Maxie Zeus is a former Greek history teacher who goes insane following the death of his wife. He becomes a criminal mastermind and battles Batman on several occasions before being committed to
Arkham Asylum. Because Maxie appears to be less dangerous than other notorious Arkham inmates, Arkham's administrators do not commit him in the maximum security wing, despite repeated recommendations from Batman to do so. Batman's concern is vindicated when Maxie escapes to form a team of Greek mythology-based superhuman agents called the New Olympians. He attempts to kidnap Olympic athlete Lacinia Nitocris and force her to marry him before being defeated by Batman and the
Outsiders. In
Batman: Knightfall, Zeus is among the villains who escape Arkham after
Bane destroys Arkham Asylum. However, he is quickly stopped after colliding with a tree. Some time later, he is drawn into a plot engineered by the
Children of Ares to merge Gotham City with
Ares' throne capital, the Aeropagus, during which he is sacrificed to resurrect Ares. In
Robin, Maxie Zeus appears alive and becomes the head of the illegal casino Maxie's before
Robin defeats him. In
Batman: Cacophony, Zeus works with the Joker and uses his funds to create a public school. After Batman rescues Zeus from the Joker, he temporarily restores his sanity using
antipsychotics and convinces him to turn himself in to the police. Zeus' sole link to sanity is his elementary-school age daughter Medea—who is usually kept in exclusive boarding schools, safe from the consequences of her father's actions. ==Other versions==