
will start his cunning coup in this spring's "Countdown to Infinite Crisis" mini-series.
This year, nothing can prepare our heroes for the horror that is...
Many comic fans would argue, but Maxwell Lord the Forth has been
planning his reign of terror for many years, since his debut in 1987. Here,
we chronicle the nefarious deeds of DC's newest criminal mastermind...
PART 1: Beginnings of a Criminal Mastermind...
During the aftermath of the Legends story arc in the 1987, Max
Lord aimed to get an administrative role in the Justice League. His motives
weren't so much for Truth or Justice or the American Way, but rather the
merchandising rights.
While out spelunking with his boss, Max happened across an alien
supercomputer that convinced him to take on the task of reforming the
League. The machine turns out to be a malfunctioning "information
retrieval unit" built by Metron of the New Gods. Max's supercomputer
was just using him as part of a plan to EXTERMINTE! with extreme prejudice.
this won't be the last of Max's problems with machines and mechanical
life forms.
Years ahead of his time, Maxwell Lord knew the importance
of brand identification, and used his new UN connections to not only
relaunch the JLA as Justice League International, but also form
additional Justice Leagues around the world, such as Justice League:
Europe, stationed in Paris. He even set up Justice League Antarctica (mostly
just to get rid of the doglike Green Lantern G'Nort, though)
Part 2: Those Obnoxious Aliens
Maxwell Lord's unique brand of galactic diplomacy has also gotten him
and the Justice League in trouble. His antics have brought the wrath
of Lord Manga Khan to Earth mutliple times, provoking many a long
winded speech.
Khan was been a thorn in Lord's side throughout the years, kidnapping
JLI member Mister Miracle to trade him back to his his homeworld Apokolips.
He also hired Lobo to annoy the league. In recent years, the golden
warlord even abducted G'nort for ransom, much to the dismay and concern of no one.
It is also a result of Maxwell's meddling that Khan lost his aide, the
wiry and cynical cyborg L-Ron (Yes, like the Dianetics guy), having to trade
him to Lord for the fallen Despero. L-Ron would go on to become Maxwell's
partner-in-crime, and Lord Manga Khan would have to go back to space alone,
his forbidden love for L-Ron unrequited. This recent turn of events has
earned DC the wrath of many Manga-Ron fangirls everywhere.
Next time, we'll explore Maxwell Lord's more recent diabolical plots,
as well as his Cybernetic Years (Hey, it was the 90s. Cybernetics were all
the rage.)
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